I took the bus from Tarifa back to Sevilla. My hope was to meet up with a fellow Mac user here, offload the image files off my sketchy compact flash card, stop by the Mac store and pick up an iPod USB cargador and be on my way to Portugal. The latter will definitely happen … the local GoldenMac stores (not an “Apple Store”) seem to be out of the wildly popular iPod chargers. Or, maybe I´m just the only one in Spain that actually needs one so they don´t stock them? Possibly. The two semi-english speaking Mac users can´t meet up, so the flash card salvation will have to wait.
I was able to grab a bunch of jpg images from the last few days, though. As of right now I haven´t titled or described any of them, other than the tags. So, take a look and I´ll get to descriptions later.
The ride from Tarifa was kinda nice. A surprise leaving Tarifa was riding through the fields and fields of wind farms in the area. I had seen some turbines on the way in, and there were a lot of them coming from that direction. There were even more going in this direction. We got so close to them and the sky was opening up just a bit, I scrambled to get my camera and I snapped a few shots from the bus. I think it is so cool that they have such wind farms there. So progressive! Another tick on the I like Spain list. The tip of the Iberian peninsula is sooo windy, so they take advantage of it! It´s also a beautiful place, and they wind turbines only enhance it, I think. They get a double-whammy too, as apparently the wind-surfing and kite-boarding tourism is so heavy there it is a boon to their economy. Most of Tarifa was shut when I was there, they must do very well during peak season.
Almost back to Sevilla, I sent a text message to Conor and Karen to see if they were still in Sevilla. They were and Conor has been sick. So, I was glad to have someone to meet up with there. I planned on staying at the Oasis hostel again, as I had a good experience last time. My friend Karsten from Denmark was still staying at the Oasis too, so it would be cool to catch up with him too. I got to the bus station, got off the bus, and was stopped by the local authorities wanting to see my passport. I had to dig it out of my money belt and the whole time they were muttering something in Spanish. I knew I didn´t have anything to worry about, but it was a little disconcerting. I walked out of the train station, got out my compass and headed in the right direction. I got to the hostel and luckily they had one bed left, or so the guy said. I checked in, took a walk around to see what was happening, then went to the grocery store as I was starving. After that, I went and met Karen near the cathedral for a walk.
She had a good walk in mind, to an area I had no idea even existed. Apparently, there was a World´s Fair type Exposición Universal de Sevilla 1992, (link to a translated page) or some sort of expo in 1992 here in Sevilla. There is this huge area across the river, spanning block and blocks, mostly in disrepair. It is really amazing to see, I think. Huge pavilions and structures and large, expansive areas just sitting dormant, being overtaken by weeds and decay. There´s even a skyway tram type thing, complete with all the towers and several station stops just sitting there, unused. This would not happen in the US. I can only imagine tons of money was poured into the area to develop it for this expo, and after it was over, the people of Sevilla couldn´t care less for all this new-fangled technology crap. And, this is all in an office/technology area that is actually used. Part of the University of Seville is housed there. Why not keep it up? I don´t have an answer yet, and apparently there was some sort of disaster? But, I think there is loads of interesting stuff there to photograph!
We had a nice long walk. I made it back to the hostel just after eight, but still in time to make the dinner party. They cooked up mediterranean salad, seafood paella (in this HUGE skillet over an outdoor burner) and yogurt pudding for dinner. A three-course meal for only 5€! such a deal.
I decided not to go out at all, and to get some sleep. I think I had waited too long to actually get to bed that night, as I tried to go to sleep with a slight headache. Now I think it was a combination of lack of food and water, as I kinda skipped lunch and didn´t drink enough agua yesterday. I slept for a few hours until I just couldn´t anymore, and couldn´t take the guy in the room snoring anymore, and woke up to fix something to eat. Usually I am reluctant to get up in the middle of the night, as I think it will disturb my room mates. But oh well, I had to eat! I fixed some beans and rice and read my book. About 20 minutes later a girl from Texas walked in with the same deal - can´t sleep. She was interesting to talk to and she shared a banana with me. After a while, I went back to bed, got a few more good hours of sleep, and awoke to more rain! arrrrggghh! Oh well! I guess I´m gonna get a little wet again today. Hopefully the Reales Alcázares de Sevilla is largerly indoors! I´m meeting up with Conor and Karen at one for lunch and then touring the palace afterwards.
Portugal is next!