I'm back!

Yesterday wasn't the first time Spain has started to all look the same, or the first time that this trip has started to wear on me. It doesn't make for great writing (or maybe I just don't like to own up to being unhappy). I didn't really want to go to Sevilla en route to Portugal. I wanted to go to Cádiz--I hadn't been before, my guide book raves about it, and it's close to Portugal. Sevilla is really, really nice, but it's really hot and I've already been there. But the buses to Portugal leave from Sevilla and I couldn't easily find a place to sleep in Cádiz. My room in Sevilla is cheap, but also windowless and musty as hell. The toilet is across the hall and the shower is a curtainless corner of the room that's impossible to use without soaking everything. The walls are Spanish-tiled, but the tiles are falling off. Pretty gross. The people at El Corte Inglés told me that Apple, not El Corte Inglés, is sold out of iPod chargers. It's hot and touristy, and I've spent the better part of the past two weeks surrounded by really good friends and, okay I admit it, yesterday was kinda lonely.

But that was yesterday. Today I got up early and took the two-hour bus ride for a day trip to Cádiz. Totally worth it. I just like it here. Cádiz is a good size--small enough that you can get your bearings pretty quickly but big enough that after a few hours of walking around I ws still finding things. The architecture is different enough to look new. And the really long hot sweaty walk to El Corte Inglés paid off and I found a new iPod charger. I love Cádiz.

I've been inland for most of this trip. It never occurred to me to be bothered by that, but it's really nice to be on the water again. And it's new water, kinda of: Cádiz is on the Atlantic coast, not the Mediterranean. It's not really as beachy as I thought it would be: the 4.5km "beach walk" described in my guidebook is only about .5km of actual beach; the rest is sidewalk with a view of the water. But whatever, I put my feet in and convinced myself that salt air is good for my cold. And I met the cutest puppy, who licked my hand and very gently bit my finger. His owner glared at me, but fuck her. And I got excited about travel again. And I'm going to Portugal tomorrow. Life is good.