hola!
Well we are in Barcelona and it is 2am. The past 2 days have been the longest days of our lives. We made it to Montpillier yesterday around 6pm and set foot to find a hostel so we wouldnt have to sleep in the train station. We thankfully found one but it was unfortunately in a sketchy part of town! It was an old convent turned into a hostel, many weird people stayed there and it was very stressful getting a room. Once we settled in we locked our bags to our beds and headed out for a much needed dinner. We found this cheap pasta place and had a great time eating there. After we were done we had time to kill so we decided to walk around the city. We saw this huge black dog that seemed to have an owner because he had a leash, ben put his hand toward the dog so the dog could sniff him (like we would do in America) but before he even got a foot away the massive black dog freaked out and bit Bens hand. He wasnt tied to anything and we thought he was going to chase us so we booked it screaming at the top of our lungs he was frantically barking like a wild wolf. Now we dont think he has an owner! Trying not to freak out we walked around the city a little more but Bens hand was bleeding and i desperately wanted him to clean it so we headed back to the weird hostel/convent. Bens hand seemed fine with only 2 puncture wounds that he said were not putting him in pain. That night we settled into bed hoping that nobody would show up to be our roommate. We began to read our books before bed when we suddenly heard a dog fight outside our window..luckily we were on the second floor...then the dog fight turned into a guy fight and it really started to freak us out. Ben didnt trust the hostel so he slept with our most important bag in his bed. It was so hot in our room i couldnt even sleep. We both got 2 hours of sleep before heading to our train for Barcelona.
We arrived in Barcelona, we spent 40 Eruo unexpectedly on train reservations to Lisbon but we werent too upset about it because we knew it was the last leg of our journey and we had to get there to catch our flight on the 24th. We got to the hostel and i checked my emails when i heard that my aunt had passed away. I know my dad must be in a lot of pain and i want him to know how much i prayed/thought about him today. Dad, i wish i was home to comfort you and let you know how much i love you. you are in my prayers! After checking emails i headed for a nap in a 12 person room full of men. It was kind of uncomfortable but i got over it, i was just happy to be in SAFE hostel and location. We got up around 4pm to take showers (co-ed bathrooms..Yikes!) and then headed off to explore the city and grab some dinner..we were starving because we forgot/didnt have time to eat all day. We had an amazing and cheap dinner and then headed down one of the most amazing streets in all of Europe, La Rambas! They have lots of places to eat, pet shops, street performers, awesome archetecture, and many other interesting things! We made our way through the street and headed to a boat dock overlooking some of the ocean. We sat on the dock and looked at all the beautiful Spanish people. We started to realize that our trip was coming to an end and we are not going to have much money when we returned! Ben stopped us midconversation and began to pray...all i remember him saying was Lord bring me and molly even closer together and allow us to not have any materialism as we return home, thank you for providing and giving us good health and safety. After that we headed to the beach for fun! We got there and it was a sandy beach full of artistic locals that were enjoying life. We sat down and began to equally enjoy ourselves and our conversation. Ben did a little journaling, i took some cool pictures, and we just watched the sun set. As we sat there many Arabic men asked us if first we wanted beer, then if we wanted hash, then if we wanted coccaine! We said NO in a very polite way and went on with our fun conversation. One man was extremely scary looking and would not leave us alone he got in our faces as we kept saying no. We deciced we had enough of the beach and we wanted to bounce.
Now the SCARY story...
We have this amazing purple patagonia bag that has been our life support on this trip. We havent gone anywhere without it and we kept everything in it except for our passports and money..those are always strapped to our bodies. Ben normally carries it and when we sat on the beach he put it directly by his right hand and right leg as usual. We have been obsessively careful with our bags always checking on them. When that man offered us the drugs and wouldnt leave he was to our left standing over us. The bag was on our right! We decided to leave the beach, got up, and realized the bag had been stolen! We quickly ran all over the beach asking everyone if they saw the guy steal it. The people said.. "O yes that happened to me before so now i lock my bag to my body"... "O yea we saw the guy steal our bag and we chased him and got our bag back"No one was helping us until these 2 men who were eating at a little place off the beach told us they watched the entire thing happen and they saw him take off with it in the streets (Of course we are NOT in Kentucky and no one cares! They saw the entire thing happen and didnt even care!!!) they told us we had no chance of getting it but to make sure and check the garbage cans. We ran in the direction they pointed and looked in every trash can for 1 hour. We just constantly prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed some more. By now it was 12am and we talked to a guy who worked at an outdoor bar, he said the same thing happened to him and it happens everyday to most people..."They are Professionals"... he told us to file a poilce report. We ran into many police officers all telling us where the station was. We made it to the station completely exhausted and began the report. There were so many tourists and locals in there crying and freaking out that we just felt lost. The bag had both of our cameras, our Eurrail Passes and train tickets to Lisbon, all of our souveniers, and my sunglasses. I am writing this blog mainly for prayer. Ben is on the other computer trying to figure out how to switch our flight from Lisbon to Barcelona, we are out of money so we feel helpless, and we have no options. On our walk home we realized that we are not mad but that we are just travelers and that this is the life of a traveler. We have spent the past 39 days trying to stay safe and keep our crap together, this could have happened 20 days ago and we would have missed our entire trip but instead it happened the last 3 days, we can only be positive for the grace God has shown us. We are 2 crazy Americans trying to make our way through this continent and the only bad thing is a dog bite and a few stolen items. Ben and I have never been more close than we are now, not to mention the amount of Love we have for eachother that has grown through this journey. We are only happy to have been barely singed and nowhere near burned. We feel the presence of the Lord constantly on us, it is even hard to explain. Please Pray... We LOVE you.
Ben&Molly
Quote for the Day:
Be gracious to me, O God for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, whose Word I praise, In God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Psalm 56:1-4
P.S. Even though we have been completely violated we cannot seem to let go of the fact that we LOVE it here? We love this city, even though we have seen little of it. The people are truly beautiful, as is the beach, and the creative buildings. We are weird we know but we totally want to come back.
