Trouble always finds me somehow. Last summer, I decided to couch surf in Ibiza and a couple of friendly locals agreed to host me. Everything seemed promising, up to the moment when I landed on the island ground. My hosts stopped picking up their phones, but luckily (?), I had the address of their residence, and headed towards the place called Cala Llenya. It turned out to be some place on the other (non-party!) side of the island. The last bus stop in my direction was Santa Eulalia, still far away from my destination. I put my thumb out. 20 minutes after, a taxi pulled over. 20 Euros after, he kicked me out in the middle of the woods as he had no idea where the hell is that place.
Alone in the dark with the optimistic hope that there are no wild animals around, I sat on my suitcase and waited. After a while, my bear shaped prince on the motorcycle materialized out of the dark.
At least I hoped it was a prince, not a rapist.
This chap spoke no English, and a really bad Spanish, and I tried to pantomime him where I need to go. He didn’t get that either, so my instinctual reaction was cursing in my mother tongue.
I never though knowledge of Croatian could help me in a situation like this, but bear shaped Bulgarian luckily watched a lot of Serbian soap operas and picked up a few useful sentences. And the most important - he knew where the palace of my couch surfing hosts was, and offered me a ride. I gratefully sat behind him on his motorcycle and tugged my suitcase as he slowly drove.
Finally, he pulled over in front of some dirty house that looked like a squat place (surrounded by all those magnificent villas, ironically). Yes, the one belonging to my hosts. Actually...Not really belonging as they lodged in.
They host dozen of couch surfers at the same time, and recruit them into their catering business. Or – if they don’t have a work permit like two Argentinean girls, they include them in other activities, for example selling space cookies on the beach.
Oh, Ibiza… It was just the beginning. This is the place where decency goes to decadency before you know it. Everything you heard is true.