I am a Filipino who has been given a one-month company break to stay anywhere in Spain all charged by the company whose mother headquarters is located here. Since the vacation is good for a month, I intended to use the time to tour the whole country. The most pleasurable visit that I had happens to be here in Palma de Mallorca. It is now my fourth day of stay here and I had such a wonderful time.

Palma de Mallorca is not actually located in the Spanish mainland but in one of the Balearic islands, particularly in the island of Mallorca. Palma de Mallorca is the capital of that island. It is named as so because of the many palms growing in the city even at the outskirts far from the shore.

From Madrid, this happened to be the first city that I decided to visit and so I hopped into a plane and arrived at their local airport. Since my stay here is charged by the company where I work, I decided not to get the Expedia travel tour package so as to give myself free hand in touring the whole country. A year from now, I’m planning my childless wife to accompany me in my second visit to Spain. This is such a nice country and even now, I’m still wondering why us Filipinos booted them out of our own country.

And so here I am billeted at Hotel Dali, just a mere two-star hotel. I am shy to abuse my company’s vacation privilege and so I opted to take the most economical of hotels. But economical as it is since I only spend $117.14 (courtesy of the company again), Hotel Dali provides excellent service. Although this is relatively far from Palma de Mallorca downtown (about four kilometers to be exact), I don’t mind it since taxicabs abound here and the drivers are very polite and kind and will let you pay the exact amount indicated in the meter without expecting a tip. There’s just one thing that I’m wary doing in Palma de Mallorca or anywhere in Spain – I’m brown by skin features and I don’t look like a Spaniard and I don’t speak Spanish so I have to be careful lest I’ll be conned. In a land where all of the people look Caucasian with heavy Mediterranean features, I stand out like a red ant in the midst of white aphids.

The motif of Hotel Dali is sky blue just like one of the patron saints here in Spain that they adore, the Virgin Mary. Spaniards are very religious, I learned, although they’re something peculiar about them. They are so devout in going to church but once outside the church and into the beaches some miles away, you will see nudists parading around. Be that as it may, let me also tell you that not all of the nudists are Spanish. Half of them are Americans who undoubtedly are drawn to the liberated lifestyle here in Spain. Of course, you cannot bare all your body in the Jersey or Oahu shores.