January 2019 (Spain) — Tamarinding

Sometimes dirtbag climbers I meet are confused by the fact that my best friend doesn’t climb and has 0 interest in climbing, especially given how much time, money and life I’ve devoted to the lifestyle.

But I appreciate it.

I spend enough time with climbers who love spending hours talking beta, gear preferences, diet/training plans, money-saving/making schemes and big wall misadventures.

It’s nice to have a non-climber’s perspective on life, someone who is more grounded in other things.

I love climbing and would never take back any of the moments or years I’ve dedicated to this life, but I never want to fall so deep into climbing that I don’t know how to be a part of the world at large.

I want to be a dirtbag 90% of the time but live like a fucking queen 10% of the time.

She came to visit me in Spain for two weeks! It was really nice to have an excuse to travel around Spain and see more of the cities.

Also at this point, I’d been in Spain for 3 weeks and had spent 0 actual days in a city.

I have to say though, hot take, typical food in Spain is just okay. I was disappointed to realize that ceviche is actually Latin American so there isn’t really much in Spain and also, after having been to Spain and Chile now, the best empanadas in the world are still from Johnny Pacific in Winnetka (in Los Angeles county— there is literally 0 reason to ever visit Winnetka except to get these empanadas, but for real, you will never find empanadas better than these bad boys).

I’m sorry, people of Spain, but I had to let it out.

Ham and melon is a great combination though; please keep it up. Croquettes are also fantastic, thank you.

You can hold the salads and the sandwiches though. We could work on those a bit.

As a former math major, I’m also horrified at how your bars calculate the prices for cañas vs. copas, etc.

One thing I didn’t understand until I got to Spain was siesta.

Siesta is so incredibly real, it’s amazing.

Nearly every shop and restaurant (except for those from big chains, e.g. McDonald’s) is closed in the afternoon for about 3 or 4 hours. It worked out perfectly for us, because we just took a nap in the afternoon in our hostels/Air BnBs, but I was impressed nonetheless.

What really got me wasn’t the siesta itself, but just how late Spanish people had dinner. Wowww! When we had dinner with our Spanish friends, we literally didn’t eat until 11 or later every time…!

It’s not a joke, this whole idea of siesta and late dinners.

All these cathedrals and castles and stuff are really pretty, but all I think about is how many people died in constructing/funding these massive buildings, and thank god for labor laws.

Sorry to be a downer, fam.

But gosh they are undeniably gorgeous.

When I left Siurana to travel around, multiple climbers told me that even though there are routes there, not to bother climbing at Monserrat because it’s a pile of conglomerate choss.

Having gone to Monserrat, I have to say—

it is a pile of conglomerate choss.

But the church and monastery itself were beautiful, so definitely go visit those!