Lagos

Written 4/30 & 5/1 about 4/22 to 4/25 On Thursday of Feria week (which we had off from school) Gina and I headed to Lagos, Portugal with Discover Sevilla. But, before I discuss Portugal the story of our Feria week would not be complete without mentioning the unfriendly volcano, the volcano that disrupted world air traffic and cancelled not only Gina’s trip to Paris, but almost the entire school’s Feria plans. It was not a fun situation by any means, but for most of those I know it worked out okay. Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again. Anyway, back to Portugal. After walking through a torrential downpour we boarded our bus to Lagos hopeful that we could drive out of the rain, and we did! On the way there we watched Forest Gump, which Gina had never seen. At 1 (Spanish time, 12 Lagos time) we got our hotel and got checked in. The room was for three, so we were assigned a roommate and guess what! She is from Incline at Lake Tahoe! It was so fun. Kathrine is the second person I have met in all my years in college that is from Nevada. I was so happy! We got to talk all about home and find out how similar we are on a surprising number of issues. Anyway, so we totally lucked out on the roommate situation. Our hotel room was actually a one bedroom condo with a mini kitchen, balcony with a view of the pool and nice big bathroom. It was really nice. Later we headed down to the recommended beach and laid in the sun for awhile (until I got creeped out by a creeper staring at me). We went to the grocery store and bought some supplies after stopping in to the hotel and then went out to eat at Nah Nah Bah (very yummy with a great staff). We got a really good deal on our food because we were with Discover Sevilla, 10 Euro for an entree with all you can drink sangria or beer for an hour (lots of people really took advantage of that hour). We then went to the private party for our group, used our free drink tickets and headed back to the room before midnight. On our second day we went on a sail boat for a couple of hours and got to tour the beautiful grotto (cave formations) of Lagos by boat. The rest of the day we spent at the beach and at a cute little restaurant on the beach. For dinner Gina made me pasta and later we watched Angels and Demons on my computer. The next day was basically a free day, so we walked around Lagos a bit and found the most delicious chocolate covered strawberries with some yummy coating. We returned shortly after trying the first one we bought to clean the place out. Sadly they only had four and were closed on Sunday, but at least we got a small slice of heaven. We hung out by the pool for a while and then got on the bus to go to “the end of the Earth,” or so they thought when the world was believed to be flat. This is on the west coast of Portugal so we got to see the sun fading in the direction of our home. It would have been super wonderful, but it was really windy and cold. Gina and I went to Nah Nah Bah again for dinner (I really wanted to try a certain curry dish) and went back to the hotel. The next day we loaded up our suit cases, dropped them off in the lobby, checked out and boarded the bus to go to the beach where a few people got surfing lessons. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and an amazing beach. We laid in the sun for hours, walked a bit and ate hamburgers with one of the most amazing views ever before us. Afterwards we boarded our trusty bus again, made a stop at the hotel to pick everyone and everything up and headed back to Sevilla with a tan (really a burn for most).

La Feria

4/29/10 about 4/16-4/22 So, it has definitely been a while since I have written. What has been going on? Well, La Feria, Portugal y mi presentacion. We have basically been super busy. La Feria was amazing! It is so beautiful. There are specific fair grounds on the other side of the river for the event where they annually construct a giant and fancy tent community. These tents, or casetas are basically homes away from home for the friends and family of those who own them where they hang out in drinking, dancing and eating for almost an entire week. They are different sizes, colors and designs with decorated interiors. Most have a kitchen, bar and bathrooms. There are some public casetas, but most are private. The giant avenues of the fairground have draping overhead twinkle lights and are filled with horses and carriages. There are some of the most beautiful horses you have ever seen. La Portada, or the entrance is redone every year and is absolutely giant. The one this year had a fake airplane hanging in the middle of one of its arches. Then there are the people. The women in their flamenco dresses with all the accessories and the men dressed to the gills (American men could used to do so every now and then). The colors, patterns and styles are extravagant, vibrant and breathtaking. You can hardly walk because you cannot focus on where you are going, because there is just too much to see (also there is a ton of people; the Spanish must be some of the most social people on Earth). It is heavenly, like an alternate universe, an fantasy community where friends, family and enjoyment come before anything else. Gina and I went on Monday 4/19 at midnight along with a million other people to watch the lights be turned on. It was somewhat of a disappointment, but still very interesting. The amount of people and booze was incredible. On Wednesday Montse and Mari Carmen took Gina and I to wonder the avenues and visit a private caseta for some rebujito (sherry with 7up). It was so fun. I was lucky enough to get to wear one of Cecilia’s old dresses and apparently looked fairly Sevillana (quite the complement).

Feria

Corrida de Toros

4/17/10 I went to a bullfight last night and it was amazing! I am still jolted with energy and excitement. I can’t explain it in any form that will do it justice, but the whole thing is incredible, beautiful, intense, and out of this world (or from the past). It was a horribly rainy day and I was sure that the event would be cancelled. When I arrived with Montse’s friend s I couldn’t believe that people were filing into the stadium, and when I say filing don’t think of anything orderly, it is an absolute madhouse with people pushing and shoving and carrying on. Two of us purchased cushions to sit on because the stadium seats are cement. Then we filtered back into the rain and had a tremendous time trying to find our seats. As it turns out we were only eight rows back from the ring (sorry Dad, I broke our more than 9 rows away agreement) and had a great view. Really, the place is small and about anywhere has a good view, but our seats allowed us to see the people and animals involved more closely. The princesses (Spain has a royal family and a president) where in the box with the event president (he determines what goes on in the fight, if the bull is removed, if the matador deserves an ear or tail as a reward, or if the bull is pardoned and probably a lot more)! So we peasants (basically) were crouched under umbrellas trying not to obstruct the view for those behind us, there was royal family up in the box office, the matadors in the ring who are likely from very poor families and 6 bulls were waiting to be sacrificed, how crazy is that! Doesn’t it make you think of Rome and the Gladiators? I can’t explain the way it makes you feel, but it was pretty neat and I am not one to care about royalty, but the whole situation was so different from anything else I have ever experienced. I wonder if how I feel is why Hemingway was so deeply attracted to bullfighting. It is a feeling that is so intense and different from anything! Anyway, I couldn’t help but laugh at the rain, the fact the event was going to go on, the way the Spaniards push and shove and talk to each other with total disrespect (a fight would break out in the US if anyone spoke to anyone the way they speak to each other, it is incredible!). The whole setting of the fight was just absurd and wonderful at the same time. “El Juli” the main matador of the event and the heart throb of the bullfighting world was the first fighter out and he was great! The trajes de luces (suits of light) sparkle, shine and draw your attention. From an American standpoint they seem so not masculine and silly, but they are not! They are perfect! El Juli cut one ear his first fight although the people wanted two, and two on his last fight, so he was taken through the Puerta Principe (the Princess’ Door) on a man’s shoulders waving, cheering and smiling for the people and cameras. Can you image what that must feel like, being the star of the show, evading death and being so intensely admired? It must be incredible. I did feel bad for the other bullfighters as they were over shadowed by the people’s love for El Juli, and of course it is sad for the bull and hard to swallow how the horses are used, but for some reason it is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. You should know that the nothing is wasted from these bulls, that they were pampered and loved and that they die valiant death. The horses are padded and seem to be okay (I definitely had a problem seeing them get rammed though). Six bulls die in every fight and around 30,000 die every year. But, without these bulls and the effort taken to raise them, and without the bullfighting industry Spain’s unemployment level would be dramatically increased. There is opposition to the event even in Spain, but I want everyone to know how it affected me and that it is not carried out as a brutal sport, but as an art.

Semana Santa

Tuesday – Thursday of Semana Santa written at 7:16 PM 4/1/10 Since we have been back in Sevilla we have been trying to catch up on our rest, digest all that we saw in Madrid and Toledo and take part in one of the biggest religious festivals of the year, Semana Santa. On Tuesday we could hear the music of processions nearby, so when we heard one really close at about 7:00 PM we decided to rush downstairs to see if we could find it. Good thing it was right outside our building! It was the end of this Confradia’s (confraternity/brotherhood of the church) procession, so they were no longer organized and family and friends were in their midst, but we got to see the paseos of both Jesus and Mary. We were so enthralled that we almost naturally, without even deciding to, began walking toward the center of town for more. The number of spectators grew at a rapid rate and it became clear that Semana Santa rendered all roads basically useless for vehicles. We walked with the herds to Avenida Central and looked at the yummy food stands and tried to see how many new restaurants had opened in holes in the wall for the week. Literally, there are tons that we haven’t seen before. As we hit the Cathedral our path became obstructed with the chairs that people are able to rent, but lucky for us we came at the perfect time to see Mary floating down a side street so we went after the action and got to see her pass in another area. After this we took backstreets to head towards home. As we were doing this we came upon another procession, that of the University. We were going to watch from the Metro platform, but we thought it might take forever, so we walked down further and found a quite area to sit on the university campus. We watched the Nazarenos passing and got closer to see their paseo of Jesus on the cross once it began approaching our area. It is quite eerie, as everything is silent for Jesus. The only time that Sevilla is that quiet normally is in between 7 and 8 in the morning when everyone is sleeping (even most of the partiers from the night before). He past casting his shadow on the walls of buildings. The figures are very life like and quite impressive, especially since there are about 40 men underneath the giant floats carry it on the neck/shoulders. I don’t think I can do justice to the event by describing this whole process, but there are many writers that have, including Richard Wright. Anyway, it is amazing. Although we could hear the music that signals Mary is coming we knew it would be about an hour before we saw her so we headed home. Yesterday, we went to the center and parked ourselves at an outside table of a restaurant in an area where we could watch a confraternity begin to assemble (well, we saw lots of members, including lots of little kids that were adorable and dressed in their outfits for the procession). After an hour or more we made our way through the backstreets not knowing where we would end up to the back of the cathedral in perfect timing to see both Jesus and Mary of a confraternity making their exit. It was spectacular with the gothic cathedral as the backdrop! I can’t explain how mesmerizing the cathedral is to begin with, and to see this whole thing in action at the cathedral is the even more fascinating. I am so glad we made sure we would see this. Some students are missing almost the whole week. After this we decided to call it good for the day. Today, Thursday, is the big day. Well, actually the early morning hours, la madrugada, of tomorrow is. Good Friday starts off with the biggest confraternities entering the streets at about 1:00 AM and going until afternoon tomorrow. We plan to leave our house and watch this madness at about 2:00 AM. Coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to Sevilla

3/29/10 written 4/1/10 Gina and I were up and out of our hotel room by 9:00 AM to enjoy our Churreria one last time before leaving Toledo. After eating a good portion of churros and downing a cup of coffee we hurried back to our hotel where I checked us out and had the nice gentleman call us a cab. We said goodbye to Toledo still marveling at its beauty in our cab while being fascinated with how anyone could actually drive there. We arrived with plenty of time for me to consume another cup of coffee before taking the train to Madrid. I felt like a pro, an expert traveler this time around. We got to Madrid and knew exactly where to go for lockers, bathrooms and the like. We were to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (almost across the street from the train station) in no time with FREE ADMISSION tickets in our hands (students are free with an International Student ID Card which was a surprise to us). This is one of the only museums open on Mondays and therefore was packed, really, really, packed. After we figured out that the top two floors were temporal displays, one for hearing (so weird) and one that we could not enter we went to the second floor and began our quest to see the works of the most famous artists, Picasso, Miro, Dali and Goya. These we saw without hardly using our map, but museum fatigue set in very fast. Picasso is a bit intense and this was just not one of the best days to visit his work, but I still really enjoyed it. His paintings are so strange, intentional and intriguing. What he is saying about his view of humanity I can only presume is quite negative. He shoves emotion in your face in the most bizarre manner. Guernica is amazing, but I was not expecting it to be so energy draining and depressing. You can truly feel the horror of the bombings as you are looking upon his mangled and distressed characters. After this we saw many paintings, but gave up within two hours and didn’t even get to visit the first floor. I really do want to return one day to soak it all in. I really wish they would mix types of arts in museums so you don’t get bogged down in similar styles and pieces. Surrounding something by other things that are so similar takes away from it. Of course, this is all my opinion and I know nothing of art. I am sure there are tons of people that would argue with me, but I would like to see the works at the Prado mixed in with the works at Reina Sofia. After hitting the gift shop Gina and I needed a break, so we set out for our refugee café where we hid from our Friday creeper. I ordered the menu of day (two main dishes, bread, wine and coffee or desert) and Gina a yummy plate with fried chicken, fries and salad. We stretched out our eating time fairly well since we didn’t feel like doing much else and still had about 5 hours in Madrid. From there we hit up the wonderful tourist shops across the Prado, taking our time in each. We later proceeded to get a dessert which was sadly nowhere as good as the one from the day before. Oh well, it took up an hour and then we headed back to the train station to look at its shops and kill a few hours before going back to Sevilla. We people watched, ate candy and rested until the time came to get our bags and head through security. We happily boarded our train at about 7:15 glad to be heading home. It was surprisingly empty considering the numbers of people that come to Sevilla for Semana Santa. On the train I wrote a few posts (as you may know), listened to music and stared at the movie that was on without putting my headphones on to hear what it was actually about. Gina and I were troopers and carried our heavy travel bags plus all the stuff we bought in Toledo and Madrid (a lot) home on our long thirty minutes walk home. We arrived to an empty apartment, found some food and laid down. What a great trip!

Toledo Day Two

3/28/10 Sunday written 4/1/10 After waking up at a comfortable hour Gina and I headed to our Churro spot and had breakfast. We had a few more things that we wanted to buy, so we planned to carry out a little shopping as we wondered our way around Toledo. We went a different direction from the day before and passed the massive Cathedral, which is somewhat similar to La Catedral in Sevilla and eventually ended up with a spectacular view of the valley and the other side of the river surrounding Toledo. We found what we believe is the Alcazar (palace), but where taken back by how much more modern it looked than everything else. We did not attempt to tour it. On the way to this location we stumbled upon a Templar exhibit. It would have been really cool had there been an English translation for everything, but even without it the display was pretty neat. I think the building the display was in is actually an old Templar building! That was the coolest part of the whole thing. You can easily imagine them in Toledo winding through the same cobblestone streets there are today, ducking in and out of buildings in search of someone. Well, after ducking out of the Templar display we found a cute little café in a plaza with tables outside sandwiched in between the tables of two other restaurants. Gina had Tortilla Espanola and I enjoyed a sandwich of Manchego cheese. We ended up walking quite a bit more and finding a number of beautiful vistas, one of which looked at the parador where El Greco painted his view of Toledo. This is also the view for many post cards and other paintings (one I’ll post a picture of). We had wanted to go to the Parador, but it would have involved spending about thirty or more euros, so we decided just to enjoy the view we had. From there we went back to our ice-cream shop and indulged in another cone filled with the best ice-cream ever. We meandered slowly to a restaurant for a coffee and a break. We were feeling kind of low energy, so we went back to the hotel for a bit of rest. Shortly after arriving we began to hear a procession making its way down the street. Gina was skyping with her mom, and got to show her the whole thing as it went past from one of our balconies as I snapped photos from the other. The paseo (float) was of Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem. It was Palm Sunday and Semana Santa had officially begun. After some resting time Gina and I headed out for dinner a little earlier than usual, which meant we could not get the menu of the day we wanted, but we found some pasta good enough for us and had dinner. Since we had switched to daylight savings time from Saturday to Sunday it was still light out and we decided to stay out a while longer. A detour (I got us lost again) ended up putting us a the perfect spot to enjoy the sunset before heading off to one of the bakeries where nuns make all the goods. We had the most fabulous brownie ice-cream concoction of my life. Those nuns know how to bake! Yum! I wish I could have one right now. Sadly, I did not get a photo. Anyway, after resisting the temptation to order more food we went home to try to catch a good night sleep before heading to Madrid and then home. If you have seen Gina’s posts on facebook you know we attempted to fall asleep early, but thin walls didn’t allow that to happen.

Toledo First Full Day

3/27/10 Saturday (written 3/29) Right now we are headed through a valley that is surrounded by mountains and honestly looks like Reno if you were to take away most of the buildings and input green fields. How beautiful! It is weird how often I am reminded of home (Northern California & Nevada + Hawaii) by scenery here. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think it really demonstrates how we look at the world through our own eyes and from the viewpoint we have accumulated over lives. We interpret everything from our past experiences. It is crazy. So, to get back to Toledo. Gina and I woke up late after a somewhat good night’s sleep. It was a bit loud in our room since our hostal has thin walls (as is expected in a place as old as Toledo) and sine the Spaniards like to party to the time when many Americans are waking up, like 6:00/7:00 AM. Anyway, we got enough sleep and made our way to the Churreria we spotted the night before across from El Rincon. It is basically a wide hall with tables on one side and a counter on the other. At the end is where you order and behind that is where the churros are made. We ordered churrros and chocolate plus two café con leches. For a total of five euros we had a tasty breakfast. This is my kind of place, they do one thing and they do it right. Yum, yum, yum! From there we set out to wonder the streets, shop and do what we could of what Judy suggested. Although we chose not to follow our map (I left it on the TV in our room) we ended up running into about everything we were supposed to see anyway. First, I believe, was Santo Tome with El Greco’s most famous painting. It was quite neat, huge and surrounded by two large groups with guides talking away. We listened in a bit and I managed to get close enough to really look at it then we headed out to a synagogue with very Islamic architecture (really it was mudejar, but the Islamic and Jewish stand out the most). We could not see the Museum house of El Greco as it is being worked on. We found splendid views, a magnificent church and a place to eat. We later had the best ice-cream ever as we looked out at a beautiful vista. We headed back to our hostal shopping all the way for a little break around 2 or 3. At some point we visited the display of antique torture tools from the Inquisition in the building next to our hostal (photos upon request). We were pretty sick to the stomachs by the time we were done. We wondered through more of Toledo’s narrow, winding streets and uncovered more historical buildings, I had a glass of wine and too many olives (they were expensive and I was determined to eat them all since I paid for them). Later after giving my stomach some time to rest we, with the memory of good food from the night before headed back to El Rincon for our second dinner. It was also delicious. However, we tried ordering tap water instead of paying 2 euro for a bottle and we got told they could only do bottled water, then the Spanish girls sitting next to us got served unos vasos de agua (tap water)! Way to gouge the tourists! This is something I had already experienced with my overpriced olives and wine earlier, so I was quite ticked. Other than this, everyone in Toledo was extremely nice and friendlier than we are used to in Sevilla. Anyway, we discovered the awesomeness that is mazapan (that’s how they spell it in Spanish) and had a great day in Toledo filled with good food, shopping and historical exploration despite being over charged for water.