At the end of the day Licha and I made our way on a stroll to one of the neighborhood grocery stores to gather ingredients to make dinner at home.
Let me take a moment to share a little about Edu and Licha's neighborhood:
It's adorable. Not quite sure what comes to your mind when you hear someone say they live in Barcelona. For me, I am the type that has humble expectations, so again (like with Reykjavík) I assumed that Barcelona would be like a Santa Cruz maybe: a hotspot beach town. I also assumed that Licha and Edu would live right by the beach. Barcelona is HUGE. It's a typical city with skyscrapers and tall buildings and a metro and trains and stadiums and HISTORY. So much history. Not sure why I didn't consider all the historic buildings one would find in such an anciently inhabited area of the world. Edu and Licha live about a 15 minutes car ride from the airport, a 20 minute metro ride from the heart of the city, and a 20 minute car ride from the fancy beach (there's a beach in the city, but Licha and Edu say it's trashy, unlike the one Edu took me to already which was utopian).
After hardcore searching for a place of their own, Licha and Edu settled in an adorably quaint and friendly neighborhood. It contain everything a person would need: grocery stores, a hospital, schools, a park, several banks, a post office, hiking opportunities, cafés, restaurants, a bar or two... Everything necessary! It's so family oriented, too. Not as many homes, more apartments, which it seems is typical city-living, even if on the outskirts as they are. Every time I've gone to the little grocery store that's a whopping 57 steps from their house, I feel right at home with the reusable grocery bags everyone carries, the endearing smiles all exchange, and the products and produce not too (if at all) far off from the ones I'd find at home in a Raley's or Safeway. People even have pets!! And some cute ones. A few of their apartment neighbors keep cute little dogs in their homes or on their patios/balconies for some fresh air.
I dig this part of town.
So yes, Licha and I stopped by the market to pick up ingredients for the Cali-Mexi-ish burritos we made later that evening: fantastic, by the way. We make a good kitchen team ;-)
Did I mention that Edu cooks, too?? I'm so accustom to Mexican culture where the men rarely (if at all) cook. Licha raves over "Chef Edu's" great cooking and how well he knows his way around the kitchen. I've been lucky enough to experience this. :-)
The next morning Licha took me out to her favorite café in her neighborhood. After having lived in Mexico and finding it more of a challenge to intentionally identify with the culture, I just assumed that all cultures would be vastly different from my own. But it's not so!
Watching the ladies in the café interact with customers, the words and expressions exchanged, what they wear, how they style their hair, it's all so similar to what I experience in the U.S. Watching the man reading the news on his tablet and drinking coffee while his toddler ate his pastry and watched a video on what I assume to be his father's phone is totally something I would see back home in a café. Watching the neighbors bump into eachother at the counter and catch up on life in a projected and confident voice is normal where I'm from. So many similarities. Sure, the language is different, but what the language conveys still has the same kind of feel as at home in California. I'm not quite sure why the parallels are more prevalent with the European culture than the Mexican. Maybe the poverty levels create a different feel or maybe expectations are just different...? I'm not sure yet, but I'm thinking on it a lot.
We enjoyed a a creamy cup of coffee (Spanish style, which is more like a baby latte), sweet and buttery pastries (similar to croissants), and pleasant yet stimulating conversation. Licha is the type of person that talking to her makes you want to read more books and study more ideas. She's so passionate about knowledge and ingenuity that it becomes contagious. People came and went as we enjoyed our treats and eachother's company there in the little café. We then made our way back to the house to wait for our guests to arrive.
So a few days ago I went walking through the city with a few of those cool people who finished the Camino, right? Well, I got to hang with them again! They came over and we enjoyed a delightful, classic European spread of cheese, bread, pears, cherries, fancy ham. We had good chats about the Camino and what to expect, as well as get to know you talks.
After having a long, relaxing lunch, Licha took us for an educational and curiosity-driven stroll through Colonía Güell, near her own town. It's not too old of a town... the actual town that continues to abide was established in the late 19th century. The original schoolhouse, neighborhoods, plaza, and other buildings still in use, or at least intact, today. We also got to climb around an abandoned castle/home from probably the 12th or 13th century, Torre Salbana (Salbana Tower, likely named after one of the families that inhabited it at one time). It is now unfortunately tagged with graffiti and littered with garbage, however still incredible to see. Additionally we were able to meet yet another work of Gaudí... An unfinished crypt in Colonía Güell now, I believe, used as a church. Yet again, Gaudí's masterpiece was weird and awe-inspiring.
After a social day, Licha and I went back to the house where we watch the third Batman movie (so good by the way!), drank wine, and Ed made us INCREDIBLE tortilla española (a crustless quiche with potatoes, cheese, and chorizo--SO good).
This morning I had an early flight to Rome. Edu and Lichita kindly insisted on driving me at 4:45am on their day off. (If you ever fly in Europe, always print at home or download your tickets onto your phone as a pdf, otherwise it's an extra €15--same as certain hotel booking confirmations).
So I arrived in Fiumicino from Barcelona on a quick 1.75hr flight, and then took a bus into the main train terminal in Rome. I had a shot of espresso (Italy's version of coffee, unless you ask for an americano or a cappuccino, i'd assume) accompanied by a crecent pastry (brioche?). I'm fortunate in this country in that Spanish and Italian speakers can kinda get by understanding eachother when it comes to most words. I'm having an easier time than in France reading signs and communicating. I've been sitting on the concrete floor of the train terminal for a few hours now waiting to be able to check into my hostel and making good use of Google Maps again via wifi so I can know where in the Rome I'm going.
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