There have been so many amazing sunsets so far, and I finally captured one in time lapse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aN8N_T6Sdg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I also took a photosphere for you viewing pleasure which can be found here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/118350531057161466312/albums/5951374636729039137/5951374637605131554?pid=5951374637605131554&oid=118350531057161466312
My first shift behind the bar started at 7 pm after a day of chilling on the beach playing my ukulele and an hour or so out at sea on a kayak where I typically got sun burned everywhere I forgot to/ missed with sun cream, luckily not my face this time.
I quickly learned how to make a basic mojito as they seemed to be the most popular drink that night. The other volunteers were super helpful and great fun. at around 1 am a fairly large group of what I'm guessing were rich Peruvian girls arrived and they brought along with them a whole new crazy, out of control party animal vibe. Before we knew it they had gotten behind the bar and were all jumping up and down shouting "shots shots shots....." They then proceeded to climb onto the bar and dance on it nearly falling and causing all kinds of mischief. By 4am (we close at 3am fri-sat) we had to cut people off and try to start moving them towards the exits.
I was told it had not been that crazy many times since the hostel opened 3 months ago. The following night was such a contrast, where we (the staff) sat and played card games while I chose the music, everyone was gone by two and this felt like half a shift in comparison, I forgot mention that I went and chilled out and chatted for an hour in the middle.
So far I couldn't be happier here.
(Please excuse the hasty feel to this post, I had been writing it for 3 days and I managed to lose it :-( this is my best effort to recreate)
Twas November The 12th and the skies of Coventry were a brilliant blue. after a perfect send off from friends and family I began my quest for adventure and headed to Heathrow. I hopped across to Amsterdam where I was pleased to be able to leave the airport and indulge in the local culture I spent a few hours surrounded by chocolate covered waffles and strawberry haze, I then returned to the airport and boarded a plane headed for Peru where I was hit with an immediate realisation that I had forgotten my Spanish when the people sitting either side of me didn't speak any English what so ever. The journey was 12 hours 12 minutes which my tablet battery sadly couldn't survive for but KLM were a great air host and there was a wealth of entertainment at my fingertips including films, games, TV shows and music. They also brought out several meals, snacks and rounds of drinks which eliminated the need to ask for anything.
Upon arrival in the capital Lima I was swamped by taxi drivers all trying to coax me into their taxis, all in Spanish and all at full speed. After 10 minutes or so of broken Spanish, discussing safety etc and sifting through maps I made the decision to sleep in the airport and continue my journey the following day.
The next day I woke up and jumped in a taxi to one of Limas bus stations and boarded a surprisingly nice coach which included such luxuries as movies dubbed in Spanish, blueberry croissants and a nice Spanish lady who talked to me for hour despite me showing little sign of understanding.
I arrived in pisco where I jumped in a taxi with a really cool local guy from chincha who for some reason I had no trouble conversing with and we talked and laughed all the way to paracas where I quickly found the hostel where I was greeted warmly even through the reception stack were not necessarily expecting me. I was straight away shown my room and given a look around. I have taken a quick video tour which can be found here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91OVZTIOJ04&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The new things I've experienced while in Spain have been numerous and I have compiled a list of the significant ones so far. Since being here I have tried:
Sea food beyond my comfort zone which included kalamari and weird looking but surprisingly tastely muscles and shell fish, squids. Sardines and many other things which I forget the names of.
Temperatures of over 35° which just turns me into a sticky potato :-)
Siestas or sleeping in the day I must say when successful they are great, but more often than not I just fall into a deep sleep and feel groggy when I wake. Ill continue to work on this.
Running, I've gone for a few runs just round the village and up some.pretty steep hills and its something I can definitely see myself continueing back in the UK and where ever the wind takes me beyond there.
Olives. Being as though Andalucia is the biggest producer of olives in the world (acording to what I've heard) when I arrived here I made it my mission to like them by the time I depart. Since ordering a small portion of them with most of my beers I think its safe to say that I now truely enjoy the taste.
And the final thing on the list was I bought my first bottle of wine and with the same attitude as with the olives I thinks its a worth while thing to acquire a taste for, however I think I'm along way off still, but there's plenty more time for that :-)
I couldn't find pictures to represent all of these, but this is what I have.
This weekend in as nearby village they were celebrating the Fiesta de Tapas (festival of tapas) where drinks were cheap and a free plate of tapas Acompanied each one.
It was also 36° so the kids were all running around throwing water at each other and the adults which I'm afraid to say included me were veging and babbling in Spanish in the shade desperately try to keep energy expenditure to a minimum. Overall it was great fun and lots (and lots) of tapas was consumed.
This weekend was an interesting one. I spent the last three days in Seville where I saw a lot of sites.
On Friday night I arrived very late and was hanging out with a group of Portuguese folks who were very merry indeed. Then in the evening I went out with a french couple, two Greek girls and three girls from new Zealand where we went for a walk along the "river" which has actually been sealed off at one end making into into a canal, this was very interesting with nice looking bridges and plenty of busy tapas bars open all the way along.
On Saturday I took the walking tour with the hostel where a very eccentric polish girl who knew a surprising amount about the history of Seville but managed to keep the group engaged and didn't fail to amuse took us on a three hour tour of many of the main sites, most notable of which was the plaza Maria Louisa which was an amazing park full of lush greenery and plenty of small pathways leading into the trees, this was actually the first time I've seen proper grass since I've been here. At the end is a huge semi circular building which could not fit into a regular picture and therefore I had to capture it using a panoramic. I was also informed by fellow travellers that this place was used in star wars episode 2 attack of the clones, and at that point I was hit with a profound sense that I had been there before, I look forward to finding the scene and seeing which parts they used and which parts were made with blue screens and other film wizardry. (since writing this I have discovered the video and if you are interested in which part of the film the scene is, just simply search YouTube for maria Louisa star wars and there is a one minute video for you to enjoy)
On Sunday I spent the day with the three french girls with whom I was sharing a dorm room, and we made a trip to Real Alcazar, which is the royal palace, from when the city was in its Moorish era and it was so incredibly huge that even being conservative I came out with well over 50 pictures, all I thought were to good to miss. This was a 3 hour trip and I would say we probably only managed to see just over half of it, after this hunger lead to us making a quick exit and looking for the nearest non touristy , that is without a menu with english on, tapas restaurante.
And on Monday I went up to the top of the local attraction, which I just called the mushroom and got a nice panoramic of the very flat city of Seville.
Today after work I went for a walk to the local village/town of Villanueva de Algaidas. Which is a very pretty little place with a nice collection of fountains which I seem to have taken the most pictures of since I got to Spain.
A nice little park and a piece of art Which really sums up Andalucia. "The world of olives"
Lovely wall of flowers, a churchy type building and a giant (or seemingly giant) cricket and a headless statue at the centre
And a view off the one tree hill which my ukulele pictures were taken from.
