The train ride was about 2 hours, a little less. I stared at the mountains in the distance wondering what stories they would tell if they could talk, (sometimes I have my deep moments in life) and the trees that changed in shape and size, to acres of trees planted equidistantly. At one point we headed into a tunnel and when we came out there was an amazing view of the side of the mountain. Unfortunately I was sitting on the opposite side so I couldn't whip out my camera and take a picture.
When we got to Ronda, we bought a map and headed to the bridge. The walk to the famous bridge of Ronda was not too short but not too long. We decided to follow the path that had the view of the mountains across the gorge. The route takes you past the Plaza de Toros.
We saw this man painting a scenery of the gorge and all it's beauty. Honestly, I was mesmerized by the work. It was so detailed and intricate and beautiful. The thing is that he wasn't using a paintbrush... But a palet knife! Who does that?! It was crazy! I just had to stop and take a picture of the artwork and him working on the piece.
We stayed and watched him for around 10 or 15 minutes. I'm telling you, it was AMAZEBALLS! Anywho, we continued on our journey to the bridge and when we finally got there...
BREATHTAKING!!!
You have to understand that THIS was one of the places I HAD TO visit. I had only seen pictures of it on tumblr and I fell in love with it. It's just.. beautiful.
We realized that there was a tiny path to the bottom that you could take. It was windy and twisted, but the angle of it reminded me of home. Walking down the street in my dad's village up in the Atlas Mountains, and your footsteps are like thuds and your arms are waving around like an orangutang. We got to this little area and this is one if my favorite pictures I took:
There is a little waterfall down at the bottom. You could actually continue walking to the other side of the bridge and here's what that looked like:
We walked back up and decided to eat lunch since we were hungry. We had a couple unexpected guests that included a stray cat and a couple of bees. Bees freak the shit out of me. I was never stung by a bee when I was a kid and I have this absurd fear that I'll break out in hives or it'll inflate or something bad will happen. That's all I know.
After eating we walked back the same direction we came and down the same street. I wanted to see how far along the artist Carlos Diaz got in his painting. This is where we found him.
Now you can not tell me that this is not beautiful!! I wanted to buy an original because you could feel the texture and see it too. He told me the one he was working on was the #1 painting he does. And when it's done, the original is 100€. Guys, I'm a poor student and I knew my dad would kill me if I bought it. Poor life decisions. But it was so lovely. I decided in getting a reproduction which is just like a photocopy of an original. It was a lot more in my price range, 7€. We stayed and talked to him a while. He's been doing this type of artwork for 40 years and his work has been in a couple of collections. I honestly would love to just hear about his life and how he got ino it and where all he's traveled to and the people he's met. That'd be one fascinating conversation.
We walked back to catch our train. We got there an hour ahead, on ourpose so we could just relax.
Fast forward to the nighttime adventures:
That night, we went out with Karim from the tea house. We met at Plaza de Merced and he came with his friend. They took us to a place called "la biblioteca" or "the library" in English. There was a line, but Karim started talking to some guy who let us in right away. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Inside the walls were painted as if they had books on shelves and at the top near the ceiling there were names of famous books like "Sherlock Holmes" and there were pictures off famous authors on one wall. I ordered a gin and tonic but that was just too strong to start off with even though I poured all the tonic in it. I finished it though, I'm not about to waste alcohol! It was crowded in there so we decided to leave and go to another place.
They took us to some discoteca. Karim's friend payed the cover fee for us, which was 40€ for all of us... So thank you! One the guy opened the doors, it was crazy! Blue lights, loud ass misic, people dancing. I'm going to miss Spain! UGH!! We went to the bar to order and I got a rum and coke. We headed to the back hoping it was less crowded. Less crowded, yes but still crowded. Obviously when in a discoteca, you dance, so I did. It was fun and the place and good music. A mix of Spanish and English but not janky songs. Karim would sing to the English songs and. I tried to hear what he was saying... Which was jibberish. Of course Spaniards don't know the words to English songs! Every time we finished our drinks. They would come back with more. I think I had either 4 or 5 including the first one, I lost count after 3.
There was a couple who was dancing to a salsa song and I stopped dancing to watch them, they were so good. I wish I had videotaped them to show you! There were other Spanish songs like flamenco tunes and Karim tried to get me to dance to them. I have rhythm but to dance to a certain way to a song that you have never heard is kinda hard. The girl next to me was dancing though so I just watched her and then I made friends and she taught me a little something something.
After that they drove us back to the hostel and we said bye and thank you. Karim said he comes to Granada often go I'm sure I'll see him again. It was a fun night! And a great end to a long ass weekend!
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