Today I woke up at 7:30 in the morning, in order to make it for my 8:45 deadline for my tour to Montserrat and the Cavas winery. It began with a little bit of a rough start however. When I arrived at the designated meeting place; Placa Catalunya, which is just off La Rambla, there was no tour bus in sight. I walked around the entire square, and all I could see were city buses. I placed a panicked, and rather b****y phone call to Mom, when it was 1:00 in the morning her time, and there wasn't very much she could do. I was about to throw in the towel, and just head back to the hostel, when I saw a tour bus at the end of the square. I ran across the street after a red light (after ensuring that I would not end up splayed across somebody's windshield) and approached the driver, who told me that he was indeed going to Montserrat...just without me in tow. I spotted a woman with the same stupified expression on her face, who had the same problem. For some reason, one which I cannot recall, we stumbled across a tiny white van, which just so happened to be our tour "bus". It appeared as though someone had thrown me a bone, so we all climbed into the seats and introduced ourselves. Jack was from Ireland, and coincidentally moving to Calgary, and then there was Jane from New Zealand (the frazzled one). Jack and I spent most of the drive talking about Calgary. I tired to convince him that -10 degrees is indeed a mild day in January. He didn't seem too keen on that. It took about an hour or so to get to the top of the mountain. Thank god it doesn't snow here, or you wouldn't be able to make it up alive. We started our trek with breakfast, and then began what our guide had described as a nice "walk," which ended up leaving Jane on the verge of an asthma attack, forcing her to go back, and I felt as though my heart was going to explode. When we got to the top (which was really worth the view), I was enlightened on the fact that I could have taken a tram to the top, saving me the two hours, and perhaps would have left my dignity intact. Our guide turned out to be not much of a guide. He turned us loose for an hour or so, when we saw the Cathedral, and a statue of the Virgin Mary, which apparently on some days, people cue for hours just to touch it. I thought it was slightly scary looking to be honest. After that discovery, we were off to the winery, where we were greeted by a less than enthusiastic French tour guide, who in my opinion, is exceptionally disillusioned with his job. We saw the entire factory, before trying out some of the wares, which were very good. After that, we headed home, where our ghetto fabulous tour guide dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. I helped the Kiwi get home, as she obviously had no clue where she was going, before heading back to the hostel. Despite the guide's shortcomings, the trip was fantastic, and definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. I think I am leaving the hostel at the right time though, a bunch of obnoxious people checked in today, and I don't need to travel to Spain to deal with that, I can get enough of it at home.

which ended