Alicante & PK2

Alicante was just too relaxing. 2 weeks is just the right amount of beach time where you aren't tired of it yet, but you are ready to go. We had thought about exploring other cities like Cadiz and Seville, but why mess up a good thing right? After 10 days, we finally tried the mini golf directly in front of the condo. Sandra turned the putting course into a pitch and put. See the ball flying through the air?
 The one day we managed to pull ourselves away from the beach we went to Alicante. Narrow streets and staircases that were similar to Lisbon.

 Too cool for school

Dinner with Sandra's family friends in Alicante. They had a young baby named Claudia that was crying until I busted out the classic weird sound trick, which confused the baby into silence.
We met this 39 and 40 year old at the tapas bar randomly. Ended up having a 2 hour conversation about life. The tapas bar was Andaluz, which is from the province of Andalucia. Little did I know, but there are several regional dialects within Spain that are similar to Spanish but different. Valencia, Galicia, Catalonia, Andalucia, and Basque country all have their own dialects. They were all conquered by Madrid, which imposed Spanish, but they have a strong history with their own languages. The bartender at this bar also spoke Andaluz, and he was very amused when an unsuspecting gringo would yell profane things at the other bartenders in Andaluz.
 Manu (Sandra's cousin) and Bea (girlfriend) met us for one night in Alicante. We started with dinner.
 And quickly progressed to drinks. The official drinking age in Spain is 18, however, starting around 15, kids will try to sneak into the bars. We had a perfect vantage point at this bar to watch schools of teenagers attempt to go into a bar. They would typically approach as a large group with girls in the front and guys behind. The youngest looking guys would keep their heads down and try to blend in. Sometimes they'd make it, but typically not. The girls wore extremely provocative clothes in order to look older. Virtually every girl had 5 inch heels and mini skirts. They couldn't have been more than 16 or 17. I noticed that most of the guys had a "tell" like in poker if they were too young. If they were too young, as they walked up they would touch their face in some way. Must have been an involuntary nervous reaction of some kind. I hate that the drinking age in the US is 21, but 15 year-olds are also too young. I think a strictly enforced 18 or 19 year-old limit would be best.
 The final night we went out with Sandra's friends in Madrid. It started with a house party...
 And somehow lead to a gay club called PK2, pronounced "Pecados," which means Sin. Not sure what they are getting at there. Never did I imagine that my last night in Madrid would end at a gay club, but it ended up being fun enough. I kept Sandra close by as protection. Now I know how girls feel when they go to clubs. Never have I felt so watched or objectified. I even had my ass grabbed a few times. The girls said they had an awesome time dancing and never felt more ignored. Kind of funny.

 
We partied until 6 am. I went straight to the airport without sleeping, which worked brilliantly as I didn't get jet lagged because I passed out on the plane. Three flights later I found myself back in SF. Arrived home at 8 pm Sunday and went to work early Monday morning. Yikes.

Comments

MZ said…
T-Sloane. You still write in this blog??? I am amazed.

Looks like you had fun. Hope work is going well.
September 25, 2013 at 10:21 AM
taylor said…
Ya, it's basically become a travel blog
September 27, 2013 at 12:19 PM
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