Palma de Mallorca

Palma de Mallorca: Day 10 - Formentor

2011-07-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

I'm still waiting on more pictures to truly do this day justice, but far and away this excursion tops the rest. I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing there besides spending a few hours on different beaches. Well the beaches were neat and all, (just another beautiful beach at this point) but after tearing Patrick and I away from our intense paddle ball game, our bus took the group to the Cap de Formentor. After driving up some mountains for 30 minutes or so, the bus dropped us off in what seemed like the top of hill in a huge valley. After climbing the hill, we discovered that these "hills" were actually cliffs and they backed up right next to the Mediterranean. Here are a few pictures of this INCREDIBLE place. In 21 years I have a hard time thinking of anything that comes close to comparison.

^long distance paddle ball champs

Palma de Mallorca: Day 9 - Noche de San Juan

2011-06-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

So Juan from Ibiza had been telling us that the coming Thursday was going to be crazy because it was his birthday and it was "Noche de San Juan". I thought he was legally insane but soon found out that Noche de San Juan was actually a nationally celebrated holiday. It's celebrating St. John the Baptist. We learned all week about the traditions and customs carried out through the night. My madre told me that it is a night of cleansing and that you need to make two pieces of paper for the night. One has the bad things written on it from last year, regrets etc; the other with your wishes and dreams for the coming year. She told me that at midnight you burn the bad things and walk into the ocean with the good things to cleanse. Then you bring the wet paper back to the beach and bury it in the sand. We dug a hole for everyone's' bad things and buried the good with the ashes of the bad. It was pretty damn cool, I have to say. My madre also mentioned something about playing with devils and fire, but it didn't sound very interesting. Turns out, I was in for a HUGE surprise.

We went to the cathedral and heard a bunch of drums coming from a huge mob of people. Among the throngs of people were very large Spaniards dressed in FULL ON fire proof demon costumes. They walked around harassing girls and chasing people with fire. It seems funny and kind of like a joke but it was INTENSE. Some of the girls got groped and licked by the demons. They also had staffs with fireworks attached to the end and they would light them and chase people around. The fireworks were the equivalent of about the biggest sparkler you've ever seen. And this stuff was definitely not safe. I have a few burn marks that actually broke skin on my legs and feet and my EDC jacket is pretty ruined. My backpack also has a bunch of pretty good burn holes all over.

You can see me in my white hoodie and backpack towards the end of the video. I was dancing with the Demons!

UNFORGETTABLE...

Palma de Mallorca: Day 8 - Ibiza!

2011-06-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am seriously behind. So much to post! I'll start with Ibiza. We planned to make a big group trip to Ibiza but everyone waited to long to buy tickets and whatnot and it ended up being just Natalia and I. Turns out, it was probably for the best, since most people would have been having a heart attack the entire trip. My phone ran out of minutes on the boat ride to Ibiza and Natalia was already waiting for me. My boat was an hour late. Natalia's phone ALSO ran out of minutes when she arrived in Ibiza. Sounds like a recipe for disaster already, but the stars must have been aligned in our favor. My boat being late gave Natalia enough time to recharge minutes on her phone and I was somehow able to at least receive calls. I walked off the boat and bypassed the free bus. Started walking in some random direction and less than 2 minutes later Natalia was yelling my name. Perfect.

Natalia had a map in hand and the first priority was to get to a beach as soon as possible. Took us about an hour of meandering around before we came upon the perfect beach. The water was bath temperature. We swam around and tried to decide what to do for the next 9 hours before Pacha opened for the night. We ran into some really sketch guy named Juan who talked to us for a good 2 hours on the beach. Then we went shopping and ate some food before changing, hid my bag in a bush nearby Pacha, and started pre-gaming. Pacha opened at midnight and we were some of the first people in the club. Pacha is HUGE. We met some random people throughout the night (including a cool couple from Lithuania), some gay Italian guy hit on me, and we ran into a bunch of Americans who were studying in Barcelona.

We left Pacha at about 5AM and decided to find a beach to go sleep on. Turns out, the tide came up so high that the beach was virtually non-existent. I walked up to a hostel on the boardwalk and asked if they had any availability. He said they didn't but that we could sleep outside on the bed in the "cabana". Its hard to explain but this video (at the end) gives you an idea of where we slept and what we woke up to the next morning.

Palma de Mallorca: Day 7 - Cabrera

2011-06-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Instead of going to class on Friday, we had an excursion to the island of Cabrera. It's a protected environment that is virtually untouched. Before we landed on the island, we stopped by "la cueva azul'. It's basically a huge cave that has unbelievably clear water and marine life everywhere. We parked the boat inside the cave and swam around. It was too dark to get any good pictures of it, but I'm waiting to see if anyone from my group happened to get any pictures with nicer cameras. Anyways, here's a few pictures from Cabrera. Enjoy :)

Palma de Mallorca: Day 7 - Back to Schooool

2011-06-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

Class this week has been pretty awesome to say the least. Rather than meet solely in the classroom to discuss tourism on the island, we make excursions to the places where the tourism is really taking place and witness it first hand. One of our excursions I found to be particularly interesting. We had a business meeting with a firm whose goal is to give the entire city of Palma a "tourism makeover". They want to remodel entire communities and put in a light rail system parallel to the beach similar to the one in Phoenix. Everything is designed to be environmentally friendly including a ton of solar panels. They're also making good use of the mining quarries (which they need for materials to build things) by creating sub-surface sports stadium as well as creating a huge park/garden in place of an old wash. Here's a few pictures of our class excursions.

Palma de Mallorca: Day 6 - Weekend!

2011-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a little bit behind on my blogging today. The weekend was super busy and then we had a lot of school work to catch up on as well. We had a free day on Sunday, so we decided to hit the discotecas on Saturday night. Things don't get going until reallllly late here. I don't know how the Spaniards do it every weekend. Clubs are open till around 5-6 AM and don't start getting busy until about 2 AM. Here's some video of Tito's.

I could have picked video with a better song but this one has footage of some pretty cool lasers I hadn't seen before so..

The following day was supposed to be a relax day, considering the night before. My madre and her friend, however, had other plans for Laura and I. We woke up at 10 to go to Maria's beach house for the day. Turns out, it wasn't the worst way we could have spent for our recovery day...

Palma de Mallorca: Day 5 - Hotel Maricel y Valldemossa

2011-06-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

After taking an extensive tour of a 5 star hotel in central Palma, I didn't think the day could get much better. This hotel was absolutely incredible. In Spain, they rely on a hotels rating much more than its name (like in the states). Instead of saying, "I stayed at a Ritz, or Grand Hyatt" they say, "I stayed at a 5 star hotel!". This is because there are far fewer chain hotels and they need some kind of system to know what kind of hotel their getting themselves into. The hotel Maricel has about 50 rooms total and looks more like a mansion than a hotel. Its also located right on the water and even has a swim-step so you can swim in the sea right out front.

Here is just a quick look at the outside and the view it has. Sorry the video is cut short, the group was moving pretty quick and I didn't wanna get left behind.

After viewing the hotel, we interviewed some business' and tourists in the area for a school assignment. Then we got on a bus and went to Valldemossa. Eric Clapton lives in Valldemossa and it was a home to classical music artist "Chopin". The video of this place says everything about it.

Try not to mind the meaningless conversation in the background... Phillip isn't really racist. I think?

Palma de Mallorca: Day 4 - La Playa de Illetes

2011-06-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

So I didn't go out last night because we had class at 9am this morning. Figured I'd make a responsible decision and get some good sleep. Well turns out, putting more minutes on your go phone resets the alarm and I slept through the first hour of class. Thanks to Phillip calling me during break, I made it for the last half. After class we went to La Playa de Illetes. This is my favorite beach at the moment. It's small and today was rather crowded but it was still pretty awesome.

Also, I haven't uploaded any pictures of the group I'm here with. Here are a few pictures from the castle, our bike ride on the beach boardwalk, and our 2 hour long walk to the disco's.

Happy Birthday to Phillip and Anna!

Palma de Mallorca: Day 3 - King in dee Castle!

2011-06-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

So today could have started off a little bit better. I got lost on the way to the university and ended up being 9 minutes late to class. Go figure. Class was from 12-3 and afterwards the group met up to take a bus to the Castillo de Bellver. Its the only castle in all of Europe thats circular. It also happens to be sitting on top of a giant hill which provides for another pretty spectacular view. After visiting the Castle, I came home for dinner con mi madre. Our conversations are getting better and there were a lot less awkward silences today than ones before. I'm starting to get used to speaking Spanish a lot more often. During dinner we watched the news. It's been raining on and off today, but on mainland Spain it's been torrential. They showed footage of some pretty crazy flooding going on in Madrid and Sevilla. Sweet. Here are a few videos of Castillo de Bellver.

Kind of a bummer it happened to be a cloudy day in Mallorca, but you get the idea.

Palma de Mallorca: Day 2 - Day at the beach.

2011-06-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

So after class, the group meets up with native students who are studying English at the same university. They're called out "guardian angels" and they take us on daily excursions. We took bikes out to a beach about 30 minutes away. The beaches were huge and had sand bars out more than 200 yards where you can stand waist deep. There aren't any waves on the beaches and there are a LOT of fish in the water. I stepped on one getting in the water for the first time. On the ride back a lady thought she was going to run into my bike and called me a "coño". It means asshole. sweet. Anyways. I don't think I've seen a city with as many beautiful people in it. The topless beaches always catch me off guard - especially because its surprisingly not the old fat ones going "desnuda". Heres a picture of the group in the sandbar and a picture of the coast line during the bikeride:

Palma de Mallorca: Day 1 - First Impression

2011-06-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

So it turns out my Spanish family is actually a single lady in her early 50's. Her name is Candy, she's my "madre" and she's effin' awesome. Our first night for dinner, she invited over her best friend who happens to live 4 floors below us and is also housing a student in the same program. Her names Laura. Our most recent meal was her Paella which had chicken, pork and rabbit in it. awesome. I lucked out with the living situation and landed myself a room on the 9th floor of a building with an incredible view. She has a giant terrace overlooking the city with a dining table on it where we eat every night. Here's a sneak peak of my view for the next two months: