May 17, 2005 Thunder and Lightning Crashes, Mosquitos, storms, good-byes, tan lines, Barcelona I'm sitting here at my computer as the rain whips sideways past the window and the trees do backbends away from gusts of wind. It feels like winter at home, which is somehow comforting. Okay, I admit it! As tough as I pretend to be, I have to say, I'm a little homesick. Don't worry though, I'm still having a great time here! Storm! Last night there was an amazing storm that I watched from bed. Fork and sheet lightning lit up the ocean and thunder cracked overhead. There's something thrilling about a good thunderstorm. Crashes We've had an unfortunate week or two here in terms of Bike Holiday guides crashing. First Stephan got a solid bout of road rash, Rene injured his back, Dani flew over his handlebars decending at 50kph, landing on his head (concussion, broken helmet) and tearing up one side of his body. The worst, however, was Andrea's brush with a truck -- literally. While she was descending a tight corner on a narrow road, a truck (coming up) crossed the centre line. Andrea tried to swerve out of the way, but wasn't able to in time. She is a lucky girl -- her only injuries are a possibly fractured wrist, two stitched in her knee, some road rash and a seriously sore body. I told her about the expression in English: "I feel like I've been hit by a truck." She said she can help clarify that expression, if anyone wants to know exactly how it feels. Anyway, she's been super tough and brave and awesome. She's already done a couple of work outs on the spinning bike, and I think if he bike own wasn't broken, she'd already be riding outside. Mosquitos At the moment, the most terrifying noise at night is the high-pitched whine of the common mosquito. I've been woken up regularly by the piercing hum in my ear as the bloodthirsty insects dive at my face in the dark. Yvonne (new roomie, by the way!) is so traumatized that she stiffens instantly when I imitate the sound or mention the word "mosquito." Every night before going to bed, we scour our bedrooms with rolled up magazines in hand, checking the walls, ceilings and curtains for the winged menaces. Fantastic weekend Last weekend was awesome (which is why my update is late)! I went on two superfantastic mountain bike rides with really fun people, took off to Barcelona for a day (I still haven't finished exploring that city!), danced it up in the hopping town of Lloret de Mar (which is famous for its crazy night life) and reveled in good company. Lloret: Party central Martina was determined to go to Lloret before going home (she left this morning for Canada -- sniff sniff) and it almost didn't happen, but we made it! The main streets are lined with disco after disco with music and people spilling out the doors. We eventually found Martina's favourite place, Mobys, and walked in without paying cover. We were instantly pulled onto a crowded dance floor with people ranging in age from 13 to 40 (at least). It was a crazy mix. We lit up the dance floor for several hours, trying to avoid drunken, over-friendly guys and find ones who could actually keep a rhythm. It was an eye-opening experience, but I was glad to crawl into bed at 3:00 a.m., while most of the other club-goers were just getting warmed up. Barcelona This time, we were determined not to do too much in Barcelona, since last time we were a little stressed and oversaturated with sights by the end of the day. Franz and I took an early morning bus into the city and walked up the tourist-strewn Ramblas, through the flower and bird markets and then found our way back to the Placa Catalunya through some interesting back alleys. >> photos >> La Sagrada Familia At the Placa de Catalunya, we met Andreas, who was happy to show us around again. We headed to the Sagrada Famila temple, which has been under construction for over 100 years and is still not close to being finished. Gaudi put countless hours into the temple, which is easy to recognize by the trademark organic, ornate and original decoration. Some of the many towers are topped by what look like piles of fruit, snails crawl down vertical walls and the stone seems alive and always moving. The church is in full construction mode, with scaffolding and cranes everywhere. The interior is unfinished, but the ceiling is starting to take the shape of a forest canopy, supported by branching columns representing tree trunks. The new sections of the Sagrada still loosely follow Gaudi's original plans, but the style is quite different. The current head architecht, Josep Subirachs, has a much more angular approach. We walked up a narrow spiral staircase in one of the temple's towers and got a great view of the city and the details of the building itself. Andreas is the best person to explore Barcelona with. He has been living in the city for an exchange year at the university, where he's studying architecture. His passion for the subject is contagious when you listen to him speak about anything to do with the city's structures and the people who influenced them. >> photos >> Tan line update Martina left this morning, but not before I took a photo of her watch tan line. Pascal, who left last Thursday, e-mailed me a photo of his jersey tan line. Hot! >> photos >> Boy of the Week -- Bruno! (with his lovely piece of arm candy, Andrea -- who is "hottest of them all!") Girl of the Week -- Yvonne, our new roommate!