Travels in Spain

So I´m actually trying to journal a little bit on this trip, but my internet access is more sporadic, so I´m going to type things up when I have a chance.

Tuesday, 29 July
I´m trying to start journaling on this trip, but since carrying a notebook around is too much, I´m just going to use scraps of paper. Arrived in Malaga yesterday, totally sleepless after my last night of camp. The hostel is way out of the historic center, in a pretty grungry part of town. Been thinking a lot about what kind of places appeal to me and why. Anyway, free pasta and internet at the hostel. Met a german and then two canadians (could NOT understand the quebecois accent--exhaustion?) and then a french gal and everyone was really friendly. Will hopefully see the german in madrid, and maybe the French, if I see them again to get their numbers.
So day 2 of traveling alone going pretty well for me. My still out of it ness led me to wander hopelessly for a while trying to find the picasso museum, though mostly I´m just rushed because I´m trying to get a veggie taps meal before 4, otherwise the centre ville is great for wandering. The picasso museum is packed, but there3 are so many breathtaking pieces here, just spent 5 minutes staring in awe at "The bather"--hostely feel like my life has been made more complete in some way by seeing these. My first reaction was how could I have made it this far without seeing them.

Wednesday, 30 July
Day 3 of traveling by myself. Did a New Madrid free tour with some gals at I met at my hostel (one is 25 and married with two kids but doing it with her sister, who never got a chance to see europe) and the guide wasn´t the best, but I got to talk to a lot of people and am now at the museum with 2 british gals. So I´m doing pretty well, my main worries being that 1) I won´t find anyone to go out with tonight 2) hostels in the cities I want to go to will be all booked up (none of the HI hostels have websites, which makes it more difficult). I also need to figure out where I´m going next because I´m pretty sure a lot of places in southern France will be booked. Camping is always an option, I guess. I´m thinking right now of getting a eurrail pass for after marseille and heading to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe for a month. Hopefully then it will be easier because I can always just hop on a different train if there are no open hostels. ALso, I´m hoping to dump a lot of stuff in France, which will make traveling a lot less painful. But (maybe because I´m really tired), I keep ending up thinking about what I´m doing next instead of focusing on the now.

Thursday, 31 July
So I guess bad days should be expected to go with good ones. I started off okay, with a really great contemporary art museum, but then things started going down hill. The market I wanted to buy lunch at was shut, then I got disoriented and spent hours wandering around mostly pretty boring (with some interesting) neighborhoods, on my way to the train station to see if I could get a youth discount. Not only do you need this specific youth card that I don´t have, I had to wait for almost an hour only to discover that I bought the ticket for tomorrow instead of Saturday and now have to wait again, even longer. Plus, I have to change hosteals tomorrow. I´m worried all of the hostels in France will be booking (maybe I´ll buy a tent= and I´m worried that I´m not going to be able to see everything I want to in the Pyrenees. After I´m done waiting at the train station, I think I´ll go back to the hostel to try to make some reservations and eat dinner before I (hopefully) find some people to go out with. On the bright side, I did go to two really amazing bars last night, even if the people I was with didn´t realize the second one´s awesomeness.

Friday, 1 August
I´m not sure why I´m in a state of being so succeptible to the power of art--maybe its the one consistent thing in my life this last week, but I totally got knocked off my feet (literally-into a provided beanbag chair) again by an exhibit at the Reine Sofia. Unfortunately, I was a little too tired and arted out to spend much time on the main exhibitions but there were some amazing Miros.
I don´t think Madrid is my favorite city to be a tourist, but it is so appealing in some way. I guess it helps that my hostel is really good and I´ve gotten a chance to see some of the nightlife. I don´t know if I can go out again tonight, since I have an 8am train tomorrow, but I also don´t want to miss out on a friday in Madrid.
I think I´ll get some gazpacho for dinner since its the one spanish food I have´nt tried yet (and I´ve eaten pasta for a lot of meals in a row). My tapas were really good and the bocadillos were pretty good (better if you eat meat, I think) but either the churros I had were not good or its just not the right weather, because I feel like I might die from them.

Today:
Now I´m at an internet place in Madrid, because I missed my train to Bilbao, due to various stupidities. I think one of the biggest advantages to traveling with other people (besides the ability to split hotel rooms and hitchhike, etc) is that you have some other people to check you on your really stupid mistakes, like going to the wrong train station. So I´ve lost a day in Bilbao, and 8 euros, and my morning (I could have slept in and hung out with cool people at the hostel) but at least I´ve managed to do a little searching for where I´m going next (I reserved in Bayonne for a night, and then hopefully can stay in Taubes, and then Perpignan for a night, and then I don´t know where I´m going to go... hopefully somewhere into the Pyrenees but I need to find a place where I can stay). I´m super exhausted after yet another night of very little sleep, so I think I´ll go sleep in a park when I´m done with this.