Gibraltar

In Gibraltar I decided to try something a little different. Instead of staying in a hostel, I signed up for something called “couchsurfing.” Couchsurfing is an online community where you can find people living all over the world who have free couches available for you to spend the night, obviously with a bit of advance planning and the promise of company and good conversation in return.

Photos: Gibraltar - the rock!

I spent the night at the home of a Spaniard, originally from Madrid. He had a roommate also from Spain, and while I was there he also had two other couchsurfers spend the night, a gay couple from Italy. We had a really great time! I made American hamburgers for dinner and the Italians made homemade tiramisu. The next day, I went with the Italians to spend the day at the rock. We saw all the little caves inside the rock that British soldiers carved out so they could attack from up high. We also saw lots of cute monkeys, a small Moorish castle, and lots and lots of sun. I came back considerably sunburned.

Photos: Gibraltar - the monkies!

After Gibraltar, I returned to Sevilla briefly to see the Plaza de España and stay at a different hostel where I met an immigrant from Senegal who was working there. Since I am going to Senegal in January, I had a great time talking with him (in Spanish since that was our best common language).

One downside to hostels is this: although you meet lots of great people, you also meet some creeps. As I was walking into my hostel room in the middle of the day, there was a guy in the bed underneath mine jacking off. He saw me come in, was a little startled, and then just decided to… continue! Thankfully, my new friend let me and all the girls from my room spend the night in hammocks on the roof until they could kick the guy out the next day.