This weekend we went to Palma de Mallorca, a medium sized island just off the southern coast of Spain. If I could describe it in one term it would probably be, "The Florida of Europe." It was full of old people. I mean there was a lot of old people. It was obvious that when the Spanish retire they retire in Palma because the weather is mild and the beach in nice. They geriatrics were only surpassed in number by the Germans. I'm not kidding, there were a lot of German tourists on the island. Many of the islanders speak quite a few languages so that they are more accessible to tourists. So as we walked on the boardwalk between the beach and the shops the Spaniards stopped us to ask us questions in German. .... German. I mean really? We were IN Spain, and after six years of relentless Spanish classes I was ready to speak some serious Spanish. This didn't just happen once, it happened like 20 different times during the weekend. I eventually stopped acknowledging the German language. We were three of maybe five Americans on the island.
It was apparent that we had come during off season, but we already knew that because we only payed ten pounds for our plane tickets. The water was too cold to swim in but during the day it felt very pleasant to sit on the beach and read. One of the best parts of the trip was the bakery a block down from our hotel called the "Palmeria" They had the best pastries and the nicest ladies. We went into their shop and talked to them at least twice a day in Spanish. On our last visit they wished us good luck.
The trip itself was a roller coaster of emotion. The first day I felt the lowest I have felt since I left home. I was terribly ill with homesickness and now I believe this is the worst sickness you can have. I could not shake the feeling that I was flying further and further into oblivion away from home at a time when I wanted to be home more than ever. Through much prayer the feelings ebbed and I was able to enjoy much of the trip.
On Saturday there was a big parade in which people dressed their children up as the most absurd characters. For a while we couldn't figure out what on Earth the celebration was. Then we finally deduced that "Carnival" was the only thing a person could celebrate in early February with drag queens. That's right we saw a big one. I was trying to be discreet while taking this video so the girls are pretending to be awkward tourists.