What can I say about Ibiza? It's just a wonderful little island on the Mediterranean Sea. It's as close as you can get to paradise. As always, it's difficult for me to describe. I don't think any words or pictures will do justice to how beautiful it is.
June to September is high season for Ibiza. At this time, it is known to be the biggest party island: the prices go up (some clubs charge 60 Euros to get in), and tourists just take over the Island's beaches, clubs/bars, restaurants, and hotels/apartments/homes with their excessive drunkenness and insatiable appetite to be so ridiculously dark that they might as well ask for skin cancer.
But because the girls have no control over the timing of their spring break, we had no choice but to go in low season. As expected, Ibiza was quiet and ninety-five percent of the island was closed (all nightclubs shut down except Pacha, which is open all year round). But we didn't quite expect it to be as quiet as it was. It literally felt like we were on a deserted island.
The trip didn't quite start out as well as we wanted to. One of my sister's friends, Cindy, lost half of her luggage. It was very obvious it was stolen and we tried our hardest to get reimbursed for it. But because the concept of customer service is almost non existent here, we had great difficulty getting any help from the airline. Fortunately, Juan helped us out and translated for us once we got back to Madrid. They were definitely more receptive to him. Hopefully Cindy will get something for it.
This whole ordeal gave me an awesome idea: I will study Spanish until I am fluent and become a "customer service" consultant for Spanish companies. By now, I am like a customer service expert. That's all I've done since I started working at 16. And having dealt with crotchety old christian fanatics at A2H, I can deal with anyone! It's brilliant! Of course, this is just another idea to add on to my what-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up list...I obviously still haven't grown up!
Anyway, despite the bad luck, the trip was still very nice. We rented a car because it was cheaper than taking taxis everywhere. We were all nervous at first. Ibiza is so small that streets don't really have names and the map was just pointless. We literally just had to follow signs and hope that we were going the correct way. The roads were also never straight, and this made us very nervous. There were constant turns, and many were sharp and right on a cliff. Lastly, we had no idea what the driving rules were, especially on the rotundas (those things are ridiculous!). That one scene in European Vacation where they kept going around and around the rotunda in Paris just kept playing in my head. We pretty much made our own rules as we went along. I think my sister, the driver, was a bit freaked out because she's obviously not used to it. But I think she was also glad to be able to experienced it. By the second day, she was driving like a pro.
The resort where we stayed was awesome. It was situated right on a cliff. There were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living area, a terrace, and a rooftop deck. We basically stayed in my dream house (except the tap water was salty...that I could've done without). Everyday we would have breakfast in the terrace (that was my favorite part of the day), and then we would go to a cala, or beach, and lay out. Yes, I did participate in this (this activity, by the way, should be on the blog: stuff white people like! - see next post for explanation). I hate getting darker but I find it very relaxing.
A few times, we drove to bigger towns in the Island in the hopes of replacing some of Cindy's lost clothing items, or to go to the grocery store. That was quite a challenge because we could never get the store hours right. We had two things against us: siesta and low season hours. If only each Spanish city had a book that lists all businesses with store hours for all days of the year! We couldn't even ask the tourist office because it was closed!
Overall though, Ibiza was great! I would definitely like to go back in high season just to experience it in its fullest. However, I think I would probably prefer the peaceful Ibiza...I can only take so many drunk obnoxious tourists. I guess I'd have to go in the summer to really find out.
Here are my top 10 favorite parts of the Ibiza trip:
1) the sunset - the girls and I watched the most beautiful sunset. It was so ridiculously gorgeous/peaceful/moving that I almost cried.
2) watching the Mediterranean over breakfast - while I was eating my nutella, toast and banana on the terrace overlooking the sea, I thought to myself: I could definitely do this everyday!
3) paella - best paella I've had so far in Spain
4) cala bassa - most peaceful beach I've ever been to
5) "homemade" fun - because we were too scared to drive at night (no one wanted to go over the cliffs on all those unexpected sharp turns on unlit roads), we made the best of the nights by making dinner, drinking super cheap vodka or Sangria from a box (just the girls drank them, which made it entertaining for me), and having a dance party
6) Smoothies - while walking around, we decided to take a beverage break. The girls wanted smoothies, so when the lady came to take our order, we asked her, "Can you put some alcohol in that?". The look on her face was priceless!
7) the quiet - so nice to be away from a city once in a while
8) the rental car - we loved that damn Ford! If we didn't have it, we wouldn't have been able to do anything!
9) Es Cuco - the elusive grocery store that was always close every time we go there. When we did finally go there at the correct hour, it was awesome! I love Cuzco...I mean, Es Cuco.
10) Spring Break '08 - I freaking went to Springbreak! A 26 year old going on Springbreak...hahaha!
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| Ibiza |
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