But growing at the same time.
Entiendes?
This last weekend we (mis amigos y yo) rented a car and drove around the south of spain.
Sounds lovely. Doesn’t it?
It was.
Well, except the hours in the squished car and the horrendous heat
(silly African heat wave, you need to go back
to your own continent and leave us here
on the Iberian peninsula alone.).
--and when i say heat, i am speaking of
113 degrees Fahrenheit.
at 9 AM--
Other than that, yes, it was lovely.
Positively lovely.
We started with a quick stop in Cordoba.
To see my Mezquita-Catedral.
I learned about it clear back in high school (oh, weber) from miss keim. (oh miss keim!).
And I finally saw it.
I might have been a little giddy the entire time
(just ask heide…I practically ran across the roman bridge when we found a parking space).
Then, we drove to Granada to see Alhambra.
And we stayed in a Palace.
Yep, a palace.
With turrets.
Turrets.
But no moat.
Sad.
We also walked over 10 miles that day.
And I was in my zebra shoes.
BUT we got the perfect picture of Alhambra at night.
And I saw my Mezquita. So all is good.
I am pretty sure we even had ice cream.
Yummy.
From there, we drove straight to the beach.
(oh sand, water & sun)
I love the beach.
Except this beach.
Too many people.
And not enough space.
Have you ever seen those pictures where thousands and thousands
of people are crowded on a tiny stretch of sand?
Yep, I was one of those thousands.
Gross.
All I could think about was how many germs
and micro-nastyness things were hanging out.
But, I have a new appreciation and desire to visit my Hawaii beaches.
Namely turtle bay. (shrimp truck!)
After staying the night on the beach
(seriously, the hotel was ON the beach),
we drove to see Gibraltar.
Or rather.
The Rock of Gibraltar.
Yep, the rock that Hercules put there to mark the end of the world
(or was it sea? I need to look up my Greek mythology again)
…
(silly Olympians, moving around rocks).
But really, it was breathtaking.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
Driving onward, we headed towards another beach town.
Or city, I should say.
Cadiz.
My oh my.
There were more people on the beach than the last time!
But I somehow managed to relax and bake in the sun
(reapplying SPF 100+ twice).
The next morning we drove back to Caceres,
via Sevilla
(to visit the Catedral de Sevilla & Plaza de Espana—
which was under a major construction rehaul).
Oh, and we found a starbucks.
(thank you starbucks for the lovely—ice cold—grande fresa y crema frap.)
When we returned home
(home being our apartment in the pension)
We had just enough time to change into our Espana jerseys and
head over to the Plaza de Toros to watch the
World Cup Final with Espana v. Holanda.
The game was epic.
The crowd was loud.
The crowd was emotional.
The game went into overtime.
Spain Won.
And, now, I think I am a little bit deaf in both of my ears.
So, what would any rational person do?
High-five their neighbor.
What does Julie do in Espana when Espana wins the world cup FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER?
She jumps around, yelling, screaming, and then runs
(with all the locals and the rest of our WSU class)
to the local pond.
Thousands of locals are there.
Jumping in.
over police barriers.
with policia standing by, working on crowd control.
yep, police barriers.
So, we all jumped in.
and got into splashing wars
(I brought my waterproof camera so, don’t worry--there is proof).
Oh it was fun.
But oh so gross…
I have now taken two showers, and still feel a little bit ickey.
But it was so worth it.
Oh, and our little group of wsu students made it into the local paper.
Kind of.
We are in the crowd of 3500 people
But
We are easily distinguishable, if you know where we were sitting.
(which you don’t.
but I DO).
I’ll scan a copy of the picture when I get home.
With the helpful little arrows pointing to me and the hot Spaniard.
heehee
Pictures are difficult to upload
(blame the slow internet)
so, I will include those later.
remember:
patience is a virtue.
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