We're on a 40+ nudist beach, well it must be SPRING BREAK

Hola amigos,

I'm back from my first trip to Spain and it was quite the adventure. I'm not even sure you could call it Spain. It was a strange combination of Africa, Mexico and the Jersey Shore, really. Hearing all of the stressful (and cold) traveling that a lot of other students endured over our 10-day break, I'm so grateful to have taken a "vacation from my vacation" to bask in the African sun and live life on island time. For those of you who are avid followers of this blog (Mom and Aunties), I'm about to disappoint you. Eight days in the islands is way too much to cover going day by day. The whole experience was too weird and crazy to even document. It's one of those things I'll just have to hold in the back of my mind forever, but here's a quick summary!

Our 24-hour Journey:

• 4 hour train from Florence to Rome
• 1 hour stop for lunch in Rome 
• 1 hour sitting on the streets of Rome because we just missed the bus
• 1 hour 30 minute bus ride to Rome FCO Airport
• 2 hour check-in time in Rome FCO
• 3 hour flight to Madrid 
• 7 hour layover in Madrid (sleeping on tile floor)
• 3 hour flight to Las Palmas 
• 30 minute cab to Beverly Park Hotel

Luckily, after all of that we were greeted with a beautiful hotel room and beautiful views! Essentially, the part of the island is split up into three diverse sections. The senior citizens resorts (where we stayed), the Jersey Shore (where the boys stayed), and the ritzy area (where no one stayed but we treated ourselves to dinner). This about sums it up:

Our Adventures:

• Hot-tubbing with a 50-year-old Irish couple
• Drinking cocktails at 11 a.m. (it's 5 o'clock somewhere?)
• Hiking to the top of a mountain 
• Showing up to dinner when it was still siesta time (we are senior citizens)
• Eating delicious Canarian shrimp
• Seeing our first glimpse of European "swimwear"
• Showing up for breakfast with the old folks at promptly 9 a.m. every morning in our PJs
• Shelling out cash to a sketchy guido named "Mo" who gave us free club entrances and two bottles of cheap vodka
• Sharing 6 pitchers of sangria and 9 plates of Spanish seafood paella with the Tiger crew
• Attending a sketchy pub crawl in mini-Cancun compliments of "Mo"
• Boarding an all-inclusive BOOZE CRUISE around the coast of the island (complete with jacuzzi, open bar, and shots delivered straight to your lounge chair)
• Swimming in the crystal-clear ocean
• Buckets of Coronas on the beach
• Witnessing an Asian Invasion karaoke dance party at dinner
• Being hassled by club promoters promising us "free drinks"
• Getting free open-bar wristbands from a club owner
• Surviving "The Circle of Death"
• Free T-Shirts that could never be worn in public
• Eating our first real American meal in months at Hooters
• Going to a nudist beach (full of people who were too old and large to be seen naked

Overall, it was a relaxing, carefree week and I'm so glad I got to visit such a unique place. There is really no where else in the world like the Canaries, and chances are that was my only time to ever visit there. That's how we justified every decision we made all week...

"You're only on a nude beach in Africa once" ... "You only eat hooters in Africa once" ... "You only take shots of tequila on a boat in Africa once" I know we were technically in Spain, but Africa sounds way cooler, and it's closer anyway.


Here are a few pictures to help you understand just how beautiful this place was

Now I'm off on my second Spanish excursion to Barcelona for 3 days!

Adios Muchachos