Wandering Hilary: Buena Vista Social Club

I think Buena Vista Social Club nicely sums up a great week of good views and lots of socialising.

Todays quote: If you have a dream, being a chicken serves no purpose. Unless the dream is to lay eggs. Fairly apt for all the foreigners I've met here who have decided to take the plunge and move to Spain.

On our way up!

I started last weekend with an expedition to 'the bunkers' which are old air raid bunkers on a hill, a relic from the civil war in the 1930s. The intrepid hike started from the metro station where we luckily managed to spot some stone blocks on the distance and headed uphill in their direction. It was suprisingly steep and hot climb but we were well rewarded with the views and a picnic (in which chocolate covered oreos played a starring role) at the top. We made it within spitting distance of the top only to find the actual bunkers blocked off, however enough people seemed to have made it through and not all of them looked capable of the death-defying climbing required to scale the fences at this point. So we explored further and found a man in a hi-vis jacket confidently pointing people in the direction of a hole in the fence. He then announced to us that we should be out of the fenced-off area by 5pm because security would be here. So a man seems to have slightly surrealy self appointed himself as unoffical pre-security to let people into the bunkers rather than keep them out. A good samaritan!

Making our way through the barriers with the help of Mr Good Samaritan

I then had a busy week tracking down the Arsenal match in an irish bar, meeting new people and the weekly local aupair 'cerveza and bravas' meet up. I also tried out a yoga class and only realised too late when the order for eyes closed and 'ohmmmms' had been given that it would be solely in Catalan. I think I managed to follow most of it but it meant most of the spiel about relaxing and emptying the mind was lost on me as I tried my hardest to concentrate and follow the gist. It was a rather tense experience as I tried to copy the surprisingly bendy pensioners.

Bargains in the local market

Barcelona by day

And by night

I've decided it doesn't really tend to rain in Spain all that much but rather thunder and lightning creating subsequent monsoon conditions which turns the streets into rivers. I took myself on a little walk to the sea and ended up running all the way back, pouring water out of my trainers and peeling off soaked clothes that proved my pac-a-mac wasn't up to the job! The sea looked very dramatic and picturesque, some hardy surfers were making the most of the waves.

This weekend started with another mountain expedition to Tibidabo for the boy's birthday which is a small, old fashioned theme park aimed at kids. I'm not a big fan of super scary rides so this was perfect for me! We arrived in the afternoon so it was really atmospheric watching night fall over the city from the mountain as all the fairground lights came on. It's quite a drive up winding mountain roads to the top and the setting is amazing looking down over the whole city out to sea.