Oh Barcelona

Bus left at 24.00 Thursday night. For the first time in our travels, we had decent seats and we slept nearly all of the 8 hours to Barcelona. We arrived at 8:30 and started searching for our hostel. We started off the day tired and cranky. There were some arguments over directions and it took over an hour to make our way to the hostel which should have been a twenty minute walk. We checked in and were a little surprised with the accomodations. Our room had two bunk beds with extremely thin mattresses and had not been cleaned by the maid yet, so there were bottles of booze from the previous guests along with the rest of their trash. We but our stuff in the lockers and headed out to see some sights.

Arc of Triumph- one of the many things we passed on the walk to the hostel. Along with the Picasso Museum and the Chocolate Museum.

We had expected grey skies and rain, as the forecast had predicted, but we were very, very lucky to start our weekend off with the bluest of skies. It was sunny and about 75-80 all weekend. Our first stop was to go back to a guitar store that we had passed earlier on our walk to the hostel. Alex missed his guitar and decided to by a cheap acoustic guitar to serenade us with and possibly pick up a few bucks playing it on the subway some day. He put down 85E and we had our own personal musician all weekend.

Next we headed out to La Rambla, the oldest part of the city and most touristic. It's a long strip with stores and restraunts and stands with all sorts of things. There was a floral section, a pet shop section, and all different people standing outside trying to make a buck. The people would paint themselves like statues do little skits and routines. There were some really creative ones. We continued to the end of the street where we all met up again and decided on what to do with the day. There was a group of kids coming from Italy and they were trying to make their way from the airport to the city. Meghan was staying in their hostel rather than ours and needed to catch up with them. When they finally called, our group split and Matt, Alex and I were off on our own once again. We decided to get a bite to eat and then finally hopped on the tourist bus. Excellent decision i must add.

Matt and I at the Port of Barcelona

One of the "statues" in La Rambla

Two comments on this one:
1. Mom, you would have died
2. Doesn't this kids mother know about bird flu?

The bus brought us all around the city to all the different important stops. First of which was some Gaudi architecture. There was a lot of it, including the Cathedral, apartment building and park. His style was completely different and I absolutely loved it.

Apartment building:

Cathedral

Parc Guell:

l'Auberge Espagnole- this one was taken in your honor, Michelle

After the park we hopped back on the bus and were going to head down to the Olympic staduim, but it was getting late and we weren't sure if we would have the time. We stayed on the bus and just rode the lower loop taking in the sights. This would have been a little more fun had we not gotten stuck in a ton of traffic and took over an hour to get home. When we got back we went to a little shop by the hostel and got some food and wine and went back up to the room. On the way out though, we ran into two kids that live in White Plains, NY that were on the same floor as us in the hotel we were in in Sevilla. It's a small, small world. So they came and hung out in our room for awhile and they gave us some tips for celebrating Alex's birthday in Salamanca next weekend. We were going to go out, but after my shower, I was so exhausted and I had had a horrible stomach ache all day and my allergies were acting up, I just crawled under the covers and listened to the conversations going on around me and Alex's guitar playing.



The next morning we woke up to more sun. We had our complimentary breakfast of stale toast and coffee and headed to the bus station to drop off our bags. We had to check out of the hostel at 11:00. After that, the day was ours to explore the city. We decided to head to the beach. We had gotten our site seeing in the day before and we felt it would be an incomplete trip to Barcelona without visiting the beach. Plus it was a gorgeous day. In our travels, we came across an absolutely beautiful city park. I thought Retiro was nice, but this was breathtaking. We took our time passing through, taking photos along the way. Now that I look through my pictures though, I did a really poor job at capturing the experience. I also am not sure that it was really possible to do so.

Alex- being a tourist

Some monuments in the park

THE BEACH!!!!!

My feet finally touched the Mediterranean!

We went for a walk and Matt got to collect all the beach glass he could ever dream of- or at least a sandwich bag full. Alex and Carla turned into lobsters while Matt and I wondered why we hardly got any color at all.

The wind started to pick up and the sun wasn't as strong. After five hours of laying out on the beack, we decided it was time to head back to the city. We walked around, had a bite to eat and headed back to the bus station. We got there extremely early, so we were goofing around with the lockers and listening to music. We lost track of time and nearly missed our bus. Fortunately we made it and got on the bus exhausted and ready to sleep. The bus left Barcelona Saturday night at 24:00 and we arrived in Madrid around 8:00. We came home, showered and headed out to the Rastro...a big open-air flea market. I wandered around for about an hour, but I was so tired I had to come home and crash.

This was at a bar in Barcelona- another one for you Michelle.
Actually, this bar was absolutely amazing...It was called the fairy's den or something along those lines...it was decorated like a forest and was dimly lit...so awesome, definitely have to go back there next time I'm in Barcelona (which will be soon)

The biggest vending machine I've ever seen.

Lockers:

Matt and I tried to share

I had a party of my own.

Alex serenading us

So now I'm exhausted...

There's no place like home...

Wednesday night we decided that we all missed wings and American food...so we did the most locigal thing...hopped on the Metro and headed to the most touristy area of Madrid to TGIFridays. This had been planned a week in advance and there was much anticipation and anxiety until the day finally arrived. Expectations had been met and we all left with a belly ache.

The boys ordered chick drinks

Something wrong with this picture...


Annie was thoroughly enjoying her mudslide.


Oh gluttony, no wonder they all think Americans are fat-- this is before they brought out the fifty wings and five burgers.

Not really sure what was going on here, but I was told to take a picture.

All in all, it was a very entertaining evening and we all had a good time. Even if we did all leave with a belly ache.

Flamenco?

Tuesday night we went to the Ballet Nacional de Espana "El Cafe de Chinitas" and it was absolutely fabulous. I was just expecting a regular old ballet, as it sort of started out as. There was an orchestra and the dancers were all dressed in regular ballet outfits, but with a little ruffle at the bottom. The men were all dressed in bullfighter-esque outfits and the colors were all very basic. The orchestra played typical ballet music, and every now and then there would be a little flamenco flare.
After intermission, they put up a big reproduction of a Dali painting to just take in:

Of course in color, but I couldn't take pictures and this was the best I could find:

About ten minutes later, a man would ride across stage on a bike with a loaf of bread on his head. Another few minutes, he rode again. After a few times, the audience realized and everyone hushed. There was no announcing intermission was over...people just realized it. Then he would ride by again more frequently. Then another passed by and there were two men with loaves of bread on their head would ride by. Then three. Finally, the show started back up again with extreme influences by surrealism. They hung white balls from the ceiling and there would be projections of eyes moving around in them. There were flamenco singers- both male and female. The costumes were vibrant and perfectly contrasted. Yellows against blues, purples and oranges, whites against blacks. The orchestra turned into a band and the entire stage was alive with color and life. It was absolutely amazing.




After the show was over, the audience was phenominal. They had actually coordinated the entire theaters applause to a flamenco beat. I've never seen anything like it. If you like surrealism, it is absolutely wonderful. If not, you may be a little confused with things like: why is there a man riding across the stage on a bike with a loaf of bread as a hat?



This man was practicing his flamenco singing outside the theater:

Destination: Huertezuelas de Calatrava

We pack into the car at about 14.30-15.00 Saturday afternoon. Matt's senora, Mauri has a small sedan and was expecting to fit her sister, Emi, her daughter, Patricia and Matt and myself in. We would have been alright, but Patricia had a giant bag, so we were squished. Fortunately we were to drop Patricia off about an hour down the road with her father because this weekend they celebrate Father's day in Spain (hence the four day weekend). We left in the pouring rain, in hopes to find some better weather in La Mancha.

Pati's "weekend bag"

Rain, rain please stop and let us have an awesome four day weekend.

After about an hour, we stopped in this little town in La Mancha where Quixote was a major staple in their culture (which is understandable considering the fictional character was based out of their territory)

I wish our pitstops looked like this...

Matt and Quixote


Matt and Mauri

A bench covered in tiles with scenes from Don Quixote

A cute little church

The first stop in town was a natural fountain where there is pure water to drink. The view was incredible, as we were very high on the mountain. I filled my bottle and we pressed on.



When we drove into the town, we quickly stopped the car and Mauri got out. I was extremely confused as to what we were doing because she was speaking very quickly in Spanish. It turned out that we were in the center of town and we were in front of her mother's house. We were greeted by random people who we were later introduced to as her mother (who at the time we thought was her aunt) and her brother, Anibal. There were people coming and going through the house all weekend. Some of the faces got a name, others we just said hello. Everyone was extremely nice and friendly and everyone in town knew eachother. I'm sure it's difficult to lose yourself in this town because there are less than 100 people living there during the winter. No food store, no hospital, no pharmacy, only several traveling markets that come twice a week, a doctor that comes once, two bars and two people that cut hair. I was amazed.

Town square. The house we stayed in is to the right.

The bar and some locals

The countryside

We got into the house and they showed us to our rooms. We then moved on to another house, Mauri's house. Apparently she has a lot of family in the town and her mother gave her this house because she thinks that eventually all of her children will come back to live in the town again. The house is decorated perfectly, tons of antiques and furniture made from farming equipment. I am not sure the purpose of the house, considering she doesn't sleep there (she's afraid to sleep alone and the mother's house is closer to the center of town.)

The vase on the floor is over 100 years old and the picture on the wall is of her ancestors who have lived in the town

View from Mauri's Patio (notice the kitty cat on the roof)

A table made of farming equipment (I don't know the actual name, but this one was used to cut down wheat)

We dropped her car off in their garage on the outer end of town and we walked back to the house. When we got back to the house, her mother brought out some cookies and we relaxed by the fire. A little while later she brings out a big bag, an old iron aparatus and a pan with holes in it. Yes, we were cooking chestnuts over the fire. Apparently castaños, or chestnuts, are very popular in the town. We were also shown on a walk the next day that there were several chestnut trees burned down by a person who went a little crazy.

Chestnuts over an open fire. After they are cooked, they dump them out on the floor because it is so cold, they cool them and you can eat them right away. All the waste goes back into the fire and the floor is swept several times a day.

After we had had our fill, we decided to hit the town and head over to the bar. Right next door. Right before we had left, a man named, Victor stopped by. Coincidentally he is our security at the apartment complex in Madrid. He works his land in Huertezuelas on the weekends and works in Madrid during the week, and we can not understand a word he says. After two beers and some tapas, thank you Victor, and we walked the whole (maybe 500m) way to the next bar. We ordered another round of beers there and the bar tender (who may have been 14, if that) kept bringing out refills. Grandma came to get us for dinner and she was angry because we were late and some of us with lesser tolerance were a bit borracho(a).

Emi, Matt and Victor at the first bar.

I'm not sure if this would go over well in the states...but this little pup was just wandering around the bar.

When we got back to the house we had a nice dinner of pork on toast with melted cheese over it and homemade sausage...even though I was horribly full from all the cookies, chestnuts, tapas and beer. We were so tired by the end that we all just called it a night and went to bed.

The next morning we rose at about 10:45 for 11:00 mass which didn't really start until about 11:15-11:30. There was no rush... we were running late and yet grandma had us sitting down drinking coffee and the most delicious toast that was toasted over the fire and covered in olive oil and sugar. (Mind you they had a very modern, fully functional kitchen...they just liked the fire) We crossed the street to the church and found ourselves in a quaint little church. It was modest, yet beautiful. Most of the clergy at the mass we were at were women and children. All the children participated in the mass- either passing out bulletins, singing in the choir, reading prayers, decorating with their own art work, responding to the gospel. It was a very different experience. After mass the priest came back to grandmas house and had a cup of coffee and a smoke. Had we not seen him say mass, we never would have assumed him to be a priest, but he seemed to be a very interesting person.

Church

We sat around the fire for awhile, waiting for the rain to stop a bit. It was drizzling when Emi suggested we go for a walk through the town. We immediately jumped at the suggestion and quickly dressed and found some umbrellas. Our walk started up a path past a some huertos or gardens.

Emi and Mauri on the walk back to town

hee haw

That twig in the middle is a baby pistachio tree.

Matt, Boni, Emi and Mauri

This is a sign that there is no contamination in the air: lichen

Some shots of the countryside:

A kennel for the hunting dogs

The entire town:

It didn't really come out, but behind me is a broken down windmill that was used to hide people during the civil war.


A bigger version of Holly:


Sheeps!



Mauri, Grandma and Emi



My friend Moro. (he was dirty, so I was just pretending to pet him)

When we were done with our walk in the country, we came back and started to make homemade donuts. Grandma got the ingredients for the dough and Mauri started to make that. Grandma man-ed the fire and got the pot ready for deep frying. Once the dough was ready, another friend of the family came over to help out and started cutting out the circles and Matt's job was to make holes in them. He also made some in the shape of hearts and lips for me. My job was to put sugar on them out when they came out of the oil. I still can't believe we made donuts...and over the fire too!!

Final product:

After we made donuts, we practiced our Spanish by going over commands and past tense verbs and then we had some dinner. After dinner, we got ready and went back to the bar with Emi. Matt had his heart set on a game of billiards, so off we went. We played one game of Emi/Myself vs. Matt and Emi ruled the table...even though every time she got one in she called it a "casualidad." Some pool shark who looked like Sean Penn and was missing a finger thought he was going to rule, but it turned out he was a little to drunk to play. He was just good and hitting the balls really hard...actually, you had to watch out when he went because he had a tendency to send the balls flying. I held my own. The second match was Emi/Sean Penn vs Matthew and myself. By the third round we were exhausted and headed home for some sleep.





We rose the next morning, had some donuts and coffee for breakfast and challenged Emi to a game of cards. Rather, she challenged us with several new Spanish games that only had 40 cards to a deck. It was pouring out and we were expecting to leave right after lunch. We played several rounds and learned some good new games and helped get ready for lunch. Grandma had been shreding the bread for migas all morning which were delicious. We also had a potpuri of sausage- chorrizo. I ate Bambi, in sausage form. He was delicious. I had also had partridge the night before in which when they served it with the instructions to watch out for the bullets. All of the food was absolutely delicious and made from the land by the people of the town. They didn't have a food store, but rather a market that game once or twice a week. All the food was very strong in taste and absolutely ripped my stomach apart by the end of the weekend.

FRESH eggs :

After lunch, we packed up and headed back to city life. I thought the lake was the country...I was dead wrong.