The Rock

Not that one…

Yeah, that one.

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Last spring break I went to the town of Copan Ruinas, near the border of Guatemala in the northwest part of Honduras. There is a bird sanctuary there famous for taking in macaws and other tropical birds that is open for walking tours. Near the end of the tour you can have one of the staff place some of the birds on you, and of course get your picture taken. Consider it a must if you visit:

(Don't mind the ridiculous hat...)

However, one of the downfalls of it may be a hole or two in your shirt. If you notice, that blue macaw is in the process of biting my Under Armor shirt—he left a pretty good size hole. Then again, to tell people that the hole was caused by a parrot, is a pretty cool story.
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Here in Spain we had an extended weekend—no school on Monday (providence holiday) or today (teacher holiday). With that said, Emily and I (Michael Lynn actually went to Cork, Ireland) decided to travel to Algeciras on Friday, and then Saturday spend all afternoon exploring Gibraltar, the British territory that makes up the Rock of Gibraltar.



After arriving Friday afternoon, spending some time with my family in Algeciras, and getting a set itinerary planned with my uncle (i.e. best time to enter Gibraltar to avoid long lines of cars trying to get in) we went to bed and woke up the next morning ready to explore. We got to the passport checkpoint at the border of Spain and Gibraltar shortly after 9 am. We went straight to the cable car lift that takes you to the top of the rock and parked. We were there before it opened (9:30am) so we walked around a nearby botanical garden.




We eventually made it back to the cable car, bought the tickets, and went up. It was a decently clear view, so check out some of the pictures.






Not bad.

We were excited to not only hear English and see the Rock close up, but also excited to see the famous monkeys that are found throughout Gibraltar (only on top of the Rock, not in town). Emily and I spent probably a combined 2-3 hours watching and interacting with the monkeys. We took several videos and pictures that I put into a movie. Enjoy (NOTE: Monkeys biting my shirt. Luckily they weren’t as successful as those parrots in Copan. No holes).


Instead of taking the cable car down, Emily and I decided to walk back into town. Along the way we saw many of the monkeys you saw in the above video, along with several spectacular views. We even explored some remains of old military complexes. I couldn’t resist reenacting.



After several hours of walking in the hot, February sun we made it back into town where we began looking for a pub for lunch. The Angry Friar looked acceptable and this was what I got:


And this is what was left when I finished:


We then headed back to the car and drove around the backside of the Rock, which is less populated. We drove out to the farthest southern point where there is a lighthouse, and took in the view of Africa and the Mediterranean.





We then stopped at the only beach we found, which proved to be pretty disappointing, and then feeling content with our visit, returned to my uncles.



Overall, a pretty spectacular and successful weekend.

Oh, did I mention that we spent 4 hours sunbathing yesterday afternoon in Almuñécar (sun screen was applied...)? That is right, skiing last week, taking in the sun on the beach this weekend. Spain.