Granada

We left Seville on Monday the 13. It was sad to leave. Everyone was so kind and welcoming. We made many friends some of whom I presume we will see again. Even if not, we have Facebook to keep us in contact! It was a 3 hour bus ride to Granada. Danielle gotand I had no issues this time with trying to leave, maybe that was a sign...lol. We arrived and stayed in a hostel our first night. We went out for dinner at a local bar and had delicious bocadillos! The following night we went to our first couchsurfing home. The man I was in contact with was named Hendrick. He is from Germany. He lives in a flat with 4 other people and they all go to school at the university here. They were awesome! Very warm and interesting individuals. They are all from all over the world and have couchsurfed themselves. We drank and played a card game called Bang. It took Danielle and I a bit to understand though once we did Danielle kicked our asses! I cooked a dinner for everyone. It was chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella wrapped with bacon and cheesy mashed potatoes. Boy o boy was it delicious. The following day Danielle and packed up our stuff, said goodbye to everyone and were on our way to our next home in the mountains. The group told us we could stay and even offered to cook us a meal but we wanted to keep moving on with our trip. I kind of think maybe another night there would have been fun. But we didn't. We actually stuck to our plans lol. So we waited for a bus on the other side of town to bring us into the mountains. While we were waiting this homeless drugged up man wouldn't stop talking to us. He had on a pink and orange neon Colombia jacket with gold crosses hanging from his ears. He looked marvelous! He started to sing flamenco for us and then attempted to convince Danielle that she should trade her jacket for his since they were both Colombia jackets, I almost died when I heard him trying to ask her in Spanish. She just kept saying, "no cambio"...it was great. We finally got on the bus and were on our way to our next host in the mountains. We happened to be passing through a tiny town and I saw a man running next to the bus shouting, "I'm Tom!" I realized that was our host! I asked the bus driver to stop. We grabbed our stuff and met Tom. He was with 2 other girls. They were hippies from Sweden, with long dreadlocks and baggy clothing. They had 2 dogs with them. He said he needed to come to town to buy some groceries and saw the bus coming (guess not a lot of buses come through). He said he recognized me from my pictures and figured he would just drive us up. Worked out well, Danielle and I were able to buy some groceries this way. The drive to his house was fun, all of us packed in. The view was amazing! He lives on the top of a hill in a tiny little pueblo called Baes de Granada. He showed us our rooms and ins and outs of his home. He taught me how to make Tortilla Espanola. That is my favorite meal I have had here so far! I wrote down the directions because I can't wait to share this simple meal with everyone at home! We had some wine and shared stories. Tom played his guitar and played some of the music from his band. That was nice. The girls shared some of their stories of hitch hiking from Sweden down to Spain (with 2 dogs), still can't believe they were able to do it. We went to sleep late and slept in the following day. When we woke up we had some coffee and were on our way through the mountains for the day. We started off with the girls too but they found some almond trees and decided to stay there and sick some almonds to eat. They said it was meant to be that they found the trees and needed to stay and eat. So...Danielle and I went on our way up the mountains. We picked a point and walked up. We kind of had to go side to side due to the hills, drops and valleys, etc. We made it though and had the most amazing view ever of the Sierra Nevada mountains!! We had some oranges and sausages and played some music on my cellphone. It was just grand. Once we made our way down I cooked dinner for Danielle, Tom and I. The Swedish girls were vegetarians. I fried potatoes, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, and some cheese together and added chicken towards the end. It was very good. I took a nap afterwards. We have been sitting on the couch listening to the girls sing music for us for a while now. Tom and Danielle got some wood and we are all going to enjoy the fire in the living room and have some drinks! Boy do they like to drink in Spain. So, farewell for now. I'm sure I will have a few more things to add by the weeks end. We were supposed to go to Barcelona tomorrow. We have decided to stay here in Baes for a few days and will probably leave Saturday or Sunday. We have host there too. He lives in a town outside of Barcelona and has offered to show us the city if we stay with him. We will probably do that. So, goodbye, again, lol. Hope you all are doing well! Miss u all! Xoxo

Pictures of our time in Granada!