Plan Ahead...: Now this is what I'm talking about...the real LIVING begins

Yaaay - my first official LEISURE post since I've been back! I was beginning to think my life here in Granada was going to really suck this go-round if I didn't get in some good ol' fashioned chill time with some good people. Just my luck, as I emerged from my cave on Friday evening, feeling for the most part recovered from my week-long battle with la gripa (the flu), I learned that some girls from the house had pulled it together and organized a barbecue for the next day up on the mountain - the same place that Marcia, Ashley, Zevic, Thalia and I went during the summer. This was just what I needed after 6 whole days spent hibernating in my room, listening to everyone having fun without me through the walls in the house. I woke up early, and me and the girls went to AlCampo to buy all the supplies and beer, and we came back to the house to rally the troops - over 18 people had signed up saying they wanted to come!

When we got to the house, everyone was still asleep (go figure) at 1:00pm! As we patiently waited for everyone to get ready, we heard screaming outside and Shell, a girl from Australia, ran to the door yelling, "Blood! Blood!" Well, we didn't know what the hell was happening, but there was a Dutch woman in the street calling for help because she had just been robbed. Apparently, a young Moroccan kid grabbed her bag, which held all her money and the passport she would need to leave Spain in 2 days, so she refused to let go and held onto it tightly as he dragged her, causing her to bang her head open very badly. Blood was literally pouring from this woman's head, so we helped her into the house and called the police. She had a friend with her, and the friend called the Ambulance. We waited about 30 minutes and eventually it was all taken care of, but the woman still was very angry about her money and passport, all her things in her bag. This happened in broad daylight, just around the corner from my house, folks, and it's not the first time. This is the 3rd story I've heard of something like this happening just in the 3 weeks since I've been back, and all reports are near where I live. Lesson learned: I'm going to buy some pepper spray as soon as possible.

Anyway, once all that mess was straightened out, we headed out to the mountain. We threw the coals on the grill and got the fire going, and pretty soon we were cooking. It started to rain just a bit when we first arrived, but it led to some inventive grocery-bag headwear and blanket and/or hat improvisation, which really set the tone for the cookout. Later, the rain cleared up and the sky started doing some pretty incredible things, pushing the clouds around in these beautiful patterns. I'm not sure how many people were there, in grand total, but almost the whole house came this time, and we were quite content with our burgers and beer and scenery. Oh! We even had a little canine companion - Jerome, our old housemate who now lives in the caves, brought Lorita, a 6-wk old puppy who kept us company. She was cute as a button and twice as good-natured - I found myself wishing she was mine more than once (shame on me! I've already got a cat hating me back in the States, how could I possibly care for and then abandon another animal across the ocean?!).

Anyway, it started to get cold on the mountain, so after a few porros and the rest of the beer, we made our way back down the mountain - this time, we had cars to do it in! Both Julie from France and Oscar from Spain (the Basque region, to be exact) have cars here, so that was quite convenient. Although I must say - it felt exotic to be riding in a car in Spain, and I was fascinated to meet someone European (Julie) who found it so difficult to part with their car that they brought it all the way from France; however, cars are a pain in the ass, man. It was so frantic and stressful, just maneuvering everywhere and trying to find where we needed to go while we're trapped inside this huge piece of steel machinery...we had a big clusterfuck after the barbecue just leaving the mountain, trying to get out of the Alhambra parking lot. Then there was this whole need to be back in the Albayzin by a certain time in order to find parking. We were ready to pull our hair out, and I felt sick to my stomach it was so stressful, but hey - I guess some people love their cars so much that the stress becomes...normal? God, I hope this never happens to me. I'll put up with walking through rain, steep hills, streets of dog shit, and angry Spaniards before I'll ever again consider dealing with the headache of driving a car every day. For real, dude. Cars are a nice luxury and all, but it's just not worth it.

Anyway, everyone was exhausted when we got back, so we had hot tea and crepes back at the house, and I went to bed feeling quite content with my first day of recovery from THE PLAGUE.
Some photo highlights:

me and the site of hamburger madness behind me