This weekend was quite eventful! On Saturday, Dana and I took the bus to Cadiz to go to the beach for the day. The bus ride was about an hour long and lets just say it was well worth the drive. The beaches in Cadiz are absolutely beautiful! When Dana and I arrived, we claimed a nice spot on the beach and didn't move for the remainder of the day, unless it was to go in the ocean. We weren't aware that people in Cadiz were so free to walking on the beach topless or completely naked, but lets just say that these people were everywhere you looked. I've heard walking around on the beach naked is quite liberating, but I can't say I would like to try it myself. Overall we had a wonderful time, and the weather was absolutely perfect--I walked away with a nice sunburn despite my use of sunblock, oh well!
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| Dana and I at the beach in Cadiz |
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| The Ocean--so beautiful |
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| Me at the beach! |
Once we returned home from the beach, I went out to dinner with my friend Zach. We found this nice little restaurant somewhere in the center of Seville to eat, and they had calamari which I was really excited about. As many of you know, I only really prefer the circular calamari--if it's the squidy looking stuff, that's not for me. I was trying to ask the waiter if the calamari was circular and he didn't understand, so I just gave up and figured I would be in for a surprise. When my plate came, there were no circular calamari, but strips of calamari--quite interesting, and actually very good. After that, we went to go watch some of the Barcelona v. Bilbao game at an Irish pub, that was pretty fun, but I had to call it an early night because I was just so exhausted from being in the sun all day at the beach. I took a taxi home, and the taxi driver was really impressed by how well I could speak and understand Spanish--I guess I could say that I'm getting better and better at speaking Spanish as each day goes by. I thanked him very much for the nice compliment!
Today I went to the "Corrida de Toros" (the race of the bulls), or a bullfight. As many of you know, bullfighting is a traditional spectacle in Spain. In a traditional corrida, three matadores (killers) each fight two bulls. Each matador has six assistants--two picadores (lancers) mounted on horseback, three banderilleros (flagmen), and a mozo de espada (sword page). The modern corrida is highly ritualized. At the start of the corrida, the participants first enter the arena in a parade (paseillo) to salute the presiding dignitary and they are accompanied by band music. Torero costumes are inspired by the 18th century Andalusian clothing, and the matadores are easily distinguished by their gold traje de luces (suit of lights). I won't go into detail about how they execute the killing of the bull, but lets just say it's very intense and rather cruel! Tonight when I went to the corrida, the stadium was absolutely jam-packed full of people--I can't believe these things sell out on a weekly basis and that so many people get delight from watching six bulls get killed. It's a little strange, but I guess that's the culture of Spain, and I might as well accept it! I think if any of you were to visit Spain, that I would highly encourage seeing the bullfight, but it's definitely not something you would want to see more than once! These two following pictures are actually pictures of the matador--this is the guy that will take on the bull by himself and then make the final "kill". If it's a good kill, the bull will drop dead almost instantaneously, if it's not a good kill--then he'll have to stick another sword in the bull--YUCK!
So, this weekend I experienced a little bit of relaxation and a little bit of Spanish culture--overall calling for another great weekend in Spain. School starts up again tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it. On Wednesday there is a "Huelga General" (general strike) all around Spain. School will still be in session, but it might take me upwards of an hour to wait for the bus to school! We'll see how that goes. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and that this week treats you well! Hasta luego!
Besos,
Lindsay
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