Now on to my trip! This past weekend, my program took us to Cádiz and Jerez, two more cities in Southern Spain. On the way to Cádiz, we stopped at a natural park called Torcal de Antequera, which was basically like a giant rock formation. As my knee was bothering me before we started, I opted for the "easy hike", which mainly stayed on a very lightly marked trail across said rocks. It was gorgeous! Here's an example:
As many of you know, I have a slight/moderate fear of heights, which usually manifests itself when I have to cross over deep gaps in rocks or jump off low walls etc. Well, Torcal, being sculpted by the wind and erosion, was full of these gaps, which in turn were full of thorns. I almost panicked a couple times, but eventually crossed the divides, even though I bruised my knee pretty bad as I was trying to be cautious.
After watching the cheesy video at the visitor's center and eating a lunch packed by my senora (spinach omlette sandwich, anyone?), we got back on the bus and headed for Cádiz. We arrived there (as always) late, and had to rush to "dar a paseo por el ciudad". I opted to be in the (much smaller) group which walked along the beach and kind of ignored the city center. I do not regret that choice. Because first, I love the ocean, and second, I saw probably the second most beautiful sunset of my life (sorry Spain, Hawaii still wins on this count). It was nice to walk in cold sand. It got dark, I had dinner with friends (which, as per usual, means sitting for 2 hours at a table and just talking--eating consumes very little of "dinner time"). I then went and had ice cream (because it was only 9 pm!) and we returned to the hotel.
Our intention was to "salir de marcha" (or, go out clubbing), but upon consultation of my guidebook, I discovered the absolute lack of clubs, or even active bars, near our present location. Most of us were pretty tired by this point, because (in my case) all the travelling and going out was really catching up to me. So, we gathered in my friend Audra's hotel room and watched...MTV, of course. Except oddly, MTV was in German. It didn't matter--it was brainless enough that we all found it amusing.
After a solid 8 hours of sleep in our very nice hotel, I proceeded down to get breakfast, then decided to look for a store that sold postcards so I could get a souvenier of my time in Cádiz. However, no stores were open! So, afrer 20 minutes of fruitless searching, I came back and had more food from the buffet. I also had the misfortune to witness an American tourist (and his wife) with the biggest anger management problems I had ever seen. 2 friends of mine had sat at an empty table which had untouched silverware, but a jacket slung over one of the seats. Thinking someone had just forgotten their jacket, they proceeded to sit down and commence eating. The next thing we knew, a man just started yelling "this is OUR table" and threw my friend's room key on the floor! It was so appalling. I mean, such a big reaction to such a small problem! But, that aside, breakfast was lovely.
We got back on the bus and headed to la Yeguada de la Cartuja, home to the famous "cartujano" breed of horses. This is mainly a center used for breeding, but after a tour (I saw a newborn horse! So adorable!) we got to see their "espectaculo", or horse show. It was pretty lame. There were a couple of horses who pranced around, some groups of horses that ran in a pack (and stopped on command), and carriages that made an expo. All of this set to very cheesy music...and combined with our general tiredness, it was just dull. But, we got a free glass of sherry at the end! At that point, I thought I liked sherry...
So from there, we made our way to the most anticipated spot on this trip: the Bodega de Vino de Jerez. Sherry, by the way, is the anglocized way to say Jerez, so it's pretty obvious what the main product of the region is. In fact, it's the only region in the world which can grow grapes and call them sherry. Our "bodega" of choice was a winery called Tío Pepe. We were all starving when we got there (amazing how dependent I am on the merienda (second breakfast)), but there was no time for food. We were whisked away on a tour of the winery (another ridiculous video), which lasted an hour, and then FINALLY were led to a tent with tables stocked with various finger foods--which we promptly devoured.
In terms of "sherry tasting", there was a small bottle of dry sherry on the table, and then we were given a small glass of sweet sherry to go with lunch. The problem is that 1. I don't really like how sherry tastes but 2. I forgot to drink water. So, though I wasn't drunk by any means, I fell asleep on the bus back and woke up with the worst headache. It didn't help that we were driving through mountains at the time. At the rest stop, I chugged my water bottle and bought some bread (it was actually more like a gingerbread muffin) and just slept the rest of the way back to Granada. I was not alone in my discomfort--most of the people in my program will now cringe when you mention "Tío Pepe".
And, that's it! It's kind of ridiculous to think I only have 5 more weeks here...I registered for classes yesterday, which was surreal. It's weird because I have just gotten accustomed to living here, but I really do miss certain things about the USA (efficiency, for example). So it's like...I'm simultaneously sad and happy to leave. Oh well, no more sentimentalizing. I need to get back to work!
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