Hola to all,
Well I figured it was about time for a weekly report from the scorched, arid land of Almeria. This last week has been nothing to exciting and mostly just class, eating, and well that is about it. My classes run Monday through Friday and usually get out at 1230 or 1 but on Wednesday and Thursday I take a Spanish business class that goes to 230. The language course is intense, as I said in the other summery, but I really think it will be that much of a benefit for me.
On Thursday and Friday I took my roommates bike to class. Her bike is a 15 year old steel frame mountain bike on its last fiber...I mean technically it is still ok but without the needed maintenance it has been neglected I think a full makeover is necessary. So after two days of riding it pretty hard, I decided investing in a cheap bike would be a more logical solution. So Saturday/yesterday I purchased a bike for 130 Euros. It is actually a pretty nice bike for only costing that much. I am sure that it is built pretty cheaply but hey for getting to school and back....and around town, not to bad. When I leave I will sell it to my American friend Laura for half price...
Ok so how about the weekends? Bottellon....this means getting a bottle of alcohol and your preferred soda beverage and some tuvo cups (long cups that look like a tube). Then you go to a park that runs parallel to one of the main roads in Almeria and start drinking as new friends come in to say hi and move on to the next group. This last until 2 or 3 am depending on who you go with. After this it is on to my least favorite thing to do.....discoteca... or as I call them crap! But to be nice you follow your friends and try!!! to enjoy yourself. I usually about 30min to maybe an hour before my brain feels like it is getting ready to explode and I say my good byes and move on. So that is the general way things go here on the weekends. Next time I am on the search for good music!!
Saturday during the day I went to the beach at Cabo de Gata with my two American friends, Italian friend and there host family. The beach we went to was about a skipping rock throw away from the actual Parke Natural but still beautiful. Beautiful that is minus the beach that was covered in trash. I do not know how people do not get the point of recycling or at the least....use a trash bin. Anyhow the BBQ was a lot of fun and everyone there was great. I met a German girl studying here, about 6'2'', bright green eyes, dark hair....aka beautiful, that is studying geography. After her undergrad she wants to do a thesis on water issues relating to greenhouses in the Campo de Dalias. Sound familiar.....I could not believe it....it’s a small world after all!!! The BBQ consisted of a shit load of meat, so I stuck with good ol iceberg lettuce, tuna, and pan (bread). I ended up with some sun....a little sun burnt but not that bad. O by the way its October and 80 degrees???
A quick last story about the bike ride to campus + more. So I was riding to campus, passing along the beach and developments sprouting out of previously uninhabitable land and on to the long rows of Almeria greenhouse, that seem to encircle the campus like some plastic defense mechanize or moat of the 21st century. I began to smell the rotten, chemically induced smell of pesticides arising and drifting through the clean sea air into my virgin nostrils and instantly giving me a headache. The smell was so intense, I thought that a crop duster airplane might have missed its target and let loose on the environmentally conscience bikers making their way to campus....but atlas it was the greenhouses. The contradiction between the greenhouses I toured this summer with its recycled water, no pesticide, state of the art system contrast 10 fold to the pesticide rich, water robbing greenhouses that seem to be the norm. I am hoping that I can get to tour one of these less "eco friendly" greenhouses to see and photo the contrast.
....Ok finally related to the above. I was attempting to have a conversation with my nuevo madre (host mom) and she was telling me that Almeria province has one of the highest levels of children born with Down syndrome in Spain. The correlation she believed had to do with the amount of pesticides used in the greenhouses. I do not think any scientific evidence actually exist to confirm this but.....it does make since and I would not think they would way anything with the amount of money that the greenhouse industry brings into Almeria!!!
That is all for now....hope all is well where ever you are!!!

PEACE AND LOVE
Ty