Wow, Here we are in Barcelona. Let me just say that the bus ride was probably some of the worst 8 hours of my life. First, the trip started with Marcy getting her purse stolen, right from the middle of a group of us standing in a circle surrounding our bags. We think the guy that randomly asked if we were waiting for a taxi was the destraction while someone else snatched the purse. Sneaky. Then, began the WORSTbusrideEVER. It was absolutely impossible to sleep, my knees were shoved up against the seat in front of me, and at one point I woke up with my lunch in my lap. And then my cookies fell on the bus floor. . . and. . .well heh. . .I still ate them. One of the old guys sitting across the aisle was snoring like it was his freakin job. Also, somehow, mine and Christina's lunches got mixed up. **YOu need to understand this - Christina is from Trinidad and she brought with her this muy muy picante sauce - worse than tobasco (tobasco, i can handle). She puts it on everything like it's ketchup - I put a drop in my soup one night and that was plenty more than enough.** ok, the stage is set. So our lunches got mixed up, I guess. And I could not figure out why the heck my sandwhich was sooo spicy. But it didn't really taste all that bad so I ate it, it was actually pretty good. Then I found the zumo naranja (orange juice). I only had pineapple juice in my lunch. And Christina was right next to me when I discovered this. We had a pretty good laugh. Then some obnoxious American kid who had been loud the entire first hour of the trip told us to shut the f. up, AFTER Christina apologized. And we were at the rest stop! actually being relatively quiet compared to what you might expect when everyone is moving around and on and off the bus! Capullo. Anyway, so we finally get to our youth hostel in the Gothis quarter (exactly where Margaret, our director, explicitly told us NOT to stay). And, yes, it is in a sketchy alley area. It is really cool, though, to be at this place of intersection with all these travelers. We are in an 18-bed miexed dorm. Tati and I are opposite each other but poor Christina is in the corner on the far end of teh room. However, most people kind of keep to themselves. The guy sleeping in the bottom part of my bunk is, as Sean would say, ballin'. He's got a partly shaved head with dreads, piercings, and a sleeveless cutoff tee. He sleep sforever. He has been sleeping ALL DAY long. In the hostel, there is a whole bunch of random art on the walls, benches, mirrors, in the kitching - I assume is done by travellers, and it is really COOL! I think I could live this way. We saw the Catedral de Barcelona first, and then recoverd with a huge meal at this tavern where Tati and Christina ate a WHOLE fish each. (See photo). There are 6 more of us in a hostel across Barcelona by the beach. They are in Seapoint, we are in A&A, right next to Las Ramblas, Plaza Real, and Mercat de Boquerilla. Tonight I want to go up Tibidabo mountain for the sunset and see a panorama of the city. Man I really love travelling. I could do this forever.