Los Sueños Hecho Realidad

This entry is so incredibly overdue. I apologize. I guess I could say it is because I have so much to do but that is not quite true. I have never been good at riding in diaries but I do love the idea of this blog because I do not have to repeat my stories a hundred different times… and I can actually remember them! So I will try to be better about posting! No promises though. :)





Alicante vs. Valencia

Anyways, after our trip to Guadalest I went to my first professional soccer game. The fans were so intense. It was between Alicante and Valencia. I live in Alicante and Valencia is just to the north. Alicante is actually in the “state” of Valencia. Needless to say it was a very big rivalry. I was hoping to somehow advance my Spanish at the game, but that was a silly idea because all I heard were swear words! I did find out that soccer is not as boring as I originally thought. I would love to go to another game if given the chance, but they are not cheap. Alicante lost by one goal and it was pretty intense. In the last few minutes we had numerous opportunities to capitalize, but it just did not happen. I am going to say it is because this is the first season that Alicante is in the big leagues. Overall the game was enjoyable, and because we were in the top of the stadium, we saw a beautiful panoramic view of Alicante. 

Dream come true! :)



The next weekend Jamie and I went to Benidorm. Benidorm is equivalent to the Hamptons, I guess. It is an hour and 10 minute tram ride to the north and it is where all the Europeans come to vacation. There are tons of hotels and attractions. Jamie and I went to the waterpark (Aqualandia) and sea world type park (Mundomar). We had a blast. Aqualandia was so much fun. It reminded me of going to company picnics at the waterpark and hanging out with my sister all day. They had 2 slides that were black and you ride two people in a tube. They were so much fun! It is completely dark and the first time we went we did not know that right away there is, what feels like, a five foot vertical drop. It caught us by surprise but because of it we laughed the whole way down. We then went to some slides that neither of us liked very much, partly because we turned half way around. Not fun. Then we went to a place where they had different obstacles you could do. One was a rope net and you would cross it like monkey bars and others were slides that would drop you into the water. Then there was the zip line… That one gave me problems, and almost ruined my day. I am scared of heights but I always wanted to try a zip line. What better of a place then one that goes into the water!!! My fear of heights is not exactly a fear of heights; it is a fear of things falling from heights. If I imagine myself or some other object falling, it scares me and I get anxious. Well this zip line, you hold on to the bar and jump from the platform and slowly go to the bottom. The first time, I guess I did not go off the platform fast enough so I was slowly going down the line. Eventually I just let go about 8 feet up because I have very little upper body strength and I felt my hands getting blisters. Jamie wanted me to try again because it was kind of week. Well I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. I threw myself off the platform so hard but there was tension in the rope so the zip line was not going at the same speed my body was. As soon as I was away from the platform my body swung so far my hands lost grip and I fell about 15 feet into the water on my back. I am losing my breath just reliving it! It was so painful and I could not move my back. I ended up being fine but I was in so much pain for a little while I did not want to do anything else. We ended up finding some amazing slides that you ride down face first while holding onto a mat. The last fun thing we found were the rapids which had different levels of small pools, which you would either fly right down, or get caught in the wrong current and be stuck in the pool for a while. It was so much fun to see all the people enjoying the ride as much as I did. I learned that laughter is the same in any language and suddenly the world did not seem so big.

Mundomar was the next fabulous place on our list. The best part of the park was the creative shows. There was a very fun and creative sea lion show, and an exciting parrot show. Ever since I first went to Sea World I have always wanted to swim with dolphins. No, I did not actually swim with dolphins, but I got to touch one and take a picture with it!! I was soooooo incredibly happy for weeks after because I actually got to be close to the happiest creature on earth! The show was amazing too! I have been to Sea World twice, and they have never changed their dolphin show. It was nice to see something different. They also had about 12 dolphins participating at once! One of the trainers caught my eye also. Now, he was cute, but I was enchanted by the happiness he portrayed while doing his job. The dolphin show was fantastic, but I caught myself watching him every now and then and being amazed by the fact that someone loved their job as much as he did. The other trainers had smiles, but they looked like smiles that were just for the audience, they smiled because they had too. This guy was truly happy, and he wanted to smile. I think everyone should be just as happy doing their job as he was. Granted we cannot all be dolphin trainers, but we all deserve to be happy J



Tabarca, looks like a challenging
puzzle



With friends at Tabarca



The third and final remarkable thing I am going to talk about was going to the Island of Tabarca. It is a very tiny island off the coast of Spain that has wonderful coves for snorkeling. We took a ferry to the island, and when we approached the item they opened up the lower levels of the boat which had underwater views. There was a ton of fish! I did not have a snorkel but I did have a mask and I spent hours exploring the waters and seeing some spectacular wildlife- mostly fish. The fish were awesome and sometimes they would swim within a foot of me. There were some rocks that I swam near and I could see hermit crabs clinging on. A couple of my friends that were in the area climbed on top of one of the mini rock mountains and discovered some crabs that were hanging out in a little pool. They tried to entice them out but it did not work. When we walked to the other side of the rock we actually saw one crab shedding his red shell. It was the weirdest and coolest thing I saw that day. He was about half way out when we found him and in just a couple of seconds he squirmed the rest of the way out! What perfect timing to see something so unique!

I can’t believe the amazing opportunities I have been giving here. I am so blessed and in case you had any doubt, dreams do come true! Thank you all for reading! J

Much love!



On the way to Tabarca