Unmet expecations and wild pigs can't be broken

We have a travel book that at times has been invaluable and at other times isn't worth the paper its printed on, like today. In said travel book, we learned that pork is the unofficial meat of Spain and is especially good on Mallorca (an island where we'll soon be farming). Spaniards love a good pig but you can't find bacon in many places unless the cater to white westerners.

We checked out of our downtown hostel into a cheaper one just outside of town. To clarify, just outside of town seems just a bit further when you have 45 lbs on your back in 85 degree weather. And a bit cheaper means instead of being a block from a metro station, our new digs were about a 1/2 mile up an unforgiving steep hill on top of a mountain. By the time we arrived we were soaking in our own sweat, exhausted and an hour early for check-in. Hurry-up and wait.

After checking in we ventured back into town to Mt. Tibidabo. This Barcelona high point has an amusement park (built in 1908) that employs Spanish pirates to amuse children and frustrate their parents. The park is very expensive and has little parking which is frustrating to all. This mountain top experience, as described in our travel book is a must see (correcto) for its views of the city, with a small cliche church on its summit which can be avoided(no correcto). Rather than hike the snake like roads to the top we took a funicular (cable tram) for a few Euros. We checked out the church (which is actually 2 churches built in the Ne0-gothic style) and discovered 2 weddings taking place, one in each chapel. Being a committed voyeur and tourist I (I made Rachel follow) went in and had a seat. We watched a few minutes of each ceremony then went on self guided tours through any doors they may have foolishly left unlocked. We found the Tibidobo church quaint rather than cliche and would highly recommend going on a Saturday in the summer to see endless parade of wedding goers decked out in their best.

From there, our travel book recommends a walking tour that visits some of the local sites while enjoying a comfortable walk through friendly neighborhoods then finally ending at a restaurant with cheap sandwiches the size of your head (Jamon no doubt). Well there were a couple things correct about this statement. There was plenty of walking and neighborhoods. Other than that the streets are poorly marked so we wandered for miles, we happened on many of the local sites including the incredible Park de Guilet by Gaudi (where I almost didn't make it to the bathroom and had to seriously contemplate an backcountry duke experience in an historic public park, but I made it), and when we found the restaurant literally 3 hours later, it was so smoky we walked in and immediately walked out sin cabeza-sized sandwiches.

We returned to our hostel, hostel Everest via the Al-Can for some much needed rest. Our beds were one of many in the room we share with many other travelers. Our bed in particular was on the first floor next to several large windows. In order to avoid recreating the temperature of a Turkish bathhouse one must keep the windows open at all times. After we'd turned the lights out we heard some gutteral noises and rustling in the bushes. Now I'm 2 ft from an open window that is at eye level when prostrate, so I'm feeling rather vulnerable as the unknown beast drew steadily closer. I'm thinking is some sort of hybrid of a warthog and a squirrel. A bushy tailed monster with razor fangs, incredible dexterity and can be cute one moment then on your neck sucking the life out of you the next. Well I wasn't far off. It was a virtual herd of wild pigs with their piglets in toe, or hoof. They didn't look so scary under the blue tinged light of my head lamp and they certainly couldn't bite my jugular. But they did look sorta delicious. I'll have to be sure to look for that shop tomorrow if our crappy travel guide will help us get there.