It is my last day at the resort. The weather has been nice, a couple days were a little stormy but overall warm and beautiful. I have had a really nice time here, completely different from the hostel experience. I have been the youngest one here and I haven't made any friends except with the people who work here as they are the only ones remotely close to my age. It is funny as you walk around the staff says "Hello Ms. Kennedy" everytime they see you, like you are famous or something, I am sure it isn't too hard for them to remember me as I stick out like a sore thumb here. The staff all goes above and beyond to do nice things for me, it has been so nice and I am grateful. They come and clean your room everyday, yes I said every day. You go to lay out, you come back everything is sparkling, garbages dumped, bed made. Lovely, just lovely, I need that service at my house when I come back! Luckily they have it easy with me as I like things tidy anyway especially after being in hostels. Actually I have been really suprised at how nice most of the hostels have been. I had read horror stories but no where I have stayed has been gross, just noisy. It has been good for me to relax, it is nice just to hang out in my room, reading, watching movies, I have been sunbathing a lot and I am really tan. While I have been here I have been able to talk to my family since I was finally somewhere where they could call me and I had my own phone line. So that has been nice as I hadn't been calling home very often as it is pretty complicated. I have been taking lots of pics of everything I just can't get them on the computer so you can see them. I have burnt them on CD's so I wouldn't lose them and so I could continue to use my camera.
While I was here I went on two excursions that were fun. The first one was to a fancy jewelery shop in Marbella, I really looked like a gold digger on that one as of course the bus onloads with a bunch of ancient men and me... they have a fancy bus that comes and picks you up at your hotel trying to lure you to buy jewelery but I used it as an opportunity to get into town and get my pics burned to a CD and get some groceries. The tour guide was really nice and informative and she thought it was great that I was being resourceful with her company. Marbella is a very fancy town with a lot of money, yes this is where I should have found a boyfriend but no luck, we weren't there long enough and the old guys cramped my style. The next excursion I went on was to Gibraltar, it was so great, a fancy bus comes and picks you up and takes you to Gibraltar, which is actually part of Britian which I did not know, it was like being in London again, they use pounds not Euros it was crazy. My favorite part of the tour was when we were on the rock of Gibraltar and we got to hang out with the Barbary Apes. They have 250 apes that run around wild on the island it was so great. They have signs that say Caution the Apes Bite and Grab, of course I took a pic of the sign, but our guide said they were fairly harmless yet I was still a bit nervous. It is so amazing, when you get to a certain point at the top of the rock the apes are running around jumping on the cars, they are everywhere, they are so cute, ranging in size from 5-10 lbs to 50 lbs. So we get out of the bus and I ask someone from the tour to take my pic with one of the apes which is sitting on this fence right next to me I could touch it if I wanted. So I am posing for the pic and the ape grabs and yanks on the strap for my bag that I have over my shoulder crossed across my chest. I shriek like a mad woman and pull away from the apes grasp. The ape was one of the bigger ones about 40lbs. He was harmless it just startled me, they are really curious and they like to steal. The guide warned us that they will grab your camera, sunglasses, hats, and run into the jungle and you are out of luck. I got a pic of a baby ape that was maybe 3 or 5lbs, just adorable, touching my windbreaker just feeling it with his fingers fascinated, than he crawled up my arm which is an amazing thing when they are so close to you, but also freaks you out a bit. I would love to have one of these baby monkeys, they are so mischevious and cute. It was a spectacular experience, I could have stayed there all day. I might go back to visit the apes while I am in Tarifa as it is pretty close. It is so neat to visit places you have only heard or read about. I am embarrased to admit geography and history aren't my strong points but it is so much better to learn this way than by reading or in a class. I really don't know who is reading my journal unless they post a reply or send me an e-mail, I am being pretty open about my experiences so it is pretty funny thinking about some peoples reactions. Let me know if anyone has any questions for me. It has been nice to have the online journal to share my adventure with others. This experience has been so good for me, better than I imagined, some challenges for sure but overall terrific. The one question I have got is how my money situation is. Well other than the question why I didn't take a pic of the elephant guy in Barcelona, to answer that question, it was 9.30 in the morning and my camera was packed away in my backpack I had no way of predicting the sight that was awaiting me I was just trying to make my way to my hostel. I do regret that I didn't get a pic to share as yes it does seem unbelievable. But to answer the other not as exciting question. I have been lucky with my money as hostels are really reasonable as little as $11 up to $22 a night and they offer so much to the poor backpacker. Free breakfasts, good local information, sometimes free internet, the blessed laundry service, usually kitchens so you can buy food to make at the hostel, I have been budgeting for $50 a day but many times I don't even spend that! So when I do want to spend a little more on something it all works out. Plus guys buy me things a lot, not even always trying to hit on me but just being nice, it is weird we are all in the same boat financially yet they still try to be gentlemen. Who am I to argue, right? I have found that the people who stay at hostels are a really generous bunch, someone will go to the store and share with everyone what they bought. I like sharing with others as well, it makes you feel good. It really is like being part of a family and you need that when you are out here in the jungles of Europe. Ha, ha. But really everyone does seem to look after each other. The time seems to be going fast yet also I have experienced and done so much and I have a whole month left to explore, it is great. This has allowed me to learn so much about myself and what I am capable of and what makes me happy. I feel lucky to have this experience. So I am off tomorrow to Tarifa where I am going to stay for about a week and hopefully find someone to go to Morrocco with me. I knew I was a social person but after being pretty isolated this week it has been reinforced in my mind, I am rested and raring to get back into the swing of things again.
