Party All Night

October 23rd

I got up at 10:30 and tried to do a little reading before we went out to explore Granada.  Rochelle and Emily had been running on no sleep for the previous 36 hours as it was Rochelle's birthday on Tuesday.  By the time they had gotten up, showered, and ready it was 3:30pm.  I had one class at 5:30, but I figured we would take a walk and then they could explore on their own.  

We walked to Plaza Bim-Rambla, up through the labyrinth of Arab shops, and around the Cathedral.  Climbing the hill to the Alhambra through the woods, we were immersed in a green world as we walked past cedar and elm trees and enjoyed the waterfalls and canals where water flowed from some ancient source.

I asked the ticket booth if we could buy tickets for the palace but they had run out and only had tickets available for the Generalife gardens.  They said to come back tomorrow around 8:00am to get tickets.

I suggested they explore "Carmen de Los Martires," the neo-classical gardens adjacent to the Alhambra.  I then ran back to the centro for my Teoría del Estado class.  It was a good class and we were given our first real assignment.  An essay comparing and contrasting the work of Robert Michels and Vladimir Lenin and their opinions on the State.  From class, I hurried back to my piso as I was supposed to meet up with Rochelle and Emily by 7:15 so we could catch the end of the sunset at the Mirador of Saint Nicolas.

Walking briskly back to my piso along Calle Mesones, I ended up running into the girls.  They were window shopping and I tagged along acting as translator.

We dropped our stuff back at the apartment and then went right back out.  Heiko and Nathalie came along too.  It ended up being a lot longer of a hike then I remember to the Mirador of San Nicolas as we had to climb through the Albayzín and became slightly lost.  We eventually found it and caught the last pink glaze of the sun on the darkening sky.  The Alhambra was beautifully lit and the city sparkled below.  After about a half an hour we were all getting a little hungry, so I suggested we a do a tapa bar crawl as we made our way back down toward the centro.  I called Ryan and told him we'd meet up with him at the "Euribar" by Calle Ronda in half an hour or so.

Our gastronomic tour of Granada's tapas culture began at the "Antigua Bodega" where we snacked on ham and cheese bocadillos.  We then cut through the centro to "Poë" where we enjoyed little "nut cups" of a rice and chicken medley.  We ended up at the "Euribar" where we had two rounds.  Everything at the "Euribar" is one euro (tapa and drink included).

Tonight's plan was to party.  It was the start of my weekend and none of us had any obligations the next day.  We went back to my piso, changed, and then headed toward Plaza Albert Einstein where we enjoyed in the unparalleled revelry that is the botellón.  I wanted to take them to Mae West, the posh club in Granada with multiple levels and different music rooms playing salsa, hip-hop, reggae, and other genres.  The bouncers wouldn't let us in and I'm not really sure why as we were all dressed nice and Ryan and I were with the two pretty girls.  Maybe it was because we spoke English as we walked up the stairs.  This minor speed bump didn't put an end to the night as we hailed a cab and took it all the way up to the Albayzín to the "Camborio" discotheque that has a fantastic view of the Alhambra from the main dance floor.  The cab driver must have liked us as we talked with him during the trip and he cut our cab fare in half.  It was a "hip-hop night" at the Camborio and we danced until 6:30am.

Back at my piso we all wanted to try and stay up until 8:00am for churros and chocolate.  Emily fell immediately to sleep and Rochelle, Ryan, and I stayed up watching my old videos.  At 8:00am we tried to wake up Emily, but she wouldn't even budge.  We decided to postpone our goal of churros and chocolate for another day and crashed instead.