Today was a day of some firsts.
My first time at the Plaza de Armas Bus Station.
My first time buying a ticket for and riding a public bus (think greyhound) for a substantial period of time.
My first time actually swimming in the Atlantic Ocean (and on the other side of the world, no less).
And, my day wouldn't have been complete without also having met my first Spanish creeper. Very fulfilling, I must say.
Okay, so here is the long version of the story:
A few of the girls had invited me to go to the beach and I definitely wanted to hit a beach before it got too cold. I mean, swimming in the Atlantic on the other side of the ocean?! Sure! So we met this morning at the big bus station about 3 kilometers or so from our apartment. We bought our bus tickets and just missed the 10 o'clock bus that they didn't really tell us about, so we went down to the bus waiting area to get in line for the 11 o'clock bus. As we were waiting, a couple of girls and I decided we would sit down on the edge of the floor near where the busses park because what few benches that there were in the area were completely full. Well, out of nowhere this Rico Suave looking guy (think epitome of Spanish creeper: mostly unbuttoned shirt, lots of cologne, wearing a rosary around his neck) approches us. We thought he was going to tell us that we couldn't sit there, but when we asked he just started chatting with us and sat down between me and my friend Danielle. The rest of our group was staring from across the other side of the waiting area and laughing and when Javi (that was his name) wasn't looking at one of us, we would look back at them and make faces that said, more or less, "OH MY GOSH, what do we do?!?!?!". Well, eventually we got up because a bus was coming to park where we were sitting (thank goodness!) and, as he was waiting for another bus on the other side of the station, he left us after that. I told Danielle that I would never forget her because of that moment.
My first time at the Plaza de Armas Bus Station.
My first time buying a ticket for and riding a public bus (think greyhound) for a substantial period of time.
My first time actually swimming in the Atlantic Ocean (and on the other side of the world, no less).
And, my day wouldn't have been complete without also having met my first Spanish creeper. Very fulfilling, I must say.
Okay, so here is the long version of the story:
A few of the girls had invited me to go to the beach and I definitely wanted to hit a beach before it got too cold. I mean, swimming in the Atlantic on the other side of the ocean?! Sure! So we met this morning at the big bus station about 3 kilometers or so from our apartment. We bought our bus tickets and just missed the 10 o'clock bus that they didn't really tell us about, so we went down to the bus waiting area to get in line for the 11 o'clock bus. As we were waiting, a couple of girls and I decided we would sit down on the edge of the floor near where the busses park because what few benches that there were in the area were completely full. Well, out of nowhere this Rico Suave looking guy (think epitome of Spanish creeper: mostly unbuttoned shirt, lots of cologne, wearing a rosary around his neck) approches us. We thought he was going to tell us that we couldn't sit there, but when we asked he just started chatting with us and sat down between me and my friend Danielle. The rest of our group was staring from across the other side of the waiting area and laughing and when Javi (that was his name) wasn't looking at one of us, we would look back at them and make faces that said, more or less, "OH MY GOSH, what do we do?!?!?!". Well, eventually we got up because a bus was coming to park where we were sitting (thank goodness!) and, as he was waiting for another bus on the other side of the station, he left us after that. I told Danielle that I would never forget her because of that moment.
Then we had to wait for our bus. Well, the thing about busses in Spain (and perhaps all of Europe or everywhere, I wouldn't know) is that the concept of line doesn't really exist when there are no specified queues. So we all stood in a line for 20 0r 30 minutes or so in front of what we thought was our bus. Then, a group of about 20 or 30 people just moved to an adjacent spot that had no bus. We had no idea what was going on, and then we realized that the bus that we were in line for was not going to Matalascañas. So we tried to move to the other line too, but by that point the whole area was a relative moshpit of prospective bus passengers trying to get onto that bus. Miraculously two from our group were able to squeeze through, but the rest of us were left to wait for another bus that they were going to bring because there were so many people. I guess they don't keep track of how many tickets they sell either because I'm pretty sure everybody who was waiting couldn't fit on two buses either.
Anyway, we finally made it to the beach in Matalascañas and it was a wonderful day. The water was perfect and the breeze created a welcome break from the sweltering days in Sevilla. I did get sunburned a bit, mostly on my legs, but I expect that in a day or two I will be fine and slightly tan. Yay! Also, I finally got rid of my t-shirt sleeve lines that I've had all summer. Too bad it's almost fall! And the end of the day was perfect too. We walked to the bus stop in Matalascañas, prepared to enter another battle with the crazies in order to return, but instead we happened to make friends with a wonderful lady who had gotten there first and kept everyone in line and told them just exactly how this whole bus business was going to go down. She was fierce, I don't think she would have taken any crap from anybody. And she told the bus driver how everything was going to go down too. Spaniards are great.
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