I guess you can tell by the picture where we ended up. Three hours into our moto trip from Toledo, we made up our mind; we would grit out teeth and bear it. We were so cold and tired that nothing really sounded better than a warm place with a beach. As the kilometers in-between us and Valencia grew smaller, we would at times see patches of blue sky behind the thick gray clouds. The first one I saw, I made the mistake of excitedly pointing to it with an upstretched arm, causing me to nearly be flung off of the bike due to the force of the wind, and when I clung on for dear life, the entire moto began to wobble. The wind was so strong that I couldn’t sit up straight without my helmeted head being pulled back, so our only option was to take a racer’s position of hunched backs and low heads, but poor Andrew had to keep his neck craned to view the street, while my heavy head rested on his back. 40 kilometros out from Valenica, we began to smell fragrant flowers, and at times sweet oranges, and have more glimpses of light.
Just as we reach the Valencia city limits, the sky opened up and we could see true shadows on the ground; the city was full of sun! People in this town walked slower than anywhere else we had seen in Spain, and wore clothes similar to those from San Diego. We were filled with an overpowering, yet tranquil joy, which we expressed to each other with weak thumbs-ups and smiles behind our helmets. Once in Valencia, we refused to dismount the bike, and decided to ride until we saw the ocean. In our pursuit, it got very hot and I needed to quickly take off my two jackets (it was a great feeling). We rode around for 30 minutes, following any palm trees, people with bathing suits, or place of business with the words, “mar,” “playa,” or “arena.” 
Finally, after following three young men wearing trunks, and seeing a sign for “Puerto,”(port) we FOUND THE BEACH! We parked at once, and were so happy in a tired, sore and almost grumpy kind of way. We decided to get a hostel right on the beach, and found luck on our third attempt. 
Here is the view from our side window! Once we got in and cleaned up, we felt like brand new people! We decided to walk down the boardwalk and we had such a great time! We were so happy with the sunny warm little city we found. We ran down the beach and put our feet in the Mediterranean sea, for me the first time. Up and down the boardwalk, immigrants from all different countries have a hundred booths set up of all sorts of things to buy, music, hair braiding, etc. We grabbed a quick dinner at Pans&Co., and were so stoked to be in Valencia. We thought it was a fun, casual beach town, but later that night we would be proved very wrong.That evening we were so tired we wanted to just fall asleep, but we decided to go on a walk up and down the board walk.
To our surprise, the city had morphed in the setting of the sun into a posh, high-class town of night life. At this time, the port of Valencia is having there, “32nd America’s Cup,” of million dollar sail boats, sponsored by Louis Vitton and a few other notable affiliates. Everywhere we turned, was the most elaborate and modern night club, concert or lounge, and all the people looked like they walked right out of Vogue magazine, except of course Andrew and I. 
One particularly tall, white night club with interesting architecture would change it’s outside paint every 5 minutes, with the use of a projector. We turned it at 1am, after riding an aqua-bus through the port, listening to the concert and seeing all the sites, but 1am was just when the parties were first getting started. I can’t imagine another place on earth would be more luxurious, hip or “de moda.” Here is a short video of the concert at the Port;The next day, we were probobally the first people in the whole city to wake up at nine. We ate breakfast out (first time I did this my whole time in Spain) with Bocadillos de Tortilla, and café con leche! (so fun!)
Then we retired to do what tourists do best, lay on the beach with our books. As I sat there, taking in the Sun, I couldn’t help but to think about all my classmates in rainy Valladolid, where everything on Sunday is closed, and so they would be restricted to their little homes. 
I knew the long trip had been worth it. As time wore on, I slowly began to realize the this beach was a topless beach. Kind of a nasty surprise since those who decided to tan their chests were generally neither young nor thin. What a culture shock, but it really wasn’t as big of a deal as I may have presumed. After we checked out of our room, we went into the city to do some touristy things and get lunch. We decided on McDonalds, and were beginning to have a nice relaxing lunch when we were approached by a Gypsy (my favorite…). So reached over our table and began to take some of our French fries, but just before she touched them, I slapped her hand and yelled, “VETE, GITANA!” My rude request wasn’t adhered to, and she persisted. Although she obviously didn’t go hungry, she told us she wanted some of our food and kept grabbing at it, but we forcefully told her repeatedly; no, get away from us and out food, leave, and don’t touch us, goodbye, while we glared at her. Andrew ripped my purse away from where it was sitting on a chair next to her and stood up and told her to leave right that instant. (she shouldn’t beg food from tired people who have been on a moto for more than 9 hours in the past day, plus never ever give anything to gypsies, it’s a rule) Finally she left, and we were pretty much ready to wrap up our visit to Valencia. We stopped quickly at the bull-fighting museum on the way to the moto, but when I took out my camera to take a picture and a lady yelled rudely at me, “Guardalo!” I walked out of the museum. We were extra ready to come home. We got on the bike, and prepared for out 4 our ride to Madrid, which was more pleasant that the chilling ride there.
Once we got into Madrid, we rode in and out of rain, looking for the moto place for an hour and a half. Estaba harto de estar en el moto, y querria llorar. Finally, but put it away, and took the metro to the bus stop, bought out tickets and had a quick sandwich for dinner. I was so homesick for Valladolid, my little house, my little room, and Visi. It was all worth it, but it was quite exhausting. It is an everlasting memory of an adventure we will never forget. Que bueno tener un amor de la vida, Andres es el major hombre en todo el mundo aunque me hacia viajar por moto por mas que quince horas. Andrew went home the next morning, and I am left to wrap up school!see you guys soon
ps. this is where bulls die in Valencia:
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