Spain and Beyond

Daily Drena: Culture Shock

Today we have to leave our wonderful farmhouse, so we pack up and head towards the real world. It has rained all day yesterday, so we are a bit worried about crossing the now larger stream on the road, but after an evaluation stop and moving a few debris away, Blacky 2 takes on the challenge with no issues. Our destination is the Barcelona airport to turn in the car, and we intend to use public transportation for the rest of the trip. Driving anywhere around here is an adventure in itself, and driving through Barcelona doesn’t disappoint. The signs are only in Catalan, and we probably would have been mostly ok if we didn’t have to get off the main road to get gas before the airport, but we did and navigating back on was no easy feat. We ended up at the airport an 1:15 min later than planned, but luckily the car rental didn’t care. After a train ride and a couple metro transfers, we finally arrive at our new place at 3:30, with check in at 4. Funny, because we thought we were going to have to hang out for hours in Barcelona with our luggage, but somehow traveling managed to fill the entire day. We have just enough time to get some cash for the place, so we send Drew off to the ATM with both our cards. He comes back with only one card and only half the cash. The ATM got hungry for his card, and there’s no one at the bank to resolve the issue. Hopefully, since we are nearing the end of our trip, it won’t be a big deal. The first couple of weeks of the trip, my ATM card wasn’t working, so we are now extra glad that we were able to get that issue figured out.

The apartment is on the fifth floor and is cute but tiny, and there’s an unnecessarily huge, nice deck (the deck is bigger than the rest of the apartment). HOWEVER, we have an issue. Internet was promised but doesn’t exist. What are we to do? The lady promises to bring us a little box for email only, and directs us to two next door internet cafes. No actual drinks involved; they are pay-by-the hour cafes, straight from the 90’s, with the computers and the weird smell that started in the 90s too. With a town so large and modern as Barcelona, we laugh that this is the first place that we are completely let down by the internet existence.

We sure know how to shock ourselves out of tranquility. I will be here for 10 days, but I think Drew is glad to be headed back to the airport tomorrow. He’s planned a spur of the moment, adventuresome week. To be explained in the next post…