I’m sitting here at a park with the beach in front of me on the island La Gomera or the Spanish Canaries off the coast of Africa. It’s been my first real opportunity with WiFi and some free time for that matter. It’s been busy trying to figure out a way to get a boat home. But more on that in a minute.

First, I had to find a way from mainland Africa to the Canary islands off the coast. I set off by stopping in Essaouria and Agadir on the coast of Morocco. These are port towns and my main mission was to find a boat to the Canaries. Essaouria was tiny and just fishing boats and Agadir while bigger didn’t look too promising. I spent one night sleeping on the beach in Agadir which turned out to be a bit colder than I anticipated at night. The second night I spent in a nice Airbnb. The Airbnb was run by a nice family who shared their meals as well, so that was really nice! But since I didn’t have luck finding a boat to the Canaries the next best bet was to fly.

I got a decently cheap flight from Laayoune to the Canaries. Laayoune is technically in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. It was interesting to see the UN trucks and later the UN planes at the airport. I guess it’s mostly a diplomatic battle, but of course there is bloodshed as well. Seemed pretty tame from what I experienced as well. In Laayoune I stayed with two guys from Coach surfing. They we’re both around 25ish and had just graduated from University. They were both doctors in the town there. So they had a really nice apartment, at least comparatively. They were also super nice and they took me around and I met there friends. This actually mostly happened on Easter Sunday, so it definitely wasn’t my most traditional Easter! None the less my time in Western Sahara was pretty awesome thanks to the hospitality of the doctor who let me stay in their spare room!

The flight to the Canaries was a short 45 minute flight with immigration taking longer than the actual flight time. The views from the plane window were stunning! It was so cool to see how vast and deserted the Saharan region looked from above. The sand stretched all the way to the ocean! Me, being incredibly blessed in a way some might call super duper lucky, managed to get picked up by a boat captain from the airport. We drove down to his boat in a port South on the island and on the way I judged his character well enough for me to decide this might work. I had been in contact with the captain weeks before on an online crew matching website, but it didn’t look promising to me. He seemed uninterested, but I stayed persistent. And what do you know? Now I am days from departing on a sailing trip acrossed the Atlantic.

I’ve already sailed with him and two others to an island nearby for us to gather our last provisions. So far the sailing seems manageable and the captain doesn’t appear to be one to murder me at sea! It will be just the Captain and me for the full voyage across the ocean, but having a short trip with him under my belt already I feel comfortable. Departure is pegged for Tuesday or Wednesday. In, give or take, 20 days from departing I should be in the Carribean!

Seems a little bit surreal how lucky I am in having things come together, but I guess I have only God to thank for that! Say some prayers for me while I’m at sea!

I know I haven’t posted a while, but I had a couple of posts planned. Due to poor internet connection I haven’t got them posted. At this point just to catch up I am going to do mostly a media blog post. Lots of pictures- Yay!! If you click on them a nice viewer should appear and you can scroll through them. I will have explanations in the captions. I will also keep them cronological.

This group of pictures is from Fes and a lot of the shots of the market we’re typical in any Moroccan city.

This second group of photos was of my adventure spending two nights in the desert.

This group of photos are of crossing the Atlas mountains and the city of Marrakech.

This last photo was of the journey to Agadir. That’s the Atlantic ocean, and riding along next to it, in a lot of ways, it felt similar to the Californian coast, but maybe a little less beautiful.

I am currently in Agadir enjoying some beach and relaxing before I head to Laayoune which is actually in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. I fly from Laayoune to the Canary islands. The flight is a grand total of 45 minutes. I had to book it since I didn’t have any luck at the major port cities in Morocco. I have a feeling my luck will be better in catching a cost from the Canaries!

From Paris, after one bus transfer from 6-7:30am I made it to Barcelona at about sundown. From the bus station I had to walk to my hostel. Even though I didn’t do much I was pretty tired so I checked in and did some grocery shopping nearby and then chilled the rest of the night.

I had the whole following day to explore Barcelona and I first headed to some buildings nearby from a famous architect. I’m sure the insides were cool, but it cost 21€ to get in one and 25€ for the other. With the US dollar losing value that would have been closer to $60, so I wasn’t really that interested in the architecture.

From there I wandered to the old gothic district. The streets were really narrow and a lot of buildings had pretty neat old style architecture. Then I got to the cathedral of the city. Like most cathedrals in major cities, it was huge! Going inside was free, so I wandered around inside and admired the high ceilings, ornate altars, and stained glass.

Then I bought an apple and chowed on it before taking a walk along the beach. The beach was okay. To be honest I expected a little more from Barcelona. It was interesting to see a bunch of nude old men laying out… I guess that’s the European style.

The rest of the day was walking around and seeing a smattering of different monuments and local sights. In one park center I saw some of the protests (people were camping out in the park) in favor of creating a new country around the Catalan culture there. It’s been in the new I guess, but I didn’t know much about it until I witnessed it. I was pretty suprised to find out that there are apparently many small regions in Spain that speak their own languages and have distinct cultures.

The next morning, early, I set out with Alvaro, the driver I found using a ride sharing app. It was cheaper than a bus and much more comfortable. It was nice company as well. Luckily, Alvaro spoke decent English and he explained the Catalan situation and culture to me more. For the first leg of the 10 hour journey we had a French woman and a Brazilian guy, but for the second leg we dropped them off and picked up a Spanish lady. I actually slept probably 4 hours, but when I was awake there was some beautiful scenery. It reminded me of when I was out west towards Utah. We even drove through the “Sierra Nevada,” as they called it.

Malaga was the destination. It’s further south for my journey to Africa. I actually liked it a lot more than Barcelona, though I wasn’t there as long. Barcelona, to me, kind of had a high class attitude that I wasn’t a fan of. Also the sights weren’t that extraordinary either. Malaga was more laid back and just walking around I saw a Spanish Castle on a high with some Roman ruins below it. There were other cool Roman ruins, but the picture didn’t turn out through the display glass. I was kind of surprised by the Roman ruins. It didn’t really occur to me that I might see them there.

Then at night I had a really nice walk along the beach! I took my shoes off and walked along the water, but it was actually quite cold. The harbour was pretty beautiful as well.

The next morning I woke up and Oscar, another ride share driver, took me to San Roque. He didn’t speak any English, so my request to get dropped off closer to the Gibraltar border didn’t get through. So I decided to hitch hike the rest. I walked about 5 minutes to a good spot headed in the direction I wanted to go with ample room for a car to pull off if they did want to stop. Then I guessed all that was left was just to stick my arm out. I did that and tonmy surprise within 5 minutes a car pulled over and a guy offered to take me there. He looked pretty trustworthy. He was a little older, a retired high school principal if you had to make me guess, and he drove a nice BMW.

Then he dropped me off near the border and I walked through. The borders were pretty lax, they just glanced at my passport and that was it. Then, interestingly, you walk acrossed the airport runway into the country. If there is a plane you wait on either side for 15 minutes until it passes. As soon as I crossed the runway it was like being in England! I was on Winston Churchill Avenue.

I wandered I to the city center and ate some lunch in the park. After that I hiked up that big old rock they have there (the Rock of Gibraltar). I saw a Moorish castle and some other old British settlement stuff. It was interesting to see the Gibraltar flag with the British and EU flag flying in the wind. I wonder what consequences Brexit will have on Gibraltar?

Then I wandered further up the rock and found a nice view I was also apparently in a spot we’re Queen Elizabeth had stood. Then I hiked down and crossed back over the runway back into Spanish just as easily as I had came. I probably only spent 2 or 3 hours there, but it’s not a big country anyways.

Then I got on a bus to another port city where I am now sitting waiting for a boat acrossed to Africa. So next post I should be in a new continent and in Morocco!