Jo no te espero

Two of my favorite running jokes finally came together this Sunday in Barcelona: The Pope and Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia, for those of you that don´t know is a huge cathedral designed by Gaudi before he died and has been under construction for 128 years. It´s predicted to be finished by 2026 for the 100th death anniversary of Gaudi but the likelihood of that seems pretty slim. I like to say that they just move the cranes around every once in a while to make it look like they are actually doing something. Sagrada Familia basically looks like magnificent, giant melting candles covered in tonnes of sculptures. My favorites are the giant x-mas tree and the decaying corpses. Every time you loiter in the Sagrada Familia park, you notice something you hadn´t noticed before. I wish the old Pope had come cuz that would have been way funnier. This one is a bit more animated than a waving corpse in a little white golf cart. He plays chess!

These guys had an anti-pope shrine happening, accepting donations.

Jo no te espero - I don't wait for you

This was one of the pushiest crowds I've ever experienced. People were waiting for the pope to drive by in his cute little popemobile. I couldn't for the life of my squeeze to the front. I guess my heart wasn't in it.

Bad ass little skater kid isn't waiting for nobody!

Best view in 500m radius.

Their lives are now complete.

Little pope fans in training. Gotta start brainwashing early.

These women know how to work it. Religious fanatics make awesome consumer whores. The Pope's visit brought about 30 million euros (fact from the two hooligans in the first picture) into an already tourist over-exploited city.

More junk being handed out.

The Pope playing chess for thousands of onlookers.

Security was high, the place was crawling with police. There were protesters (millions of the city's euros was spent on security etc), all the streets were blocked off and guarded, and of course crazy fans.