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May 23

about beaches, fiestas, and Sevilla love…

Spring in Sevilla has an overwhelming amount of celebrations….fiestas…happiness…culture…love…and allergies. And I just can’t get enough of it. Here is a review of what I’ve been up to.

Cruz de Mayo- This is a fiesta that takes place all around Spain and other South American countries. It is a day to celebrate the day Catholics believe the true cross (where Jesus died) was found by Saint Helena in Jerusalem. Really, in Andalucía everyone eats a lot, drinks just as much and dances flamenco around a cross that is beautifully decorated with flowers. Needless to say, G and I drank, ate, and danced flamenco around a cross (well maybe not the last one, but just imagine).

Carmona- This quaint little village lies about 50 kilometers outside of Sevilla. We decided to take a short day trip to the village to see the Roman ruins that have been discovered in the town some years ago. It is also a nice excuse to leave Sevilla for a few hours.

Bull Fight- I didn’t really watch it, I was there more for support so G didn’t have to go alone. Even not watching it I think I was scarred for life. It is a tradition I just can’t seem to accept. Enough said.

Andalucían Flamenco Ballet- Phenomenal. Spectacular. Unforgettable. The only sad thing is I don’t have any pictures because we weren’t allowed to take them during the performance. The performance was called Poema Del Cante Jondo and you can view it by pressing on the link (view it!!!!!).

Virgen de Rocio- Is a pilgrimage that is made every year at the end of May or beginning of July. It is celebrated because of a hunter who, back in the 13th century, discovered a statue of the Virgin Mary in a tree trunk. A chapel was built there and the pilgrimage to this place began. Now the hermandades (brotherhoods) all over Andalucía do this camino (walk) at Pentecost. The journey takes about 4 days and that includes about 4 days of partying. The Spanish way… of course. Dressed in their flamenco attire and dancing the whole way to Almonte, the pilgrims are accompanied by their oxen pulling elaborate carriages, which carry all their gear (food, sleeping equipment, and drinks) for their trip to Almonte. We didn’t take part, but enjoyed watching the hermandades leave Sevilla on their journey.

Sevilla FC wins the Copa del Rey- Sevilla Football club wins the Spanish Cup! We got to see the team parade it’s way down Constitucion (the main avenue in Sevilla). It was fantastic and almost like being at the game itself. I’m proud to be a wannabe-Sevillana.

Zahara de los Atunes- G and I were able to enjoy an awesome day at the beach with our good friends Sarah and Jordan. We rented a car in the morning and headed down south to the beaches between Tarifa and Cadiz. It was fantastic, shades of blue that I had never seen in the water and the glorious, hot sun. The day was incredible, the company was incomparable, and the beach was always a delight. My ideal Saturday.

I have a little more than a week left in Sevilla and you better believe that I’m making the most of it… Sevilla has my heart…and I’m not letting go so easily.

Adio!
L

May 14

about travel days…

I read a blog post by Almost Fearless the other day that got me thinking (actually it was posted by a guest-blogger on her blog). The post was about what travel days show us. Most people I know, including myself, despise travel days… the lines, the waiting, the junk food, the bathroom stops and the smelly passenger. However, this post made me think of them in a different way.

It carries on saying that travel days should be considered a luxury. They are days to think and days to reflect on the past, present or future. I began to think more about this and sure enough… it was true! All the days spent on and in buses, trains, planes, taxis, sheruts, cars, boats were some of the best days of my trips (if I put aside some of the previously mentioned things).

While living in Argentina we took many bus rides through the night and I remember many bus rides I would spend just sitting and looking aimlessly through the window… but thinking…pondering… or listening to music. A song would come on and I would think of something or someone else…a memory…an event.

Again, on the Middle East trips, the travel days (oh and there were so many) were a blessing. They forced me to sit and relax, rest, and prepare for the next step. They allowed me to meditate on the days before… what had happened, who I met, what I saw. It was a moment that I otherwise wouldn’t have given myself and a moment necessary for all travelers.

Often I spend so much time planning a trip, some time on the trip, and even less time reflecting the trip. Actually, I often forget what happened… small details… people I encountered, conversations I had. For this reason, the days in between travels are for recording these events… either on paper or in our mind. The moments spent with only ourselves (and the smelly passenger) are the moments we should cherish the most.

I remember waiting at a bus station in Syria somewhere between Palmyra and the Iraq Border and waiting for hours… but more than this I remember the time I had to observe the people and the culture around me. The striking difference in communication between men and men, women and women and men and woman. I remember observing the looks people gave me (being the only foreigner). I remember observing the positions and places where men and women would sit. It was a time of reflection and I see that now.

In the hustle and bustle of traveling I often forget to do the most important thing. Sit. Think. Observe.

Travel days confirm our beliefs or ideas. They contradict and negate others. They anticipate future plans and keep an eye on the present.

Think about it the next time you curse the unforeseen travel day.
L

p.s.- Especially with an exploding Volcano, travel days seem to be more common over here.

May 14

about girls weekend in Milan…

I met up with two of my dear friends from when I lived in Zurich and it was more than grand. Milan was the chosen city because we had an apartment to stay at and thanks to Ryanair we were all able to find cheap flights. I also saw another dear Italian friend who lives there permanently.

I loved meeting up with them and spending quality girl time…gossiping…drinking…shopping…eating…and laughing so hard we cried. I only wish we saw each other more often, but in the end a friend is a friend and the 7 years apart quickly disappeared and it felt like yesterday when we graduated high school all together…so scared and so excited about the world awaiting us.

Until next time girls…I shall love you and miss you.
L

May 4

about dreaming of Buenos Aires…

I miss you, my city. It’s been too long. I know this because I had a dream about you…you were the same…but more people had discovered you. I miss walking your avenidas and drinking cortados. I miss shopping your boutiques and eating your medialunas. I miss spending hours in your parks in spring and smelling asados in summer. I haven’t forgotten about you though… I’ll be back soon.

-L

Apr 22

about the Feria de Abril…

I finally experienced the oh so famous Feria de Abril in Sevilla, and it was spectacular…to say the least. The pictures say it all and there is really no need for me to ramble on about it. I will however give you a mini ramble about what this actually is.

Have you ever seen those Spanish women in pictures and they are all dressed up in flamenco dresses (trajes)? polka dots? stripes? paisley? Then on top of their colorful and figure-hugging dresses they decorate themselves with colorful accessories… earrings, broaches, shawls, flowers, hair clips, bracelets… you name it… they got it. If you have seen pictures of these women and children, probably they were on their way to the Feria de Abril in Sevilla!

The fair or feria is just another excuse for Sevillanos to drink, eat, dance, and party. And who could argue? Starting in 1847 the fair started to gain popularity and created this idea of casetas or small houses. These houses are owned by the elite Sevillanos whose families carry on the tradition of owning and keeping these casetas for all family and friends to come and strut their stuff at the feria. Each caseta is a little bit different, but all of them include a dance floor, a mini-restaurant, and seating. Now in Sevilla many of the big companies have casetas too, which has added to the amount of casetas that totaled more than this year! Many Sevillanos ride in on horseback or horse-drawn carriages and there are also daily bull fights…its all tradition of course.

G and I were so fortunate to have some Sevillanos take us around to their casetas and we enjoyed drinking rebujito (manzanilla wine with sprite), eating to our heart’s content, and showing a few moves on the dance floor… which was cut short seeing as the rebujito was WAY too easy to drink.

You can also see more photos on my picasa page…as always. Don’t miss your chance to go to the Feria de Abril it doesn’t disappoint.

Happy to be able to breath again (figure-hugging dresses or figure-life-sucking dresses),
L

Apr 21

about Marrakech, Morocco and Volcanic Ash…

G and I took a quick trip to Marrakech this past weekend after finding a good deal with Ryanair. It was one of those places that I would have been really disappointed if I didn’t go while living in Sevilla. It was refreshing being back in North Africa and back in with the Arabic culture. It brought back all the good memories from this past summer and Morocco, like the Middle East, didn’t let us down. It was a photographer’s paradise and I only wish I had had a great camera to take all the photos I wanted. Every corner showed us something new, from snake charmers to spice stands to the best street food to souqs, mosques, and the devout saying their prayers.  It was sensational. We CSed with a Moroccan and he was more than delightful, warning us about the prices we should pay and recommending the restaurants we should try. In the end, the best way to explore Marrakesh is just to walk… and walk. After our first two days in Marrakesh we decided on our last day to go to the Atlas Mountains for some fresh air. We headed to a town called Setti Fatma. Setti Fatma is situated at about 1500 meters and has some pretty sah-weet waterfalls to hike to. We hiked up and spent the day inhaling some clean non-dusty air, which doesn’t exist in Marrakech.

Monday morning we headed to the airport to catch our plane back to Sevilla, only to find out that our flight had been cancelled. Muy mal. The adventure began (or nightmare, you tell me). Who knew volcanoes still erupted anyways?! So, the main problem was that there were only flights Monday and Friday back to Sevilla, so we had no option but to travel through pretty much the whole of Morocco (Marrakech is in the south) and try to get to Sevilla.  We found a group of Americans who had agreed to rent a big van with a driver and travel up to Tangier (the ferry crossing to Spain). The taxi driver said 6-7 hours to Tangier. He forgot to say 6-7-8-9-10 hours. Yes, my friends, it took 10 hours. Including a pit stop to his “cousin’s” restaurant in Rabat, which I refused to eat at and told him instead that we had no money and we had to go to McDonald’s because they accepted credit cards. Maybe he was unhappy, but there was definitely no heads-up about paying 10 EUROS for a tajine. No way. So, McDonald’s saved our lives yet again.  Anyways, quick tour of Rabat we were on our way again and hoping we would make it to Tangier for the 10pm ferry. We arrived at 9:45pm (we left at 11.40am). Got our tickets and the ticket man informed us that we would have enough time to make the ferry. We ran. And ran. And ran. Seven Americans and one Brazilian running in the port of Tangier. Screaming, “Algeciras? Algeciras?” We ran through customs down to the port and saw our ferry tug away into the dark sea. Muy mal. We asked the man at the port for the next ferry he said that there was another one in 15 minutes. We waited. 45 minutes we saw a ferry pull up. Load up. Close up and start to heat up the engine. There we were again, seven Americans and one Brazilian, screaming at the port men, “Stop that BOATTTTT!!!!” They realized they forgot about us. We didn’t let them. They stopped the boat, opened it again and we got on. We arrived in Algeciras at 1:30 am with no place to run, hide, or go. We stayed on the streets until 6:30 am, when our bus to Sevilla left. 26 hours since we left our CSer’s house in Marrakech we were home sweet home. And how sweet it was.

Dear Mother Nature,
The next time you decide to erupt, please keep the ash at a level more convenient for everyone.
Sincerely,
L

p.s.- Top Ten Marrakech
1. Jemaa el-Fna Square by day
2. Jemaa el-Fna Square by night
3. Fresh orange juice from the stands
4. Jemaa el-Fna Square for dinner (eat at the food stands! If I didn’t get sick, neither will you!)
5. Palais Bahia
6. Talk with the locals in the Souq (you’ll get the price you want!)
7. Day trip to the mountains
8. Get lost
9. Eat rghaif (Moroccan pancake with butter and honey)
10. Visit the parks…
11. (not really a thing to do, but just wanted to say that maybe going to the desert should be in the top 10, but I had been there done that, so didn’t want to spend money on it again!).

Apr 13

about Semana Santa…

Semana Santa was spectacular. Although I’m sure it has a stronger religious significance for Catholics all over the world (and I am not catholic), I still found it to be very powerful and profound as a Christian. However, it was more for the artistic talent, time, and atmosphere that this week produces. The pasos are phenomenal and the bands that play during the processions make the procession really what it is. I dragged G around to as many processions as one could see and each one I was blown away by the passion and fervor (perhaps this is what made me keep wandering the city looking for the next paso).

One of the things that I found so remarkable was the amount of enthusiasm and vigor everyone had. From young to old, punks to nerds, toddlers, teens, beauty queens and wannabe beauty queens, everyone participated in this event.

The masks that the Nazarenos wear were scary to me at first… not gonna lie. Growing up most of my life in the U.S. all you can think about when you see these masks is U.S. history classes talking over and over about the KKK and Civil Rights and the images of the KKK all dressed in white with pointy hats. However, it didn’t take long for me to see past this and into the eyes of these Nazarenos. Why were they there? What did it signify for them? Only tradition? Religion? Hope? Jesus? I don’t know really… but for me it was a comforting thought to think that these Nazarenos were walking the streets of Sevilla for hours not thinking about horrific events in U.S. History, but rather of the resurrection of Jesus (or when they were going to eat next).

Oh man… and I have never seen Sevilla so crowded…. all day and all night… literally. Some processions were 12-14 hours and had hermandades (brotherhoods) with over 800 people walking (including the bands, the costaleros (people under the paso), the nazarenos, and the penitentes (people carrying crosses)).

When we got back from Portugal on Thursday that night was the Madrugada when the processions begin around 1am. We stayed out all night and watched different ones…the atmosphere was incredible and seeing the processions at night had a bit more passion and a little more magic… if that was possible.

I can’t wait till my next Semana Santa…
L

p.s.- The last picture here is taken by some of our great friends, Jordan and Sarah Bentley. Jordan is tall.

Apr 7

about the Algarve Coast, Portugal…

It’s beautiful! Majestic! And a little cloudy. However, we made the most of it and our trip to the southern coast of Portugal, or Algarve Coast, was a success. We took a bus from Sevilla to Lagos Monday morning and spent the day in Lagos. The bus took about 5 hours and since we left in the morning we arrived just after noon in Lagos. Lagos is quaint, small, and do-able in about a day (especially if it’s cloudy). I’m not gonna lie, we were bummed that the sun decided not to come to Lagos today, I was really looking forward to some much needed beach time… It will have to wait. Tuesday we spent the day in Sagres and São Vincente. These two places are fan-tastic. Surrounded by imposing and dramatic cliffs the two towns were considered (wayyy back in the day) to be the edge of the world. Today they are the southwesternmost point in Europe. Henry the Navigator also lived, taught and died here. The day was beautiful and sunny, but windy, which is a little nerve-wrecking considering there is no protection or barriers to stop you if you happen to blow over the cliffs.

Wednesday, back in Lagos, was another cloudy day and we decided to leave early and head to Faro. I can’t say much about Faro as we arrived around 5 looked for 3 hours for a hostel and then, exhausted at 8, we tried to find a restaurant, supermarket, or any institution with edible items. No luck. I guess the ‘sevillano’ in us expected everything to still be open, not true. Thank goodness for globalization because, as much as I hate to say it, McDonald’s saved our lives. Yes, we ate McDonald’s in Faro… don’t judge. We stayed the night at Faro Lounge and were quite pleased with our stay (one thing to note is that they don’t speak a lot of English, which could be a problem for some people, G spoke to them most of the time in Portuguese). The next day was sunny, warm, and everything we hoped it would be. So we laid around Faro basking in the sun that we had been deprived from the previous three days. It was glorious. We arrived in Sevilla in the early evening and it felt good to be home…

Semana Santa is here…and I’m loving it… more to follow.
L

ps- more Portugal pics can be seen on my picasa page.

Mar 27

1 Comment

about Spring and Sevici…

I am proud to say that spring has finally arrived in Sevilla. Yes, today was a glorious spring day full of sun, blossoms, and sneezes. So glorious that I decided to jump on my Sevici, which made it even more glorious. What is a Sevici you may ask? Well, it is the sah-weet public bicycle system in Sevilla. With just 15 Euros you get a year subscription to the bike system. The program allows you to take a bike at any Sevici location around the city, by simply swiping your card in the machine. For the first 30 minutes the bike is free and then the next hour you pay .50 cents, then each hour after that you pay one Euro. Not too bad, especially considering you can pretty much cross the entire city of Sevilla in 30 minutes. Please note that there are short-term contracts for five Euros a week, but the prices and fees change a bit. You can see all the information about the bikes on Sevici’s website.

The other cool thing is that whenever you want to see if there are bikes available at a station you can check online! One tip if you do have this bike system or are thinking about using a public bike system (they are also available in Paris, London, Lyon, Barcelona, Stockholm, D.C., and the list goes on!) always check the bike carefully before you take it out for a stroll, chains come lose, brakes fail, and bells sometimes don’t ring.

As for the rest, the famous Semana Santa week is starting tomorrow with Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday…or literally translated, Branch Sunday). There is apparently no other Semana Santa like Sevilla’s Semana Santa and I’m anxiously awaiting the processions, celebrations, and fervor I have heard so much about. Although I am in Portugal for most of the week I have heard that Thursday night is one of the best nights, as the processions start at midnight and promenade the tiny calles leading to the notorious and spectacular Catedral. Well, I arrive back here on Thursday so I will be definitely getting some procession action despite scary kkk costumes (it’s tradition, I know, but still…) and potent incense.

Until then… the beach awaits me.
L

Mar 19

about free surprises…

One of the best things about living in Sevilla is that there is *always* something happening. Always. No Exceptions. The Sevillanos love to be out of their homes, to walk the streets of their city, to eat tapas, drink a beer, eat churros… and how can you blame them? Sevilla is charming, beautiful, and happening (especially on a beautiful spring day!).

Today as G and I were running errands we passed the Museo de Bellas Artes and decided to go in and see ticket prices because one of my students had told me about a good exposition happening right now. I think my appreciation for museums grew to what it is today because of my daddy! I can remember going to museum after museum when I was young and especially on family vacations to Europe. I was bored. Like bored to the max. My brother and I used to linger behind my parents as they moved from piece to piece…just praying that it was the last (although the trip to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum was awesome). Eventually I grew out of this stage and learned to see the talent of artists and the history that the art was displaying instead of flying angels and half-dressed men and women.

Anyways, to our surprise the ticket lady looked at us with a big smile and said… “es gratis!” (it’s free!) I responded with “que guay!” (how cool!).

So there we were entering into this exquisite museum for free.  We were able to see a fantastic exposition by one of the most important Baroque painters in Spain (he was also from Sevilla), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. It was a double dose of culture points for us. Although I’m not a huge fan of Baroque art or religious art in general, I can, again, appreciate the skill and artistic talent that was shown throughout his work. The museum itself is fantastic and stunning. It was originally a convent in the 17th century and then later became a museum in 1839, so you can imagine the architectural detail it has now. It also has many courtyards filled with flowers, trees and benches… It was a wonderful time to spend a couple hours on a lazy spring day.

Adiós,
L

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