I had an avid interest in Spain & I had hoped that the 3 weeks we had to explore the country would not only validate those feelings but at the same time be so much more. Looking back on our time in Spain my heart is warmed, it was a very welcoming country - the locals are all so enthused by their traditions and cultures it really is beautiful.

Our first stop was Barcelona and I'm not sure how many of you have experienced central Barcelona but its seriously a rabbit warren to say the least! Once again we were lost wondering the streets in search of our hostel in the blistering heat carrying 20 odd kilos of luggage each sweating in places you didn't know could sweat so bad. This common occurrence that we have is one Kael is none too fond of. But I can't help finding myself taking a moment to enjoy not only the city we've just stumbled into but the journey that we take to get from place to place, each time its unique and of the unknown. 'traveling' presses on your relationship each and every time, communication skills, team work and consideration and to be honest I'm glad we've got a long time to get this right because quite honestly I'm so used to taking the lead and being in charge that I'm not the best when it comes to 'team' work or even 'consideration' for poor Kael lugging around my 24kg of personal items.. And well communication, that's yelling at each other when your lost right!? Or blaming the other person if something goes wrong!? Yea we communicate... But I dare say we're getting better at all of it, laughter is the key!
When we finally step foot in our hostel it's immediate relief that we once again 'belong' somewhere.

Trying to find your way through central Barcelona following a map is just about laughable, all the tiny streets running from one place to the next you will never take the same route twice to get anywhere.. No matter how hard you try. The best paella we had in Spain was actually on our first night and it happened to be my vegetarian paella at some hole in the wall restaurant we found. Simple yet very tasty... This was also the beginning of our Sangria binge (god knows what's in there but it's the only way you'll ever see me/us drinking red wine!) The streets are lined with bars, all of them sweltering & hot inside. Fans in every corner to circulate the sticky hot air. An Australian traveler just about everywhere you'd turn. We made sure to go to an evening of flamenco and tapas where we met some really cool people .... All of them Australian bar 2 Americans but we got some great tips on places to visit. By day we'd take the 'short' 45 minute walk to the beach to lay in the sun in hope of our skin changing color much like the other 200 odd people sitting on my lap, don't think I've ever seen a beach quite so full! (worse was soon to come) Its funny to think at home it would be considered so rude to be so close on a beach yet here you have no choice, that's Europe for you!!

Once we arrived in Valencia I seriously had no idea where to go so we took a taxi, much to Kale's relief and had a reasonably easy transition from train station to hostel. Here is where we would get ready for La Tomatina the worlds biggest food fight.. tomato, tomato, tomato!!!! 5 am rise to get ready for what felt like war. The bus station was infested with Australians, I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if I'd accidentally stepped inside a portal and been transported back to Australia without realizing! And jeezus some of them we're embarrassing. To the 'frothenhoffs' and their 'death' mix (Gatorade, redbull & vodka!) that they started drinking at 4am in order to behave like complete f*** wits - we were all so embarrassed to call ourselves Australian because of the way you behaved and contemplated putting on fake accents so we didn't have to be classed as the 'same' breed as you lot. GROW THE f*** UP! But anyway........ We get to Brunól and there is 2000lts of Sangria waiting for us..... OH s***! Bring on the 8am drinking binge. I honestly hadn't thought this through at all, downing sangria like its going out of fashion while chatting to Scott and Makka our new kiwi mates. We make our way to the street where it all happens its quite a walk and there are SO many people so you jam yourself into this street like a bunch of sardines in a can, literally, all trying to get close to that greased up ham pole where the best action is, we wait for 11am watching the people trying to climb up the pole in hope of reaching the ham at the top ( if you reach it you get the ham! If not your just covered in grease) 12 noon is when the carnage is due to begin and I'm BUSTING like I've never been busting before I couldn't move, I tried to find a toilet but they don't have any, f***. By this point they are hosing us down coz its hot and I guess so people don't get annoyed waiting around.. Everyone's chanting and there's a good vibe. Makka was the first to go down and take a piss amongst the crowd ( right about then I was wishing a had a willy!) eventually I couldn't take it anymore and I just had to piss on myself.... :/ not my finest moment but everyone else was doing it so what the hell! By now the Tomato trucks start flowing through the crowds and all human nature is lost and jungle mentality takes over; the only objective squish and throw tomatoes at anyone and everyone!!!! (and don't loose Kael!) it was by far one of the most intense hours of my life, right in the thick of the fight but wow it was so much fun! We had Tomato in places tomato just shouldn't be but so did everyone else. The thought of an after party just about made me cry but we did it & I'm glad coz it was a bloody good night! All in all one of the highlights of our trip so far for sure!
The next few days involved recovering from the fight, my body ached my head hurt & I soon came down with the flu, just in time for Ibiza... Yay :(

The first night in Ibiza was pretty much lost for me I could hardly get out of bed.. From our balcony we had the best view over Ushuaia (the hotel/club next to us that held huge dance parties every 2nd night) & Kael ended up befriending our Israeli neighbors and partying with them while I slowly died. During the day I would slug my way to the sun lounges by the pool to bake and sleep. We managed to go out on the Saturday night I just had to suck it up & see what Ibiza had on offer! I think we got home about 4am and slept for most of Sunday to try get rid of our nasty hangovers. Our crazy Israeli friends had told us about this club 'Amnesia' I think the name says it all! So we thought we'd give it a go........ I think we lasted about half an hour before we left, they were playing the most boring trance music & I wished I could of ripped my ears off! I have no doubt it would be a really cool place if a good DJ was playing but not the case the night we went, back to a bar for us! All in all Ibiza was great for sun &
fun, not so great for my health.. My flu had gotten level 20 worse because I'd ignored it and I would pay for this in Madrid!

Our hostel room in Madrid had no window, only air conditioning and after the first night Kael had the flu as well and mine was only getting worse. We spent most of the 3 days bed ridden in our prison cell of a room, on the last day we managed to go on a walking tour of the city which was cool as we both knew nothing about Madrid, we met yet another Aussie who was giving us the ins and outs of Portugal. We were really looking forward to our week in San Sebastian at this point as we both hoped we might actually recover after some good R&R!!

San Sebastian was perfect! We were right on the beach, right near a little deli and only a 10minute walk to the supermarket & about a 15 minute walk from Pinxtos (tapas) bar heaven! All I wanted to do was cook my own food and not eat out... We were both so over eating out! I treated my body to green smoothies and salads... So many fresh salads that week, it was great. San Sebastian is very famous for it Pinxtos 95% of the bars (and their are 100s of bars) are Pinxtos bars. We made sure to do a Pinxtos tour that would give us an insight about how you order and what etiquette was involved eg: throwing your napkin on the floor after you finish is a good thing, the bar owner thinks of it as if their are lots of napkins on the floor then they had a really good busy night! Kael was skeptical as always and we ended up having a really great night & meeting some really cool people who we'd end up drinking with until the wee hours of the morning! After a week of beaching and taking it easy we were both feeling much better and refreshed for Portugal.