Hasta septiembre

 In one massive sentence, starting from my lovely room overlooking the Parc de la Ciutadella I went for a run in the parc where I bade hasta pronto to . . .

. . .the statues, the lake, the Barcelonian Arc de Triomf and the stylish women sipping their café con leches at outdoor cafes eyeing me as I ran by, thinking that I reminded them of their grandfathers and hoping that if I had a heart attack and collapsed it would be in front of someone else’s table.

Then I spent a chunk of the morning getting an officially-certified negative COVID test, which I need to get back into the States. I’m no epidemiologist, but given that the US has a lower vaccination rate than Uruguay and Thailand, is giving away vaccines because people don’t want them, has had more COVID cases than any other country in the world (double the number of the second-place country), and has people actively demonstrating against measures to reduce the spread, it seems a little out of touch to make sure people aren’t testing positive when they enter our country by air. In contrast, when I came into Spain, Spain said “if you’re vaccinated, you’re good. Come on in.” Spain even tolerated the embarrassing fact that my proof of vaccination was a piece of paper that someone wrote on with a ball-point pen.

A few other final thoughts and observations:

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

If you’re asked to do an English translation of something, don’t phone it in. We have Google Translate now.

Where necessary, get an English speaker to help you.

Failed branding exercises have real-world consequences.

When you don’t watch, read or listen to the news for 10 straight days, the only effect that has on anything in the world is that you will be in a better mood.

Hasta septiembre.

Ferry to Barcelona

 

This morning I (1) had a ferry ticket and (2) used it to get myself on a boat for a ride to my next destination. This is in contrast to the other day when only half of those things happened, but I’m not looking back right now.

I’m on an 8+ hour ride from Menorca to Barcelona, so today is a day of forced deceleration, which we could probably all use once in a while. It’s hard to get wound up about anything when you’re staring at this for 8 hours. My phone stopped reporting anything hours ago because we’re too far from any towers. I really don’t need to know what time it is because I’m just going to be here until we’re done and I don’t know exactly when that is supposed to happen; I just know it will take all day, more or less. 

There is, however, a lot of activity below – cafeteria, bar, large screen TVs. I’m settled in outside on one of the exterior decks next to the kennel, where people “board” their dogs for the trip.  Dog owners are allowed a personal visit once every four hours to walk their dogs around some fake grass so that they can relieve themselves (I was going to write “the dogs, not the people” but decided to use some self-restraint. I also briefly thought of making some remark here that included the phrase “poop deck” but it would have seemed obvious and shallow).

When we set sail, or whatever it is a ferry does when it leaves, the boat was pretty empty. But we made a stop at Mallorca where a lot of British vacationers got on, so I’m now hearing more English than I have in a week.

Assuming we don’t sink, that pretty much sums up my activity for the day. Now back to my yoga pose.

 

Menorca Day 2

Today started with a bike ride. The restaurant in my hotel has a coffee maker with a touch screen. You just tap the type of coffee you want and it grinds the beans and makes a perfect cup. I loved that thing. Cappuccino? Tap. Café solo? Tap. Café con leche? Tap, tap, tap. I have never been so ready for a bike ride.

I went down the coast and back up in what was supposed to be more or less a loop that turned out to be less a loop.

The section along the coast is called the Cami de Cavalis, which is part of a much larger trail that goes around the coast of the whole island, and it’s probably been there since the 1300s. It’s a rocky path, much of which is not suitable for vehicles that didn’t exist in the 1300s, like road bikes.

In the beginning, I would ride the sections I could and walk the others. After a couple of miles I found myself enjoying the scenery, animals and views, and just walked even when I didn’t have to, which I guess is what’s supposed to happen.

Similarly, when I left the hotel this morning I noticed people sitting around the hotel pool and thought about what a waste it was to come all the way out here and then sit by the pool. But after spending a few hours wandering along the coast, I thought sitting by a pool and reading sounded like a lovely idea, albeit for people other than me.

Instead I headed into town not for mayonnaise, which may have been invented on this island in the 1750s, nor for a glimpse of an endangered Minorquin horse, which pretty much only exists here, but for a cold cerveza.

After which I wandered around town a little, wondering if we can squeeze a little Menorca into our September trip.