So , we did get to take a side trip to Benidorm, which is basically like the Miami or hot spot of Spain. It is THE coastal town that the northern Europeaners all go to for holiday. Our trip there was for conservation of course! We met with a man name Javier who did not speak as much English as the others we work with, which forced me to finally use my Spanish outside of shopping, but it was really fun(we talked about music, politics, american movies)! We took a 1 1/2 hr ride down, just Josh and I (Nicole left to visit family in Greece for a week! exciting!), and upon arrival took a ferry to Benidorm island. Which is quite the angled island! It is an island with massive seagulls! They are 1/3 to 1/2 times as big as ours. Pretty sure they are on roids or something. They are also annoying turds that like to laugh like hyenas in the sky (a few sounding like mario, woo-hoo!) and dive bomb you as you walk through the cactus infested cliffs. At Benidorm, I thought I was going to die like a million times. I also thought Josh was going to fall and die like a million times since he was wearing shoes with less traction. At the island, Josh and I met with two French students and the local lead volunteer, Eduardo. We had to leave the designated safe tourist area to climb on the cliffs, steep cliffs, like mountain goats, without harnesses or anything! was very scary at times. Involves a lot of hopping from rocks to rocks and keen balance. The whole point of the trip was to climb down to the caves at the bottom of the island to check on the local stone petros, these little birds that are hunted by the gulls. To get down to the caves, we had to walk along a very narrow ledge where it was one foot in front of the other, holding a little rope staved into the cliffside and well, a cliff with a 60 foot drop or so onto big rocks or the ocean, either way, it is a one way trip down. *shivers* After we finally got down to the cave, we had to be very careful to avoid stepping on any little rocks so we wouldnt disturb their nests. Eduardo had me assist him in checking on the tupperware nests to see if the birds were mating, nesting, or just not there at all. He also decided to speak spanish the entire time, fun again! we had to climb into a narrower part of the cave, only about 3, 3 1/2 feet tall. I helped for about 30 minutes before getting a bit claustrophobic lying on the floor trying to write as he made his way deeper into the cave to look for other nets.
After we switched, I got LOTS of pictures and videos of the GORGEOUS scenery from the cave. We then climbed back up and went to another part of the island to descend again and do the same. The entire time while doing this, I kept getting stabbed REPEATEDLY by cacti!!! In my leg, in my tuchus, my arms, these annoying little spines that were getting caught under my clothing so I couldnt pick at them. These cacti remained in my arm and legs for over a week, causing swelling and pain. I hate cacti.... After 5 hours or so on the island, we FINALLY finished and made our way back to Benidorm where we did a little shopping before heading back. Overall we got a good tan and a tuchus full of needles. Ouch.-Rita
Joshua took over after i couldn't take it anymore >.<
I take some damn good pictures!
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