This past weekend my best friend, Melissa Heller, came and visited me in Alicante! She got here Thursday night. We went out that night and found the bar that supposedly has the best mojitos in Alicante, says the two Italian kids and my madre. So we set out to find the place and it was so hard. There was no sign but we had been forewarned that if you ask people for the bar with the really short door, they'll know. And it was true. It was hidden among the winding streets though. But finally we found a bar with a four foot door. But inside was really cool. Gino's East style. Writings all over the walls, and the 3 euro mojitos were pretty good. We stayed there for a little while then wandered to the beach and sat there for a while. Melissa was getting tired after a long day of traveling so we went to find our friends to drive her back to her hostel. But it took forever to find them. And then it started pouring rain. Great. We alternated between through the streets searching for this bar and standing in doorways waiting for the rain to slow. But we waited forever. Finally we found the place and our friends and she headed home and began my walk home in the spitting rain. Luckily I had the forethought to wear flats instead of heels.
The next day we met up at noon and climbed the Castillo de Santa Barbara. Then we got a cheap lunch and I showed her around town. I took her back to my apartment and introduced her to my family, and we packed up some stuff to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach. So we spent the last hours of the afternoon dozing on the beach, and it was very nice.
The next day, Saturday, we got up early and headed to the Valor chocolate factory for a tour. I had been there before but this time wasn't as good. The guide didn't explain anything! Oh well, it was free.
Then we headed to a grocery store, bought a bottle of sangria, and headed to a different beach. We basically spent the entire day there. I think it was about 6 hours. I was sure to set my alarm so we would routinely flip over so as to not burn. Too bad that didn't work. I thought we were being careful, but the sun was too strong. After only 3 hours we were toasted and Melissa had a little sun rash. So we got some ice cream and walked around and found a sand soccer game that we watched for a little less than an hour. Then we headed back into Alicante.
Inside, our sunburn was much more visible. It would be appropriate to call us "langostas" (lobsters). Luckily I don't have bad tan lines. But I did try to even out my color by only tanning the undersides of my arms. Well now I'm regretting that. I walk like an ape to avoid my burnt arms from touching my sides. Oh well. It's really not that bad. A few girls in my program got sun poisoning, and one had to go to the hospital. Thank goodness I'm not that stupid.
In my room we settled down and watched a movie on my laptop until my madre came in and invited Melissa to stay over for dinner! Yay! We were so happy. Then during dinner my madre told her we could lay an extra mattress in my room so she could stay there and not have to take the tram all the way to her far away hostel. But all her stuff was there so we sadly declined. But it was still so nice of my madre to offer the dinner and bed. We both thanked very emphatically. After dinner we went out with our leftover sangria and sat on the "boardwalk" (it's called the Explanada) and talked and people watched. We split around midnight.
Today, we met up at 8:50 to go to 9am Easter mass. It was a lot less crowded than I thought. We went to mass at the big Basilica in town and the night before when we were checking mass times, the church was PACKED! So I thought it would be packed the next mornign but no. It was maybe 1/10 filled. It was a quick mass too since there was no music.
Next we headed to a churro place and got churros with chocolate for breakfast. Then We walked to the bus stop and she caught her bus back to Burgos at 11:30. She'll be on that bus for 11 hours. God help her.
Luckily while she was here she got to see some Semana Santa processions and they were pretty cool.
And now it seems like a normal Sunday. But I hope my madre makes something extra delicious for dinner. But I shouldn't get my hopes up for a special Easter dinner.
On Tuesday I leave for London. I'm there until Saturday, then I head to the Canaries for a little less than a week. It'll be a good spring break. Then back to the grind :/
Besos!
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