I've been a bit less enthused with life overall in the past month than I usually am...I think everything is starting to become too routine, and I'm forgetting embrace the novelty of being here in Spain. So I'll use this blog post to remind myself of pleasant/bizarre/worthwhile occurrences that have happened in the past month since I last wrote. (I know... it's been a whole month--I've become absolutely horrid at being a devoted blogger.)
1. My friend, Cady and I wandered the meadows of Cáceres, ending up on a hill covered in soil that was so spongy I felt like my body barely weighed a thing and I was on the moon. We may as well have been on the moon being that out of nowhere, we came upon a vast array of ancient-looking ruins covered in graffiti of giant insects...there was also an abandoned toilet adorning the site (quite a mystery, as there was surely no plumbing in the ruins). And the cherry on the cake was a lone bone, splayed out in the midday sun, probably from the thigh of a cow. It was so old and sun-worn it had the texture of wood. Without a second thought, I brought it back to the apartment, scrubbed it off a bit, and left it on the terrace to dry. Of course, upon spotting it, my roommate and her friends thought I was insane, but the plus to being a foreigner is you can blame everything your culture. (I assured them it's very normal in America to bring interesting bones home.)
2. I was told to go see the Vostell museum in Malpartida, a neighboring town. Of course, I decided to go on a Monday, the one day it's closed. So I'll have to make another trip back. But luckily, Malpartida itself happens to be a delightful place. It's home to a glistening lake surrounded by wind-carved rocks and stray cows. So, my friend, Alberto and I had an enjoyable stroll and staring contest with the cows.
3. I was lucky enough to re-visit the dazzling Lisbon during a long weekend with dear Caroline. The highlight night revolved around Indian food and banks. We did try the traditional Portuguese cuisine, but when we saw there was an Indian restaurant a foot from our hostel, we just couldn't resist. (Spain is extremely lacking on the Indian restaurant front, so we'd been feeling rather deprived.) When we'd temporarily satiated our desire for Indian goodness (I say "temporarily" because we had to return the following night) we both had to find our respective banks to get out some cash, and despite it being a Friday night, even the main the streets were quite empty. There was something super freeing about meandering through the night with the streets to ourselves, coming upon a grand monument gleaming under streetlights every few blocks or so. We joke that that was our Indian food and banking night since that's all we really did...but in many ways I preferred it to a night of partying. It was a way to peacefully take in the city without dealing with the hustle and bustle of the day.
4. After our three nights in Portugal, Caroline and I set off for two nights in Badajoz to witness the famous carnival. The carnival lasts five days, and people even get school off for it because having fun is high on Spain's list of priorities. But we decided two days would be enough carnival for us. I wouldn't consider myself a carnival-type. Parades and costumes seem to excite others more than me. In fact, they tend to depress me because they usually entail having to be around loads of happy, giddy people...so then, of course, I wonder why I'm not as happy and giddy as everyone else... But this time I genuinely enjoyed the spectacle because it wasn't just fun and silliness that I can't relate to (being the extremely serious person I am). It was actually quite artistic, involving lots of "comparsas" or groups of percussionists and dancers decked out in homemade costumes that had been designed and crafted especially for the event. Comparsas apparently practice for years together, and it shows. The dancers are perfectly in-sync with each other and the music, and they move gracefully despite their huge, dazzling costumes. This parade in no way resembles the rhythm-less, commercially-motivated parades we're used to seeing in the U.S. where people with fake smiles smeared across their faces wear drooping Mickey Mouse costumes and trumpets blare the same three songs on repeat.
5. But nothing against trumpets, of course. I recently saw an excellent trumpet performance at my second Olivenza show. (Olivenza is the Extremaduran band that Caroline and I are obsessed with, which I mentioned in a previous post.) Olivenza, despite being a wonderful band in my opinion, isn't very well known, so Caroline and I enjoy singing their songs when we're out on the streets, knowing no one will recognize them. My favorite part to sing is the trumpet solo from their song "Antarctica." After singing it for a month in anticipation of their next concert, it was quite satisfying to hear the real thing last weekend.
Well, that's that. Time to defrost some freezer wonders and then head to bed!
1. My friend, Cady and I wandered the meadows of Cáceres, ending up on a hill covered in soil that was so spongy I felt like my body barely weighed a thing and I was on the moon. We may as well have been on the moon being that out of nowhere, we came upon a vast array of ancient-looking ruins covered in graffiti of giant insects...there was also an abandoned toilet adorning the site (quite a mystery, as there was surely no plumbing in the ruins). And the cherry on the cake was a lone bone, splayed out in the midday sun, probably from the thigh of a cow. It was so old and sun-worn it had the texture of wood. Without a second thought, I brought it back to the apartment, scrubbed it off a bit, and left it on the terrace to dry. Of course, upon spotting it, my roommate and her friends thought I was insane, but the plus to being a foreigner is you can blame everything your culture. (I assured them it's very normal in America to bring interesting bones home.)
2. I was told to go see the Vostell museum in Malpartida, a neighboring town. Of course, I decided to go on a Monday, the one day it's closed. So I'll have to make another trip back. But luckily, Malpartida itself happens to be a delightful place. It's home to a glistening lake surrounded by wind-carved rocks and stray cows. So, my friend, Alberto and I had an enjoyable stroll and staring contest with the cows.
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| At the Lake in Malpartida! |
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| One of the 43 Comparsas |
4. After our three nights in Portugal, Caroline and I set off for two nights in Badajoz to witness the famous carnival. The carnival lasts five days, and people even get school off for it because having fun is high on Spain's list of priorities. But we decided two days would be enough carnival for us. I wouldn't consider myself a carnival-type. Parades and costumes seem to excite others more than me. In fact, they tend to depress me because they usually entail having to be around loads of happy, giddy people...so then, of course, I wonder why I'm not as happy and giddy as everyone else... But this time I genuinely enjoyed the spectacle because it wasn't just fun and silliness that I can't relate to (being the extremely serious person I am). It was actually quite artistic, involving lots of "comparsas" or groups of percussionists and dancers decked out in homemade costumes that had been designed and crafted especially for the event. Comparsas apparently practice for years together, and it shows. The dancers are perfectly in-sync with each other and the music, and they move gracefully despite their huge, dazzling costumes. This parade in no way resembles the rhythm-less, commercially-motivated parades we're used to seeing in the U.S. where people with fake smiles smeared across their faces wear drooping Mickey Mouse costumes and trumpets blare the same three songs on repeat.
5. But nothing against trumpets, of course. I recently saw an excellent trumpet performance at my second Olivenza show. (Olivenza is the Extremaduran band that Caroline and I are obsessed with, which I mentioned in a previous post.) Olivenza, despite being a wonderful band in my opinion, isn't very well known, so Caroline and I enjoy singing their songs when we're out on the streets, knowing no one will recognize them. My favorite part to sing is the trumpet solo from their song "Antarctica." After singing it for a month in anticipation of their next concert, it was quite satisfying to hear the real thing last weekend.
Well, that's that. Time to defrost some freezer wonders and then head to bed!
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