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Look Out Spain

Monday, May 29th, 2006

We have travel buddies!! Kathy and Leslie (from Portland) have joined us for our tour of Spain and Portugal. Although we are only a few days into it, we have already ¨partied¨more in the last few days than we have in the first 7 months 🙂 Has been great fun having them along and Terra is thrilled to have someone intelligent to talk to…finally!

We are headed to Barcelona today for about 4 days then up into the Rioja wine country. We`ll go north to the Basque country for a bit and then back to Madrid where we will see Leslie off.

Terra, Kathy and I will then make our way south toward Sevilla and into Portugal before saying good bye to Kathy in Lisbon.

The Iberian Peninsula will never know what hit ’em.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend at home!

I can drive in Bali

Tuesday, November 1st, 2005

Decided to rent a car/scooter to see the island. Even though the traffic seems crazy (driving on the wrong side of the street, steering wheel on the wrong side of the car, hundreds of scooters and cars combined going at high speeds, no apparent traffic laws) we thought we’d give it a shot.

First decision was whether or not to get a drivers license. FIRST TRAVEL TIP IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON DRIVING IN ANY FOREIGN COUNTRIES: GO TO YOUR LOCAL TRIPLE “A” (IN THE STATES) AND GET AN INTERNATIONAL DRIVING PERMIT.

I failed to do this so I would either have to risk getting pulled over ($200 USD fine for no license) or figure out a way to get the license. Surprise, surprise, I took the less risky route and went to get the license. First, let me say that this wouldn’t have been at all possible if it hadn’t been for Peter at Flashbacks. He took me into Denpasar on his scooter and sheparded me through the process AND IT WAS A PROCESS! I must admit that it wasn’t too different from the DMV in the states. Lots of people milling around waiting for something to happen. Not really sure where to go or what will be asked of you once you get there. “Officials” who don’t seem to intent on making things happen more quickly etc.

One big difference…the price is negotiable. there are no posted fees for anything and the amount you pay for your permit is based on how well you negotiate with your official. Again, thanks to Peter, I got off easily. Only cost me $22 USD. Not sure how much of that went into the pocket of the officer but I would guess it was $15 or so. It was not uncommon for me to see an official take money from a patron and put it squarely in his/her shirt or pants pocket. Such is life in Bali. It is not corruption, it is simply the way things work. And they do work. I was able to get through the process in a few hours and left with my permit in hand. It is rare that this happens. Usually you must submit your information one day and pick up the permit (motorcycle only) the next.

Needless to say, I was bushed after this process so I promptly retreated to the pool at Flashbacks and relaxed with beer in hand for the rest of the day. I’m getting tired thinking about it. Better go lie down.