Jenni n Max
So I wake up in Aino+Raki+Jenni’s appartment after partying till 6 am. Still drunk
and half asleep, I think I am sleeping next to Tom (in my mind I guess I’m still in England), and hug him from behind and start kissing ”Tom’s” back. Then I realize – wait a minute... I’m sleeping next to Aino... hahahah wtf. When she woke up I told her about my little misunderstanding.. failure :’D
Because I had decided to use at least 5€ or preferably 10€ less of my day budget from now on, so that I wouldn’t have to save so much for x-mas, I only had 10 euros left (excluding the hostel money). I had to be a little creative and resort my not-so-creative-pretty-standard-breakfast/lunch aka three bananas for 80 cents. Felt like backapcking again (after eating all those fancy dinners at Tom’s uncle’s place)... such a welcomed feeling ! I’ve been spending too much money anyways on shit I don’t need.
So me, Raki and Aino went to the beach (Jenni stayed behind with Max, the girls' Spannish mate) and Raki had a slightly embarrassing moment which will fortunately for her not be discussed in this blog.. ! :D It was my first time in five months to be at the beach – the last time was in Morocco and trust me, the beaches are nothing near pleasant. The beaches are heartbreakingly full of small chips of plastic and rubbish everywhere. It was truly overwhelming to surf on those beaches. I wish people would understand to take better care of our planet. The plastic bits reminded me of the picture I saw in the Sydney Aquarium demonstrating how a plastic wrapper is the most dangerous thing in the world - if thrown into the ground instead of a bin - since it will result in killing a lot of marine animals with its domino effect.
Anyways, back to the Barcelonetta Beach: it was nothing special, reminded me kind of the beach in St. Kilda, Melbourne. People who have been there know what I’m talking about. It’s a shit beach. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it but there’s heaps of better beaches compared to it. But anyhoo, I was just glad to be back on a beach again <3 I’m pretty chocked cause when I went out for a swim, I managed to loose my anklet aka ”jinklet” form Berlin.. :( My only souvenier from there (except Tom’s shirt hahahhaa).
I continued reading the book Tom had given me: The Marching Powder by Rusty Young. I can’t remember if I’ve written about this book, but it’s about Tom McFadden, a cocaine smuggler, who got arrested and locked up in the infamous San Pedro prison in Bolivia. What is special about this prison is that everything and i mean EVERYTHING costs there. The inmates have to pay for everything from food to a prison cell. The Prison is divided in five or was it six sections and all the wealthy business men and politicians live in the best sections with their wives and kids. These cells include a kitchen, their own bathroom, a tv, and other possessions the inmate would like to have. Where as ,the worst sections are so dangerous that they’re should not be entered at night. Since everything costs money, the inmates need a source of income, and believe it or not, they continue doing inside what they do best: make cocaine. Apparently the best cocaine in the world comes out of San Pedro prison.
Anyways, it is a f*cking good book, went straight to my top reads straight away. I recommend it to everyone. And the best thing is, it is a TRUE STORY.
After the beach i sussed out on google maps where my hostel was and although Jenni was trying to convince me to take a 4 euro taxi there, I figured that hey, if I am backpacking, I should start behaving like one and hold onto my pennies :D So I walked to my hostel and loved the feeling of having to ask directions in my poor Spannish and not being quite sure how I’d reach my hostel. See, it is my basic strategy: I NEVER can be bothered to really look at the directions that thoroughly. I’ll just write the street name down and see what direction I have to go in to get the sense of going the right way. Then i’ll just start walking staright and every once in a while ask for directions. So I have literally NO IDEA what so ever, how to get to my hostel/station/any place ever at all. I just like to throw myself to the mercy of the locals! Best thing eva. As I was walking to my hostel I realized it was the first time I had been alone for quite some time now ! Before that I had been hanging with the girls, with Dan and Mia, I also visited Edwina, stayed with Tom for 5 days, and before that 4 days with Melanie in Amsterdam (although I did do a day trip alone to Utrecht) + other people before this. So it felt really nice to be alone :)
When I got to my room I started talking to this guy in my room and after a while I asked him where he was from ”Australia” ”oh sweet, and what’s your name?” ”Tom” ”NOOOOOO!!!!!”. I remember just thinking ”fucking hell, not again :D”. It was a bit hilarious to see the expression on his face.. he was like ”umm... what’s the matter... :s” ”ohijustseemtohavethistingwithtomsfromaustralia, never mind :D”. Luckily he was leaving the next morning so I didn’t have to worry about falling in love with him HAH ! :D
I also did my first share of grocery shopping in a long time... once again, I welcomed the feeling of backpacking ! I was super stoked when I was at Carrefour since I noticed that God’s gift to humanity aka a bottle of wine was only 1,49€ / bottle... oh yes. The thought of a nice meal (ravioli and almost ready salad...) with a glass of red wine seemed very tempting so I bought a bottle for myself to enjoy. But when returning home, I discovered that I had no knowledge nor skills of how to pull out the cork. So I asked this 40-year-old guy to help me open it and he did , as well as share some pretty relevant things about opening the bottle: ”it might help if you take the wrapper off ;)”. Oh hi, I have blonde hair.
I was pleased that I managed to spend only 10 euros that day (+hostel) but I was tying to figure out whether I should go to the beach and drink some wine with Jenni, Aino and Raki and some Californian guys or just stay home and read my book + update my blog + get a good nights rest and wake up early tomo to go on the walking tour. Called the girls but they were too tired to leave their flat so I went out with Darcy, this Aussie kid from my room. We went to his mate’s hostel which was so much nigger than ours. It was pretty lively and the bar was packed and full of lets-get-the-backpackers-drunk-games. We played flipcup and loved how everyone was chanting my fav games starting theme song :D Left home half past one when the others were going to a bar. I figured I didn’t want to go sit in a cocktail lounge (wtf who goes there?) reeking of beer (thanks for the bartender’s stupid let’s-pour-beer-straight-from-the-jugs-into-girls-mouths = immediate fail). Came home and checked my hostel reservation online and talked to this handsome ICELANDIC (!!! siiiick, how rare!) guy. His name was Ari... Just like Finnish !
