Please make sure you've got your passport with you...

I should have posted this right after my holidays, but, well, I had a lot of things to do when I came back to work and then, due to events some of you already know, I did not feel much like finishing what I had started writing, so ... anyway, the original post went somehow like this, so I think I'll post it now anyway in the state it is and what the hell, if you feel like reading it, fine, and if you feel like I should not post old stuff, fine too... you are free welcome readers, so do whatcha wanna do!


OKAY... next time you see me, just take me to a guillotine and cut my head off... God knows I'm dumb, so he'll be kind, understanding and have mercy on you... Asamatteroffact, if you see me walking down the street and you feel like approaching and saying "oh boy, are you dumb!!!!", that's fine with me... I'm dumb and I should get what I deserve!!! (if you've got a guillotine or head removing gadget of your own, you can use it too!)

What's the story????
The story is simple:
I'M DUMB (to put it mildy).
... And what brings me to this glorious reflection... Read the rest.

Barcelona. By the end of June, 2005:
Mr G (that's me, in case you are a first time reader) knows his holidays are on the way, so he's been checking on possible destinations, accommodations and all sort of travel related issues. After deep deliberation, Lisbon, capital of Portugal, has been selected as the appropiate place to visit. The "Heart of Lusitania 2005" tour is about to begin. Final arrangements are decided. Mr G and his girl pre-book a nice room in a small, little hotel in Lisbon's Old Quartier (looks fine on the web). Transportation means research has led the intelligent girl and his dumb couple (that's me, again) to select the Madrid-Lisbon train connection as the nicest way to get there (that offers them the chance to spend a couple of lively nights in Madrid and then enjoy the views of central and western Spain all the way down to the portuguese border, while pleaseantly tumbling on a reasonably rated luxury train wagon). OK. Ready. Set. And... AAAAARGGGGGGGHHH!!!!!!

YES!!!!! Fear creeps from deep within Mr G's bones. All is set to go, but our hero (????) suddenly checks on one last thing and the F*** word breaks the silence of the night. Mr G has forgotten to check on his passport... And you know what?, HIS PASSPORT IS EXPIRED!!!!!... So what?, the world replies... So what that with an expired passport you can't go anywhere... So what? renew it!!, the world re-replies... So what, that that'd be easy if I had a Spanish passport (which, despite having been granted spanish nationality already, I've been waiting for authorization to obtain for over half a year now!!!), but I'm still holding on to my old Chilean passport as my only valid travel document... So what? A Chilean passport is still a passport, so renew it anyway, you DUMBASSS!!!!, the world once again emphasizes... So what that I cannot do that right now, because Chilean passports are being updated to a new format and there is no way I can get a new one, if living abroad, in less than a MONTH or a MONTH AND A HALF!!!, at least!!!! F***, F***, F***, F***.... And YES!!, the Lisbon trip goes to hell!!! Midway down the road to failed holidays depression, however, my girl lifts my head from the toilet and says tenderly to me: "OK, Mr Don't Worry, We've got it all ready, my passport is just fine, so I'm either going to Lisbon all by myself or we'd better start looking for a national destination rightawayyyyy!!!"... Intelligent as I feel at the moment, I just look at her with a DUMB face, while I keep pondering whether I should put my head back in the toilet or start banging it against the walls... "What about the Costa Brava?", she says... "What about what?", I replied keenly... "The Costa Brava!!!, dear", she says (no, she did not say dear)... "It's only a couple of hours away and we are always saying well, we can go one of these days"... "Ummmmmmm, OK", I agree... And thar we head!!

So that's how we end up visiting and staying in good old Girona, with its wonderful views and beautiful bridges and channels...

... its charming and intrincate medieval jewish quartier... And a magnificent spanish gothic cathedral which rests over the pillars of what was once nothing less than a enormous roman temple.
To say the place is gorgeous is still far from the closest definition. To land in Girona's old quartier is like travelling through a time hole which will take you centuries ago. Considering I already felt like shit for having allowed my passport to expire, I felt even worse when I got to this jewel of a city and I realized how stupid of me was it not to have visited before. And there was more to come. Both to my pleasure and to my shame...
Because look down to see where we headed next...



The cool little mediterranean village of Cadaqués !!!

What's the deal about this place... The deal about it is that it must be probably one of the few places that remain this nice on the spanish coast, considering it's been one of the hot tourist spots of the Costa Brava for decades and especially after surrealist painter Salvador Dalí took it as his home town in the seventees (with the crazy bunch of worldwide famous artists, musicians and other strange creatures that always used to hang around him, while he was still alive).

Of course, nowadays Cadaqués is not the same lively, eccentric town it was at Dali's time, but it still keeps an atmosphere of its own and quite a few local artists reside here. However, what I enjoyed most about the place was the sense of feeling absolutely relaxed... Seemed like no one was in a hurry to do anything and the only thing you were meant to do was to grab your vermouth, sit on a terrace, and debate endlessly about whether you should go dip your toes in the pebbled beach or just stay on your seat, trying to figure out the different shades of blue the sky turned to and how long it would take for the sun to hit the horizon sea line (sounds stressing, doesn't it?).

Anyway, being here, we couldn't let go off the chance of visiting old Salvador's museum-house of Port Lligat (a small bay, 20 minutes from the town)... and you know what, once we there, I realized that even i f you have never been here, chances are incredibly high that you probably know what Port Lligat looks like... Wanna know why? Because the window views from Dali's house work as the bay background scenarios for a lot of his paintings!

Check it out by yourself:


La madonna de Port Lligat and The specter of sex-appeal.


Young woman and a window and Gala and the tigers


or the world famous Persistence of memory and...


Dali's particular Last Supper...

Yes, all these paintings depict a Port Lligat bay background... and there are quite a few other masterpieces with the views Dali enjoyed right from his window(s).

After enjoying the peaceful environment of Cadaqués for a few days, I can tell you Dalí and his friends sure made the right decision when they decided to come live here.
I did not get to Lisbon (and still get pissed when I think how DUMB I was)... But I cannot say a I regret for a single minute the way this vacation finally turned like.