Tour De Rota

It took me over a week to actually get off base. My excuse was that I was both sick and lethargic from jet lag. So I spent most of my time either in my room or at La Plaza with my sponsor (pool, pizza, and beer).

The first time I actually got to see the town it was on a mandatory cultural field trip. I had two buddies on the trip: one who flew into spain with me and one from my division who had never gone (he was just doing it to get his spanish license).

The town was beautiful. It was everything a European town should be. Filled with tight alleys, clothes hanging from lines outside third-story windows, and topless girls lounging on the beach.

We saw a 16th century cathedral. It was breathtaking.  I'm not religious at all, but I could spend hours in there. The smell was a mixture between old wood and books. It was reminiscent of an antique store, but not so musty. It's a hard smell to describe, but definitely my new favorite.

Inside it had different chambers which were each ornately decorated. The alter in the main area had a 16th century carving of a dozen or so saints or prophets, each with set glass eyes. The detail was amazing.

And, of course, it set on top of a crypt. One I wish we had had access too. unfortunately we didn't.

We also saw a castle that took several hundred years to finish. They had recently restored it and found that some of the pillars were made from solid marble, and that hand painted ceramic tiles had been covered with paint and plaster.

We ate at on the patio of a place decorated in bull-fighting memorabilia. Posters lined the outside rafters, forming a barrier from the sun. Against the main restaurant wall were mounted bull busts and racks of horns.

For 10€ each we had an assortment of tapas, chicken or fish, a dessert, and this mixture of wine and lemon soda I don't remember the name of.

Tapas are like appetizers. They can be a smaller version of almost anything. We had bread, spanish tortilla, fish sticks, and some kind of meat pie. And Spanish tortilla is not like the kind of tortilla we have in the states. It's more of a vegetable cake that anything. It's thick and filled with potatoes and bell peppers and onions. Very dense but very tasty.

And in Spain it is rude to eat with your fingers. It was a concept I had trouble remembering. When you see appetizers you automatically go to eat them with your hands. They're called finger foods for a reason.

But no, every thing is eaten with utensils. Including chicken on the bone.

Next time you have KFC, I challenge you to try it.

But the food was good even if a little bland. They don't do spicy in spain. At all. Even pepper is a little iffy for them.

But being so excited about my little adventure, the following day I went to town by myself. I work flip flops planning to put my feet in the water.

This was a bad decision.

Halfway through my tour my feet were destroyed. The toe divider on my flip flops have a little metal sea horse on them. They rubbed the skin clear off. It was so painful.

But i trudged on like the soldier I am (*cough*).

The cathedral was closed much to my disappointment. I had really hoped to take some photos with my good camera in there.

In fact, everything was closed. I couldn't find an open shop no matter where I walked. By 6 P.M. I was utterly lost, hungry, and in pain.

I stopped in to a McDonald's (the only one I've seen) and looked at the menu. Some of it I could figured out. Much of it was the same. "Big Mac" is hard to translate as anything else. But i couldn't find what I wanted.

Caramel iced coffee.

How did you say "iced" in spanish?

The lady looked at me. Waiting for me to order.

I laughed nervously.

"I just want an iced coffee," I half whined.

"Esto?" She asked pointing to a picture of a frappe. "Caramel? Mocha?"

Not exactly what I wanted but I said "Uno caramel, por favor. "

She happily made one up for me. I spent almost as much on that frappe as I did on my entire dinner later that night.

I walked around trying to find a spot to sit. There were only a couple tables taken, but I wanted to sit on my own, maybe examine the condition of my feet, and connect to wifi so I could find my way out of this mess.

"Hola! Here!" An old toothless man called to me and patted the chair next to him. He was with his wife and another couple. Perhaps his son.

He rattled on in quick spanish I couldn't understand. It was his grandsons birthday and he was running around outside with his face painted (I had seen him when I walked in).

After a strained almost conversation I felt really awkward sitting there eating the whipped cream off my frappe.

"Uhh...donde esta navy base?" I asked. If I could find my way back to base I could decide from there what I wanted to do.

I had walked through the ocean, which had felt amazing on my feet. The water was warm enough to swim in had I brought my suit. I people watched, seeing females of all ages topless. Men wearing speedos. And when I had decided "this looks right" and turned back into town, I found myself completely lost.

The old man only verified this as he gave me directions back to base in spanish. The point was "go waaaaaay that way."

I thanked them and excused myself from the party.

What is etiquette in Spain for that kind of situation?

I walked through the shadiest part of rota I had been in yet. I was surrounded by industrial shops and warehouses in narrow alley ways. A recent briefing on ORM popped into mind:

Operational Risk Management
1) what are the dangers?
       Well, I could either be raped or mugged. Or  both.

2) what could you do it this situation were to occur?
        I really need to get me some self defense classes...

3) who would you tell?
         Let's say I lived...I wonder if they would post-pone me from going underway? I really don't want to be tied up in all that shit before my first tour on the ship.

When I paid attention again I noticed I was coming up to a nicer part of town. I turned that way.

Iliza Shlesigner puts the way I navigate best: I feel like...it's this way...

I got lost again.

I gave in and decided to use what limited data I had. I pulled up Google maps and it was also confused.

Google: I think you're here, but you might also be here.

Thanks google.

Google: if you connect to wifi I would be more accurate.

e___e

(that's my unamused face)

Eventually I found the hands.

The hands are a teal statue of a pair of seemingly robotic hands that everyone in rota hates. Apparently they hired a discount artist to do it because they couldn't afford the good one. They immediately regretted their decision.

Then, as before, I decided "this way" felt right.

It wasn't.

You would think after the space between your toes has been shredded enough, you'd give in and call a cab. Not me. It was 7p.m. and I refused to give up.

I was starving though. Part of me wanted to go back to the beach to find a place that supposedly had 300 tapas. I had no idea where that was or how to look it up. Hell I had no idea how to ask.

So I gave in. There was a nice little bar with a sign that read: Tapas! Cervesas! 

Si. Si. Me gusta.

The bar didn't have air conditioning and most of the seating was outside. But I didn't know what was customary. Did I go in and order and then take it outside? Did I just sit somewhere and wait? so I sat at the warm, tiny bar inside. It had two seats. One for me and one for an old shirtless man who looked like a bag of bones. He had a newspaper and a glass of water.

The people there were very friendly. My waitress was cute, tatted,  and tried to talk to me. She knew about as much English as I did spanish. We cracked up over our difficulty in communicating a few times.

She helped me pick out a tapa. It was some sort of meat in gravy. It was very good and enough of a portion for my meal. She also chose a beer for me that was right up my alley.

I promised her I'd return.

La Terraza if ever you're in downtown rota.

I paid 5€ for my entire meal and gave her a 3€ tip.

Also, if you go to Spain, tipping is not mandatory. They get paid real money. Tips are just extra.

I texted my buddy from my division and he gave me the number for the taxi. That was a whole other confusing event. I don't know if I took the taxi I called or just a random one that showed up. Either way I got back to  base.

Everyone is great so far.

Oh, and my feet are royally not okay. I had to go to medical to get some ointment. I'm hoping that and some bandaids will fix them. It hurts to walk.