19th June 2012- Left Barcelona and took the train to Portbou which is the Northern most city in Spain. A cute little town with a small harbour and beach front. The beach had no sand but was filled with the most perfect skipping rocks I've ever seen. You could skip any rock and I spent a but of time doing so. I ended up camping with a couple of young German girls. They were very nice and offered to share some food they picked out of the trash. My stomach was already a little off so I declined but was amazed at what people throw away. There was an entire chicken breast, calamari and fried potatoes. They ate pretty good if you like your food cold.

This is the small Portbou Harbour.

Near the little white house on the beach is where I camped for the night.

I received a nice care package from my wife yesterday containing a few treats, my flint and steel, and some unexpected cash. Very timely and helpful considering the additional expenses I had here in Spain.

Now that it has arrived I can continue my journey so I will go patch up a few rat holes in the squatters house I am staying in then I will pack up and go to Southern France.

These squatters have been very good to me and live a life akin to the united order. I'm going to miss that because they are very good people and live a life our good people are supposed to live but can't. Yet, if you saw them, by their appearance, you would probably judge them quite the opposite.

This was the door to the rat holes I repaired.

Unfortunately, my phone camera isn't working at the moment so several other buskers that were very good, I didn't get on video.

I finally made it to church today and it was very odd to me to sit through 3 hours of church having no clue what was being said. I did meet the Mission President whose name was President Hinkley and happened to be the son of President Hinkley. He is finishing his mission and returning home next week.

Since I have been hiking/walking all over the place and not eating much, I haven't been taking my meds for the diabetes. When it came time to sing the hymns in church, I found that my baritone singing voice was back. I loved the feel and sound of it so I bellowed out my interpretation of a Spanish him. I don't know what words I was actually singing (or if they were words) but they must have liked it because I turned many heads LOL.

I asked the Bishop and Elders quorum president if there were anyone who needed help so I could do come service projects but they didn't know anyone in need. I came back to my bench and got on here to update my blog when after about 20 minutes a woman was asking me if this was my spot. I told her it isn't anyone's spot it is a public bench. She then pointed to a man and said "is this yours" I looked over and he had my scripture bag. I was puzzled as to how he obtained it since it was sitting between my feet. They said they saw some kids take it then yelled and they dropped it.

I met a girl at church from Texas who was stuck here because someone pick pocketed her and took her wallet and passport so she has no money and can't pay the €110 for a new passport. I really feel sorry for her and wish I could help. Another guy I ran into said he was pick pocketed from his front pocket and it was zipped up as well. They are pretty good here so if you ever visit Barcelona, hide your wallet in your scriptures and then they won't want it LOL ;-)

The is a small portion of La Rumbla but it is 10:00 and the beginning of eating out. They eat very late here and most places stay open until 6:00 am.

What caught my attention here was the lobster winking at me. Nearly everything in this window is alive.

Restaurant Row: You wouldn't know it to look at this narrow a lleyway but it is full of small restaurants. You look on either side as you walk along and there is expensive and fine dining throughout.

This and the other two pics are from a cute little park I walked to last night.

I had an awkward moment today. I went to the beach and while out swimming virtually by myself a topless woman came out swimming toward me. As she got closer I recognized her as the woman in the group of people who took me to the first squatter house. She is a 28 year old Croatian woman who was very nice to me as she spoke the best English there. She chatted with me for about 20 minutes, my eye staying fastened to hers. When she started to play and jump around I told her I was going to go lay out on the beach a while.

I fell asleep and when I awoke I was surrounded by mostly topless women. The beaches here are not nude beaches but there are some people (mostly men) nude and a spattering of women topless. I talked to a Spanish person about it and she was talking about how America is so uptight and they didn't see a problem with it. Okay, that's fine for them, I hope I can find the church Sunday and possibly stay with a member while I continue my stay in Barcelona.

I set up my tent to avoid mosquitoes and lock up my things so I could wonder around the town feeling a little more safe.

This is the view from the roof going into the house. The entire house looks about the same.

There are 5 stories worth of these tiny stairs to climb. They are about 2ft wide and my pack scraped the walls all the way up. There is no light so going down it gets pitch black except for the edge of he stairs so you can see about where your foot should hit.

June 10th 2012- When Kai woke up I heard some odd noise in his room and he then opened the door and peaked out then walked out. Because of the amount he drank, he woke up wondering why his sofa was in front of the door. He couldn’t remember if he actually brought someone home or not and then he remembered he did and before going to bed realized I could be someone who wanted to steal everything or cut him up while he slept so he moved this heavy couch in front of his door so he could hear if I tried forcing my way into his room. I had to laugh and told him he was safe with me.

Kai was amazing and took better care of me than I take care of myself. He paid for all my meals, paid for a bus tour around Barcelona so I saw all the tourist sites. He also paid two days for me as he is going home tomorrow and figured I may want to go check out a few places in more detail.

After a few hours he said, “Okay, am I getting punked?” I asked what he was talking about and he said, “You couldn’t have sold and given away everything and said, I’m going to go walking around Europe.” I laughed and said, “You’re not famous enough to get punked.” He then said, “Are you one of those secret millionaires where you’re my boss and come to check me out.” I laughed again and said, “You’re not at work.”

He later took me to a nice restaurant where they serve small plates of food so you stay a while and order several to taste from. I had veal, shrimp, croquette (bacon & cheese on a toasted roll). I don’t know what it is about the English beef but in 5 years of living there I never had a good steak so this veal was heaven. My taste buds were dancing a jig. While there we ran into a beautiful blond woman named Amy and she told us where she would be having dinner later so Guy said, “We’re there.” Just in case they wouldn’t let me in because of my shoes he wanted to buy me a new pair of loafers just for the night. I told him I couldn’t waste like that because I couldn’t take them with me. He was arguing that the night was more important to him than the money but I was adamant and told him if they didn’t let me in he could go and I would go home and get work done on the internet. He ended up letting me borrow other fancy shoes he had. His feet are a bit smaller than mine so thank goodness I didn’t have to walk far as he took taxi’s everywhere. He was a great guy and a good friend. I really enjoyed spending the day with him.

This is Kai. What a big heart and a great guy. I really enjoyed my time with him and owe him big. If I ever have a chance to repay him it would be an honor. He'll always be welcomed in my house (or as I told him for the time being... my tent :-)

This and the subsequent pictures are a church created and started back in, I think, 1830 by Goudi who is the most famous architect of Barcelona. It is expected to be finished in 2126 but has always been funded solely on the donations of people. The next 3 pictures are also of the church and the others are other works by Goudi.

This is a monument to Columbus and the other pics are other places on the bus tour.

June 11th 2012- I found out where the local church was and to my good fortune, Google maps said it was only 23 minutes away. After taking a wrong street and walking around a while, I realized that something wasn’t right. I walked all the way back to the apartment so I could get WIFI connection again and check it closer. It said I was right and the big round about was right but it didn’t look like same round about on the map. I walked back (now close to 5 miles worth of walking with my 75lb backpack and sweating profusely in the heat. I got to the same round about then asked some people about it and they showed me where I was… I went in the opposite direction. Now the only opportunity for me to get to any part of the meetings on time I had to take the metro. When I finally got there I discovered it was the wrong address because they were all residential flats. However, maybe they were meeting in someone’s house. I waited until the meeting should be over so I could see people coming out looking like they just came from church but nothing. Not knowing what to do now as I was hoping to get direction from members as well as an address to send a few trailing things to, I decided the only place I knew to go where I could have a shower was the beach. I got on the tour bus and went to the beach and walked a couple miles through the sand until I came upon a group of people playing various samba style songs and dancing around so I parked it there to listen.

As it got dark, one of the band asked me where I was staying and I told him on the beach and he said no, it is going to rain so you come stay at my house. Upon arriving I discovered there are about 10 of them squatting in a large house. Most of them don’t work at a job but are making CDs of their music. They are planning on turning one of the huge rooms into a community center for the elderly.

One of the guys works at a deli and at the end of the day he brings home the made up stuff that didn’t sell and that’s what they all eat. The place looks like a third world county house and needs lots of work so I told them I would help them fix it up some as thanks for having me stay with them. They are very nice people and talented.

June 12, 2012- Today I was able to do my first work project. I trimmed their bushes and cleaned up their patio area as well as spread organic dirt around with an old broken shovel. I took a shower but they do not have hot water so it was like jumping into a pool for the first time. They don’t have water coming into their kitchen so they stretched a garden hose through the kitchen window and dishes are washed in cold water as well.

I lost count of the number of people that came through this house today but they take in anyone and some just want to come help with their project of turning this into a community center. I was quite impressed with their talent as well. They have a few CDs out and they sound very good. I was surprised also by their choice of music being that they are mostly young. They had beautiful mellow music playing most of the day.

I have been making efforts to share gospel principles but they only understand a portion of what I say so it is a struggle. They have been teaching me how they live on the streets and travel around. Most do it involving corrupt or illegal means which I have told them I would not do and they are of the opinion I will not make it being honest. I’ve told them, if I cannot make it honestly then I will have to go home.

The guy without a shirt is the one who invited me to stay. The other person I was able to share a few gospel principles with. This room will be the community center but it is much bigger than depicted in this picture. They are trying to create something to help people. The Mural on the wall says "The House in the Sky. They are on a hill.

This is where I had the cold water shower. With the curtain closed there was about 1 foot of space so I had to leave it open while I took a shower.

Here are the pictures of the first squatter house where I slept. This is the bed where I slept and the others are of the house.

June 9th 2012- I finally made it to the couch surfing event in Barcelona after an eight hour bus trip and ran into some really great people on vacation. One shared his calamari and angry potatoes (a treat since I’ve eaten nothing but jerky, cashews and carrots since I started), another from Arizona named Kai bought my drinks through the evening and when he found out I was going to sleep on the streets he said no you’re not, you’re coming to stay with me. After the free concert we went to they went bar hopping then finally to a dance club. They, as a group, ended up going to a few places but nobody would let me in because I was in shorts, tennis shoes, a T-shirt and my outback hat. Kai finally offered to buy a bunch of drinks for the entire group if they would let us in and they did. Just had my first shower and loved every minute of it.

June 6th 2012- I arrived in Madrid and discovered that the belt clasp of my backpack wasn’t holding and would continue to come undone rendering the burden of my 70lb + backpack entirely on my shoulders. Being that I was in the middle of the city, there were no backpack stores around. After being directed several times in broken English, I finally found a store that sold them. However, after walking over 2 miles carrying the load solely on my shoulders, the damage was already done and my shoulders were feeling bruised.

With the belt strap now properly working the weight was mostly lifted from my shoulders and now transferred to my hips. In order to keep it working I had to synch the strap tight, which after another couple miles of walking, bruised my hips.

At the end of the day I found a beautiful park to rest in. I was quite surprised at the number of people in the park on a Wednesday afternoon. I sat on a bench looking over a lake where dozens of people were drifting around on rowboats. I watched people rowing but there were also buskers, people selling glasses illegally, and when the police would drive by they would quickly pack up and walk away. There was a Micky Mouse handing out balloons to the kids and another man blowing the biggest bubbles I’d ever seen. He used two sticks fastened by a rope, which when pulled out turned into a circle and held the soap. There were also people playing soccer and other sports, thespians rehearsing and various other activities going on.

While sitting on the bench, Jenny came and sat down next to me and so I started a conversation. She was from the Philippines and separated from her husband and 2 children, who are being looked after by her parents. She is working here as a house and baby sitter because she couldn’t find work in her own country. She was the first I was able to share gospel principles with so the days hardships were all worth it.

As dusk approached I found a nice quiet place to sleep. It was warm enough so I didn’t bother with a sleeping bag but just spread out my foam mat and went to sleep. Living in England these past 5 year cause me to forget a vital fact about parks in arid countries. They have sprinklers. This discovery manifested itself at 1:10 am. There was a sprinkler head just a few feet from my head but to my good fortune it began pointed away from me. I rushed to throw my gear over the wire and brush fence just in time keeping my exposure to nothing more than over spray as I packed up to find another suitable location to sleep. After wandering around for a time, I found that I was locked in. Therefore, I moved to a park bench to sleep but my body is not yet hardened enough to be able to sleep on such a hard surface so here I sit writing and will now begin my studies.

June 7th 2012- A day of torture J. From the park I had to walk some distance to see the royal palace. I started off at 6:00 am and when I got there I found that it was closed for repairs and even the gardens were closed. That was the last of the tourist things I wanted to see so I figured I will just head out for Barcelona. I then discovered that the road to Barcelona was on the opposite side of the city. I walked for miles with my thumb out but nobody even took a second glance except for a few smart alecks putting their thumbs up to me as they sped by. I finally got to the outskirts, past the airport and was now in a desolate lonely area of the freeway. Surely someone would take pity on my out here. I had been told by everyone that I asked directions from that nobody in Spain picks up hitch hikers. After 2 more hours walking backwards along the freeway with my thumb out and blisters on my feet, I finally succumbed to the admonition of the Spanish people, proving to myself that sadly, they were right. I crossed the freeway to find traffic going the other way and still nobody would give me a lift. I finally got back into Madrid and found a bus to take me to the bus station where I could get a bus to Barcelona. With the severely limited funds I have, I decided that I would not be able to travel around Spain and Portugal as I had intended. After Barcelona I will head to Southern France and continue there. However, I will have to stay a few weeks in Barcelona while awaiting my solar battery.