Ever since my beloved TV LINKS website got dismantled, I have been feeling a bit down. I love free stuff, so when my free TV was taken away, I didn’t quite know how to handle myself (Ok, not really. I still have Veoh and AllUC for my TV pleasures). I guess the way to explain myself is that I haven’t felt like I have gotten any sweet deals since I discovered my TV LINKS website love… until now. We got a FREE crumpler bag!

Lonely Planet is having this awesome deal where if you spend $40, you get FREE shipping, AND a FREE Crumpler Bag! This is too good to pass up. The bag is just the right size for Brian’s video camera, and provides the protection it needs. If you aren’t familiar with the Crumpler product line, here is why their bags are so cool:

• They don’t look like your typical camera bags.
• They are padded to protect the camera.
• They are fairly secure. To open the bag, you have to unfasten a buckle and then get through some extra loud and strong velcro. You will hear or feel if someone is trying to get in your bag!

I have been using the Crumpler 3 Million Dollar Home bag for my DSLR since this summer and love it to pieces. I definitely recommend them for travelers, so hurry up and get your travel guides and score a free Crumpler!

The FedEx package arrived today that contained my crispy-clean Kyrgyz visa. I grabbed the envelope like it was Christmas morning, only to find a huge black fly in my Chardonnay. I stated before that I was specifically told by the language school to not get a tourist visa, and after multiple attempts at contacting the Kyrgyz Embassy, I found out that I should apply for a business visa for study. Now this:

Maybe they weren’t on their game because of the recent holiday. Whatever it was, I still find myself scratching my head when I think about the information they received and what the final product was. I sent this:

• An application requesting a business visa.
• An invitation letter requesting a visa for study.
• A cashier’s check for the amount of a business visa (not tourist, which is less).
• I also want to point out that I was told on the phone (after having to call 8 times to reach someone) that I should apply for a business visa.

After all this, they decided to keep my extra money and produce a tourist visa. *scratches head* At this point I think I’m just going to keep it the way it is and deal with this after I get there. I have a lot to get done before we leave for Guatemala, and I don’t want to spend anymore time and/or money with the Kyrgyz Embassy. If I can’t extend this visa in Kyrgyzstan, I’ll just venture over to Uzbekistan for a bit.

I spent most of the day upgrading my website. I was running an older version of wordpress for this blog because I wanted to use the fold page list plugin (it didn’t like the newer versions we tried before). Luckily, I found the collapsing page menu plugin from sporkfancier.com. It does basically the same thing, but lacks the ability to exclude pages in the process (drat!). So, I decided to get an upgrade overwith while I have the time and internet connection to do so.

For the most part, everything went alright. I even found a new photo gallery plugin in the process that I am very excited about. I liked the lightbox gallery I had before, but it just looked too cluttered. The NextGEN gallery is much more streamlined, as you can see from my Spain galleries. The best part is this fun plugin they have - check it out here:

[polaroid=3,565,535]

Speaking of upgrades, I recently upgraded my itty-bitty jump drive to an 8gigger I found on Ebay for $27. I downloaded the VeohBeta viewer from veoh.com and have been dowloading various episodes of tv shows onto the jump drive. I also plan on putting a few movies on it for rainy days when traveling. It’s a great way to save space on your laptop.

Notice the exclamation point in the title. Yep, I’m a little excited to possibly make some more money before we go to Guatemala. I feel like I’m shelling out the money left and right - plane tickets, language lessons, vaccinations, dental appointments - and the list goes on.

To be honest, I completely forgot about the catering company. I left them a voicemail before I left for Spain telling them I’d be back in November. Well, they remembered and gave me a little ring on Friday because they have holiday events happening left and right. Cool!

I go in on Wednesday for an “interview” (I say this because the tone of the conversation was that this was just procedure, but I already had the job). Yay!

Now that I’m home, I’m making plans for future travels, which you can tell from the Upcoming Travel section on the right sidebar are quite interesting. I’m planning on spending 3-4 months in Kyrgyzstan taking Russian lessons, and, of course, that requires a visa. However, a simple task was definitely more difficult than it should have been, and here’s why:

I was looking at the visa information on the Kyrgyz Embassy website when I notice there is no option for a student visa listed - only tourist, transit, or business. The language school in Bishkek said that I needed a “normal” visa for 3 months, that way I can extend it to 4 months when I am there (this is not possible with a tourist visa).

So, I decided to fill out the contact form last week on the Kyrgyz Embassy’s site to see if they can offer more information. A few days went by without a response.

On Monday, I decided to phone them, but all I got was a voicemail to leave a message, which I did. Another day went by without a response, so I phoned again, got the same message, and left another voicemail (making sure to repeat my name and phone number clearly).

Still, on Wednesday, I had not heard back by phone or email. I ended up calling 5 times in a 3 hour time span before I actually got someone on the line, but as soon as I asked them a question, they hung up! Are you kidding me?!

I called back immediately, getting the voicemail. I hung up and tried for a record 7th time and FINALLY got an answer to my question. They said to apply for a business visa. Now I’m not sure if that sounds right, but that’s what I’m sending to them. The invitation letter should help. Hopefully everything works out!

No more human pin cushion for me - I finished my vaccinations today! Brian also got the last of his hepatitis this week. Yay, Guatemala, here we come!

*See what vaccinations we got here (most while planning for our original RTW).

Now we just need to look into malaria pills. I don’t think we’ll need them for our plans in Guatemala, but better safe than sorry (we could need them for remote areas). We also need some cipro.

In prehistoric times, the island of Menorca was populated by the Taliotic people. When the Romans came, they recruited these Taliotic people to fight for them as slingers. How exactly do you compensate or convince a society that doesn’t deal in any sort of monetary values to fight for you?…

…women. You offer to pay the men with more women. See, Menorca, at that time was lacking women, and the funny thing is, that as of this day, nothing has changed. Take a look at this picture:

We call this picture “The Vultures”. Notice the line of creepy Menorcan guys in the smokey background ready to pownce. Our final, glorious Saturday night out in Menorca was basically hours of running away from these vultures. Nope, nothing has changed.

The Danish hand surgeon I sat next to on the flight over to Spain told me I’d have friends for life after a trip like this abroad. At the time, I didn’t know what the dig would be like, and who else would be crazy enough to end up at the remote island of Menorca for a month in October to dig up Roman ruins. I took Danish guy’s words with a grain of salt. I thought, perhaps, I’d be completely solitary - possibly not liking or hanging out with anyone from the program. I also thought we’d be too busy to go out and burn down Ciutadella on the weekends. As I said before in my “Misconceptions about digging” post, I was totally wrong about everything involving this little excursion.

About a week or two in, Lia and I were at the bar both having a conversation about how surprised we were to be having such an awesome time… in Menorca. The dynamics of the group worked out so well. Sure, everyone has their quirks, and when you live 2 inches from the next person they do start to make you cringe at times, but honestly - life would be boring if there wasn’t some drama involved. Take Juana the cook/housekeeper, for instance - a woman whom I think is crazy. We basically did not get along, especially after her bringing the sickness into our place, and even though I wished her not to be there, our little feud brought on the best stories and laughter down the line.

My last night in Spain was spent meeting up with a few other people from the group in Barcelona for Halloween. It had been a couple weeks since Lia and I’s initial conversation, but we both decided the feelings remained the same. We love our group, and we love Menorca. I thought it seemed silly at first, but I really do think I’ve made friends for life on this trip. We are already planning reunions, songs, travels, etc. I already miss the slumber party every night, hearing John come in at 6am (knocking over chairs or throwing keys at Doris), and the inside jokes. The good part is that I think everyone else will be missing this, too. I’m definitely looking forward to March in New York where I can meet up with the east coast crew and relive all the memories. It was a great month!

Well you may know from “The Sick Room” that I might be a little upset with a certain cook/housekeeper named Juana. I can’t say I had fond feelings for her before the whole “spread the sickness” incident, but after… after was the time when pleasantries were thrown out the window. It felt like war: Brooke vs. Juana.

It was made clear that I did not speak a word of Spanish. Juana made it clear that she did not speak a word of English. Any communication was done with the help of someone translating, much in the way when she found out I had caught her stomach virus. I was lying in bed, nearing death, when she came in to talk to Sarah. She realized I was sick and proceeded to say, “You probably have what I had… but I’m better now.” Oh, great, thanks. I’m so freaking glad you’re OK now, and even gladder you didn’t have the decency to stay home instead of spreading your illness to me. That was the day I decided I couldn’t stand her.

Tensions continued to rise as I spent the next several days at home while everyone else was at the dig site. The first thing she would do is come in and open the door to my bedroom while I was trying to sleep away my sickness. I would close the door, and she would come back and re-prop it open! What is wrong with this lady?!

The second day I was home was absolutely a nightmare. I was enjoying some cheese and crackers when Juana made her entrance. The first thing she did was run to the bathroom, hacking up a lung or vomiting (I’m not sure which). “Oh, great,” I thought to myself. I immediately went into my bedroom to get away from the drama, but next thing I know, Juana was in my room with a broom hacking all over everything. It went on like this the entire day, and I drew the line when she approached me after vomiting – snot running down her face, pale as a ghost. I was so sick still, but had to leave the building just to rid myself of any other throw-up stimuli! (I won’t even get into the fact that she proceeded to cook lunch and dinner while hacking. No one ate that night. We called the director to have him make her leave, but he said that if she was sick she would call him. She wouldn’t leave! This was my one main drawback of the program!)

A few days passed. I got better – went on an excursion – and was looking forward to lunch again. As luck would have it, I was walking to the back bathroom when curiosity had me look into the kitchen window to see what was cooking. I see Juana plating some lasagna and then proceed to stick her finger full in her mouth… and then plate some more lasagna. YUCK! I stopped and made an “oh my god!” expression on my face when she looked up and saw me shaking my head in disbelief. No freaking wonder I got the stomach flu! She knew I wasn’t happy. It was out there now in full force – Brooke vs. Juana.

Juana retaliated the following week when I was waiting for the shower. She told me to wait a minute while she put clothes in the washer. She walked out the other entrance and said something in Spanish in the distance. I walked in, dropped my clothes, but just wasn’t sure if it was OK yet to start my shower. I had to track her down, point to the bathroom and mime somehow if she was finished. Juana turned to me from what she was doing with the dirtiest, most annoyed look on her face I have ever seen (as if I should have understood whatever she said in Spanish from the other room). Well sorry lady! You know I don’t speak Spanish and I needed to be sure I could start my shower without anyone trying to get in while doing so.

The following day I was telling the group about how Juana gave me that nasty look, and I got a response I wasn’t quite expecting from Adam.

“Yeah, I don’t think Juana likes you. I’ve seen her give you some looks.”

The entire group chuckles as I confirm to myself this is war.

Adam continues, “But you do the same to her, so…”

Full-blown laughter explodes from everyone there. Yes, yes I do give her dirty looks, and rightfully so. As I explained before, her indecency cost me several days of my trip - licking her fingers and coughing on my food. WAR!

There were many more incidents until the end of the month – including the movie interruptions and the communal basket clothes argument – but I can’t say for sure who won the war. Juana did get me good with that stomach flu, after all.

I am finally adjusted to life back home, but still have a few stories to tell of my adventures in Spain. Here is a little piece on why I was fearing not making if off the island - the Tramuntana winds.

From day one we were told about the Tramuntana winds that can pound the island – stopping all work from proceeding. It’s hard to imagine, but we’re talking like tropical storm winds, up to 100 mph at times. The first time the Tramuntana winds made their mark was with a little storm and a lot of COLD weather!

I remember getting up to use the back bathroom in the middle of the night. The room that leads there has no windows, so not only could I see it, but I could feel it as well. The trees looked just like on the weather channel when they are covering a hurricane – very eerie.

Just to give you an idea of the winds that pound the island, take a look at how the trees are growing by the EcoMuseu:

Now you can see why I was fearing not making it off the island! The winds were blowing, yet I somehow managed to not be blown into the sea on Halloween. Lucky me!