Carnavales

What can I say... Los carnavales here in Spain are like nothing I have ever experienced before. I can't begin to describe what happened in Badajoz on Monday, the day before Fat Tuesday. This isn't just because I can't remember all of it, either. Pretty much, it was Halloween but fifty five times better: the streets were packed with people of all ages, in amazing costumes, drinking as if there was no tomorrow. And it wasn't a holiday for children asking for candy, just children (12, 13 year olds) wearing next to nothing drinking along with everyone else. It was excellent. I chatted for half an hour about LOTR (yes I did just employ the acronym) with a Nazgul, some bees to helped me order a drink because the bar was so crowded, I interrogated a man-plant (plant-man?) as to what he was: una planta, I ran into teachers (pirates) from Coria. And from the series of events on Monday, I was unable to return to Coria yesterday, Tuesday, so I had to sheepishly text (can you text sheepishly?) Ángela to tell her I'd make it in when I could on Wednesday. I missed my only class. No pasa nada.

The weekend in Sevilla was less eventful (only slightly). We got a ride to Sevilla on Friday, cutting out at least 2 more hours on a bus. We did the tourist things: Plaza de Toros, Museo de las Bellas Artes, Real Alcázar. The Alcázar is amazing: the mudéjar tiling is exquisite. We went out for tapas on Saturday night, ended up getting three free rounds of cañas from the Brazilian waiters, went to a flamenco bar for free flamenco and sangría (we each had a liter, a liter!), received a lecture on how the English learned in Denmark is superior to the English we speak in the US (from some Denmarkans.. what's the word), tried to go to a club, got semi lost in Sevilla and ended up back at the hotel somehow. It's so nice to be able to speak Spanish! The next day we saw Plaza de España, but the cathedral was closed so we had to put it off until Monday. Then to Badajoz!

All in all an excellent if enibriated weekend. Ah, Spain. And to think that I didn't used to like sangría. What the fuck was I thinking? It's excellent! I also got to try the gazpacho and espinacas con garbanzos en Sevilla. Wonderful tapas. Y ya.