IBIZA: IT´S NOT A VIRUS

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to find yourself on a remote island in the middle of the Mediterranean that´s teeming with European tourists, and the only internet access you can find costs one Euro (that´s $1.30) for 10 minutes? Well, I did once, but I woke up in a cold sweat, pledging never again to eat a bucketful of shrimp with the eyes and other vital organs still on them. Actually, it was just last week, when we arrived on the beautiful Spanish island of Ibiza. You won´t find it on any map because the inhabitants are four inches tall and they tie you to the ground when they find you -- whoops, I´ve just been reading Gulliver´s Travels and I guess I´ve been on this trip long enough now that I´m no longer able to separate fact from fantasy, particularly true when I check our bank balance. Anyway, returning to the residents of Ibiza, they are charming and pleasant folks who share many traits in common with the rest of us, such as charging more for stuff than you would dream of paying back home, but somehow making you feel okay about it. The island itself is not large, in spite of the fact that they insist on measuring distances in kilometers; you know, the Celsius scale, which I suspect is actually nothing more than a sneaky form of inflation. You could probably walk around the whole of it in a day or two if you were finished tanning yourself on one of the 60 or so beaches.

As far as historical sites are concerned, Grace and Gloria were disappointed to hear that we discovered one that we dragged them along to today: it's called Dalt Vila, which doesn't exactly sound Spanish to me either. It´s a kind of walled fortress city built on a prominence that was first inhabited by Phoenicians (whoever the heck they were) about 2,600 years ago, then by Moors in the 11th and 12th century or so, then by Christians from the Spanish mainland, and finally to its present state of subjection at the ruthless hands of Euro-wielding tourists. We came, we saw, we ate ice cream!

(We can't add pictures because this isn't our computer.)