Our mission was to rent out a single room in the nice area of Barcelona, called Gracia, within the same day as we arrived. So emailing a couple renters before leaving, I came upon Sara, who had a room ready for us to stay. Only details known was there were 2 girls both named Sara, living at a place that had 2 rooms to rent. Marty and I jokingly fantasized about the incredibly hot girls we were hoping to stay with. Though taking into consideration that they're letting three young American boys, rent ONE room in the apartment, chances were slim to none.

/// HAGS and BAGS.

     Opening the door to greet us was the first Sara, who just got off work to show us the place. Sara was a largely overweight red haired Catalan speaking woman in her early 20�s with an adorable 2-year-old daughter named Ariana. As nice as she is, we will refer to her as HAGS.

     The second Sara we met shortly after, was a prettier, younger brunette, also in her early 20�s. She decided to prance around in a skimpy bathrobe during the time that Hags showed us the place. One unmistakably noticeable beauty flaw about this girl was the insane looking bags under her eyes, hence the name BAGS. To briefly describe this, it had looked like someone took a toilet plunger, placed it directly on each eye and sucked all the natural life out from under them. Or maybe she had been smacked in the face with a large leg of ham, giving her the two wonderful black jewels. Nonetheless, with all my hopes shattered of being catered by hand & foot from two Playboy models, I prepared myself for the next month, because now this was home.

     The next day was a bright sunny Monday, and we all jumped out of bed at an unusually early 11:30, dressing as quickly as we could. The first time for us all in the beautiful city of Barcelona, we wanted to see anything and everything before it rained, like the day before. Macba, the Museu d�Art Contemporani de Barcelona (macba.com) is the direction our legs sent us, since it was the most infamous spot here in Barcelona, plus it was simple to get to. Think of this, when most people go to a museum to see all the famous paintings and sculptures inside, we were there to see the perfect skate architecture OUTSIDE.
Go figure.

     Now, for those of you who don't know my travel companions here are some juicy little tidbits:
Marty Murawski, who I have know for a couple years now, is an ordinary 21 year old Arizona kid, with extraordinary skateboarding skills, and is the perfect person to have on tour. Always funny, never complaining, and seems to always have some new story about his obsessive-compulsive friend Steve or alcoholic brother Mike. With Marty, most of the conversation consists of reenactments of old spoof movies, such as National Lampoons Loaded Weapon, or Super Troopers. Another common trait is the complete exaggeration of any normal situation, until you end up laughing at it sooner or later. From seeing a dog walking on the street, to What if: that dog bit your entire arm off, then What if: the dog gave you a redemption coupon to get your arm back. These are an example of the silly jokes I am dealing with on a daily basis.

     Now Mike Lawlor at age 23, came on this trip without really knowing neither Marty nor I, but has fit our crew nicely. We have grown to know his routines, such as the mandatory nightly beers, sleeping in his clothes or the random comments spoken at the most unusual times, sometimes 3 or 4 hours later. It would be safe to say Mike is quite a spacey cadet, and I am kind of surprised he kept up and not still wandering around the train station in Lyon.