tchao portugal. hola espana.

Well, right now we are in Gibraltar, gateway to the Straight of Gibby (gibraltar). It is actually a tiny part of England. Signs are in English and the people speak English, so it is a major relief to know what's going on for a change. Two days ago we were in cadiz, spain, the claimed oldest city in europe. We finally said goodbye to Lisbon almost two weeks ago. It was a great time. We stayed there 5 days. Three with friends of our friend April Frankamp (below) and two in downtown with some friend we met from a great church we visited. It is an incredible town.

Finally, we took off from Lisbon in the pouring rain. It has been unusually rainy here at this particular time. We biked for 4 days in at least a half day of rain. The last week has been nice but now it is back to rain in Gibraltar.

So far only a couple things have broken. I had 1 flat, and we got lost multiple times. I am constantly surrounded by people arguing unintelligibly over which way I should go after asking directions. Life is interesting. I wish I spoke this blessed language.

Our sleeping arrangements have been interesting to say the least. One night in some random olive grove, 1 night under a school pavillion. 1 night in flat farmland on a concrete bridge. 1 night on the beach by the Straight of Gibby, with views of Morrocco across the water. We stayed with couch surfers in Cadiz 3 nights. Couch surger 2 nights in Tavira. 2 youth hostels. 1 other hostel. 1 hotel. We have only paid to sleep 4 times though out of 17 nights, which I think is pretty good.

We stayed in Cadiz three nights and managed to meet several friends, including a few Americans. We got a full Cadiz tour by our new friend Erin, from Oregon. We stayed in a nice flat in the old portion of Cadiz with some great young folk like ourselves. Two Italians and a German. Very nice people. We have just recently begun to expereince the Spanish lifestyle. In Rota, Ponce de Leon's hometown, we met up with two guys (friends of mi amigo casey stewart) and they introduced us to the Spanish cuisine. Siesta is every afternoon. Everything shuts down between 2 and 6. These people stay out late, young and old! Let me introduce you to a couple pics. I have many more but can't seem to find a dang computer good enough to upload any more. These are only through our first 5 days. Will try to get more up soon.

These are the people we stayed with for three days. We felt part of the family. Great, hospitable people.

Finally bicycles ready to go by end of day 3

Finally made it to the cool, blue Atlantic

Lisbon at night

Well, tchao for now. I love and miss all of you who may have bothered to read this. I am good; we are good; life is good. We're learning how to live as vagabonds I guess. It's fun, it's challenging, and we are gonna learn a thing or two from this whole crazy ordeal.