Playa Los Lances- Tarifa, España
Hi all! I am just checking in at Tarifa, España. I was at my favorite cafe Bien Star here on the beach chatting with some new friends yesterday and was convinced to continue my blog some more even if it is just a few photos from time to time. I wanted to keep this site somewhat professional but at times both my personal life and professional life are the same. My personal life tends to involve learning new things, meeting new people, and absorbing new cultures. In a way that is research- personal research no? So there may be a lot of out of order entries from now on recapping travels (Portugal, Greece, Fuerteventura, London, Italy etc…) from the year and they may be intermittent considering my netbook broke a few weeks ago and I don´t often have internet access. However, recording some of my experiences versus nothing I will appreciate much more in the future and for those of you that I miss and are always writing me “where are you?” can be somewhat informed.
I arrived in Spain a few weeks ago starting in Malaga, Granada, Nerja, and now Tarifa. Tarifa is a very chill town at the very tip of Europe between the Mediterranean (Costa del Sol) and Atlantic Ocean (Costa de la Luz). For this very reason it is very windy and called La Ciudad del Viento with views of Morocco just 31 km away. I am learning kitesurfing here and just after a few hours of lessons I am standing on my board but lacking momentum. I love it and can´t wait for the wind to pick up this Saturday again! I also went horseback riding, paddle boarding, and visited the oldest city in Europe, Cadiz just one hour away. Cadiz was so wonderful and beautiful I will need another entry for the daytrip I took there. I have about a week left here waiting on the wind to go kitesurfing each day after morning refresher classes in Español 9-.30-1:30pm at La Escuela Hispalense which is located right on the beach. My apartment as well is just a stone´s throw away from the beach. However, it is very cold here and a ´ghost town´in the winter. An upside is that I get private classes in both Spanish and kiting but I wouldn´t mind returning one day in primavera o otoño with warmer weather and a bit more people.
Now I am off to cook dinner y tomar vino y cervezas with some fellow students here!
Allison Hanes 