County Kildare

Hey everybody,
Yesterday my mom and I made our way out of Dublin and had a full day tour with a guide named John Daly. John was an amazing guide, he seemed to know every possible detail about all periods of Irish history. We drove to a bunch of different sites, stopping first at a place called Newgrange. Newgrange is a megalithic burial site, which predates the pyramids by 500 years. It was a basically a big mound of earth with a passage way leading into it, ending into a single chamber constructed of rocks. This was my mom's favorite thing we saw, probably because we were inside a covered structure. I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain the whole day. After Newgrange, we went to an old monastery where we saw some ancient crosses that have stood in the same location for over a thousand years. Then we drove on to the Hill of Tara, which is now a series of mounds atop a pretty stumpy hill; however, it is the home to more history than any other place in Ireland. It was the Irish capital for thousands of years, and many important battles took place there as well. It was awesome to stand up there, despite the rain, because one was very aware of the fact that every important person through 5 thousand years of Irish history had been there at one point.
At night, we arrived at our hotel, which is called Barberstown Castle, which did indeed used to be a castle. It is quite fancy, with great food. This morning, mom and I walked into the village near by, Straffon. From there I went on to another town, called Clane, while mom looked around Straffon a bit. It was about an hour and a half to Clane, and I took a lunch at a quiet little pub. The weather was beautiful, but the walk was right along a pretty busy road, so I decided to catch the bus back. We just had some tea, and now mom is having a rest beforee dinner. Tomorrow we head back to Dublin. I'm back home in ten days, and I am starting to get rally excited to return. But there is still lots more to do!
Lots of love
Luke

The Emerald Isle

Hello all,
Yesterday, I flew from Malaga into Dublin, arriving at 2:30 in the afternoon. The first thing I noticed was how cloudy and chilly it was. The weather was actually perfect in southern Spain, and I realized that i had experienced practically 6 uninterrupted months of warm weather. The next thing I noticed was how friendly my cab driver was, which was much more heartening. I got to the hotel, and made my way up to my Mom's room, it was so great to see her. She was suffering from a good deal of jet lag, and I was pretty beat, so we both grabbed a nap and met in the lobby at 5. We had a bit of tea and the ventured out into the night, which was drizzly and cold. After walking for a while, we came across a really cooh little bookstore. The owner was very friendly, and we were able to stock up on some books for the rest of our trip. From there, we went to a the Central Hotel, home to a lovely bar called the library. There are, in fact, books all around, and it is very quiet. We each had a pint, I of Guinness, and it was so tremendously good. Spanish and Moroccan beer have no business being mentioned in the same breath as a fresh pint of Guinness. We had dinner at a really nice restaurant that is located above an organic supermarket. I had steak, mom had salmon, and both were delicious.
Today, we did a lot of walking around and sightseeing. We saw Trinity College first, where we visited the Library in which the Book of Kells is displayed. Afterwards, we went to the National Archaelogical Museum, which was fascinating. It had some really cool old artifacts, but I enjoyed reading the information about the different periods, when they started using different materials and so forth. I thought it was amazing that they didn't start farming until almost four thousand years fate the North Africans and West Asians, because the idea had to migrate all that distance. We got s great pub lunch at a beautiful pub called the Stag's Head, which was located in a little alley. Continuing up the big street of which the ally ran, we came to Dublin Castle. It looked to be very cool, but it was by tour only, and there wasn't another tour for a half hour, so we decided to save it for another day. We ended our sightseeing for the day at the Christ Church Cathedral, which is the highest Anglican church in Ireland. It was quite beautiful, much smaller than the other European cathedrals I've seen.
Now I am back in the hotel lobby waiting for my mom to come down for our tea appointment. But, it is getting a little late, so we might just shove off for dinner. The hotel is really nice, and with my own room, it's the most privacy I've had in 6 weeks. It's certainly different from the staying at hostels, where one can walk downstairs into a party pretty much any time of day. Here's mom, gonna run
Luke

Last Day in Spain

Hey folks,
Today is my only full day in Malaga, so I went and saw the sights here. I saw both parts of the Castilla, which had some amazing views of the city, port, and mountains. The castle itself was a little underwhelming, just because it didn't seem very old. The ground and walls were all restored, and there were big light poles all over. I prefer, in contrast, the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh, which for it's disrepair and copious amounts of liiter, retains it's palpable oldness. After the cattle, I went to the Picasso Museum, which was spectacular. The works were obviously great, and they were matched by the beauty of the building itself. The temporary exhibition displayed Toys of the Avqnt-Garde, which was interesting, but not terribly so. Malaga is a quiet, calm town,I have enjoyed it very much.
Tonight, I am going to go on the pub crawl organized by the hostel. It starts at 12 so I will onlybe getting a few hours sleep before starting out for the airport and Dublin. Thanks for reading everybody, it is now two weeks until I return home!
Love luke

On to Malaga

Hey everybody,
Today, I arrived in Malaga, my final stop in Spain. Tarifa ended up being great, although it was pretty quiet. It was nice to sit around and do some peaceful strolling after going so hard for two weeks in Morocco. Last night, a bunch of new folks came into the hostel, and we all went out for tapas. It was a really good spot with an enormous amount of food for cheap. The girls couldn't finish anything they ordered so I made a killing scooping up leftovers. Afterwards, we went to one of the bars we had been to on Saturday, and then a couple of us headed back to the beach for a little while. I ended up back at the hostel around 2 and hit the hay.
The bus this morning was at 8:40, and it ended up that five of us were coming into Malaga. There was myself, Julia from Australia, Valerie from Canada, Cris from Germany, and Sam from New Zealand. They are all really nice, and Cris and Sam are both here at the Melting Pot in Malaga. Julia and Valerie continued on up to Barcelona. This hostel is really nice, with a groovy bar and patio, plus it's right across the street from a very nice, empty beach. After we got here, I jumped into the ocean, which was freezing, but I felt like I had to do it. Following the dip, Sam and I went for a look around Malaga, which is actually quite small. Sam is taking time off before university, he's been traveling for 5 months, doing a lot of surfing. Very nice guy. We got some killer ice cream, and saw the huge cathedral here. It's very beautiful, and it was nice just to sit in the quiet for a bit. On the way back to the hostel, we saw went into the bullring, which was quite pretty in the setting sun. Sam and I stopped in at a supermarket, and came back to the hostel. Thats all for me right now, I'll get back you all soon.
Luke

Tarifa Times

Hey everybody,
Being alone has increased my motivation to post on the blog, much to all of your chagrin, no doubt.  Last night, I grabbed a decent plate of pasta for dinner, with a better than decent view of the sunset.  I returned to the hostal, where there was already a good sized group hanging out.  We carried on in the hostal for a few hours, before being told that it was too late for such merry making, as others might be trying to sleep.  We took to the streets, and we were able to find a couple of bars in the town.  However, it was still early by Spanish standards, it didn't really get busy until around 2.  We finally came back to the hostal at around 4:30, and I was quickly asleep.  Today, I've spent most of the day walking around the town.  I went down to the beach for a couple of hours, and walked along a long pier that stretches out into the sea.  It was very cool, because on one side you are looking at the Atlantic and on the other, the Mediterranean.  No plans for the rest of the day...
much love
luke

How To Lose a Guy in 36 Days

Hello,
I write this post, for the first time, with no companion, other than all of you of course. Yesterday, after a final late morning coffee, Jack headed to the Marrakesh train station and departed for Casablanca.  This morning, he boarded a flight for Frankfort, from where he will head down to Namibia for his elephant conservation program.  If he is able, he is going to email an update at some point, which I will post to this blog.
After Jack's departure, I had six hours to kill in Marrakesh, so I did my best to walk as far from the djemma alfna as possible.  I saw some quieter residential areas, and finally looped my way back to the Bahia Palace, which was one of the royal palaces of the sultan several hundred years ago.  It was enormous, and rather impressive, but it is pretty horribly maintained.  Litter and graffitti are everywhere, but one could still appreciate the majesty of the place.  After lunch, I read in a cafe for a while, before a man named Abdul attempted to convert me to Islam.  I told him I wasn't religious, and he told me that a man who believes in nothing is nothing, and that I could never fall in love.  I tried to explain that not being religious is hardly the same thing as believing in nothing, but the laguage barrier was too great for that distinction apparently.  I didn't even attempt to make a reference to the nihlists, who truly believes in nassing.
Around 730 I made my way to the train station for my overnight passage to Tangier.  I had booked what was called a sleeping berth, so I was expecting a flat surface of some kind.  However, I was soon to learn that, in fact, the sleeping berth was merely a more comfortable chair in a three facing three compartment.  However, this chair could be extended to accomodate around two thirds of my body length, but this was hardly practical with the entire compartment filled.  Fortunately, it emptied out a bit, and I was eventually able to grab a few hours sleep.  I spent a forgettable hour in Tangier securing a ferry ticket, before making the crossing to Tarifa.  Tarifa is a small coastal town about three hours from Malaga. I got a bed at a hostal called Melting Pot, which is very clean and seems pleasant enough.  I'm pretty exhausted, so its going to be a chill day, and tomorrow I will get a chance to look around the town.
That pretty much catches up on our comings and goings, so now a few thoughts on Morocco.  Jack and I found it to be very pleasant, especially the people.  However, one cannot walk down the street without being offered hash or pestered to look into a store or something of that nature.  I found that a smile and a no thanks worked much better to shed these solicitations than feigned deafness.  I could certainly see it being uncomfortable for women, not due to any real danger, but being surrounded by extremely aggressive men would become quite bothersome I imagine.  Its worth noting that at no point during my stay there did I feel at all unsafe, or even truly uneasy.  It is a diverse and welcoming country I would strongly recommend visiting.
The following awards are in my opinion, I expect Jack would differ on some.  Best Lodging: Riad les Jardines, Marrakesh.  Best Tajine: Hamadi's, Tangier.  Best Street Food: Fes.  Best Coffee: Cafe Continental, Tangier.  Best Tea: Too many to remember.  Coolest Person Met: The waiter at Thami's, Fes.  Creepiest Offer of Friendship: Omar, from the hotel bar, Chefchaouen.  Best Shower: Riad les Jardines, Marrakesh.  Lamest Drug Dealer: Norman, Chefchaouen.  Best Medina: Fes.  Best Specific Place: Djemma alfna, Marrakesh.
A little on my plans: Monday, I head to Malaga, where I'll spend two days, before flying to Dublin.  I will then be spending the next ten days with me own mother, in the country side of Ireland, Dublin and London.  Then its back on home.
One last note before I head off: I was feeling pretty  down walking from the Riad to get a cab last night, being alone for the first time in over a month was pretty.  In a word, I was lonely.  But as I walked down the street, perhaps a dozen shopkeepers, seeing my large rucksack, wished me bon voyage, or in one instance, Happy Tripping.  I had spent the last four days ignoring their sales pitches, such was the extent of my interaction with these individuals up that point, but their well wishes were entirely genuine and quite heart warming.  It was a great reminder that, even though its going to be hard traveling without Jack, I'm certainly not alone.
lots of love and thanks for reading
luke

Marrakesh Days 1 and 2

Howdy,
Yesterday was our first full day in Marrakesh, and we spent it in typical Marrakshi fashion. After breakfast at the Riad, we walked through the main square of the city for a while, which is called djemma al-fna. This literally means assembly of the dead, but it is not in fact a zombie parliament, but a huge square filled with an enormous array of people. It is packed with tourists and locals alike, and at night it is filled with food stands selling grilled meats. During the day it is more open. At the risk of forgetting a few things, we have seen the following activities and people in the djemma so far: a man with a baboon on a leash (which stood on my arm and apparently "likes" me), several gambling scams, many musical groups, mediocre snake charmers, horse drawn carriages, men selling human teeth, henna artists, juice stands, enormous nut carts, cd sellers, maniacal vespa riders, and many other bizarre sights.
We grabbed lunch at a food stall just outside the djemma, which consists of a deep pit and a carving station. Whole lambs are cooked in the pit, and then lifted out with hooks, whereupon you ask for either a half or a whole kilo. It was extremely greasy, but satisfying, especially when we saw lamer tourists look in with visible queasiness and walk on. We passed the next few hours wandering through the maze of souqs, the covered markets, buying presents for those of you that have been reading the blog, and laughing spitefully as we passed on trinkets for everybody who hasn't. We took a break at the Riad before heading out for dinner. We were going to go to a Thai-Moroccan fusion place, but when we got there it was 4 times as expensive as Lonely Planet had said. When a man on stilts came out dancing to Michael Jackson (this isn't a joke, that actually happened) we dropped our menus and left. We went to a shwarma stand and got delicious platters. Afterwards we went to a hotel bar described in the book as, "raucous, but not sleazy". We found it to be neither, and we headed in for the night.
Today, we took a day trip to the mountains an hour away from Marrakesh. We took a nice walk with our our guide, Hussein, around the valley, passing through a couple of the towns. It was really great to get some fresh air, and the Berber countryside provided an interesting contrast to the predominantly Arab cities we had been in. After lunch, we ventured on our own, making our way up the river that winds down the mountains. It is pretty low right now, but apparently it can be quite powerful. We a cool spot to chill and take in the quiet of the river and the mountains, before heading back for the return to trip in Marrakesh.
We're going to head out in while for wome dinner, our second to last together...time has flown in a weird kind of way.
Much love, Luke

Fast Times in Fes

Hi everybody,
So after a good night's sleep, I'm ready to tell you about Fes. The first morning we hired an official guide, which means he is accredited by the tourism bureau of Fes (or something), but unfortunately the guide recommended by the Riad got into a car accident on his way to meet us. He was fine, but we had to use another guide instead, with two young Belgians, named Bart and Kim. Bart and Kim proved to be one of the great mysteries of our trip so far, because it was literally impossible to tell whether they were a couple or brother and sister. They were physically very similar, but that doesn't seem like much of an indication among Belgians. Anyway, the guide was not too great, but we did see some interesting stuff, it was just that the tour seemed to be centered around shopping, which wasn't our intention. One of the cool things we saw was the oven where the water for the hammam is heated, and we also saw the oven for the neighborhood bakery, where all the women of the area bring their dough. The coolest thing we saw was the tannery, where all the leather used for crafts is cured. We looked down from the roof onto this courtyard made up of basins filled with water and lye, where the skins get thrown in so the hair can be easily removed. It was very cool, but stunk like the dickens. At night, we went to a rooftop cafe, where I had a lamb burger and Jack ventured forth to try a camel burger. Following dinner, we played soccer with a bunch of boys in a big square just outside of the medina.
The next day we slept in pretty late, and in the afternoon we decided to go a hammam. We grabbed some street food for lunch and made our way over, but we got a little bit lost and couldn't find the hammam. We ended up asking a boy to show us, and when we got there, it was a clear that we were the first white people to be there in quite some time. It was pretty grungy, but it was undoubtedly as authentic as it gets, which made it really fun. The massage was very intense, it involved getting pretty intimate with the tiny Moroccan man assigned me. Afterwards, we were asked to pay 200 dirham for the second time, and after a good deal of discussion in broken English, French, and Arabic, we realized that the boy who had led us there had taken the first 200 as a "commission". This was pretty frustrating, but in theme we just laughed it off. We were bound to get scammed sooner or later, and as Jack pointed out, the $25 means a hell of a lot more to him than it does to us. To smooth it over, we went to the terrace cafe of the fanciest hotel in Fes, which overlooks the entire medina. It was a spectacular place to take in the sunset and listen to the final call to prayer. Following our coffee, we went back to Thami's, where we had dinner our first night and had another delicious meal. The waiter, who is an aspiring rapper, really liked us, and he was a really nice guy. It was great talking to him, and I know I will not soon forget him, for his enthusiasm and excitement to have friends from New York City was so fun to be around. Great dude.
Yesterday, as I mentioned, we took an 8 hour train ride to Marrakesh. Our riad here is very nice, but it's a little odd, because the riad has two buildings, one with only rooms, and we are the only people staying in this building. But otherwise, it is comfortable and the employees seem very friendly. Today we are probably jut going to try and get lost in the markets, we'll certaintly tell you how it goes soon. Much love, see you in just 3 weeks
Luke

Marrakesh

Hey guys, sorry it's been a while between posts, but we've been really busy in Fes, it is an incredible city. Today we took an 8 hour train ride to Marrakesh, which also seems really cool. We are staying in another Riad, and due to a booking mix up, Jack and I are sharing a bed. Awesome. We'll give you a rundown of our time in Fes soon, but I'm just gonna crash now. We're both dead tired;honestly, the routine of spending a couple days walking all over a strange city and the spending a full day traveling is getting a little wearisome,
Lots of love, you'll hear from us soon,
Luke

To Fes

Hey everybody
Yesterday afternoon was pretty chill, I just walked around Chefchaouen a bit more. When I came back up to the hotel, I played soccer with the group of boys on a dirt field next door. It was a lot of fun, they were very welcoming even to my relatively weak soccer skills. It was a perfect example of how sports can bring kids with very little in common together, how a game can be more than just a game. When the sun set and the days final call to prayer rose up from the city, I was reminded strongly of my nights in Jordan that ended just this way. Jack was exhausted when he got back from his hike, which he will tell you about soon, so we ate at the hotel restaurant and called it a night.
Today, we hopped on a bus and came to Fes, which is located sout of Chefchaouen. We got in around six, and shared a cab with a couple from Australia to the medina walls. They were very nice, and it was fun talking to them about their travels in Morocco so far. After a lengthy solicitation by two "guides" we found our hotel, or rather guesthouse, Riad Dar Dmana. It is incredibly beautiful and the staff seem vey kind. The GM sat with us while we had our welcome tea, and told us a bit out the things to look out for in Fes. As he said, the hustlers are not dangerous at all, they are just trying to practice their trade. Unfortunately, that trade is very annoying and often aggressive, but it is harmless as long as you have your wits about you. We grabbed a bite at a restaurant close by, called Thami's. We sat under a mulberry tree and enjoyed some very tasty tajine and couscous. Fes seems to have more tourists than anywhere we have been, and it certainly is the mow vibrant place we have been. It is the largest medina in Morocco, and we look forward to exploring a few of it's 96,000 streets.
Today marks exactly one month that we've been abroad, and we both want to send our love and thanks back to all of you back home, especially our families, for your support and well-timed words of comfort.
Luke

Chefchaouen

Hey everybody
Im typing on a internet cafe keyboard here in Chefchaouen and the punctuation marks are in really weird spots so please forgive me.  Its been a packed 36 hours or so.  Yesterday morning Jack and I woke up early and went to the Kasbah museum in Tangier; which was very beautiful.  Afterwards we grabbed a quick breakfast on the roof of a cafe called Le Salon Bleu where we could see the entire city and port.  Then it was time to move on so we checked out of the hotel and hopped on a bus for Chefchaouen which is a small city.  It is very beautiful here and much more relaxed than Tangier with the only drawback being that one gets offered hash every ten steps.  Last night we played some soccer with a group of boys outside our hotel the Atlas Chaouen.  We then got some tajine at a cafe in the main square where we were joined by a moroccan man named Norman.  He attempted to sell us hash but was very kind after our refusal and he played us a little number on his diggerydoo.  We stopped in at our hotel bar before bed and I had a long conversation with a man named Omar.  He invited us to come hang out in his factory today but we chose to decline.  He was a very nice if odd guy.
Today Jack and I chose different agendas.  As I write he is hiking in the mountains behind the city and I chose to have a look around the city.  This morning I stopped into a shop where the owner insisted that I eat half the pastry he was having for breakfast. We spoke in Arabic for a while and he shared his pipe as well [which only contained tobacco Mom].  That brings me to now pretty much.  I am feeling really relaxed here in Morocco and with the whole traveling lifestyle.  However I do miss everybody back home and its nice to know you are following us along.  Much love
luke

Tangier Danger

So the past two days were our first full days in Morocco, and it's been a great experience so far. We started off yesterday by wandering around the Medina (the "old city"), and chilling at Cafe Central. There we read our books over some mean mint teas and shwarmas. Later we checked out the Ville Nouvelle (new city). We stopped into a nameless bar, that has to rank among the smallest bars in the world. It was packed from the bar to it's old-west style swinging doors with Moroccan alcoholics (mind you, it was early afternoon on a Monday). There we enjoyed some bottles of Stork and Flag (two Moroccan beers), and some surprisingly good free tapas. We made acquaintances with a man named Muhammed, who claims to have lived in America for twenty years and worked at the Moroccan Pavillion at EPCOT in Disney World. At EPCOT, being the celebrity hotspot it is, he met likes of Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and "Michael"(Jordan? Douglas? I'd guess Jacskon). Muhammad was a very nice and funny, albeit sad, guy. Later, after a siesta at the hotel, we walked around the city for a few hours. Before dinner we decided to stop back into the nameless bar for a drink before dinner. There we found Muhammad to still be sitting in the same spot he was in when we had left much earlier. After conversing with him again, we ventured out to look for a place to grab some dinner. We were struggling to find any place so I got some food from a street vendor. It turned out to be snails in some weird broth, which had a pretty interesting flavor. Luke did not try any because he was "frightened" that it might make his "tummy hurt." Most of the restaurants we wanted to go to were closed, so we kept looking. Eventually we got to Hamadi, a classic Middle Eastern tourist restaurant. The staff wore "traditional" Moroccan dress, there was live music, but on this day, no belly dancing. While this was all a bit odd, the food was excellent, we both had lamb tajine. Then we returned to our hotel for the night. This morning I was woken up by the first Call to Prayer, which was actually pretty cool, largely because I was able to fall back asleep. This morning, we went to two cafes. We ended up chilling and reading at the Cafe de Paris over mint tea and coffee after getting breakfast at the Cafe Giraldo. After that we did some more walking around, and turning down hustlers on the street, most of whom were offering us "hashish" or "chocolate" (which, I assume, isn't actually chocolate). We grabbed lunch at a fast food restaurant called Mix Max, where we had some shwarmas. Afterwards we went to some museums, first the American Legation Museum, which was really cool. It is the only American National Historic Landmark that isn't in the U.S. There we learned that Morocco was the first country to officially recognize United States of America as a country. Then we went to another museum that had some cool old photographs of Tangier. After a siesta back at the hotel, we went out to the Salon de Bleu, which has a great view overlooking much of the city, for some tea. Then we went to this nice Italian restaurant called Anna e Paolo, where we both had some pretty solid pasta. Luckily we were able to avoid any Lady and the Tramp style mishaps. Then we returned to the hotel for what is our last night in Tangier. Tangier is a very cool and unique place, with a bizarre combination of Spanish, French, and Moroccan cultures. It was a nice city in which to start our time in Morocco.

On a side note, Luke wanted me to let everyone know that he has just defeated Lt. Surge in Pokemon..

Much love,
Jack

To dino ({})

Arrival in Tangier

Hey everybody,
Yesterday was a day of three buses, a ferry, a shuttle and a cab. At the end of it all we found ourselves in Tangier, Morocco. It's two hours earlier than Spain here, so we got in early in the afternoon. We checked in at our hotel, the Hotel Continental,which is described in Lonely Planet as "bare bones". That is certainly a very accurate description, but it is comfortable and a great location, so it's really no problem. We wandered around the old city,the Medina, a bit, grabbing some tasty street food. It started pouring so we ducked into a cafe for a bit, before finding a bar just outside the Medina. It was called Caid's Piano Bar, and it is the real life basis for the bar in "Casablanca". Afterward we grabbed a shawarma on the street and headed back to the hotel for the night. We've both found the people here to be very nice, there's a definite feeling of the multiculturalism of this city. It was a very long day, and the time difference was kicking in, so we were pretty dead. Today we just plan on wandering around the city, as there isn't much real sight seeing to do here. We've decided to try to get out of the last night of our reservation and head to a town called Chefchaouen in the Rif mountains. Its supposed to be very beautiful, and we want to see something other than the big cities. We'll let you know what shapes up. Much love
Luke

Last Night

So its our last night in Spain.  We head off to Morocco tomorrow, for 13 days.  It'll be about 11 hours of travel tomorrow, but those are the days you forget when you're at the top of Mulhacen or walking through the Marrakesh markets.  We went to the Cadiar fiesta last night, which was fun because it was primarily local Spaniards.  It's tough saying goodbye to Tara and all the pets, its been really great staying here.  We absolutely recommend this area for anybody who loves the outdoors.  Its a very beautiful, unique place.  Also, if you like ham, its a really good spot for that as well.
much love
luke

It Ain't Nothin' but a Spanish Paaaarty

Sorry its been a while between posts, we've been pretty busy, so not too much energy for blogging at night.  I never knew the blogosphere could be so demanding.
Saturday was the horse-race/party.  We got there at about 4 o'clock, after a couple of the races had occurred.  Immediately we were pretty amazed by the party goers.  Describing the crew there is immensely difficult, but if I had to, I would say it was eccentric to an almost disconcerting level.  Most people were dressed in what looked like their daily farming gear, but with one addition, such as creating a halter top out their work shirt or a huge straw hat.  There were tons of white dreadlocks and very few shaved armpits.
There was a pay bar, but everything was really cheap, and there was a good deal of good food.  The highlight of the chow was definitely Tara's cakes, especially her carrot cake, which was unbelievable.  Las cervezas were 1.30euro a piece, a very nice detail for our evening.  For the next couple of hours we hung out with Tara and Stu, talked with some of their friends whom we had already met, and met a few more.   The most interesting people I talked to were a couple named Lulu and Boots.  Before they moved to Spain they had both worked as "dancers" in Amsterdam.  This seemed pretty much par for the course that was this fiesta. A horse named Toro ended up winning the grand finale, after Tara had advised Jack and I to bet on his opponent, Sombra.  I hadn't bet, but Jack put 5euro on Sombra, a loss that Tara felt much worse about than Jack.
At that point it had started to get dark, so the real party began.  First, there was a flamenco performance, which was really good.  Tara has seen the dancer several times, apparently she performs in big venues quite often.  Then there was a jazz trio that kinda sucked; it wouldn't have been so bad, except that they took forever to set up, during which time people lost interest in partying and queued up for the chili being served.  They came off the stage at about 10, at which time, Jack and Tara went home.  I was pretty pumped to keep going as long as the night would take me, no matter that Jack had to go home and watch episodes of Sex and the City on his computer.  Whatever.
After the live music, several DJ's took over, including our very own Stu, who goes by the name of Chopstuey when he's spinning the tunes.  They played all electronic music, which was kind of surprising to me.  When I think of earthy farmers up in the mountains, I don't normally think of pulsing electronic club music, but it was certainly a lot of fun.  I did a bit of dancing, which was solid because I could make as much of a fool of myself as possible, with no real consequences.  Unless Mattias, who was filming some bits of the party, wishes to put anything on Facebook.  Hopefully his internet is too slow to perform that function.
The highlight of the party was undoubtedly the performance by Stu's roommate, a gap-toothed Brit named Ray, who is a really cool guy.  He, in accordance with a promise he made to his buddies one night at the pub, dressed up in drag, in a pink dress leant to him by Tara.  He had a wig and makeup, it was purely fantastic.  He sang "I Will Survive", but modified the lyrics, so that it told the story of a woman leaving her man because of discontent with what I'll call the size of his endowment.  Unreal.
Other than dancing, I talked with some of Stu's buddies, mostly with a couple of gents named Howard and Jamie.  Jamie was a dead ringer for John C. Reilly, and probably a little funnier.  My night ended at around 4 am, when I found a tree to sleep under in the sleeping bag I borrowed from Tara.  It was a great time, and one that I paid for the next day.
Since then, we've been working hard, doing almonds as well as some painting and gardening.  Today, Treacy emailed Jack about the bizarre terror alert the Obama administration sent out regarding tourists in Europe.  We haven't been able to find much on it, as surfing the web takes a lot time, but as far as I can tell it doesn't really say anything.  It just warns to be vigilant and take precaution, whatever the hell that means.  I suppose whereas before the warning, I may have considered accepting a parcel in the airport from a stranger, now I almost certainly won't.  What's more, the administration didn't give any reason for why it was delivering the warning.  So much for a culture of transparency, although it sounded great during the campaign.
Hope everybody is well, stay fly
much love luke

Cadiar

Hey guys,
So its been all almonds the last few days, so I thought I'd tell you a little about Cadiar, the closest village to Tara's house.  Its a pretty average size for this region, with one supermarket, a butcher, bakery, and post office.  It is also, in keeping with most towns around here, extremely corrupt.  Tara has told us that she needs approval to build on her property (a strange concept coming from America), and the only way to get it is often to buddy up with an official or two.  This usually means employing specific people for the construction, and it is basically the standard operating procedure around here.
The other day we heard booming sounds coming from the mountains, much louder than the gunshots we have been hearing since hunting season started last weekend.  Tara said that they were fireworks, and that there had been a big controversy because the local government spent an enormous amount of the tax money on them.  We couldn't get over how bizarre it was that the government could get away with spending municipal funds on shooting off fireworks.  During the middle of the day.  On a Thursday.  The mentality here is just so different: Stu told us that the main consideration concerning the mayoral elections in Cadiar is the success of the incumbent's fiestas.  If this is during a crippling financial crisis, what do voters mull over during times of plenty?  Perhaps the brand of chorizo favored by each candidate.
The area is comprised of about 30% English ex-pats and 70% Spanish.  When asked why the region has so many English, each person will give you a different answer.  Tara notes that its one of the cheapest places to live in Western Europe.  Her neighbor Mark believes that many of the English here are running from something, a spouse, debts, a run in with the law, etc.  In any event, there is a considerable separation between the Spanish and English in the area.  The Spaniards hire other Spaniards to work for them, and the English do the same.  There are English and Spanish bars, and overall, very few forums for mixing between the two groups.  However, we are headed to one today, an amateur horse race that takes place annually on a mountain top across the valley from Tara's.  Her friends Mark and Nikki host it, and villagers of all backgrounds come for the race and after party.  It will definitely be a lot of fun, we'll let you know how it goes.
lots of love
luke