Back in the Western World

DAY 255: Being in Spain, I was back in the Western World. On a morning walk to make a reservation at the train station, I saw the familiar images of scantily-clad women on billboards and the sounds of Vespas whizzing by. No longer would I be hearing Arabic, I was back to the language of Spanish, which I learned during the first two weeks of The Trip. However, the main difference between Latin American Spanish and European Spanish (other than some words being used differently) is that the Europeans pronounce their soft C's with a lispy TH sound. I'm told that this was because a former king of Spain had a lisp and they changed the language entirely to suit him.

SEBASTIAN SLEPT IN A COUPLE HOURS later than I did as usual, but was up by mid-day for us to check out. While killing time before my three o'clock train ride to Madrid, we moped around the port city, from its big food market to its pedestrian malls and its Plaza Alta (picture above). It was all still a big cultural shock for me having been in Africa for the past four months, but slowly I came to accept the new Western vibe. I wasn't however, ready for European prices, but that would pass.

In attempts to eat on the cheap, Sebastian and I just bought bread, Laughing Cow cheese and tomatoes at the market and made sandwiches at a lookout point of the Rock of Gibraltar. I had tried to buy fresh basil leaves for an added kick, only to be sold mint leaves instead.

After our minty sandwiches we check out the bus situation for Sebastian's departure. He was about to buy a ticket to Cadiz until a taxi driver offered to drive him and whoever else headed to Cadiz for a cheaper price than the bus since he was going there anyway. I had heard this ploy before in Egypt, but as Sebastian said, "You can trust a taxi driver here more than you can in Morocco." He and an Australian woman traveling to Cadiz split the fee and rode off, but not before Sebastian and I had a final goodbye.

"Thanks for doing all the French speaking," I said to him. "And thanks for calling me the youngest twenty-nine year-old you know. You'll be thinking about me when you're twenty-nine."

"Yeah, I know that I won't be married and I'll still be fun."

We decided to keep in touch and made tentative plans for a rendezvous in his hometown of Vancouver. Perhaps we'd talk about cartoons then.

MY TRAIN SIX-HOUR TRAIN TO MADRID was pretty straightforward as I whizzed by the hills of Andalucia. Second class on a Western European train was nice, with air-conditioning and headsets to listen to the in-car movies, Basic and Hollywood Homicide, both dubbed in Spanish with the lispy soft C's. Once in Madrid I felt at home again, a big modern city like New York where my intuition led me with no confusion or second-guessing at all. I had two hours to take the local city Metro to get from the Atocha station to the Chamartin one, which was safe and easy, despite the fact that it was the Madrid underground was the victim of the terrorist attack in 2003. More Western images filled my eyes, from teen fashions (no more galabiyyas here) to iPod billboards through the subway tunnels.

A sandwich at the Chamartin station staved my hunger for the meantime as I boarded the overnight train to Barcelona, my final destination of a long journey since Fez, Morocco. I took my second train of the night and rode straight on 'til morning...

If you enjoy this daily travel blog, please post a comment! Give me suggestions, send me on missions, let me know how things are going back home in the USA. Knowing that I have an audience will only force me to make this blog more entertaining as the days go by. Don´t forget to bookmark it and let a friend know!

Posted by Erik on July 3, 2004 08:13 PM
TrackBack | Category: European Union

HEY ALL... Greetings from Valencia, Spain... sorry I'm behind on writing, but it's all a matter of circumstance: I'm traveling with my friend Jack who met me in Barcelona... He's more of Night Guy and I'm sort of a Morning / Day Person, so between the two of us hanging out, there really aren't enough hours in the day to do stuff AND write about it. (Don't worry I'm taking notes.) Plus, like I said before, internet cafes here are hard to come by since people usually are connected in the home, and the cafes that ARE out there are franchaise ones that don't really let you hook up cameras and stuff...

So bear with me! (New readers, it's not usually like this.)

To make a long story short, I met Jack in Barcelona and we hung out for three days there. I also met up longtime Blogreader Bill (who've I've never met before), who recognized me at random at the Barcelona train station. (I was wearing my TGT shirt.)

Currently I'm with Jack in Valencia, crashing his friend Juan's apartment... We're off to Pamplona on an overnight bus tonight for the famous Fiesta de San Fermin, aka the notorious Running of The Bulls...

Pray I survive. Blog you later!

Posted by: Erik on July 5, 2004 09:01 AM

BEAR WITH ME GUYS... I was robbed last night (Friday) in Valencia after I sort of took a 20-minute nap on the beach outside this club for Jack's big last night out... Wallet (and 50 euros) and camera (the new one)gone...

I'm safe though, no cards were stolen this time -- EXCEPT the MEMORY CARD with photos from the past five days... Total bummer... GRRRRR....

I didn't have time to do a backup before the robbery, so I will have to post pictures of my video stills and Jack's camera...

BTW, the wallet and camera have already been replaced within the day...

SORRY TO KEEP YOU ALL WAITING FOR ENTRIES! Jack leaves tomorrow, leaving me to be alone again with The Blog...

Posted by: Erik on July 10, 2004 01:42 PM

HEY ALL... Bear with me... these may come in piecemeal... in the Western World, a lot of people have internet at home so internet cafes aren't as widespread as in developing nations...

Posted by: Erik on July 3, 2004 02:44 PM

Erik - also, with the letter X (as in Xavier), it's pronounced "sh." Just something I've learned having an office in Spain and international conference calls with them!

Is this the new camera?
Piecemeal is better than none at all - I'm fine with it! :)

Posted by: Noelle on July 3, 2004 10:00 PM

LOVE YOUR BLOG...Your sense of humor mixed with the your writing style-mixture of oberservation and dialogue-make it so easy to read (without getting bored I might add)! Looking forward to reading along to the end of your trip-and to pick up some tips for mine...keep writing; we're reading!

Posted by: knp on July 4, 2004 11:39 AM

On your way to Barcelona, eh? It's a beautiful city! Make sure you check out Gaudi's Sagrada Famiglia...amazing cathedral!

And hey, just don't mention my name down there especially in the clubs, it can get you in trouble... ;-)

Word Life!

Moman

Posted by: Moman on July 5, 2004 01:22 AM

Hello Erik,
I just had to stop and tell you that you kick ass... Someone (maybe you?) posted your site on LP and I decided to check it out, and, hands down, this is the best blog I've ever encountered. I've been catching up on your past year since about 11:00pm. It is 4:00am. Pity me.

Posted by: Nicole on July 5, 2004 08:16 AM

NICOLE / KNP: Hey there and welcome! Glad you enjoy... sorry you're joining in at a time when I can't really upload or write everyday (entries used to be a regular daily event for the Blog Hogs)... but I suppose there's plenty of entries for you to catch up on!

NICOLE: "best blog you've encountered?"... I'm blushing...

Posted by: Erik on July 5, 2004 08:50 AM

BILL: Yaaaar... shiver me timbers!

Great to meet up with you! Your appearance on "The Trinidad Show" will be uploaded soon...

Keep in touch, we could meet up again...

Posted by: Erik on July 5, 2004 08:54 AM

ERIK - i don't think it matters if you get a stamp or not in the EU now...

i never got one in paris last year...

how was being in EU for the eurocup?

GREEK STYLE!

Posted by: markyt on July 5, 2004 10:23 AM

ERIK: I've been visiting your site since about two weeks ago and only now that I found time to post this. I was able to visit your folks in New Jersey last May.

Ok just wanna say I'm proud of you. Have fun and see you here in your Philippine leg of your Global trip.

Posted by: TITO PEPITO on July 6, 2004 01:09 AM

Erik,
you asked a while back if your trip/blog inspired anyone out there. Well, just to let you know, as a long time blog reader, you have certainly inspired me to get out there and travel. Your incredible attitude in the face of adversity, sense of humor when things get down, friendly and youthful spirit and not to mention discipline in writing this blog are very instructional and also inspirational. I've since gotten myself around Switzerland on my first overseas trip alone and am going to china for 2 months at the end of the year. Thanks for keeping up with the blog!
- a blog fan from sunny santa monica

Posted by: melisa on July 6, 2004 03:19 AM

GREETINGS FROM PAMPLONA.... Sorry, I'm still behind... promise to catch up after the madness settles down... Long story short, Jack and I arrived here 7am today with no place to stay but within two hours we ended up at a place with a balcony view of the bull run route for really cheap...

The opening ceremony was today at noon -- FIVE TIMES CRAZIER THAN CARNAVAL IN RIO. Everyone there was pretty much drunk by 10am...

Now, eight days for 24/7 partying with the first bull run tomorrow at 8:00 am Spain time... Look for The Global Trip shirt on TV!

Posted by: Erik on July 6, 2004 11:00 AM

TOM TWH: Hey... welcome to the madness... I went to your hotel this morning, but the room wasn't in your name... I have Tim and Rich's names now (I checked an old email) and will try again... I'm gonna have to use some of your pledge donations to get us all a round of cervezas!

Posted by: Erik on July 6, 2004 11:02 AM

ERIK: I'll watch for you on TV. I'm sure the station that switches between RAI UNO, TV5, and Telemundo will have nothing else to show at 2:00am EDT!

ALL: THE AMAZING RACE starts tonight at 9:30! Is Chris from last season still on Blog?

Posted by: Td0t on July 6, 2004 12:00 PM

Hi Erik,

I'm still trying to catch up on your adventures.
I've just finished reading the Serengeti part and OH, MY GOD! It sounds like the worst safari ever. As far as I know ( in South Africa for sure) you are only allowed to stay at designated campsites at night in the parks, else you have a great chance ending up being cat food. These guys were so irresponsible, they were totally risking your lives. I'm glad none of you got hurt in the end.

The photos with your new camera seem to be a lot sharper than the ones you made before. Is it just because of the African Sun?

Good luck with the bulls, can't wait to read more!

Posted by: Adrienne on July 6, 2004 01:16 PM

i can recommend a youth hostel in France if you plan on being there soon. i didn't actually stay there but the manager is an aussie i met through my friend Jacky while i was there in april. Her name is Sophie and she is very nice. She kicks you out of the bar when its closing time though.

Posted by: Neven on July 6, 2004 03:38 PM

TDOT - one of the ESPN's should have some sort of coverage too...

anyone gonna post The Blog on the AR5 boards?

ERIK - run b...lock that ass if the bull's horns near you...lock that ass, man....

Posted by: markyt on July 6, 2004 04:24 PM

If someone sees the tee (and hopefully Erik in it), be sure to let me know, so I can attempt to find it online - I have no TV.
I know, I know, so out of it...

Posted by: Noelle on July 6, 2004 05:16 PM

Don't wear your Yankee hat while running with the bulls--you wouldn't want to loose that! And let's try to avoid any new head wounds, ok? Will look for you in the frantic crowd--can't imagine 5 TIMES CRAZIER THAN CARNIVALE! Now that's saying something! Be safe, and get drunk *after*!

Ruuunnn Forresst.... Ruuuunnn!

Posted by: Christy on July 6, 2004 06:43 PM

ALL AR5 watchers - Is everyone already annoyed with all the contestants, like I am? I mean really, who says 'Gratzie (sic)' instead of 'Gracias' in Uruguay? Also, who the hell skips a marker point? Oh, nice guys DO finish last and I'm calling it now...it will come down to PA and TX.

ERIK - Good luck tomorrow morning. You MUST say 'Beyoo', 'Chio Nob', and 'Skol Skol Skol' as you're running away and down the streets.

MARKYT - As we drive away in the taxi...'See you in Punta del Este...keyk!' (middle finger showing).

Posted by: Paul on July 6, 2004 11:42 PM

Former BB4 houseguest and her PA boy toy...SUCK...

let's VET and the daughter...

i have to say that mirna and charla are annnoying...it's a race mirna and you wanna play a hand of blackjack?

ummm...charla should drop mirna.....

Posted by: markyt on July 6, 2004 11:47 PM

Not checking the flight arrivals, and missing the marker, right across the street...it's like they wanted to choose people who would not think straight! Erik, you would have been too good for them, that's why they didn't pick you!

I like the military dad and daughter....they did ok considering...

Erik- Watch your butt out there with those bulls, I'll be checking ESPN...hope you have the print on the *back*of the t-shirt...lol...

-Harry

Posted by: Harry on July 6, 2004 11:50 PM

You said it markyt. Charla should drop mirna who is annoying as all hell. Besides, did you see Charla handle that hunk off cow?!

I like the military dad... He handled his situation.

Posted by: Td0t on July 7, 2004 01:10 AM

Erik,

I've just read a posting on Aardvark travel forum by a guy named Darren. He is looking for travel writers to write them unique travel articles in return for payment.

http://www.aardvarktravel.net/chat/viewtopic.php?t=5553

Posted by: Adrienne on July 7, 2004 07:47 AM

Erik:
I'm trying to find out if I can some how get your website posted through forbes.com.
Sometimes they do the best of the web and thought that maybe they would need a great travel site.
I'll keep you posted!

Posted by: El Zee on July 7, 2004 04:07 PM

ok ok...so i plugged the blog on the AR5 chat room this morning...

hahah...let's see if anyone bites, or if they are all just into the show and not about globetrotting...

Posted by: markyt on July 7, 2004 04:18 PM

"Several trampled by Pamplona bulls"

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/07/spain.pamplona/index.html

I hope E's butt isn't hangin on a bull's horn right now....

Posted by: LovePenny on July 7, 2004 04:26 PM

I SUPPOSE my plan to lay off from The Blog to build up ambiguity of my bull run survival is foiled with LOVE PENNY's CNN post... Yes, I'm alive. Was I injured? Yes.

Details to come when I can get to it... Man I'm behind...

P.S. PETA was there? Funny how Western news picks a Western-interest story for the San Fermin festival... I didn't even see them at all -- the bigger protests came from Basque radicals...

Posted by: Erik on July 8, 2004 03:11 PM

Hope you're allright Erik! Did you wear the cool red scarf? I can't wait for the report! I've always wanted to go to the tomatillo (sp?) festival too, where the spaniards throw tomatoes at eachother.

here's a good link to San Fermin pictures. Some really close calls with those bulls, jeez!

http://www.sanfermin.com/2004/portada.php?day=080704&lang=eng

Posted by: sara on July 8, 2004 03:43 PM

Blog Hogs: I would like to announce that this is my first of many posts from my new 9-5 office job. So the competition is on LP!

ERIK: That is funny... I didn't read anything about the Basque radicals. But the real question remains... Did you see Dennis Rodman??!

Posted by: Td0t on July 8, 2004 04:05 PM

HEY ALL: Sorry about this long delay of stories... I am playing to veg out in a Starbucks on Sunday all day to catch up with my laptop -- just in time for the Monday morning Blog Hog rush!

STAY TUNED!

Posted by: Erik on July 9, 2004 06:03 AM

What if I can't wait until Sunday???!!! LOL
The withdrawal, the withdrawal...

So blog hogs, lets speculate in the meantime what Erik's injury is. I'm going for - he got speared in the butt or fell off his balcony onto a running bull.

Posted by: Liz on July 9, 2004 09:12 AM

hahaha, I got one - while signing up for the Bull run Erik receive a papercut from the form & had to be rushed to the emergency room for 6 stitches to he's pinky!

Posted by: sim on July 9, 2004 10:52 AM

SIM - yup that would happen to erik...

he's prone to crap like that...like his extreme dishwashing...and he had this other xacto blade incident in college...

Posted by: markyt on July 9, 2004 11:45 AM

ooh, I got one... he was minding his own busines... taking photos... oblivious to the sign swaying overhead. The vibrations from approaching bull footfalls caused the sign to crash onto our hero's head, and he was rendered unconsious and dragged to safety before the bulls ever go to him.

Posted by: Christy on July 9, 2004 11:54 AM

"Four gored by Pamplona bulls"

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/pamplona.bulls/index.html

"PAMPLONA, Spain (CNN) -- Four men were gored on Thursday, including an American and a Briton, in the third day of the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, a Navarra regional government spokesman told CNN."

No mention of a korean/moroccan/japanese/guess -looking american national getting gored...so erik's fine afterall.

Posted by: LovePenny on July 9, 2004 04:27 PM

Hmm, I'm curious about the history, I guess, of the whole area. Isn't imperialism grand?

I think that Erik was drunk and ran the wrong way into the throng of people running FROM the bulls and was trampled. By the people. Never even saw the bulls.

Posted by: Noelle on July 9, 2004 04:42 PM

Any other speculations about Erik's injury? We've got about 24 hours to come up with some good ones.

I should have addressed the question to the blog addicts rather than the BH's :) Cuz the BA's are here checking every couple hours for new posts... ok, maybe that's just me LOL

Posted by: Liz on July 9, 2004 09:05 PM

I got one...

Durin a desprate atempt to snap the perfect "bull in motion" money shot, our brave, but reckless photographer tripped over a stray funsaver lost in the furay. As he fell to the ground, our famed blog provider was gored... Not by the charging bulls, but by the excessive piercings of a fellow bull evaider, none other than the former Mr. Carmen Electra and NBA star, Dennis Rodman.

MARKYT: Technically I'm not back to 9-5 because this is my first. It's a shame your conference wasn't this month because my office isn't far from the convention centre. We could have "done lunch!"

Posted by: Td0t on July 9, 2004 09:28 PM

damn dude!!! you got robbed again? you are going to have to bring out some of that ny attitude and bitch slap someone out there. better yet, you are going to have go around giving people the "crazy eye" like in that movie "the new guy". then maybe they'll leave you alone. lol

Posted by: edwin on July 10, 2004 03:20 PM

He Erik, welcome in Europe.... sorry to hear about your robbery...if you want to save some money , mi casa est tu casa, are you coming to Holland?? If so when?? you are very welcome... I need a trip down memorylane, have been working too much..

Posted by: Maaike on July 10, 2004 09:54 PM

Erik - ah man, that sucks! Did this robbery take place while you were sleeping? I hope so - you don't need any more scary knives or other weapons pointed at you.

Posted by: Liz on July 10, 2004 11:58 PM

ERIK - seems we're getting the shit end of the stick huh?

My car got hit and got some decent damage while I was pumping gas!!!

Out of all fuckin places!

I'll explain later...it's quite elaborate...

Posted by: markyt on July 11, 2004 09:35 AM

Erik There is a great dungeon-like basement jazz bar in Paris - sort of creepy with spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling. "Le Caveau des oubliettes" by the St Michel metro. The "bar Dix", also dungeon-like is over there on the left bank with good sangria! We met some fun French people in there. Then I karaeoked to Lionel Richie's "hello" (!) at some other bar with a random French guy. I love Paris!

can't wait to read about the running of the bulls

-sara, the former SBR, now full-on blog hog

Posted by: sara on July 11, 2004 07:59 PM

SARA (BH)... any other Parisien suggestions? I really have no agenda here other than get my visas and maybe see Mona... I've been here before doing the tourist thing... what else is there out there? (Yes, that's a loaded question.)

Oh duh... Bastille Day is in three days!

Posted by: Erik TGT on July 12, 2004 03:38 AM

well, I've always wanted to see the catacombs but didn't get around to it. My request for a blog photo: I think they have some funny sign down there with the skeletons that says "one day you'll be just like us" or something like that. And I believe there is some sort of sewer tour but I've never met anyone who actually did that. Both times I went to Paris, it involved a LOT of eating and drinking wine for hours outside. I like the Sorbonne/St Germain neighborhoods. A cup of beer at the "american embassy" is always fun too!

Posted by: sara on July 12, 2004 11:11 AM

I went on the sewer tour - probably because I am a civil engineer. It is a good tour and doesnt really smell all that bad once you get used to it. Kind of like MickyDs on a friday night.

Posted by: Bren on July 12, 2004 11:34 AM

It sounds like we are sending you into the basements of Paris like a mole - underground jazz, catacombs, underground sangria, sewer - haha - hopefully you will find some good above-ground things to do as well!

Posted by: sara on July 12, 2004 11:43 AM

I went down to the catacombs. Very cool. More bones than you can imagine. Tons of skulls looking at you, but due to mass-desensitization with cable TV, a piece of cake!

The sign on the way in says "Stop, this is the Empire of the Dead", in French of course. Featured in Anne Rice novels. Good stop, but that dungeon club sounds better.

If you've got some time tho, and want to see amazing stained glass windows, go check out Saint Chapelle (sp?) it's really beautiful, and makes you scratch your head and wonder "How'd they do that?"

Posted by: Christy on July 12, 2004 05:03 PM

THANKS for the suggestions guys... I take it I should go underground huh?

I was thinking... perhaps it was a blessing in disguise I got robbed... perhaps it was Fate's way of preventing me of calling up Fred (Ethiopia) who I thought was a little weird anyway... he was all gung-ho about taking me into the illegal parts of the catacombs... so perhaps the robbery prevented me getting arrested? Hmmm... let's just say it did...

I will get to the good things underground once I finish my errands, i.e. applying for my Russian and Chinese visas...

Posted by: Erik TGT on July 12, 2004 05:25 PM

here's the addresses of my basement places if you are in the neighborhood:

Caveau des oubliettes (downstairs from the guillotine pub) 52 rue Galande

Bar dix
10 rue de l'Odeon - metro Odeon

I hope they are still good! I went 2 years ago. I'm sure the Caveau des oubliettes hasn't changed in about 500 years. Nor been cleaned or aired out. The spiderwebs alone had to be at least 30 years old....we loved it though. The upstairs (guillotine pub) has a floor made of grass.

Posted by: sara on July 12, 2004 05:56 PM

July 03, 2004