Just got back from Ibiza, and oh man was this an exciting trip from beginning until the end. My muscles are so sore! But let's start from the beginning.
First I went to class the day we left, and got back to find out that we had less than an hour for everyone to make sure they packed everything and leave for the bus. Apparently the 3:30 bus out of Salamanca was the only one we could catch. So everyone hurried up and packed (I did it the night before) and we left to catch the bus. We weren't able to take an express, so we stopped in the most random villages on the way to Madrid airport. Most of the scenery was countryside and really dilapidated houses.
Once we got to Madrid we had to take two subways to get to the airport, because the people who bought the bus tickets didn't realize they needed to buy them for Madrid AIRPORT, not just Madrid. But we got there in time and went to check-in. But the flight was overbooked because they had to change to a smaller plane, so me and one other kid in our group, Josh, had to get bumped to another flight. Three desks later and a hell of a lot of waiting, we got a flight that left 15 min before the other flight(so one at 9:15pm and one at 9:30pm) and $125 euro back (more than what we paid, btw). However, we found out that BOTH flights were delayed, ours until about 11pm and the other until about 1am (it ended up leaving at 2:30am). So we waited around the airport for a bit, got on the flight for 45 minutes then touched down in Ibiza (yes, we probably could've walked there faster, or at leats taken a boat and gotten there sooner). We decided to take a taxi to the hostel.
When we got there, we had to pay for the entire room(s) up front, so we split the $246 cost and said we'd get everyone else to pay us back when they got here. They ended up, instead of giving us two five person rooms, getting two two person rooms and two three person rooms. The rest of the group got there around 4:00am and we all went to bed.
Later that morning, we can't find half of our group members because they already left. We find out afterwards that Josh had to get a hotel because he couldn't stay in the hostel and two of the girls couldn't stand no air conditioning (because they were so spoiled in our hostel with the also no air conditioning) so they just left without letting us know. This began the major drama of the trip, which ended in everyone feeling resentful towards them, them having a key to our room and kept entering without our permission (and basically refusing to give it back to us), and me having to basically bully them into paying their share of the hostel rooms.
But besides that, we had a fantastic time. The first day we bought a quick breakfast at the 22 hour supermarket below us, and bought tickets to a boat to take us to Playa Pinet. Apparently the beaches next to us, in San Antonio, aren't that great. The one we went to though was really nice. The water was pristine, and there were three bars/restaurants to choose from. They had paddle boats, kayaking, jet skiing and tubing. We just relaxed for most of the day, tanned, went in the water, then got back out and enjoyed the sun. We all went tubing as well, which was exhilarating. The boat driver kept trying to throw us off of the tube - he said he was just doing his job. It was a lot of fun and really exciting. That night we got KFC/Pizza Hut for dinner. It was cheap and we all kind of wanted a taste of home. We walked around and people watched that night.
The next day we went to a different beach, Cala Grassio. The beach was hidden among a bunch of rock formations, and while walking from the boat to the beach we saw some guys jumping into the water from a cliff (at least 15-20ft high). We asked them how deep the water was and if it was safe, and then just literally dove in. It was exhilarating and so much fun. One girl even climbed up the face of the rocks! Again, more relaxing at the beach, but a little less this time since the sun takes a lot out of you and we were all pretty tanned at this point. When we got back we booked spots on this awesome 90 minute boat ride.
That night we walked along these tents they had set up outside of our hostel that were selling jewelry and other little knick knacks. Two girls got henna tattoos on their feet.
That morning we packed, checked-out, had a quick breakfast and went for our boat ride. It was basically what they called a "Bladerunner jet" you can watch a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgEKOUDfDi0
We went to this island called Es Vedra, which according to our tour guide is the third most magnetic spot in the world, kind of like the Bermuda Triangle. Whether or not it's true idk. Apparently the rock also creates interesting colors at sunset or twilight, which is why a lot of hippies moved to the island a couple of decades ago. It is also said, by Nostradamus, to be the only place on Earth that will still be here when it ends in 2012. There's also a legend that it is the tip of the lost civilization Atlantis.
While on the boat tour we also ran into a pack (school...group...herd?) of dolphins. It was really cool and apparently abnormal for this time of year in Ibiza. One of them even swam alongside the boat for a little bit. It was really really cool. After that we went swimming in the middle of the Mediterranean. The water was so beautiful, almost a turquoise color. They gave us face masks to use and we were able to see all the little fishes underneath us.
After that we hung out for a bit and then caught a bus back to the airport. That was also a trip and a half. We wanted to see if we could get on an earlier flight, but no go. We ended up waiting at the airport for five hours before we could finally check-in (poor planning again) and then find out that our 12:20am flight is delayed until 5:30am.(We DEFINITELY could've swam/walked back faster) Most of us tried to sleep for a little bit at the airport, and we were given free dinner and breakfast, but the airport was freezing, three people weren't feeling well, and it was not a happy time. When we finally got to the airport we found out that the bus directly from the airport to salamanca didn't leave until 1pm instead of 8am like we thought. (we went through three terminals to figure this out) So we had to take the metro again back to the bus station, buy tickets for the bus and hop on (we finally caught the 9am bus back).
When we got back it felt like the Promised Land. I napped for five hours and here I am! Have to catch up on homework, journal entries, and find some dinner!
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