The beach at Almuñecar

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Originally uploaded by cutiebooty.

Mahira and Robin

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Trip to the beach. They are singing or something.

Viejos

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Originally uploaded by cutiebooty.

There are such cute little old people in Granada. Look at the guy on the left. How can you not love him?

My roommates

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Originally uploaded by cutiebooty.

This is Camille (left) and Rose (or Camila and Rosa as our mamá calls them). They are my roommates in Granada.

VESPAS!

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They are everywhere and some sidewalks have their own street corners dedicated to parking them.

The streets

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Originally uploaded by cutiebooty.

This is what we call AT LAST

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Originally uploaded by cutiebooty.

Sorry guys I had so much trouble getting my camera and these computers to work together in peace and harmony- actually they never did but I improvised. Enjoy

Cascais, custard and cabos

Went to visit Thomas this weekend in Portugal. It was so good to see family, even if only for two days. He showed us so much. Of Lisboa and the surrounding areas. We went by bus both ways (about 30 hours/way). I don´t know how people tour on buses except for the fact that they have beds. Ok so that wouldn´t be bad. We went from Madrid to Lisboa on one bus. Our busdriver was so great. There were about 7 portugese men on the bus and my two friends and I. I sat in one seat by the second entrance about halfway back. I had my chair leaned back and was sleeping curled up in both of the seats (remember folks, I´m only 5´1" thanks to my fabulous genetic structure so I can do that-you can see what is happening in a crowd of people that are tall, I can curl up and sleep like a puppy anywhere...no cause to be jealous). The busdriver comes by on one of our stops and tells me in portugese (which I do NOT speak) that my seat leans back all the way into a bed. When he realizes I understood like two of those words, he proceeds to show me. PLOP! I fall backward abruptly onto the seat behind me. Everyone else wants to change seats with me they tell me in Portugese (this I understand). I tell them that´s ok and that if you snooze you lose...I snooze I get a bed. We finally arrived in Lisboa at 5:45am. Thomas met us and took us around the city with one of his advisors, Linda. She was wonderful. She showed us MAFRA, Cabo da Roca, Hell´s mouth (i think that was what it was called), a convent made by Franciscan monks that was like a cave in a mountain that they had made everything out of stone and cork, a mock Versailles built by portugese royalty, a view of a moorish castle and the ruins of another monestary on the top of the mountain and Sintra, a beautiful town whose houses were built in the 1600s. The next day we went to Belem and had Paisdais de Belem which is a pastry that they are famous for. THey like custard a lot. I also had Galao which is coffee with more milk than coffee...very good as I am a tea kind of girl. WE saw the president´s residence, the river and a monument to the discoverers/explorers. Then we went to Cascais to the beach. Beautiful cold atlantic ocean. We got a little burned but not bad...pinkish. Then we went to the Castle of St. George which has a beautiful view of the city. It was amazing. The whole thing was a blur yet relaxing. We saw so much and yet nothing at all. The time spent with them was so fun. I also met Thomas´s house mom Doña Ana...she spoke portugese to me and I spoke spanish to her...somehow we understood each other most of the time. She make fun of Thomas because he doesn´t speak as much portugese as she thinks that he does. Too cute though. Sorry had to describe all of this. The computer does not like my USB cord so although I have about 600+ pictures of everything, I am unable as of yet to publish them to the blog. I am working on it though. Ciao. DOS besos (one for each cheek).

Salsa is red hot

Well, it is the truth. Whether you get the american version in a restaurant with cilantro (my preference when referring to mexican food) or the often mistaken for foreign salsa which is the dance that was actually invented in the grand old U.S. of A. in New York! Oddly enough more hispanic countries practice this dance. It is so much fun. We salsa-ed four nights in a row last week and we were sooo tired by Wednesday that we had to take a break and just chill. Which is equally as fun and entertaining. Story first though: so it is Sunday night...our very first Salsa dance lesson ever. It was so much fun. We stood in lines and practiced the steps like a dance routine. Until...dun-dun-da...Alfredo. like the sauce and equally as formless. It was fun don´t get me wrong. He looks like a computer science/calculus teacher with glasses he keeps pushing up and pants that are so high up that you can´t quite tell where his chest is. note: salsa is very much about moving the hips. Alfredo has none. he shuffles his feet to make up for this. BUT he despirately wants to dance...with you. YOU who have never had a salsa lesson other than today and with a partner? Well, you just better hope that he is good. But he doesn´t know what he is about to do much less let you know. So he pulls and pushes you around the dance floor until you have severly tripped over yourself and him. KEY to dancing with a partner guys: use firm arms to let the girl know exactly what you are going to do. Better yet, your friends are off to the background laughing histerically and taking tons of pictures. OH yes. You vow never to try it again...until salsa lesson no. 2 at Chicago´s on Monday night.

Dame mas Gasolina

Ok so that has nothing at all to do with this post, but it is a really fun song to dance to. Today we were in Córdoba and had a grand time even though it was a three hour bus ride there and back. The mosque that we went to that is part of the city square is a beautiful mixture of cultures. It was originally built in like the 700s AD and was a mosque (an Islamic place of worship). They expanded it three times so it is huge...capable of housing 44,000 people. CRAZY! It was finished in 900 AD and then the reconquisition began and the Christians began to kick out both the Jewish poopulation (I realize I spelled that wrong but it was too funny to erase...I´m tired.). They built a cathedral right smack in the middle of this mosque. It is mad interesting. They also have a jewish quarter but no jews. Those Spaniards. The spanish phrase for today is ¡por supuesto! this means ¡of course! I like to say it like an italian and raise my hand and say "but of course!" I also like the upside down exclamation marks and question marks and the siestas a lot. Esta bien. I think that it is a good day for helado (ice cream). It´s hot. Or Paris Hilton´s version...that´s hot. Ok I´ve reached a new low. Hasta for now kids.