Barcelona Round II

this last weekend i went to barcelona for the second time. i again stayed with my terrific new friends lucas and hilaria, who were more than gracious in letting me kick it at their crib for a few days. on the surface it seemed as though this may not have been the best planned trip, i decided on it in the last minute, and im not exactly a plan ahead kind of guy either. so, when i get to barcelona i find out that, first, lucas and hilaria are studying for exams, my friend anastacia is going to berlin for the weekend, my other friend santi is going to granada for the weekend, and the last, ima, who i havnt met yet, never returned my email, so i was basically in barcelona on my own in a sense, although i was well cared for by my friends. on the surface this may seem like an ill omened trip, but in reality, it was a resounding success. i felt like less of a tourist, and i wasnt so rushed to see the sights. i spent alot my days reading and cooking for my busy hosts in an effort to make my visit a help more than a burden. i whipped up some recipes that i had been meaning to utilize, moms typical fideo soup, as well as a stuffed tomoatoes and peppers recipes that i havnt been able to try for our lack of an oven in granada.

aside from cooking i did my share of walking around and such, i saw two good movies, coincidentally both with gael garcia bernal in them, BABEL and LA CIENCIA DE LOS SUEñOS. babel is really a good an interesting movie, emotionally touching, as well as morally and spiritually stimulating. ciencia de los sueños is more of a trippy kind of movie, i guess it would be more aptly described as a 'film'. in general i enjoyed them both.

basically the reason that i went to barcelona was to watch the FC Barcelona soccer game on sunday. now this is probably more relevant to those of you who either like soccer or even better are barça aficionados. so basically it went like this, the game was at 7 so at like 530 i started to make my way to the legendary Camp Nou (New Field in Catalan). i didnt have tickets but my friend assured me that i could probably find cheaper than regulation tickets once i got there. so i got off the subway along with the initial hoards that like to get there early. i was in front of the stadium at 6 and in my antsineess to get inside, i bought the first ticket i could get my hands on. i definetly could have gotten a better price, but this was quite irrelivant to me at the moment. the whole time i had basically been alternating between shivering with emotion and just grinning or laughing out loud. my ticket was in the upper tier in the corner. so i initially went to that section to and from there i went directly to midfield and i went to the highest point of the stadium, the proverbial 'nose bleed' section. i basically stood up there and just savored the sweet smell of the air in the Camp Nou. it is a sensation i have dreamed of for years. and the dreams really cannot compare to the actuality of watching the sunset over the mountains beyond the stadium, of watching the 120,000 (thats max capacity, there were probably more like 70-80 at this game) loving fans file in. as the game was about to start i moved down a few rows so i was sitting at midfield in the lower half of the upper tier. soccer is defiently a sport where having a good perspective makes a big difference, you wouldnt for example want to sit behind a goal because you cant see shit, you also dont really want to sit in the first row. i think the ideal is the middle tier, but the upper tier is by no means bad. the game started and i really cant describe the emotions that were taking place in my heart at that time. it is the satisfaction of crossing something of your lifes to do list, only problem is i added at least a dozen other visits to it as a consequence. as for the game itself, there is no way to describe how well the team played so u will just have to see for yourself. these are the highlights fromt he game and i just watched them again and they are sick, CLICK HERE.
after the game i made my way out of the stadium and joined the hoard of people that were just walking down the middle of the street stopping traffic in all directions. i eventually made my way into the subway station and along with many many other people waited for the train to come. apparently there were some people that thought they were slick dodo and went to the precious train stop so when the train arrived it was completely packed. their plan backfired on them when nobody considered the fact that the train was full as a good enough reason not to get on it, so joining in the mob mentality we redoubled the density of people in the train, and all those poeple who though they were smart were suddenly crushed into the back of the train. haha. that was probably one of the best nights of my life, one i will certainly never forget. the thrill and glory of watching your team tear it up like that. from there i went to the movies to watch babel. in general a memeorable evening.

well my friends, the time has come to bounce up outa here. so i will leave you . peace.