Off the (main) Tourist Track: Garrucha

Time for some relaxation. As fun as it is to sight-see and stay in hostels, it was time to take a break from the big cities. Obviously I can only scratch the surface by spending only a few days in each city, but I started to get the feeling that even the tiny bit of surface I'm scratching is fake. It's so easy to follow the well-worn tourist track.When I had the chance to experience a smaller town, I took it. I was the last person on the bus from Granada, and the bus driver looked at me like "what the hell are you going to do in Garrucha?", but I am so happy I came.

Garrucha is a little town of about 6,000 people on the southern-ish coast of Spain.  So far, I've hung out on the beach, eaten delicious tapas, watched terrible Spanish TV, and that's about it. I also exercised for the first time in six weeks (besides all the walking) and went to a spinning class. It's been awesome staying with Gretchen (a friend from Bellingham) and her roommates - she has an apartment with a view of the ocean (there's kind of a port in the way), and it's only a couple minutes walk to the beach!