Córdoba

Once again, I yearn for a car. Really. You can take the chica out of America but you can't take the American out of the chica. Ah well. Jenny and I went to Badajoz on Friday, we rented a car with Sydney, and set out for Córdoba on Saturday morning. It was a Fiat Panda this time, and we all independently agreed that a geek would probably drive that car. Not hott. There were five of us squeezed into the car for the 3 hour ride each way. The weather was not nice--heavy rain punctuated by brief periods of drizzle/clear. Definitely Washington weather, this. The weather for the last couple weeks has been so fickle, with lots of unexpected showers. It's rained more this month than during the entire winter here. Reminds me of home a bit. Everything is very green though, the campo is beautiful.

We went to the Mezquita, after finding out way through the city somehow. It's amazing. I went there the last time I was here but it meant something completely different this time. Now I understand the historical context, the significance. I don't remember the cathedral (smack dab in the middle of the old mosque) being so jarring last time. Ugly. Completely out of place. The contrast between the two religions, the two cultures, was so abrupt; the juxtaposition so strange. I realized how tired I am of cathedrals and nearly everything Catholic. I'm over it for the time being. We also went to the synagogue, one of the few surviving ones in Spain.

That afternoon we went to a teahouse. I love the teahouses here, especially with their Middle Eastern pastries. Baklava... All in all it was an excellent day. Now I'm back in Coria to work two days, then off to Tarifa, Algeciras and Morocco! I can't wait!

Feria de abril de Sevilla

A killer weekend. After work on Friday I went to Sevilla to meet up with Sydney, Bronwen, and Talisa. Four hours in the bus after crappy Torrejoncillo and crappy sleep. Everyone and their mother had told us that Feria vale la pena to see but that there was no way we would be able to get into one of the private casetas since we don't know anyone who lives in Sevilla. Well.

Feria is a celebration in Sevilla that I hadn't heard of until about two months ago. Regardless, it's insane. Men dress in suits and the women wear amazing flamenco dresses. There is row upon row of tent-like structures (casetas) of varying sizes, each with its own bar and "bathroom" (dirty, dirty toilet). Most casetas are private, rented by a family, business, etc., and it's impossible to get in without knowing someone. There are some larger public ones as well. And people just drink rebujito (manzanilla + Sprite) and dance all night. Talisa knew Emilio, who let us in to his family's caseta, Tío Pepe, I think. I guess this is a privilege (? so I've been told), and I felt a little awkward as I was wearing jeans and a zip-up. Pero, no pasa nada. Nearly everyone was really nice to us and Emilio kept bringing us jarra after jarra of the drink. We met all of his tíos (CREEPY drunk Spanish men) and everyone else he's related to. I wasn't sure if I should address them as usted as they were mayor, but I didn't feel that bad since they wouldn't stop hitting on us. At about 3am (maybe? hah, time) that caseta closed down so he took us to a public one and introduced us to some friends, where we continued to botellón with our rebujito. Sydney and I caught the bus back to Badajoz at 9am and spent the rest of the day recuperating.

I tried to catch the bus back to Cáceres on Sunday night in time to catch the one to Coria, but it was full so I arrived in Cáceres after it had left. Bastards! That bus is never full. Anyway I tried to get in touch with a teacher would told me I could always stay at his house but I couldn't. I ended up staying with José, one of the guys who we met when we came to Cáceres in January. He was really nice about it. I was just so exhausted from the weekend, so many hours in buses and bus stations. So I'm finally back in Coria! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed.

I can't believe that we only have a month and a half left of the job. Thank god about the job part but I know I'm going to be really sad to leave Coria. Little things, like being able to call up someone to stay with because I missed the bus, make me realize... I don't know. I guess, that this is somewhat of a home to me. I would like to live here longer, but in a different place. Ah well! I have the rest of my life.

Valle del Jerte! or... Spanish roadtrip!

Being here has made me realize how much I am not the typical American, and how much I am. I miss having a car. I love having a car. I love the freedom of mobility, of not having to depend on others to get you where you want to go. Buses are excellent but they don't go everywhere. I was scared to drive after 6 months of absence, but the Volkswagen Polo wouldn't let you make a mistake (didn't stall once!). I loved it and I want it.

Sydney and Bronwen rented a car in Badajoz, came to Coria para recogernos, and off we went! Chasing a green spot on the map to the north... Las Hurdes. So now I take back every time I said that Extremadura is ugly (although technically where we did end up was in Castilla y León). We ate lunch in Vegas de Coria (very original with the names here, although my favorite was Pozuelo de Zarzón: say it with the lisp and it's excellent), where we tried the "typical" lemon salad (sucker for comida típica). Lemon slices, orange slices, hard boiled egg, chorizo.. Quite strange, although not as bad as it sounds. We ended up in a natural reserve (Las Batuecas) in the mountains, in a pueblo called La Alberca. Precioso. We were in an actual forest.

The next day we went to the Valle del Jerte, to the north but more east than yesterday, north of Plasencia. Apparently the valley is known for its cherry blossoms but we had to go to the end of the valley to higher elevations to see what remained of the cerezos. On the way we turned off at la Garganta de los infiernos (the throat of hell? anyone have a better translation--hells?) and did the Ruta de los Pilones that everyone and their mother recommended to us. About 45 minutes to these phenomenal natural pools carved out of the rock by the river. The most beautiful place I have ever seen in Spain. There was this rock with a perfectly formed ass (really, whole body) groove. It was, as Bronwen said, the best easy chair with the best view. We made it to Tornavacas to see the last of the cerezos--beautiful.

In conclusion: an excellent weekend. I would not have seen these things without the car, and it was so much fun to drive again. And now the weather is crappy and I have to work again. Although less than 2 months; so hard to believe!

Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia with the fam

I don't know where to start: my horribly epic (epically horrible?) journey to Barcelona, the amazingness of the vacation itself, the wonderful time with my parents, my continued love of Barcelona, or my slight despondency from being back here in Coria.

Well. My trip from Coria was fucking horrendous, but pretty damn funny. I apologize for the swearing (Tom Robbins influence). My intent was to leave Coria around 2:45, catch a bus to Navalmoral de la mata, then another to Barcelona, spending the night in the bus. This was cheaper than taking the bus directly from Coria to Barcelona, but with about the same travel time (about 12 hours). Well, I got to Navalmoral to find out that the bus to Barcelona was already full. I continued on to Madrid, but while waiting for this bus, I tried to figure out which bus station to go to in Madrid. By calling expensively on my cell phone, trying to navigate through voice automated machines in Spanish surrounded by buses entering and exiting the station at regular intervals. I finally got to Madrid at about 7:30, negotiated my way to the correct bus station (different from the one in which I arrived), bought the ticket, realized it was to Pamplona instead of Barcelona, got back in line, finally got the right bus ticket, and boarded the bus. I was told that it would take nine hours, due to get in around 6am. I got to Barcelona at 4:30. So essentially sweating from Coria to Barcelona due to the temporary, extraordinary heatwave across Spain, as well as a sweltering bus. The bus station was essentially closed; the only people there were homeless sleeping on the floor. I took a cab to the hostal, where we had reservations for Saturday night. The fat bastard at the desk told me I couldn't stay there until the room was ready, that it would be "disruptive" when the guests arose in the morning. Fat bastard! He told me I had to leave, but that things were open on Las Ramblas. Right, 5:30ish at this point. I left, pissed, but too tired to argue, especially in Spanish (and I didn't want to get kicked out of the hostel). Las Ramblas... amazing in the daytime, but sketchy at night/ass early morning. The only people there: drunk people and prostitutes. I walked up and down the area for about half an hour, trying to avoid everyone as best I could, until I asked a newspaper stand man where I could go and sit and wait. There was one café open in the open-air market. The camarero there was super nice and told me it wasn't a problem for me to stay there as long as I needed. But it was cold. At about 7 I started to wander, looking for breakfast, as the sinister had left Las Ramblas, replaced by the light and normal working people. I met a couple from some BC islands north of the San Juans, who bought me breakfast. I wandered around for several hours more, as I did not want to return to the hostel to be told that I had to leave again. I bought lunch and ate it on the street near the hostel. Some guy walking by stopped and began to guess my nationality: "English?" No. "Irish?" No. "Australian?" No. "Canadian?" No. "American?" Yes. He asked if he could sit down, and I agreed because he was semi-attractive. Then he, Mohammed from Morocco, commenced to try to pick me up by bragging about his language skills, his high rollin lifestyle, his drunk and alcohol use, etc. My lunch was not so enjoyable at this point. I got rid of him by tellinig him my parents were waiting for me back at the hostel. Hasty dos besos and he was gone. But seriously, why would he think that would work? Idiot. I went back to the hostel and slept.

The rest of my time in Barcelona was less eventful, but excellent. It was wonderful to see and travel with my parents. As I get older (shit, 23!!) I learn more about them and come to appreciate them more and more as people, instead of just as my parents. I love Barcelona. Its narrow streets and alleyways, its diversity. This was my third time there and each time it gets better. We went to La Pedrera, an Antoni Gaudí designed apartment building; the roof was marvelous. We also went to the Sagrada Familia (Gaudí, amazing), picnic at Parc Güell (Gaudí, life goal to visit), the Picasso museum, the waterfront. Random wanderings. Delicious food: Pakistani, Spanish, Japanese. Lesson learned: Spanish food doesn't have to be terrible, just the food from Extremadura. I was sad to leave.

Next we went to Tarragona, an hour and a half south along the coast. It has un montón de Roman ruins, including an ampitheater and forum because it used to be a major Roman city. It's smaller than Barcelona but still a good sized city. Huge cathedral. It was refreshing to be in a more tranquilo place with less tourists everywhere. It was also nice to be in a new city I had never seen before. Everyone was extremely nice. I love the accent in Cataluña, it's very lilting and sing-songy. It was strange to be in Spain but see a different and hear a different language everywhere. Catalán is similar to Spanish but distinct enough to cause problems.

Valencia is beautiful. It's further south along the Mediterranean coast. The weather was a little strange: bone-chilling winds and rain, then hot and sunny. We wandered a lot. We saw a procesión de Semana Santa: people dressed in robes with pointy hats (similar to those of the Klan), with marching bands and religious floats. These religious rituals are so strange to me. We went to the cathedral, of course. Also, the Ciudad de Arte y Ciencia, which is a series of futuristic complexes at the end of a huge river-bed turned park. There's also a huge playground play structure shaped as Gulliver. While there were children everywhere, it was still pretty cool.

We were supposed to come to Coria on Monday (work on Tuesday), but all the trains were full so we had to get up early early early to catch the 6:50am train to Madrid on Tuesday. We had 5 hours in Madrid until the bus to Coria so we went to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which has an amazing collection, including Monet, Dalí, Picasso, van Gogh, Gauguin, etc. Excellent. Then bus to Coria = many hours of travel. And we're back! To crappy work. Oh well. Only two more months which should fly by if all goes as planned.

Pretty much, a fabulous, stupendous, phenomenal vacation. I apologize for spelling errors, the stupid spellcheck doesn't work, and I need it more than ever.

Monfragüe

On Saturday I went to the Monfragüe National Park, about 45 minutes from Coria. I had wanted to go there before I left but I didn't think it would happen (no car, you know...) I went with Jenny, students and profesores from Moraleja, and a group of Swedish students here on an exchange. Lavishly financed by the EU. All the Swedes looked out of place: pale, pale, pale. For once, I wasn't the whitest! They got more stares than I usually get, too. Monfragüe has a huge population of birds; I believe it's a refuge of some type... There are montones of vultures. I don't think I'd seen one before coming to Spain. They're HUGE. We hiked to this "castle" (some ruins), and all the Spanish students complained the whole time ("no puedo más"). Afterwards, we went to Plasencia. Now, I haven't been on a high school field trip in years, but in the US they are very different than what I saw here. No buddy system, no head counts every 5 minutes, no strict supervision and chaperoning. Kids were smoking left and right. One of the profesores handed out cans of beer to the "adults" (shit, I include myself here, as I am not a student), the Swedish teachers ordered brandy at the bar, the kids went off by themselves for several hours.. Very different. I also realized how American PB&J sandwiches are; Jenny and I with ours, the Spaniards with their baguettes of jamón or salchicha.

Our favorite bar, Las Candilejas, has reopened after 3 months of renovation. It's much bigger now and I realized that when we went to the inauguration, I knew about half the people in the crowded bar. One of the pinchos was morro, or pig snout, probably my least favorite pincho. You can even see the bristly fur on some of the piece. It's gelatinous. Sick. It's all about the pig here; if you can't identify the meat, it's probably some sort of pig. En fin, I miss being a vegetarian.

9-M

Spanish presidential elections are coming up on the 9th of March. They started campaigning about a month ago. Yes, a month before the election. This is why every Spaniard who asks me when our elections are is shocked when I tell them November. In this context, it really is quite ridiculous. 10+ months of campaigning!? I've watched several rounds of debates here, the first in 15 years, between Zapatero and Rajoy, the leader of the opposition. They are juvenile, childish, frightfully immature. They interrupt each other (the moderator doesn't seem to do a thing), blame each other, throw accusations around. And use graphs and quote extensively from articles. It's terrible. I come away from it thinking how they both seem to be bad choices for the presidency if all they choose to do is blame each other for mistakes made by the GOVERNMENT. As if they weren't an integral part of it. I haven't determined much of their plans for the future; what they would do if elected. Even the Spaniards agree that it's quite absurd.

Let's see. This weekend, Jenny and I met Sydney in Cáceres. Mainly to get out of the doldrums of Coria. The problem is that there's nothing to do and the interesting people usually leave during the weekends. The last time we were there we met some chicos who told us they would show us good bars with good pinchos and good cañas the next time we came. They took us to a "mountain" right outside the city which overlooks it. Afterwards we went bar hopping. The first bar we went to was one I had been to before: three and a half months prior, with some of the profesores from Coria. I joked that I still couldn't understand a thing of the menu (no, really, just half this time). But it gave me a basis of comparison for how far I've come since then. At that time, I was so utterly confused by everything Spanish: the language, the culture, the people, the food... cañas? pinchos? Pinchos versus tapas--wtf? Until I had this experience I guess I hadn't realized how much more comfortable I feel in everything Spanish (hah, now for my deteriorating English...). Excellent.

This is really a scattered post. Alas, my English and my ability to write, out the window! Do I blame it on Spain or on the time out of school? Anyway, the weather is starting to get nice. This weekend in Cáceres it was like Washington summer, at least 80 degrees. If it's doing this now, I don't know how I'm going to survive May! It's gotten really windy these last couple of days, though. I used to mark the coming of spring with the reemergence of my freckles. They never left here, though, so I can't use that. It's strange. This weather is strange. I like the sunny fall and winter but I couldn't live like this forever. And the summer is dreadful here, I've been told. I guess I'll stick to rain and beautiful summers, distinct seasons, and disappearing freckles!

I've bought a pair of hiking boots so it makes it real! The more I think about the camino, the more I can't wait! I can't believe there are only three months of my job left and a week and a half until my parents come. I'm flying home on August 3rd, everyone, travelling back through time and arriving on August 3rd! Nearly every weekend from now until the end of work is planned out: a hike, Feria in Sevilla, Morocco, Cádiz, Mérida... I can't wait!

Y después...

Seeing as time is flying by.. I visited Sydney in Badajoz this weekend and we planned some of what we're going to do after the job is over. Three weeks in Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia, then back to Madrid. To San Sebastián on the 22nd of June to start the Camino de Santiago. We've decided to do the Camino del Norte because I wanted to see several cities in the north and the coast is absolutely beautiful. So, two birds... So we'll hopefully arrive in Santiago de la Compostela by the 25th of July, in time for the Santiago festival. Then to London on the 31st, and back to the US on the 3rd or 4th of August. It seems really far away but it's not! It's almost the end of February! I've gotten to the point where I can't quite remember how certain things are in the US. I find myself asking Jenny or Sydney "would this happen in the US?". No one's quite sure. This (among other things) made me realize that the reverse cultural shock of returning to the US is going to be tremendous. Yes, it's a long way off but not so much.