Ola, Espana

Day 1.
Spanish madness.
Almost equal to the positivity of a Flaming Lips show.
I was sitting in a small café in the Gothic area of Barcelona’s downtown core when Spain scored that overtime goal against The Netherlands. Up until that point, people were fairly low-key, sipping sangria and chattering with people around them.
I was with my friends (and very hospitable tour guides) Erin and Juancho when the tiny enclave erupted with cheers.
Ten minutes later, the streets were full of chaos as we headed towards the core of it all – Las Ramblas.
Fans cladded in Torres jerseys blew those annoying horns while people who lived in the towers three storeys up threw buckets full of water onto them. A guy picked me up, hugged me and spun me around while he was cheering.
Las Ramblas – a narrow island that makes up the main downtown strip – were full of people in red and yellow celebrating; others in orange mourning. All safe, all friendly. Some people draped in Spanish flags jumped onto lamp posts and celebrated that way.
Barcelona being the scooter city it is had hordes of motorcycles and scooters beeping with passengers waving flags as they approached red lights and stop signs. We got back to Erin and Juancho’s friend’s place where they were dogsitting around 1 a.m. and I was woken up by the honking, which didn’t stop until about 4 a.m.
I’m glad I was there to be apart of it.
Erin and Juancho gave me a good sample of Barcelona yesterday, showing me the medieval cathedrals, Las Ramblas and the Metro system. We ate tapas. We saw famous architect Antoni Guadi’s melting buildings. It was a lot of just walking around, which is exactly what I was looking for.
There’s something slightly intimidating of traveling alone – and maybe more so when you’re a girl going solo – but when you dive into it, there’s no better way to go.
Right now, I’m on a train en route to Pamplona.
The countryside landscapes are beautiful.
Coincidentally, I traveled with a girl from Guelph on the plane ride here (She paid $220 for a one-way direct ticket to Barcelona, lucky girl) and I just met Ian, a guy from Waterloo who walked the El Camino de Santiago and is also going to Pamplona.
I’ve made up my mind. I WILL run with the motherfucking bulls on Wednesday.
Wish me luck.