a couple more pics from 5-2-10

A couple more pictures from my phone from yesterday:
where we had lunch -

my plate -
where we had dinner -

5-2 Mexico

I have arrived in sunny Mexico.

Arrival - that was an ordeal!! Direct flight, on time, what else could you ask for right? Well, how about NOT standing in line at immigration for 4 hours?!? Literally, we landed at 4pm and did not get to car rental until 9pm. Apparently, the combination of a national holiday and new computer program lead to a complete breakdown of the immigration process. The room was so packed many people took pictures/videos of the room. It was insane!! Then after the immigration line, there was the insane search for our bags which had all be taken off the conveyor belts and formed little islands throughout the room. Then of course was the customs line...

So we didn't get to our hotel until after 11 I think. We were so exhausted we didn't even have dinner. Oh, plus my rental car totally sucks - no power steering!

Today we got up early to head over to the dive shop to get set up so we could do 2 ocean dives this morning. That was the plan at least. But apparently there's monster winds in Mexico right now and no diving/swimming allowed. It's ok, we dove anyway - in the cenotes - underground river caves. It was a really cool experience. There weren't any pretty fish to see but there were stalactites and stalagmites (however those are spelled). In addition, the view of openings where the light peers through is amazing. There is also the weird refractory phenomenon of where the freshwater mixes with the salt water - if undisturbed, it's just a line, but usually you see the blurring/mixing of the 2 and everything goes blurry. Very weird.



The rest of the day was spent chilling by the pool and the ocean. The high winds were great for lying by the water as they kept me cool as I listened to the crashing waves and read on my kindle.

The resort I'm staying in is massive!! It's a 3-part resort with >10 restaurants and 3 trolley systems. I'm not sure if it's really my thing but the beach is beautiful and the pools are great, not to mention the great all-inclusive deal!

We're going to take a day off from diving tomorrow and maybe take in some ruins. The weather forecast predicts that the ocean will be good for diving on Tuesday - keep fingers crossed!

Mexico!!!

After a swift unpacking and repacking - off to Mexico!!

4-29 Barcelona – last day in Spain

Today is the last day of my European adventure. We stayed in a hotel outside of Barcelona and went into the city by train, which was surprisingly easy. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia – the perpetually under construction church that was designed and started by Gaudi. They made significant advancements since I last saw it in 2000 but still unfinished of course.

Then we took a walk down through Passeig de Gracia – the street where many of Gaudi’s works are – down La Rambla – a super touristy big pedestrian-friendly street where we ended up having lunch. It’s been a challenge finding the perfect restaurant since so many of the restaurants around here have the tacky multi-lingual menus and the cookie cutter Paella pictures. We picked what looked like a decent bar/tapas restaurant. Little did we know that the man who runs the front of the house and was likely an owner of the bar was a complete madman. After making the bad choice of this restaurant, we then made the bad choice of sitting by the entrance where the madman reigned. I would have much preferred to have had one of the regular waiters in the white shirts and black ties. So not only does the madman get our order wrong, but then he yells at others for the mistake and talks to me like I’m a complete idiot. The food was satisfactory I suppose, although covered in grease. We had the pleasure of sitting next to an Irish couple though, who did not speak any Spanish but were nonetheless amused by the antics of our madman.

Next, we walked down to the port where the weather was so nice we had to spend some time just sitting by the water. It was there that we met Larry the Banana. He was a self-proclaimed vagablogger who was travelling through Europe on the donations generated from the website where he blogged about his travels (much like this blog, maybe I should collect donations too!). His gimmick was dressing up in a banana suit and having people photograph him along the way in his travels – that’s where we came in, we were asked to take a picture of him.

After chilling by the water for a while, we headed by into the city and wandered around a bit in the Barri Gothic. We visited the food market of Barcelona and there we were swindled for 5 euros for a sugar apple – granted, it was a huge sugar apple, super ripe, and super yummy – but still, highway robbery! This was the first time Antonio had a sugar apple though, and it’s always good to try new fruit.

Having missed out on Park Guell due to traffic issues yesterday, we took a second shot at it today. We were successful and had a lovely time sitting in the park listening to some random musicians.

For dinner we went to the Barceloneta which is a stretch that projects into/along the sea. While most of the restaurants seemed touristy, a particular one caught our eye, or more precisely the New York Times review posted outside this restaurant caught our eye. After all, if I’m willing to take Times’ advice on food in the US, why not outside the US too. It turned out to be an excellent choice. We had some tasty gazpacho de buey de mar (crab soup) to start followed by some truly yummy paella with shrimp and squid accompanied by some lovely white wine that our waiter recommended. The paella at this restaurant definitely rivaled those we had in Valencia. In short, I highly recommend this waterside Barcelona restaurant – La mar salada – a fine dining experience for a reasonable price.