Kimbopping: Bar-ce-lona!!! Days 183-188

My arrival in Barcelona was delayed a bit due to the loose relationship I am having with planning at the moment. I booked my flight with a discount airline and only noticed the day of my departure that I wasn't headed to Barcelona proper, but instead a city an hour away. A little last minute hostel booking and I had a new plan in motion.

The little I saw of the city of Girona was adorable. It's too bad that I didn't do more research because a day wandering around would have been fantastic, but such is life and I have a cousin to see. My cousin Maximillion is currently living in Barcelona and I will be catching up with him on the bookends of a weekend with my friend Stuart from Lancaster.

Max and I were reunited magically without the aid of cell phones right next to his apartment. The timing couldn't have been better, remember all the shopping I did in London? My bag is ridiculously heavy. I happily crashed on his quiet couch for a power nap while he took care of real life matters. When he returned, we took a walk up to Park Güell with a couple of beers to take in the sights. The lookout was fantastic, I wish I had a working camera.

The next day we spent the afternoon at the beach swimming, laying out and catching up before heading to Las Ramblas to meet up with Stuart and his friend Maher. Our new group hit the gothic district for some mojitos before saying hasta manana. The timing of Stu's visit was perfect as Max is working all weekend, so now I have someone to run around with!

Friday, bright and early I met Stuart at the hostel, checked-in and rounded up a group to head to the beach. What I wouldn't do to live next to a beach fit for laying out! Heading back to the hostel about dusk we said goodbye to a new friend who was heading to the airport and took a journey up to Max's apartment for sushi night. With the intentions of grabbing one last beer before we headed down to the city center we found ourselves in a bar full of people from Peru salsa dancing and having a grand time. We awkwardly sat sipping our beers and putting together an exit plan when the dancing stopped and our applause was welcomed with dead silence and blank stares. After what felt like an entirety the entire bar broke out in laughter and the dancers came to drag us onto the dance floor. We spent the rest of the night and much of the next morning becoming best friends over conversations in broken english and some horrible attempts and latin dance moves. A random and amazing night for all. Somethings you can't plan from a guidebook.

At the BEACH! I am going to miss the beach so much.

Saturday we put on our tourist hats. We walked Las Ramblas, visited the Sagrada Familia and stopped by an amazing market. We grabbed dinner at a great greek place that was playing the World Cup game and headed back for what was meant to be a quiet night at the hostel.

I don't think Stuart and I do quiet. I should have known better. We started at the hostel bar where we found a group that was going out for a "quiet pub drink" and many stops later we are dashing back to the hostel at 5am to collect the boy's belongings and get them to the airport. The accidental night of crazy was an appropriate way to say adios to Stuart. Crazy to think I met him six months ago on a train in Thailand, ran into him a week later walking down the streets of Luang Prabang, spent a night kicking his shoe down the crowded streets of Bangkok to win a bet and was welcomed by him and his family while I visited England. Properly exhausted and a bit more hungover than I would like to admit, I was satisfied with the send off and I retired to Max's for a quiet night in. Tomorrow we head back to my aunt's house in Madrid and I prepare for my trip back to the states.