Ok, so this past Friday our program took a day trip to Ronda. It's a smaller town that is nestled in the mountains of the providence Málaga, which is about an hour and a half from Sevilla. It's a quaint little town that has a history of bandits. However, when I visited I didn't see a bandit in sight which I consider to be a good thing. Anywayss, when we first arrived we visited a look out point where you could see miles and miles of pure nature. It was gorgeous. I wish I had discovered that I had a panoramic setting on my camera earlier because I would have loved to have gotten a panoramic picture of the scenery. After the look out we went to visit the oldest and largest bull fighting ring in the world! It doesn't look like the largest because there aren't that many seats in the stands but it is the largest because of the actual size of the ring itself. It is a circle shape which is different than the bull fighting ring here in Sevilla that is more of an egg shape. Another cool feature of the ring was that all the seats in the stands are covered by an overhang. Our tour guide and wonderful ISA leader María Jesus told us that being in the shade during a fight is a plus because bull fighting events usually start at the beginning of the summer so unless you want to sit in sweat, it's very nice to sit under the shade. She said that at the bull ring in Sevilla, the lower seats, and the ones not covered, are much cheaper than the seats covered by an overhang because veterans of the fights know not to purchase seats in the open knowing that the sun will fry you. I, on the otherhand, would be that "dumb" blonde, American girl that would say, "oh hey, these seats are so cheap and closer to the ring, I'll buy one!" and then start regretting it the second I see that first drop of sweat fall from my face. Thanks for the tip Maria Jesus! After taking some cliché pictures in the bull fighting ring, the group made it's way to the "Puerta Nueva". This is a very old bridge that connects the new part of town with the old. From the street the bridge doesn't look like much but if you take a look at the side view it's an impressive bridge. It was literally built in between the two slopes of the mountains! It was pretty cool to look at. After the bridge tour we had some free time to mosey around town and explore. Me, my roommate Ginny, and our friend Megan found a cute little restaurant that served tapas, hamburgers, pasta, and even some pizza! (I've already found some pizza places around Sevilla that I want to try out at some point) Ginny and Megan shared a pizza while I decided to try my first chicken hamburger. Sounds like an oxymoron, I know, but I'm starting to realize that they don't have ground beef in Spain. I don't really know why this is but I haven't seen any ground beef so if you order a hamburger it will either be chicken or pork. The hamburger was actually pretty good and Ginny and Megan said they enjoyed their pizza so lunch in Ronda was a success! After lunch we stopped in some stores along the way, mainly to escape the colddd and rainy weather, and then we found a little café that served churros and chocolate! I'm sure by following my blog or by chatting with me while I've been here you get a sense that churros and chocolate is my thing in Spain. I absolutely LOVE them and every place I go to seems to have a different spin on the food item. Ronda had some delicious churros and chocolate! And not only were the churros heaven for me, the hot chocolate warmed me up from the cold weather. It was a win/win on both sides. After churros we all headed back to the bus and made our way back to Sevilla, just in time for dinner :)
beautiful scenery
bull fighting ring
the "new" bridge
churros con chocolate: Ronda style
So we had the Ronda trip on Friday, then on Saturday night we had CARNAVAL in Cádiz, which is a seaside city about an hour and a half from Sevilla. Carnaval is like one massive street party to celebrate in "gluttony" before lent. I had never experienced Carnaval before and thought it would be fun to see what it was all about. I had no idea what I was in for...and if I had to describe Carnaval to someone who hasn't experience it I would say it's about the equivalent of Mardi Gras in the states, mixed with Halloween, since everyone dresses up in costumes. Same kind of party with the same purpose, to get all your partying and drinking out before you have to give it all up for lent. Even saying that, there's no way to truly describe it unless you experience it for yourself. The buses left from Sevilla around 8:45 pm on Saturday night and drove to Cádiz. Once we arrived everyone seemed to scatter in different directions around the city. Because it's like a costume party as well, everyone was dressed up. Ginny and I decided to pull off a simple costume, dressing up in masquerade, complete with masks, beads, and a boa. However, most of the locals and natives to Spain went ALL OUT on their costumes. There were also soooo many guys dressed up as women, almost like they were in drag, which is apparently very normal. I found it kind of disturbing but who am I to judge haha. I spent my night just exploring the streets and plazas and just mainly people watching. I could've sat on a bench for hours just watching people walk by in their costumes. At the end of the night, or morning since it was around 5:00am, we started heading back to the buses. Our bus was supposed to board at 5:30am and leave by 6am...but that didn't happen. Because of the massive amounts of people and loads of buses, the police had to redirect the buses to another pick up spot, which all of us were unaware of. So 5:30 comes, no bus. 6 am rolls around, still no bus. As we walked around we were able to find, which was a miracle in itself, our bus leader, Enrique, who wasn't even sure of where the bus was! As Enrique made phone calls back and forth to the bus driver and other members of the program, the rest of the group decided to form a huddle group because it was sooooooo very cold outside and most of us had come unprepared for the cold weather. Having the city right next to the ocean didn't really help out our cause. So 30 minutes later Enrique is able to contact the bus driver and we head to the bus. Once we're all on, we realize that we are missing one person. So the bus sits there for another 45 minutes trying to find the girl, who we found out later had lost her phone but had found a ride on another bus going back to Sevilla. By the time we leave Cádiz it's 7:30 in the morning and all of us are beyond tired. I slept the whole ride back to Sevilla. Ginny and I flagged a taxi down when we got back to Sevilla at 9 AM IN THE MORNING, so we could avoid the extra 30 minute trek back home. Our host mom was up when we got home so she made us breakfast and we went straight back to bed. Ginny and I slept until 7:30pm that night. It was the longest day of my life. Am I glad I went to Carnaval? Yes. Would I go again? No. It was an experience, that's for sure.
our Carnaval group!
welcome to Carnaval!
so. many. people.
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