The Aftermath
Friday January 21, 2022
After arriving at Pearson, I took the UP Express and walked home from the station. It was about -8C but calm so not too unpleasant. The next day, Wednesday, I did my COVID test swab and arranged for Purolator to pick it up on Thursday. At 1pm, I duly put the package outside my door and by 2pm, it had been taken. Imagine my surprise and horror then, when a Purolator courier knocked on my door at 4pm to ask where the package for pickup was. Did they not already take it? Was it stolen from outside my door? Several calls to Purolator and the labs over the next two days were fruitless, and the lab ended up sending me a replacement kit. Who the hell steals a COVID test sample from someone's apartment?
By Friday, I had developed classic symptoms of omicron - headache, runny nose, sneezing and coughing. The weekend was the worst, with symptoms lingering onto Monday and Tuesday. The kit arrived on Tuesday and I took the test, again. This time I ordered an Uber driver to pick it up directly and place it into a Purolator dropbox. Surely that would ensure a timely delivery. I checked the shipping tracker on Purolator's website and began to fret when, by the evening, nothing had been updated. I did not want to have another sample lost to the abyss and I did not want to wait for a third kit.
After more calls and emails to Purolator, they assured me that it would have been picked up by 5pm on the same day, but there may have been delays because of the massive snowstorm that hit Toronto. There were no updates to the shipping tracker website because there's been "so many packages" that they just haven't had time to scan them in. The lab also said they had received my sample but again their website had no indication that they had. I just had to be patient.
By Wednesday, my symptoms had cleared up enough for me to be a functional human at work, and by Thursday I was pretty much over it. Thankfully I had no loss of smell or taste. Finally, late on Thursday afternoon, my result came through.
Positive.
Well, at least I have a definitive date of release now, and I don't need to do a third test.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:05am on Friday January 21, 2022 :: 0 comments :: 
Barcelona 2
Tuesday January 11, 2022
I’m on my last leg of the trip back to Toronto. It was an early start this morning to Barcelona airport, then over to Schipol in Amsterdam and now Keflavik in Reykjavik. It’s 5pm but it’s dark and partially cloudy, but still warmer than Toronto.
The PCR test obviously came back negative for me to even be here. It went smoothly and I got my results back within six hours. I was supposed to go to a masia lunch but we ended up going up to Tibidabo for some views quite late. Monday was pretty chill as well, the weather was wet and I ended up just relaxing for most of the day. We went to this extremely well-rated tapas bar near but not too close to Sagrada Familia to round out a fantastic 17 days away.
I think I’m kinda ready to go home and get back into routine but I’m really not keen on the -20C weather and this stupid lockdown. It’ll be nice to cook my own food again and be in my own place but I’ll miss the wonderful sights of Barcelona and the generous hospitality of my friend Marc.
Posted by Jeremy at 5:14pm on Tuesday January 11, 2022 :: 0 comments ::
Barcelona 1
Sunday January 9, 2022
Barcelona is amazing, beautiful, quirky and delicious as I remember it from 2017. It helps that Toronto went back into lockdown this week, and that makes my gallivanting around these magnificent sights and restaurants that much sweeter. However, the looming deadline of having to return home to frigid no fun wasteland is fast approaching and is definitely unappealing.
My first day here was on Tuesday, and in the morning I went up to the bunkers and Parc Guell. The view from the bunkers was stunning, but in the morning, the sun is right in your eyes so I vowed to come back another afternoon. Parc Guell was smaller than I thought it was, but still incredibly interesting. Even though it’s quiet season, there were still quite a few Instagrammers posing for that perfect picture, so I didn’t stay too long. I spent the afternoon walking around Montjuic, then saw the Christmas lights around the Gothic Quarter and Passeig de Gracia with Marc. We finished up at Sagrada Familia, which has had a new star addition since 2017, and then a big tapas meal to end the night.
On Wednesday, I met up with Kevin who took me to some of his favourite places while he was living here. We ended up back at the bunkers and just chilled out for a while, admiring the view in the perfect weather. We parted ways at Sagrada Familia, and I went to - of all things - a Malaysian restaurant for dinner, at the recommendation of Owen. Not bad at all, and better than most of the places in Toronto!
Thursday was a public holiday and absolutely perfect weather, so Marc took me to Montserrat, where we hiked around the gorgeous rock formations for four hours, going to Sant Jeroni, Creu de Sant Miquel and of course, the monastery. The last time I was there, I was very strapped for time as I was part of a bus tour, so it was awesome to explore the mountain a bit more and see the most beautiful lookout points around. For dinner, we went to an excellent Italian place close to Marc’s home back in Barcelona.
On Friday, I took it easy. I had a bad blister from all walking I’d done in the week so I tried to walk less. I ended up down by the beach and had lunch at Barceloneta. In the afternoon, I went looking for Amorino, my favourite gelato chain which crafts their ice creams into the shape of a rose. That took me to Plaça de Catalunya, and it was a quick subway ride home for some very average takeout pizza. It was a snap decision, but we ended up driving to Marc’s home town of Manresa to see if we could head up to Mont Rebei Gorge the next day, pending the state of my blister. We had several options based on whether I’d be able to hike or not, but I really wanted to make the gorge happen, the tourism pictures looked stunning.
The next day, we were up as early as we could be. My toe was feeling really good and the weather forecast looked equally as good, so we did the two hour drive to the gorge. Straddling the border between Aragon and Catalonia, the Mont Rebei Gorge is a massive canyon with a vibrant green river running through some massive rock formations. The scenery was hands down the most beautiful I’d seen on this trip, and everything was absolutely perfect about the day. The first section of the hike led us through some frosty landscapes, the area still sheltered from the sun by the rock mountains. After crossing the first suspension bridge, the path continues onto the cliff side, carved into the side of the mountain, and no barrier to prevent you from falling into the river below. After crossing the second suspension bridge, the path continues up a rock hill until you reach the most precarious wooden stairs leading straight down the vertical cliff face. Truly one of the most exciting hikes I’ve ever been on, and unparalleled views. We ended up near the carpark with some super cute, friendly Catalan donkeys!
With only a couple of days left, I’m cramming in some last moment sightseeing and eating. Hopefully the PCR test comes back negative, but honestly, staying here for another few days wouldn’t be that bad.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:22am on Sunday January 9, 2022 :: 0 comments ::
Costa Brava 3
Monday January 3, 2022
After a “wild” New Years celebration, we had a late start on Saturday. The weather was pretty decent and we went to Tossa de Mar, another beautiful coastal town with a fort overlooking some stunning aquamarine waters. I wanted to check out Far Sant Sebastia, a lighthouse with Catalonia’s best view of the sunset, but a heavy fog had come in so we just went home. It was very cold the next day, even with my winter jacket that I had brought from Canada. We explored the village at Beçalu before going for a traditional Catalan meal at a “mas”, a restaurant operating out of a Catalan house. The meal was fantastic, but as the sun began to disappear behind the clouds, the temperature suddenly dropped and I began to shiver. We quickly paid and headed off to Empuries, where they have Greek ruins. I was still a bit woozy from all the sangria over lunch, and it was still cold and foggy, so we called it a night.
Today I wandered around the beach of the town we’ve been staying at, L’Estartit. The northern end has a large rock with a view of the Illes Medes (Medes Islands) and I was really tempted to climb past the rope barrier to get to the top, but halfway up I decided to abandon the idea in case I dislodged a boulder and caused an international diplomatic incident.
I also hiked up to Castella del Montgri, an unfinished castle overlooking the area. It was a quick 35 minute walk over rocky terrain, and I enjoyed the panoramic views from the turrets of the castle. While I was standing on the wall, a German lady on the ground called to me and took a picture of me, saying she’d send me the picture on Facebook, but then promptly left the area before I could get down to ground level. I still had a lot of time to spare, so I tried to follow the group and ended up catching up to them where she airdropped the photo to me. Danke!
We had lunch at another Catalonian mas, and then caught the sunset at Far Sant Sebastia, finally. We’ll be heading back to Barcelona tonight. Costa Brava has been absolutely stunning in terms of food and scenery and I’m super lucky to have made it out here, right as Ontario has banned indoor dining and sports for at least three weeks. Must make the most of it!!
Posted by Jeremy at 5:37pm on Monday January 3, 2022 :: 0 comments ::
Costa Brava 2
Saturday January 1, 2022
Yesterday (New Year’s Eve) was a gloriously sunny day again, so we went to Calella de Palafrugell, yet another beautiful coastal town with magnificent clear aquamarine waters. It was decently busy with beach goers but we stuck to the coastal walk for the most part. The path used to be a patrol route in the times that they had to look out for marauding pirates but now it’s used by tourists to hike from one town to another. From the path you can see the full glory of the green hillside dotted with white houses with orange roofs.
For lunch, we headed to Doskiwis Brewery, owned by a couple of Kiwis. This was a recommendation by the New Zealanders I met in my last blog post, and both Marc and I were very impressed by the casual atmosphere of the outdoor dining area, as well as the quality of the food and drink. I had a good yarn with Mike, the owner, who was cooking, as well as his wife, who was inside handling the drinks.
We knew the restaurants would be closed over New Year’s so we stocked up at the supermarket and started driving to Far Sant Sebastia, one of Catalonia’s best sunset spots. However, after passing through Pal, we noticed a massive cloud coming in from the coast, shrouding the entire area in dark fog. We quickly reevaluated and turned around, heading north back to L’Estartit where the fog hadn’t reached. We managed to find a small park on the hillside leading up to Castell del Montgri to watch the final sunset of 2021.
After cooking dinner, we watched the festivities around the world and start preparing our own. The Spanish have a tradition where you eat a grape every second for 12 seconds to welcome in the New Year. Each grape gives you good luck for each month of the coming year, and it’s a hugely popular practice for all Spaniards wherever they are celebrating in the world, and this is even a tradition that my Mexican friend practices too! There’s a very particular way it’s presented on television, so I was sure to follow the instructions carefully, lest 2022 be another year of awfulness. We finished the night with some Catalonian sparkling wine, cava!
2021 for the most part has been mediocre. It’s had its highs and lows, and the fact that we still haven’t really beaten COVID19 is worrying. I’ve been quite anxious about the state of the pandemic but thankful that Canada’s rollout of the vaccine and the subsequent booster was swift, even if it was horribly disorganised and chaotic. The chance to travel to Europe, as well as Banff and Jasper earlier in the year, has been a huge boost to my mental health and general outlook on life, despite the complications of doing so. I’m hoping to go back to New Zealand to visit my family sometime this year, it’s been too long, and every expat I’ve talked to has lamented the managed quarantine rules that the country put into place. If not New Zealand, then hopefully Malaysia to see my relatives there. It’s too difficult to plan so far in advance though, so we’ll just have to see how this pandemic works out.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:43am on Saturday January 1, 2022 :: 0 comments ::