Montanejos & New Friends

Our little set-up at the beach!

8/16- Today I was invited to go with Bárbara and her parents to the beach near Port Saplaya. The main difference about this beach is that dogs are allowed- so that added a bit of fun for sure. The weather was perfect all day and we spent the entire morning, afternoon, and evening laying out and soaking up the hot August sun. I finished an entire book and got a nice tan too, can’t complain! Also Bárbara’s parents brought along all of the typical “beach supplies” that I’d been deprived of thus far like a chair, umbrella, floaties, etc. so I was pumped about that. We had a pretty decent set-up going, our own little chiringuito on the beach. Plus her Dad also made us his famous tortilla de patata for lunch, which was delicious. Despite a sand coated puppy attacking our towel, I had a great day and was excited to be welcomed as “part of the family”. Can’t complain about another awesome day swimming in the Mediterranean!  The only potential downfall of the day was that while I was swimming, I felt something bite me near my collarbone. There was just some redness, but I’m still not sure if it was a jellyfish or what.

They were everywhere!

8/17- To celebrate the fact that it was a Friday in August, today we had the perfect getaway planned! Bárbara and I were picked up that morning by Marissa and her Spanish friend named Marta. Also in the car with us was Marta’s former study-abroad roommate named Tamara. To add to the “what a small world” feeling I always get, Tamara is from Lucerne, Switzerland- where I just was last month with my mom and sister. Crazy! Anyways, we all piled into Marta’s car and began the two hour drive to the hot springs in the city of Montanejos. I know I just went there a few weeks ago, but trust me I was not upset about getting the chance to go again! All of us had been before except Marissa and Tamara, but everyone was still excited for the chance to swim in the extremely refreshing natural springs/former Arab baths. It was much more crowded today than the last time I came, but we could still swim around to our heart’s content. This time I brought goggles to look at the fish, and we also explored the little cave. We also swam back to the waterfall, and then we saw these little boys jumping off a super tall rock into the water. I’m honestly amazed it was deep enough that they didn’t die- but apparently it was, so Marissa decided to be a daredevil and she did “the jump” into the springs. After the mandatory girl-talk, we spent some time lying out in the sun and reading, and then our stomachs drove us to pack up and find some food. 

Marta, Me, Marissa, Tamara & Barbara

Since Bárbara and I had both been on the same “hot springs tour” before, we decided to go back to the same restaurant they took us to. In the central plaza of the small pueblo of Montanejos, it was easy to find. Surprisingly though, the service this time around was not quite so friendly and hospitable- probably because the owner Sebastian didn’t view us as “tourists” and figured he wasn’t going to get a tip no matter what. So, the service was slow, but we girls still had a great time. We shared several tapas and sandwiches, and of course a pitcher of sangria (and water, it was SO hot again). We were speaking in English at the table since Tamara doesn’t speak Spanish (just English, French, German and Italian- what a slacker!), and when the server heard us he asked where we were from. It was a bit funny because when we said “America” he said, “oh wow there has been so many Americans here lately, I just met some a few weeks ago!” I tried to hide behind my sunglasses so there wouldn’t be an awkward moment of recognition, haha.  The drive back to Valencia was a windy road, but the time passed quickly. This group of girls is a very fun and hilarious mix, I will say. Highlights included Bárbara revealing to us her hidden talent of being able to sing opera very well, but in a man’s voice- and we all were laughing so hard that Marissa and I started crying.

The ladies + Whitney at Dinner!

That evening the ladies made plans to meet up at a restaurant near the Aqua shopping center in the new part of town. Marta’s Uncle owned the restaurant, so we had a nice little table outside waiting for us. It was the same group as yesterday, but Whitney was able to come this time too! We had a pretty tasty meal, a few of us got mini burgers, and of course had some hilarious conversations and wine as well. After dinner, we split up in two groups and wereall  headed over to Marta’s apartment to “pre-game” or “botellon”. When Tamara and Bárbara got to Marta’s car they noticed that it smelled very strongly of gas. She called her Uncle over and basically, her car was out for the night. While this was going on, Marissa, Whitney and I had already hailed a cab and were waiting outside Marta’s apartment. We didn’t have a key obviously, so once we heard that we had to wait a half hour for the other girls to get there, we decided to find someplace to hang out. Standing on a very dark street corner in a questionable part of town late at night didn’t seem like the best idea, so we sought shelter at the first “public” location we could find. This ended up being a random karaoke bar with Bolivian flags everywhere and filled with Bolivians.  We ordered some drinks, listened to a girl sing a Selena song, and before the drinks were done the other girls we back.

My new friend from Switzerland :)

Nua the Puppy!

 We all headed into Marta’s adorable apartment, and got to spend quality time with one of the world’s cutest dogs. She just got a mini-chihuahua puppy named Nua. It is white and one of the tiniest and cutest things in the world. After we got the oohing an aahing out of our systems, we made a few mixed drinks and gathered around the family room couch. We were debating on whether to go out to the bars or not, but while trying to decide this Marissa and I decided to teach the ladies how to play the drinking game called “Kings”. It was a lot of fun, and definitely a good time. This group of girls just meshed very well. We were listening to Britney Spears and Spice Girls the whole night, and then around 3am Whitney, Barbara and I decided to head home. The other ladies ended up meeting Josep and his friends at the bars, but I just couldn’t stay up that late. Overall, this was an amazing fun filled day, and I am so glad I got to meet Marta and Tamara- and of course Nua the puppy! The rest of our weekend  (8/18 and 8/19) was definitely low key- us roomies relaxed, got lots of sleep, ate junk food, and spent far too much time on Pinterest. We may have been a bit sunburned, but it was totally worth it. Oh, and on a final note, the bite I got at the beach was slowly getting worse, and by Sunday it was bad enough that we decided to go to the pharmacy. He took a look at it and I got a roll-on medicine for it- we’ll see if it works. I hope so, because it’s itchy and super gross. 

Mystery Bite