Gibraltar: Shipwrecks, Caves, and Monkeys

We met promptly at the bus at 9:00 the morning to leave for our first British colony: Gibraltar. It was a three-hour bus ride, and it was not pleasant. Brazil didn't want me to forget her, so she was screwing with my stomach. I couldn't sleep at all. Also, they played a movie, but the DVD player kept squealing, which was bad considering I was right under a speaker. The movie ended (didn't really watch it, but it was Dan in Real Life), and then they put on The Office, so I gave up and just watched it until we got there.

We got off the bus and crossed the border on foot. The border guards barely looked at our passports--they didn't even take them; we pretty much just needed to flash the passport and keep walking. We could see the Rock of Gibraltar in the distance, but what caught our eyes more was the fact that even in Gibraltar, they had those famous red telephone booths that they have in England.

The Rock

Our guide was a native of Gibraltar, meaning he had one of the most interesting accents I've ever heard. Three-fourths of the time it sounded British, and the rest of the time it sounded Spanish. The official language of Gibraltar is obviously English (due to the fact that it's a British colony), but a lot of people speak a well-developed version of Spanglish. He drove us towards the rock--it was interesting because part of the road cut right through the middle of the local runway. Like a train crossing I guess haha. Also, in Gibraltar, they drive on the right side of the road, a change that went into effect in 1929. I guess they figured that switching every time you cross the border was too much of a hassle.

Driving through a runway

We stopped between a lighthouse and a mosque (that cost £7 million). Two weeks ago there was a massive storm in Gibraltar (winds at 120 kph and gale force 11 on the seas). This large oil tanker broke anchor because of the strong winds and drifted against the cliff by the lighthouse, where it was battered by the waves for over 10 hours, causing it to split in two. Staring over the edge of the cliff, it was amazing to see evidence of the sea's power. Luckily, there wasn't anyone on board (you'd have to be an idiot to be on it during the storm), and it wasn't carrying much fuel. From that spot, we could also see Morocco directly across the strait, the Atlantic Ocean to our left, and the Mediterranean to our right. It was quite a sight. The skies had already started to clear up by that point too.

Morocco in the background

The back half of the tanker

Our next stop was St. Michael's Cave, which is a cavern that is located inside the Rock. Before we got in, Kevin was asked, "Do you value your face?" to which he responded "Yeah." Then the guy said, "Then take off your sunglasses--caves and sunglasses don't mix." Inside was a great sight, but I remember being more impressed with Luray Caverns in Virginia. One cool thing was that they built a mini concert hall in the cave where their orchestra performs now and then. I definitely think that'll be one of those expensive things I do when I grow up haha. They also had this cool colored lighting in the cave.
Now, before we got to the cave, we had to pause because monkeys had jumped onto our bus. However, this is a common occurrence near St. Michael's Cave. Our guide had a stash of peanuts ready and was feeding the monkeys at his window, making them give him high fives. He told us--but I don't know if he was joking or not--that the 6 packs of monkeys are all named after members of the British royal family. We kept driving with one of the monkeys on the windshield. One jumped from a trash can and was pulling itself onto the roof, and so when Brenna turned left, she was staring right at a monkey. That was funny.


So when we exited the cave, we were confronted with a lot of monkeys. We were told not to feed them (the guides do because the monkeys know them). It was CRAZY. Monkeys were jumping on our heads; our guides were putting them on our shoulders. So much fun. To get a picture with a monkey, this girl had one on her shoulder, and then the guide put a peanut on my shoulder to get the monkey to jump on me. Alisa had a monkey jump from the bus onto her shoulders, and Shelby had one jump from her to the bus, only to have another creep up behind her and jump on her too. We also saw two monkeys, um, what's the professional word for it--mating. Yeah.

Then we went down to play with some more. There were even some baby monkeys. A couple monkeys got in a fight (it's the time of the year where one asserts himself as the dominant of the group). At another point, one monkey fell of the wall that separates the mountainside from the road. It was okay, but sooo funny because all the monkeys went to the wall too see if it was ok, and they actually had what looked like faces of concern.


Again, monkeys were jumping from person to person with no abandon, we remarked that it was like being in a zoo, but WE were the exhibits to be petted and played with. I've posted some of the monkey pictures here, but you should definitely check out the full albums.

Getting the monkey off my back

Then we hopped on the bus and went into town, where I had some AMAZING fish and chips and chocolate cheesecake. Brenna and Alisa had the same, except they had ice cream. Then we walked around town for a bit. The Spanglish was interesting--our waiter at the first restaurant told us "No hay ice cream." There was a "Bureau de Change." Then we hopped on the bus to go home. I was able to sleep VERY well on the way back. When we got home, I didn't do much because I had to wake up the next day to go to Doñana!