Time passes quickly when days are so short. Almost 2 weeks now, since I last posted. Time for a birthday post!

Of course most days I worked - we only work when the weather is good (which is most of the time) but we also went hiking again.

Trash was to be found at many places ( there was a microwave oven in the midst of a forest...). This is just another example showing that most people here care little about nature. They are also rather trigger happy with chemicals here, which has lead to the demise of many a roaming cat here. They seem to have little respect for animals in general here. The streets contain quite a few dead hares, chickens and cats. Those things which once were animals have been driven over so often that they are little more that a thin layer on the street and it is almost impossible to figure out which animal such a thing once was..

I really should register with one of these picture sharing sites to be able to post all of the pictures. I have a few higher resolution pictures now which were taken by my uncle (no, I don't have a good camera now).

I feel older now. Not a birthday post anymore. I'll have to go to sleep now and continue soon!

Incoherence

I have been on the Balearic island called Majorca for a week now and didn't yet manage to write here. When I arrived it was getting dark already and so I just 'settled in' that day.

(if you want a google maps link where you can walk around here(in 3D) tell me via facebook, mail or some other means) The next day I started working, and did the same for the following days. Everybody has a pool around here .. kind of strange considering we aren't that far away from the sea.
On Saturday then my relatives here were going to hike with some friends and I joined them. We walked along a beach and picniced after an hour or so. Then on our way back we walked past a sun bathing topless woman(She actually had been there when we came already [maybe she thought her skin was looking to young] and greeted me[people here seem far more likely than Germans to greet] just lying differently, leaning against an old bunker and nobody seemed to notice her then. There also was a cliché-weirdo, wearing sunglasses and sitting about 15 metres away, constantly staring at her). So everybody (actually mostly the women, but not only) started complaining that there would be a nudist (FKK on German) beach nearby. Beforehand (the women) suggested that I go bathe nude in the sea... Well that much for coherence in behaviour.
Later then I checked Online - they were wrong  - that was actually the nudist part of the beach. Now I can tell everybody that I have been on a nudist beach. :D

The next day I rode an old bike to Palma - well actually almost rode through Palma!

The locals don't seem to care much about signs here. There was no sign indicating that I was in Palma and names of streets aren't given at every crossing. The only reason I stopped was because I couldn't imagine El Arenal being that huge! Then after I finally found indications that I was in Palma I got lost a bit in the streets and had to head back already because there was a storm predicted. Apparently even here people think of Bavaria when hearing Germany. They have "Oberbayern" here(meaning upper Bavaria, however this also means something like "in the deepest woods". Ober is similar in meaning to "Uber".)
It wouldn't have made much of a difference though, if the storm wouldn't have been predicted for that time, since it was getting dark at about the same time the storm came and the bike doesn't have lights etc.. so I'd have returned at about the same time no matter what.
In the end I realised I wasn't cool enough for biking .. so I cooled down somewhat:

(The wind and salty water proved quite nasty when I was close to the beach with the bike - I had red eyes when I arrived in Palma)

To be continued.