The devil has spawn a child from his loin and it has manifested in the form of a 5 year old spanish girl.  The theme of today's babysitting session was tantrums: kicking, scratching, high pitched screaming, grand escapes from the apartment, running away at the train station, and cursing Ali in Catalan (she thinks I don't understand her).  I actually have a fat lip from today.  Oh how I love life in Barcelona.  

The infamous sombrero.  It was on the wall of our place when we moved in.

A day in a drawing.

Tiramisu is delicious.

El 'club de cocinar.'  Que buena personas, vino, comida, y conversación en nuestra apartamiento Española.  Also known as a potluck.

Crazy Cataluñan Hair.

The mullet, in various shapes and forms, is really big here right now.

Mercé.  Celebration of the patron Saint of Barcelona.  

This was one of my dreams about a week ago.  Happy Halloween Everyone!

(yes, I know it's a little early, but I'm sure all the drugstores and whatnot are filled with Halloween shit already.)

After the stupid bird incident, we decided to leave the lovely wall and find somewhere to jump in the ocean.  We ended up spotting this little secluded beach from the top of a cliff and decided to walk there.  The hillside was covered with century plants and cactus and the rocky beach was warm and empty.  We swam in peace and felt like mermaids.  All of our random trials and tribulations had brought us to this beautiful place and as we bathed in the cool mediterranean we felt that the whole trip was worth it (even if it was completely and absolutely ridiculous in all ways).

Que hermosa.

This is a baby seagull.  At one point Sara and I were both terrified by this bird, and neither of us really know why.  It came up to us looking all crazy and we ended up standing on a wall and trying to shoo it away from us with a grocery bag until a young lady walking her dog (laughing at us hysterically) approached us and explained that it was just a baby and that we should not be scared, but that the adult seagulls had attacked her dog one time.... very odd indeed.

Saturday was a lovely day.  We started out with coffee, bread, swiss cheese & a fresh tomato, then set off to find a beautiful place to lounge for a while before heading back to Barcelona.

Palamós.  Beach.  Around 3:30am.  

By 12:20 or so, we had found our camp spot of choice... basically just on the sand.  We wrapped ourselves in our rad new blankets and attempted sleeping.  By 3 am we had been spooning for nearly 3 hours, but our blankets and body heat were no match for the cold ocean, night breeze.  At the point that these pictures were taken (oh my god, look at sara. so great.), we had decided to pack up our shit and try to beg a nearby hotel to let us sleep for really cheap, and if all else failed, we would walk around until the sun came up... anything to not be frozen.  We walked to Hotel Marina looking pretty pathetic, not really knowing how to approach the night hotel lady with our request, but desperately needing to sleep.

Sara: "estamos frios..." awkward silence (Sara and the cow blanket are lost for words at this point).

Night Hotel lady: "Que?" 

Ali: "Hola señora, hemos caminado mucho y no podemos encontrar habitación y nesecitamos dormir......"  (basically, we're two young girls with limited funds and are desperately in need of a place to sleep.  please help us)

Long story short, we got the room for 20 euros, collapsed into a king sized bed at around 4 am and woke up feeling ridiculous, but refreshed.

Palamós. Beach. Around Midnight. 

We sat here for close to three and a half hours, ate way to many potato chips and generally killed time before heading to our sandy bed.

After our Vol Damm's on the beach, and finding blankets to keep us warm for the upcoming beach camp out, we walked around the town a bit and found this lovely wall on which we ate our home made veggie soup, enjoyed the port at dusk, and watched these funny pre-pubescent boys smoking pot, listening to Bob Marley and generally thinking they were pretty cool.  All of a sudden, we were approached by a seemingly friendly woman who proceeded to interrogate us about where we were sleeping because her husband worked at a campsite, and it was closed for the season and she wanted to let us know that we would not be able to camp (we were such obvious out-of-towners).  Then another woman came up to join the conversation which basically consisted of Sara and I sitting quietly and these two strangers arguing amongst themselves over where we should sleep.  They decide that we should try to sleep in a 'habitación' above a restaurant that woman #1 knows about, and woman #2 offers (but more like decides) to walk us there.  Keep in mind that Sara and I have already decided to sleep on the beach and are so confused as to how we have been finagled into following woman #2 around the town.  After visiting two different restaurants, we end up in some sort of house rental office where woman #2 has a friend who she thinks can find us a room.  The scene culminates with me, Sara, the rental office woman, the rental office man, another random woman and her daughter all in this tiny office and the random woman offering us a room in her house for 40 euros.  Naturally, Sara and I decline the offer because we have had our mind set on sleeping for free this whole time, and leave the office and woman #2 laughing and wondering how in the hell that whole situation came to fruition.  Time for another beer.

According to the friendly lady behind the Sarfa Bus window, Palamós is not only beautiful, but also relatively cheap (a very important stipulation of our destination).  Upon arriving in Palamós, we visited every singly hostel in the town and did not find a room for less than 50 euro per night.  Sooo.... yeah.  That's really expensive therefor Sara and I made the decision to sleep on the beach for free instead.  This picture depicts me feeling a bit dejected after our beach-sleeping-decision and needing a beer.

By the recommendation of the friendly lady behind the Sarfa Bus window, we ended up in this lovely coastal town called Palamós.

And then the fun really begins...

On Friday October 2nd my dear friend, Sara Crowder, and I decided that we needed to get the hell out of Barcelona and embarked on a completely unplanned adventure to Costa Brava (which is apparently a very large place).  Being directed only by the recommendations of friendly Spaniards who we met along the way, the story unfolds... and oh what a story.  The above picture took place about 3 hours, 3 train stations and 3 trains from the time that we left our lovely home in Gracia.  I am trying to pose with the pigeon.  It is not working very well.  Location: train station, Girona, Spain.