England!

Saturday was an exciting day--I traveled like crazy without really traveling. Woke up at 6:30am tired as hell and groggy, got dressed and ready and finished packing for our trip to Gibraltar and Tarifa. The plan was to take a bus from Sevilla to Gibraltar for the day, then in the evening bus it to Tarifa to spend the night at our hostel and then go to the beach in Tarifa the next morning, then ride back to Sevilla Sunday night. The night before Stacey and I had discussed whether or not to bring our passports because Gibraltar, although on the southernmost tip of Spain, is U.K. territory. We decided not to since we figured it wouldn't be necessary (I didn't need my passport when I took a bus to Portugal) and because we were afraid of losing them after Lizzy's passport incident. However, as we were getting ready to leave Saturday morning my intuition told me to bring the passport anyways, so I told Stacey to bring hers. We got all of our stuff together and walked as the sun came up towards the bus station Santa Justa. We planned to meet up with everyone at 8am to buy tickets for the 9am bus, but nobody was there yet. So we sat around waiting. We went into the cafeteria and I bought a fresh-squeezed orange juice which was served in a wine glass. Ooooh fancy shmancy. We then sat near the ticketing area. Bums hang around the bus stations, it's kind of sketchy, and one of them came up to Stacey and asked her for a euro. She said no and then he got in her face and made kissing noises at her, literally inches away from her face. Freaked out she tried to ignore it until he sat down next to her and continued doing it, we stood up faster than fast. It was so freaky, I hate the bums in Sevilla, they are so effing crazy. We stood behind a pillar in the bus boarding area. As we walked away he started to laugh maniacally. Ugh. We stood there for awhile hoping he'd go away and our friends would get there soon. Finally at 8:20 Jessica showed, soon followed by Katie and Melissa. We got in line and bought our tickets to the town La Linea, which is adjacent to Gibraltar. Tickets were 19 euros one way which was kind of annoying. While buying our tickets the bum came up to us again. He first asked Jessica as she was buying her ticket and she ignored him. She paid with a 20 and got a euro in change and he started yelling at her and pointing at the euro. The man working the ticket booth told him to go away, and he did. They need some security over there, seriously. We all got our tickets and that bum just stood around. I walked towards the buses and the girls stood in a clump in the ticketing area talking about something. I saw the bum walk towards them, and I called them into the boarding area because they couldn't see him coming. UGH. I hate that. We sat in an area with a bunch of people and waited for the bus to come. We soon boarded and were off on our 4 1/2 hour ride to Gibraltar. Jessica asked Melissa and Katie on the bus if they had gotten her text message reminding them to bring their passports. She had sent it in the morning because her senora told her to bring her passport. The message said also to text me and Stacey for her to tell us, too. Melissa never got her message and didn't bring their passports. Stacey and I, consequently, never got a message from Melissa, but luckily my intuition kicked in and told me to bring them. We hoped that Melissa and Katie could get in; I mean, I've gotten into Canada without a passport, so maybe there was hope. The ride was pretty easy; it was nice out, we slept most of the time. After about 3 hours we were all up and chatting and joking around and giggling and being silly girls and just having a great time. We got stuck in really bad traffic near Algecires which was annoying. So Jessica cracked open a 40 of Cruzcampo. After 5 hours on the bus we finally made it to La Linea. We got off the bus, bought tickets to Tarifa (only 3.45 euros!) for 8pm, and then walked the short 5 minutes towards the Spain-England border (a.k.a. the entrance to Gibraltar). It's so weird that I could just walk right into another country...it's so weird that I could just waltz right into the United Kingdom. We got to the first guard and he asked for passports. Katie asked if her copy would suffice and Melissa had no ID except for school ID. He said no, but Katie kept insisting and asking if there was someone else with which she could speak. He said that she could try getting through the second guard, but he'd be even more strict. She went and came back all teary-eyed. No luck. He was really curt and strict about it and Katie was upset. Melissa was upset, too, they had been looking forward to seeing Gibraltar, and they couldn't get in. Poor things. So they just decided to head to Tarifa and hang out there. Too bad. We all felt terrible. We said goodbye, and the remaining 3 of us crossed to border and entered England. So weird. We wanted to head up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar to see the infamous monkeys and check out the sights. After a bit of confusion, we learned that the cheapest thing to do would be take the city bus to the cable cars (a.k.a. gondolas) and ride them to the top and take it from there. It was the cheapest option, which really doesn't say much because the currency there is Pounds, and those are expensive. So everything was overpriced. Silly England. We boarded the #3 city bus which was free and rode it to the cable cars. It was a gorgeous day and we got a really great visual tour of the city. It's beautiful--right on the ocean with abundant flowers and plants. It reminded me a lot of Catalina Island. The weirdest part was seeing everything written in English. I mean, I had not been in an English speaking country since I left the States! Crazy. It felt weird, actually, like I was in an alternate universe. To me, English has been the language of the minority, kind of an "underground" language that I only share with "my people". Hehe, I know that sounds strange. But, ya know, if there was something I wanted to talk about about Spain or Paris or Portugal or something I'd say it in English so people wouldn't understand me. Now everyone understood everything I said, so if I had something bad to say I'd have to whisper or just keep it to myself. Oh man, English, I tell ya. We were on the bus for awhile and ended up at the end of the line. I realized that we may have missed our stop. So I asked the bus driver where the stop for the cable cars was located; he said that he had already passed it awhile back, but we'd be stopping by there on the way back and he'd let us know. Awesome. People are much more polite in Gibraltar. I don't know if it's because English is spoken more cordially then Spanish (Spanish is a very up-front language, not polite really) so it was a breath of fresh air to get a little politeness back in our lives. After 15 minutes of riding we ended up at the stop near the cable cars. We walked to them and boarded right away. We shared the car with an a super nice Irish women who we chatted with the whole ride. She told us that studying Spanish opens up a whole world of travel. I'd never thought about that--it's so true. So many countries in the world speak Spanish. Yay! The ride lasted about 7 minutes and it was so gorgeous and fun...reminded me of the Summer Aspen gondola rides from my childhood. We got to the top of the Rock and upon exiting the cable car we saw numerous monkeys just hanging out around the cable car stop off. We freaked out! We were so excited! Monos! We took so many pictures and just stood there observing them. We soon walked up the observation deck to see even more monkeys--mommys, babies, daddies, playing monkeys, fighting monkeys, eating monkeys, swinging monkeys, etc. They told us not to have food out because they snatch food right out of your hands. Then I was warned because I was carrying a big plastic bag and they attract towards them because they associate them with food. Luckily no monkeys snatched my bag. They were everywhere, it was crazy! After observing the monkeys for awhile we started admiring the view. On one side of the rock was the Mediterranean, and on the other the Atlantic (the rock of Gibraltor is what divides the Ocean and the Sea). It was beautiful, and we lucked out to have such a gorgeous day (it was supposed to rain). In the distance we could see Africa. So I went to another country, saw 2 major bodies of water, and a whole other continent. All in a matter of hours! I love my life. Soon we headed down and decided to walk towards the St. Michael Cave. On the way we passed more and more monkeys, some playing with children and a tour guide. We opted not to get a private tour guide, although it is more fun (you get to hold the monkeys and see all the sites), but it was a bit pricey. We got to the caves to find that it was 12 euros each! That's after the change from Pounds. Can you believe that? We decided that it wasn't worth it. So then we decided to find the Jew's Gate (there's a huge Jewish population in Gibraltar) which is a major Jewish cemetary or something. We had a hard time finding it and ended up walking up and down random side paths that are torn up and obvious not supposed to be walked on anymore (we found a lot of overgrown old paths that were used before the paved road was laid down). We blame that on faulty directions. It's weird; everytime we asked for directions they were super complicated. In Spain, althoiugh in Spanish, directions are always seemingly easier. I guess I just understand Spanish better than English...? Wow. So it took us awhile to figure out where we were. It was hot out and we were tired, but it felt amazing to walk a mountain right along the Mediterranean Sea. It was also nice to be hiking among nature again. The flowers and plants were gorgeous and smelled like heaven. So many hibiscus and birds of paradise...some of my favorite flowers. It was a great walk, although we never found the Jew's Gate, the walk was well worth it and the highlight of the trip. We saw some awesome nature and some awesome views and some awesome monkeys. Soon we found the paved path and then the famous columns of Hercules. This was the site of one of the actual columns, built by Hercules himself to mark what he believed was the entrance to Hades. That was pretty cool. There was just a bronze monument there, but we got an amazing view of the Mediterranean and Africa, so we sat in the paved area in front of the monument and rested for a good hour. It was so peaceful and the sea breeze felt heavenly. After awhile we decided to walk all the way back down the rock. Walking just felt so great--I highly recommend hiking along oceans and seas. We got down to the bottom in an hour and heard what sounded reminiscent of Bonnaroo...ya know, the live, classic rock electric guitar sound in the distance. It was about 6, we had time to kill, so we followed the sounds of Zeppellin and the Rolling Stones to a bar/restaurant with a tarp and stage with a live band playing. Awesome! We were hungry, anyways, so we decided to go there to get food and hear the music. We grabbed a seat and ordered a water and a tuna sandwich each. We listened to the band which was awesome, playing really great classic rock and such. I was a fan and we were all pretty into it. This was definitely a neighborhood bar and all of the band's friends and family were there...most were the happy hippie type. Halfway through the performance the guitarrist stepped down and the singer's son stepped in and played...he was so good! It took us awhile to realize that it was an 11-year-old playing! Awesome. Our sandwiches were surprisingly really good...it was just plain tuna on bread. But the tuna was so good! Gotta love the quality fish in places right on the ocean. Soon we paid and left. We were in great spirits after all of that. We walked through the main area of town towards the entrance back into Spain. Haha, we were going to just waltz right back into Spain. We first stopped at a convenience store for snacks for the bus. There was so much food that I hadn't seen in ages: they had potato salad and diet coke (not coca cola light). Potato salad! Unfortunately it was canned and you need a can opener for it so I couldn't buy it. They had a bunch of Cadbury's chocolate which was exciting. I bought some Cadbury's granola bar...who knew those existed. We then walked through town where most places were closed. It was also Havdalah so we saw so many Orthodox Jewish families walking around, going to temple (the sun was getting ready to set). The center of Gibraltar is so cute, and so, well, not Spanish. How strange! We went to a souvenir shop. I wanted to buy this little stuffed monkey with a Gibraltar t-shirt, but it was 11 euros! Why is England so damn expensive? So I just bought an authentic Cadbury's easter egg...with caramel...mmmmm. We then walked a good half hour to the Spain-U.K. border. On the way we had to cross a huge runway because there's an airport there. How funny. I can not say that I've ever crossed a runway in my life. There's a first time for everything, I guess. I also saw some authentic red phone booths. I can't believe I went to England. Haha. Soon we flashed our passports and entered Spain once again. Once in Spain everything was a bit more sparse and everything was written in Spanish. I had literally entered another country. I felt like Gibraltar was this whole other gated off land, yet it was right there, in Spain...but not. How weird? Well, I went to England. And then just walked right back into Spain. This world is so funny. We then walked to the bus station and waited for our 8pm bus to arrive. We soon boarded; the bus was pretty empty and we were assigned front row seats, woo woo. My legs were so exhausted from hiking a mountain with a backpack and huge bag, so I pushed the seat back and took a nap for a half hour of the 45 minute ride. I woke up and felt really peaceful--it was a perfect day, and a gorgeous night. I loved Gibraltar. Now I was in the mood for a campfire on the beach or something. Our hostel was having a barbecue that night and I was excited for that because since the weather has gotten nice I've been wanting to have a barbecue. That's my favorite thing to do in warm weather, but barbecues don't really happen in Spain. So I was excited. Woot. We got to Tarifa and were greeted by Melissa and Katie waiting for us...it was so exciting! I felt Spanish...whenever I take the bus places the Spaniards on my bus always have people waiting for them at the bus stop. This was the first time this had happened. Yay fan club! They seemed to be in good spirits. We told them a bit about Gibraltar; they were planning to take a day trip themselves next month or something. They had hung out in town and did some grocery shopping and drank some beers and checked into the hostel. They told us to get ready for our hostel, that it's quite the experience. Oh man. There's a free shuttle service with our hostel, which Katie and Melissa had called over, so we were soon greeted by a big Italian dude in a bright orange sweatshirt with a big beige van. We introduced ourselves and got in. He played some fun Italian chill hippie music and talked as we rode down a desolate road to the hostel. Turns out this place was pretty secluded, not in the center of town. That way it was right on the beach. We soon got to the OTB hostel which was a big rickity beach house looking thing. Turns out it was also a kite surfing school. We walked into the yard that was strewn with random shit such as surf boards, and had an exercise area. We walked into the hostel and were greeted by a long-haired, blonde, surfer-type Italian who showed us around. There was a huge bar with a huge, leopard-skinned couch, a big projection screen playing kite surfing video, then we walked into the large kitchen that was free to use, then a common room that had books, games, a fireplace, and another bar, then the backyard which had an empty pool, and numerous elevated, bamboo cabanas with king-sized beds that we could sleep in if we wanted to. I kind of wanted to. Then we went to our room--a 4-person, plain room of bunk beds. Jessica had a separate reservation than us so she was to sleep in a 6-person. We started to settle in when suddenly a group of British students stormed into our room: 3 guys and one girl. They all introduced themselves--Will, Jill, Steve, and Al--and then started talking about how pissed (drunk) they were. Steve brought in this huge case of beer and promptly handed us each a beer without even asking. It was amazing. They had spent the whole day at the beach getting "pissed" and were continuing the festivities. They all study at "uni" (university) in England, but Steve and Al are actually from Kenya. We found out that Steve is the #24 squash player in the world. Crazy. Al was just really, well, "pissed". He was so funny, slurring his words, falling. Jill was also really pissed and kept spilling vodka and coke on herself. They also knocked over a couple beers, shattering them all over the floor. Whatever, it was silly. Jill also let us have some of her big-ass Nestle bar. Sweet. After awhile of getting to know each other and drinking we headed to the bar for chupitos. We all had 2 shots of some coconut rum concoction. Not bad. Then the barbecue started as it began to rain outside. So we had to eat inside, no big deal. We waited in line and were soon served our food. They were cooking chicken, hot dogs, baked potatoes, and hamburgers. I decided that I would choose chicken and a potato, but they served me everything. They served everyone everything! Whatever, I was drunk and at my first barbecue in ages so I did not mind at all. We sat at a picnic bench inside eating our barbecue food and being quite happy about it. Will started then bashing the American electoral system out of nowhere and talking about how all of Dan Brown's books are brilliant and true. It was weird, I just kind of ignored it as the booze talking. But, ya know, I can bash the system all I want, but hearing it from someone from another country is kind of hard. It just perpetuates the international feeling of anti-americanism and he made it sound like the U.K. is far superior in its political systems than the U.S. I was not a fan of that conversation. After the bbq all of us girls went back to the room to pre-game and get ready to go out. We couldn't drink our own liquor in the bar area, so the 5 of us just sat around drinking our own stuff. After awhile our new British friends came stumbling back in and we all drank together some more. Then we headed out to the bar area to head into town. It was about 1am and the shuttle stops running, so we'd have to call a cab. We were in the middle of nowhere and no cabs would come get us. Then we met this other British kid, Paul, who we talked to for awhile. He was super sweet. He offered to give us a ride into town, but he had been drinking a bit and we didn't want to go out and then risk him drinking more, so we used good judgment and passed and he went into town by himself. We kept trying to get out of the hostel, but we were stuck! We had no way of leaving. So we just ended up getting drunk with the British kids at the hostel. It was no big deal, though, in fact, it was a hella lot of fun! They were such a fun, cool group and our hostel was so fun and cool and laid-back. This was definitely my favorite hostel that I had stayed in. We soon went back to the room and everyone got into bed. I was pretty tired and drunk and told Jessica that I'd take one for the team and sleep in the 6-person because I knew that I was just going to pass out, I had already had the worst of the worst big room hostel experiences in Amsterdam so this seemed like no bi gdeal, Jessica did not seem to keen on sleeping in there, and she was taking the earlier bus back to Sevilla with Katie and Melissa. So I said that I'd just pass out in the other room and then take over someone else's bed in the 4-person after they leave at 9:30am. We hung out in the room while Jessica and Stacey passed out and chatted with the Brits for awhile. At around 3:30 I was exhausted and instigated the whole "let's go to bed" thing. So I said goodnight and went to the other room, and the others went to their own rooms. I literally fell into bed and passed out. Fun times in Tarifa! It was quite the English day...I had forgotten that I was in Spain. Well, I wasn't in Spain all day, but I was that evening and night. I was just in some other worldly place, who knows. Ohhhhh England.