Spain and Paris

Yeahaaa on my way back to EUROPE after three years!!!!!!
How wonderful and fantastic and exciting. I was so full with butterflies and pleasure nerves. Can you only emagine to return to your home country and to the people you’ve known your whole life after not seeing them for three years. I could not wait to see my parents, my brother, some friends, my room, the house, my stuff, the green grass of Holland and taste some real bruine boterhammen met kaas.

But first I flew to Madrid.
With three planes I took off (the best part of the flight) in Guatemala, Managua, Panama City (so I had a whole flight over all the countries I had just traveled through, I recognized many places and could say goodbye one more time) and Santa Domingo, I landed in Madrid 20 hours later.
I love flying, so no problem for me. Guillermo (remember him? I met him in San Pedro, Guatemala in December) was waiting for me in full enthousiasm and it was so cool to see someone I had met before. Althoug he is a very new friend, we already talked so much that it felt like returning to an old one.
He took me into Madrid after presenting me 60 new cd’s for my Silver Spirit, WOW!
Holy Fuck what a differance with where I just came from, the word culture-chock is a little big and exaggerated, but I guess that the amazement I felt belongs in that catagory. The buildings are SOOOOOO big!!!??!! Really extreme. And everything is SOOOOO old and real. Things from the Romen time, around 200 AD. And wow are we ever organized and clean. There is absolutely no garbage in the street. Everything is put away, in line and well kept. And so BIG, the houses and buildings are so big.
In the next few days I also discovered many electronical things I had not seen before, like the possibilities with the pin machines, the tomtom, new car models, kitchen machinery and other nufty prullaria like photo frames that have changing digital photo’s all the time or computer games where you can play golf or tennis with a little joystick you move as if you are really playing....... pfeee, where is this going, are we forgetting that there is space outside to do this kind of stuff with friends?
And then the fasion, wow, how well are we dressed. Believe me, Canada and the US (ofcourse we’re not talking about Central America) have no clue about fasion, this was truly the first time I saw well chosen combinations and new trends. Still, untill today it’s something that I find very conspicuously.

And then the land, absolutely everything is touched by man, all the trees and rivers are neatly put in line and worked with. Roads, agriculture, pastures, little gardens. There is no 'wild' in Europe. It all looks very nice, but it also feels tight, held down, as if there is no space to breath, to be really free. For example: it's impossible to find a little piece of road where you can do a pie, being a woman. There is always a car, house or other posibility to be seen.
But all good, the differences in green are absolutely mindblowing and the structures and designs of the houses are gorgeous. And I love that so many people are biking, I missed biking a lot.

We made a wondering walk through Madrid and had a relaxing night at Guipi’s friend house.

The next day we made a road trip to Almarza, a super small village just South of Logroňo. With only 20 houses and just four of them occupied (all the others are very old family houses that are only used in summer) with people that still take their sheep, goats and horses to the fields, it was the perfect place to get ready for the big world. How peaceful this green community was, no cars, no people, just sugging mud and fresh air. The tiny cemetery had maybe ten graves and Guipi told me that if a new person is burried an old grave is dug up. this means that the bones of the old person are thrown in a bunker, and voila, he opened a little door and it was full with bones and skulls.

Further to Barcelona where Guipi lives. I drove a car for the first time in eight months and got really home sick to my own house who is waiting in Calgary.
We arrived without trouble and three wonderful days of exploring Barcelona started. Guipi showed me all around la Rambla, his friends, and the little cafe’s. We had tea at every corner and long chats in the park. A sit on the beach and a beer in the bar. He cooked diner and we listened to music. One evening we went to see a reagge night and were totally amazed with the dance competition that took place. Wow, those bigger mama’s were shaking their asses in every possibility the kamasutra tells you to get that orgasm. I watched one-and-a-half hours with mouth wide open.

And one night we were invited to his friends who made the most fantastic su-shi and sushimi for us. An absolute killer meal that was amazing.

Tuesday it was time to say goodbye to my wonderful friend and hit the road to Paris. Guipi drove me all the way to the boarder and from here I hitched to the capital of France. The whole day took me 13 hours, pretty good for 1100 km. One ride was a little hilarious. This older man took me in, was really nice and after borrowing his phone to make a call to Zeph to tell him I as getting close he showed me the picture in the displayscreen...........his dick!!!!!!!! First I was all fun and giggles, but when he kept asking if he could make a photo of my pussy, or if I wanted to touch his thing. or maybe he could touch me if I was sleeping again, I got annoyed and whiped the smile of my face. All good, he kept his hands to himself and when he droped me at a petrol station is was for the best cause in five minutes I got picked up by a nice guy who drove me all the way to Paris.

Paris, the city of Love.
Well, love we definitely had. I visited Zéphirin in his hometown (remember him too? He was the guy from Costa Rica who I went hicking with in Corcovado NP). He grew up in Paris for most of his life, so it was again fantastic to have a guide who could tell me all the things I saw along the cultural walks.
We had nice food, a fantastic evening with his sisters and classical scootering through the streets on a vespa.

Two days later my mum and dad arrived in Paris as well and it was ofcourse a thrill to see them again. Not changed at all (besides a few more wrinkles, hihihi) it was wonderful to drink two bottles of wine with them in a real traditional France bar where we had eaten before they came. The next day was another stroll along the high narrow streets of Paris, the magestic Cathedrals (although the ones in Barcelona are nicer) and little squars and parks. We bought cheese, meat, bread, grapes and wine and had a fantastic picknick. Dad went and had a look at the Mona Lisa and another night was talked away with wine and good mood.

With the four of us we took off to Zeph’s families farm-house three hours North. Here as well we had a lovely night in the green grass, with home made lasagna, made by his sister in law and a warm fire at night.

And that brings us to The Netherlands. Finaly it was time to enter the boarder of my homeland and see the green grass that I love so much. We drove straight to my Brother Luc, 26, and his girlfriend Nina, 25 in Eindhoven who had made a fantastic diner for mums-day.
I had not seen my bro in three years, had not talked to him in one and a half and had not seen any photo’s. So I was kind of shoked when I saw him: his hair was longer, he had gained some muscles and his beard was darker and full. Yeah, there are some negative sides on traveling for this amount of time. The evening went by with warmth and family friendlyness and before long it was time to finally make the last leg of the long trip to my old home. The house I was born in and where I grew up for 22 years in total. I slept wonderfully under my star-sky and with the familiar sounds of the Napoleonsbaan.

IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME!

See you all soon at the party and if not............ He! Where are you?
Greetz Mathu