This is something I'm really enjoying while traveling: not trying to control the outcome too much. Well, it's impossible not to do that sometimes, but then I try to let it go as soon as I catch myself doing it, and smile and see what happens next. Menorca was exactly like that. I had been trying to find something in Marseille for a while, but somehow things were not flowing naturally. And then out of the blue I had a quick chat with my uncle Juan, and he offered me to stay at his flat in Ciutadella de Menorca. This is a tiny city (nothing like my Marseille plans!), and I wanted to be out of Spain... but it felt like the perfect place place at once. It sometimes seems that life knows way better than I what's good for me. :)

So I spent two and a half months there, and loved every minute. First I spent two weeks with my uncle and my aunty Maria Jesús, which was lots of fun and a great way to get started (Juan, Mari, una vez más os agradezco de corazón esas dos semanas). We shared beautiful and fun moments and adventures, good meals, long swims and many laughs.

When they left, a very different life started for me: very quiet, very organized and peaceful, and at the same time very focused and intense. I had an unusually big work load, which I combined with swiming, climbing, Tai Chi and most importantly, developing Whole-Play. Here's another example of the futility of trying to control things: I thought my work was going to slow down a lot, and I would focus almost exclusively on Whole-Play, but that never happened. This led to these very organized and efficient two months, which I loved more than I could have predicted. Had I focused solely on how I couldn't dedicate as much time as I wanted to Whole-Play, it would have been a completely different experience. Back to Whole-Play, I bought a chap but nice electric guitar where I could set up my Triple-Play MIDI pickup, set up a little (crappy but groovy) home studio, and dived into reviewing all of the code to improve some bad design ideas I had started with. Lots of work but also lots of progress in the end, and very exciting possibilities ahead.

When I wasn't working or Whole-Playing, I was often doing exercise. I think I got the exercise virus in Melbourne, and it hasn't left since. I swam pretty much every day (last day, Dember 17th, I still went in the sea! Completely crazy weather it has been). But even better it was the climbing. I started by going to a little community-based indoor bouldering gym, where I met some awesome people. In my experience, climbers tend to be very welcoming and friendly, and so are Menorcans, so Menorcan climbers are the best! After a while I started going out with them, and I got to climb some amazing spots, including breathtaking views. And on a personal note, I did my first lead climb, big huge eternal thanks to Juan, I'll never forget that day!

I also enjoyed just being in Ciutadella, small and nice, friendly, and with lots of interesting corners to discover. I met some lovely people, bought lovely veggies at a corner store near my flat, had the best lunches at Fang i Aram, my favorite (vegeterian) restaurant (go there! They are also fantastic people), explored coffee places until I found my favorite spots (I don't think Whole-Play would exist without cafes...), found a great Tai Chi class, and swam in my local beach, which residents of Ciutadella dismiss as a not particularly nice one, but thtat's just because they're spoiled with so many amazing places around. See for yourselves.