S'Arenal
Sorry I haven't written anything in a while! I've had a lot to adjust to since I started Spanish class and sailing courses.
Sunday, I went on an adventure to find the yacht club where my sailing courses are held. This meant a ten minute walk from the apartment to the underground bus station, a thirty minute bus ride, and another ten minute walk to the club.
The Estació Intermodal is a big public transportation station that's underground. You can choose to take the stairs or an escalator down into the station (for the sake of pleasing my Fitbit, I chose the stairs). There's a small supermarket in there as well as a cafe and a couple other little shops with snack and drinks. Tickets for the metro can be bought here, but if you're needing to catch a 500 bus (like me), you need to go down some more stairs to the where the buses stop. I checked the tv screen to see when my bus was supposed to arrive, prepared my €1.95 for the bus ride, and waited.
The bus ride to S'Arenal (where my sailing takes place) is about a half hour long. Once I hopped off the bus, I walked along the port where everyone's boats were docked. At the end of the road was Club Nautic S'Arenal.
Since it was Sunday, the club was closed, but I made a mental note of where it was and walked down the coast to a sandy beach. The beach was pretty full, but I walked past the traditional sandy beach to a rocky section that had less people on it. There, I laid out my towel, set down my bag and got into the water.
The sea was a beautiful blue-green. The water was cool but not cold; it was perfect for a hot Summer day. For those of you who don't know, many women in Spain don't wear a swimsuit top to swim. Breasts aren't sexualized here the same way they are in the U.S., and swimming topless is the norm. After being in Spain for just over a week, I mustered up the courage to really embrace the culture... and I swam topless. It was incredibly liberating! After my swim, I went back up to the rocks to sunbathe and read my book, Jurrasic Park. There weren't many people on that side of the beach, so it was really quite peaceful.
On Sundays, fewer bus routes are driven, so I had a couple hours to kill before the bus I needed was scheduled to arrive. I decided to walk up into town to grab a snack and something to drink. I found a restaurant advertising cheap tapas and cañas (draft beer). I was able to place my order without the help of Google Translate and was quite pleased with myself. My afternoon snack consisted of croquetas (basically fried mashed potatoes with bits of ham inside) and a beer. A snack of champions really.
My first trip to S'Arenal was a success, and the real fun was set to begin the next day when my classes started!
Sunday, I went on an adventure to find the yacht club where my sailing courses are held. This meant a ten minute walk from the apartment to the underground bus station, a thirty minute bus ride, and another ten minute walk to the club.
The Estació Intermodal is a big public transportation station that's underground. You can choose to take the stairs or an escalator down into the station (for the sake of pleasing my Fitbit, I chose the stairs). There's a small supermarket in there as well as a cafe and a couple other little shops with snack and drinks. Tickets for the metro can be bought here, but if you're needing to catch a 500 bus (like me), you need to go down some more stairs to the where the buses stop. I checked the tv screen to see when my bus was supposed to arrive, prepared my €1.95 for the bus ride, and waited.
The bus ride to S'Arenal (where my sailing takes place) is about a half hour long. Once I hopped off the bus, I walked along the port where everyone's boats were docked. At the end of the road was Club Nautic S'Arenal.
Since it was Sunday, the club was closed, but I made a mental note of where it was and walked down the coast to a sandy beach. The beach was pretty full, but I walked past the traditional sandy beach to a rocky section that had less people on it. There, I laid out my towel, set down my bag and got into the water.
The sea was a beautiful blue-green. The water was cool but not cold; it was perfect for a hot Summer day. For those of you who don't know, many women in Spain don't wear a swimsuit top to swim. Breasts aren't sexualized here the same way they are in the U.S., and swimming topless is the norm. After being in Spain for just over a week, I mustered up the courage to really embrace the culture... and I swam topless. It was incredibly liberating! After my swim, I went back up to the rocks to sunbathe and read my book, Jurrasic Park. There weren't many people on that side of the beach, so it was really quite peaceful.
On Sundays, fewer bus routes are driven, so I had a couple hours to kill before the bus I needed was scheduled to arrive. I decided to walk up into town to grab a snack and something to drink. I found a restaurant advertising cheap tapas and cañas (draft beer). I was able to place my order without the help of Google Translate and was quite pleased with myself. My afternoon snack consisted of croquetas (basically fried mashed potatoes with bits of ham inside) and a beer. A snack of champions really.
My first trip to S'Arenal was a success, and the real fun was set to begin the next day when my classes started!
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