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“16 Middle School kids, 3 Chaperones in Spain. ¿what?” |
So why is this entry here, and what does it have to do with South America? Nothing! Well except my flight left and came back to Buenos Aires.
For 6 days I escaped my solitary travels and my journey in South America to go to Barcelona and help Pete and Jean chaperone a group of 16 middle school kids. Not only did I have a great time, but I got to go to and visit a world class city in a country I had never been to- and I didnt pay anything!
After a torturously long plane trip of 12 hours pretty much heading straight North I arrived at the airport in Barcelona. I waited an hour for my bag to come and promptly brushed my teeth and fell asleep in the baggage claim area waiting for the flight of 18 people from NYC that would start off a busy week. After that flight I needed the sleep but it wasnt to be. Sadly the security personnel in the Barcelona Airport viewed my behavior as strange (who waits in the baggage claim area after they have their bag after all) and I was barraged with questions from about 5 different guards over the 2 hours I waited.
Finally I saw the kids come trooping through customs with Pete and Jean and for the first time in 3 months I saw people from home. Needless to say it was a great feeling and the thing I enjoyed most about the week was just sitting and being able to talk to friends about people, events, and other things in common. It was also amazing to open a bag of things from home to see a couple new T-Shirts and luxurious things such as magazines to read.
Anyway, I met the kids, who would prove to be a very fun and interesting group and we checked into the hotel. After an hour of downtime we took the metro into Barcelona! Under Jeans guidance (she seemed to know everything about Barcelona) we went straight to Las Ramblas- the well known pedestrian strip going from the Port to Plaza Catalunya filled with cafes, little tourist shops, and above all street performers and people-statues who allowed you to take pictures with them provided you paid them something. One performer in particular (the flower man) was pretty damn funny when someone took his picture without paying. And when a kid on our trip payed him five cents to take his picture, he told her that she must be American. Staying in Barcelona made me very happy Im traveling in South America for 1 reason...it is so expensive. Not only is the exchange rate horrible for the dollar but everything cost so much. Very often the prices were identical to the prices in Argentina except in Euros (US1.20) and not pesos (US0.33). A Victor funded trip to Spain would last like 2 weeks before I would have to come home broke.
Moving on. Its sad that already I cant remember everything that we did exactly, but Im counting on Jean to tell me later =) as shes the expert! But we went out to dinner at a decent place where the highlight was undoubtedly watching Finns transformation from sick to healthy- all it took was him throwing up all over the restaurant floor. We had our first of many trips to a gelatto place and finally blissfully crashed into our beds. Its amazing to not share a room with 8 other people, and I was actually able to relax and sleep somewhat. In hostels even when I sleep "well" I cant sleep late and I wake up not feeling refreshed (p.s. dont leave your shoes out someone could steal them like they did mine =P). I also really enjoyed a good shower not worrying about whether I was holding anyone else up or not and I even took a bath once!
The next day we got up at like 9ish for a big buffet breakfast that had some goodies and took the Bus Turistica on a tour of the city. This is a pretty cool system of getting to know Barcelona and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. For like 21 Euros (expensive I know but its for 2 days) you can take these double decker buses on 3 different routes all over the city and they go to all the main tourist attractions. You can get off whenever you want and get back on the next bus as many times as you want. But we took the tour bus and got a great tour of the city before we stopped at La Familia Sagrada (?), a Gaudi cathedral where you can climb up one of the spires and get a great view of the city stretching to the Mediterranean. After lunch at Pans and Compania (I think in 6 days I ate there 4 times but they make a good sandwich) we visited a famous park designed by Gaudi (whose name I cannot now recall but will get later) which also had great views of the city. There we played soccer and generally kicked around before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
The next day, another gorgeous day admist predictions of rain, we went to Pueblo Espanya, a mini-town with architectural styles and crafts from every part of Spain. Here we walked around and I finally felt that this was the Spain of my imagination, the Spain I had seen in movies (yes even though it was very touristy) and had a big outdoor lunch of tapas.
We went to a Barcelona game!! Man it was great to see Ronaldinho and all the stars on Barcelona play, and dominate, ok ok it was only against spain´s number 10 team but still. We also went to el museo historico de Catalunya and I learned a lot about the history of Catalunya and it´s place in Spain´s overall history. We also took the train up to a beautiful hill overlooking all of Barcelona and the sea. It was a great place to kick the soccer ball around. Finally we went to a Flamenco show, which was a bit disappointing and didn´t compare with the one I saw with the family in Buenos Aires, nonetheless it was a fun experience.
After the kid´s left with Pete and Jean to go back to the States I had a full day in barcelona to do whatever I wanted. I slept late then went up to Tibidabo, a hill we had meant to go to as a group. There I had an even better view of the city and got to see a great church. After that I went to the harbor, took a nap on a beach, and went and saw two Imax movies. Not exactly a unique spain experience but I didn´t feel like playing a tourist with all the kids gone.
It was a tremendous week full of suprises and excitement and i´m glad I had the opportunity to take part. Pictures will come when the kids send them to me.
(more later w- pictures)
previous travel blog entry
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