Back to London, then Cambridge and finally Brighton

I found Alejo in the middle of all the exits of Leicester Square Underground Stations and we headed for his place to leave my bag and rest for the evening. The next day we went out to spend the afternoon in Covent Garden and found ourselves in the middle of a street dance performance done by the Royal Ballet, starting in the window of a clothes shop and ending inside the Royal Opera House it was quirky and fun. We went back to his place to get my bag so I could head to Bassey's place which was near Barking Underground Station. Once there, Bassey picked me up and took me to his house and proceeded to make me an awesome African recipe dinner which was huge! (The first of many delicious and spicy dishes). For the next day, which was a Sunday, Alejo and I had arranged to go explore the university city of Cambridge.
I arrived to Liverpool Station on time and not having a cellphone, I had to resort to a payphone (I know! they still exist, just like the Maroon 5 song) to find Alejo. Having slept in, he got there slightly late but just in time to get the tickets and hop on the train. The train only took us to a certain point where we had to change to a bus that was kind of iffy but did it's purpose. We arrived to a beautiful city full of huge churches and cathedrals. Every block, or even half a block, was another college! We got to see the college where the same Isaac Newton had studied. Kings College Cathedral was the most impressive with and incredible ceiling that made me drool. Alejo had just purchased a super-duper camera with a gazillion megapixels so we got fantastic pictures. I will not bore you with details, so I'll just leave some pictures and the link to the whole album at the end of this post.

We finished the day with a shared dish of roast and the beers of our preference (Stella and Guinness). We headed back to London and met up with Bassey, who was near the area of Liverpool Station, and went out for a beer. The three of us had a nice chat and I discovered the existence of the weirdly good tasting Guinness/CocaCola "Cocktail" Bassey had asked for. Giving in for the day, Alejo headed home while Bassey and I went to his place. The next day I went to downtown London and not wanting to spend extra money for changing zones on the underground I opted on taking the double decker busses until Zone 2, and I was glad I did. Yes, it took much longer but I got to see all the neighborhoods of different cultures. Indian, Muslim, Chinese and so on. Once downtown I did some exploring and again met up with Alejo to help him find a gift for the little girl of one of his coworkers back in Bogota. I, personally, was exhausted after exploring the 4 floors of toys in the Hamseys toy shop. I did, however, get my picture with Star Wars' character (not sure if a Jango Fett or a Clone Ep II) and The Queen! (In Lego).

After looking at the whole shop and not buying anything ( ¬¬ ) I went back to Bassey's place. Once there, I spontaneously asked him after our meal if we could go to Brighton the next day since he had offered from the first day I got there, and it seemed that neither of us had plans for the next day. A little shocked he said yes and we started planning, concluding we would take the bikes and ride around town. The following morning, bright and early, but with a little rain, we started getting ready, tying up the bikes to the car and started on our way to Brighton. We arrived and parked on the outskirts of the city. Before heading off on the bikes, Bassey called up a friend and arranged to meet up with her at a park. We rode down through the city, getting explanations about the buildings and a bit of the history of the city from Bassey. Reaching our destination, we met up with Bassey's friend Morgana who was originally from Spain.

She was friendly and easygoing and a nice person to speak a little Spanish with after only speaking English for many weeks. We ended up getting lunch in an Indian organic restaurant that had fantastic and very tasty vegetarian food. Morgana had some things to do so we said our goodbyes and went to the beach for a while. After a short walk we found another of Bassey's friends, Claudia, and had a snack with her on the beach while we laughed about very naughty jokes. We saw the sunset and had some beers. It was a lovely way to end the day. Since it was getting late, we also said our goodbyes to Claudia and rode back to the car. Before leaving we visited Morgana once more at her apartment to help her move some things. It was a beautiful and comfy place with lots of her art and personality all over the place. It was very welcoming. Giving our best wishes to each other and hoping to meet up again soon someday, we left and headed back to London after a very beautiful and rewarding day. Even Bassey was glowing from meeting up with old friends and his good memories of Brighton. Thanks for the wonderfull trip Bassey!!! It was quite Bright in Brighton. 

Here is the full link to the album: Click ME!!!