back from valencia and two days of fun in the sun! we are all burnt. ching is a different race. bub has swollen red calves, and my shoulders are gonna be torn up when i put my pack back on tomorrow to leave madrid.
wish i had more time to post more photos, but we're flying back into the country tomorrow. mostly, i'm hating that this trip is over, but it will be a relief to get back to some familiar luxuries - like ketchup, and free drinking water in restaurants, giant fountain sodas, and meals without bread, and of course, my own bed, and people i haven't seen in a month... see y'all back on the other side of the pond! you'll see more photos then...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
sevilla
yesterday afternoon, we took the night train to sevilla, in the south of Spain. i kept hearing about how great it is, and i was deciding whether to do sevilla or barcelona. sevilla definitely did not disappoint. it's the perfect city. add a little bit of Paris - for it's picturesque, Seine-like riverbank and a cathedral rivaling Notre Dame; a touch of Bruge - for the old world feel, with its stone walls and walks; a lot of Marrakech - it's a mini Morocco, and walking it's shop-lined alleyways between colorful, Moorish styled buildings brought me right back to the scene we were in just days ago; lastly, there's an atmosphere there that's much like Miami - huge palm trees, lush foliage, music and movement, a melting pot of skin colors, mingled with the laziness of a steamy beach town, even though there is no beach or ocean nearby. i love it, and would go back in a second.
it's the birthplace of flamenco dancing. so we got tickets for this flamenco show in the Plaza de Santa Cruz. we were slightly rushed from a late dinner at a really nice place that had an ornery waiter. i asked for a glass of house white, and he bluntly said, "No." several silent seconds passed before he grudgingly explained that i had to get the half bottle. i said fine. i really drank a whole bottle of wine by myself - there were 3 full glasses in that half bottle. i downed 2 glasses within a minute and we got to the theater just in time.
the dancing, and singing, seemed authentic and highly skilled. the dancers' movements, especially the ones who came on stage later in the show, were precise, powerful, and fast as all heck. but after all that wine and a sangria required by the theater, it was all looking kinda funny to me, and ching concurred. ching described them as, "fat, ugly guys and angry women tap dancing". this one guy who was the primary vocal talent had some bizarre facial expressions as he was singing. i kept thinking he looked like a south park version of a flamenco singer. imagine jack black crossed with jay (whom some of you know) in a translucent white button down shirt with no undershirt, wrapping around his overhanging belly. we could not stop laughing! 2 hours of flamenco is all i need for a long while.
this morning, after a miserable breakfast at our youth hostel that felt like a senior home (there were strangely a lot of seniors staying there), we heading into town. we revisited the spots we started to explore yesterday before the show - the garden (whose name i'm too lazy to look up right now) full of flowering, palm, and orange trees. the end of the garden led into the labyrinth of alleyways that was Marrakech. i lost ching for about an hour and ended up on the other side of the city center when we met up again. i kinda like being lost in a new city. while ching was waiting for me, he spotted Brie, the Canadian woman we met on the camel trek! she had said she'd be in sevilla at some point on her trip, but still! what were the chances of bumping into her again on a different continent?!? we already ran into her in Marrakech a day after the camel trek group disbanded. this was just weird. so we met up late afternoon by the Alcazar and had some sangria by the river bank, and then took a lazy nap on the grass after watching some boys jumping into the river for a while. we got up 40 minutes later and went in search of the Plaza del Toro - the bullfighting ring - that was nearby. tomorrow is Corpus Christi, a national holiday, and tickets were on sale for tomorrow's bullfight. we'll be missing it (or not), since we're picking up a rental car and road tripping with bub and javi to valencia - beaches! with a real live ocean... god, it's been a looong time!
it's the birthplace of flamenco dancing. so we got tickets for this flamenco show in the Plaza de Santa Cruz. we were slightly rushed from a late dinner at a really nice place that had an ornery waiter. i asked for a glass of house white, and he bluntly said, "No." several silent seconds passed before he grudgingly explained that i had to get the half bottle. i said fine. i really drank a whole bottle of wine by myself - there were 3 full glasses in that half bottle. i downed 2 glasses within a minute and we got to the theater just in time.
the dancing, and singing, seemed authentic and highly skilled. the dancers' movements, especially the ones who came on stage later in the show, were precise, powerful, and fast as all heck. but after all that wine and a sangria required by the theater, it was all looking kinda funny to me, and ching concurred. ching described them as, "fat, ugly guys and angry women tap dancing". this one guy who was the primary vocal talent had some bizarre facial expressions as he was singing. i kept thinking he looked like a south park version of a flamenco singer. imagine jack black crossed with jay (whom some of you know) in a translucent white button down shirt with no undershirt, wrapping around his overhanging belly. we could not stop laughing! 2 hours of flamenco is all i need for a long while.
this morning, after a miserable breakfast at our youth hostel that felt like a senior home (there were strangely a lot of seniors staying there), we heading into town. we revisited the spots we started to explore yesterday before the show - the garden (whose name i'm too lazy to look up right now) full of flowering, palm, and orange trees. the end of the garden led into the labyrinth of alleyways that was Marrakech. i lost ching for about an hour and ended up on the other side of the city center when we met up again. i kinda like being lost in a new city. while ching was waiting for me, he spotted Brie, the Canadian woman we met on the camel trek! she had said she'd be in sevilla at some point on her trip, but still! what were the chances of bumping into her again on a different continent?!? we already ran into her in Marrakech a day after the camel trek group disbanded. this was just weird. so we met up late afternoon by the Alcazar and had some sangria by the river bank, and then took a lazy nap on the grass after watching some boys jumping into the river for a while. we got up 40 minutes later and went in search of the Plaza del Toro - the bullfighting ring - that was nearby. tomorrow is Corpus Christi, a national holiday, and tickets were on sale for tomorrow's bullfight. we'll be missing it (or not), since we're picking up a rental car and road tripping with bub and javi to valencia - beaches! with a real live ocean... god, it's been a looong time!
Monday, June 8, 2009
photojournal: the Sahara
the couchette where we lived for 10 hours on the way to Marrakech
Omar (aka Moses) our desert guide
1st night: in the Atlas Mountains
holding still for 10 seconds for a night shot
riding camels into the dunes!
cameltoe - this is for you, dan.
before
after
our awesome camel caretakers - they were so much more than that!
the feast: chicken tajine
Berber drumming
soaking up the moonlight(yes, that is ching's buff arm)
Sunday, June 7, 2009
back from the other side of the world
we're back in madrid! after 6 crazy days in a whole other world. we spent 3 days on the desert tour through the Atlas Mountains, the desert towns of Ouarzazate, Rissani, Merzouga, Todras Valley, culminating in an unbelievably perfect evening riding our camels into the dunes, arriving at sunset upon our camp, eating a delicious dinner of tajine chicken made by our desert guides, then enjoying a jam session of Berber drumming, singing, and dancing by our multi-talented tour guides.
we met and became friends with a great group of people who were on this tour with us - adventurous and fun folks from North Carolina, British Columbia, The Canary Islands, Luxembourg, and Portugal. not least of all were the desert-raised boys who led our camels into the desert and hung out with us on the moonlit dunes after the "programmed" activities ended, smoking cigarettes and sharing their life stories. it was a fine evening in the Erg Chebbi dunes of the Sahara.
not to say that our travels were a piece of cake. to begin this leg of the trip, we flew into Tangier from Madrid, then took a 10 hour overnight train to Marrakech, which wasn't so bad since we had a couchette all to ourselves - with bunk beds, compact couch, sink, storage, and reading lights. even a window which we could fully open to hang out heads out and take photos. i did this at one of the stops, only to see when i turned around that a few other people from their couchettes were hanging out the windows with their cameras pointing in my direction.
in the morning, we arrived in Marrakech and were picked up by a white Landcruiser, met the 2 over SUVs full of people, and were on our way.
after getting back from the desert, we stayed at the Moroccan House Hotel in Marrakech, where Federico and Domingo from Las Canarias were staying. the next day was spent seeing the sights around town. arriving by cab in front of the Menara Gardens with Federico and Domingo, we ran into the gang from Lisbon and Luxembourg, also on their way there. we walked around the gardens and then back into town, marked by the large mosque in the center. the Medina, with it's labryinthine alleys packed to the hilt with souks selling everything from baby squirrels to cheesy souvenirs to beautifully woven rugs and herbal medicine. oh yea, and thousands of miles of colorful Saharan scarves so you'll never find yourself in a sandstorm without one.
the shopkeepers are relentless businessmen. some will not let you leave until you've haggled and come to an agreement that both parties are satisfied with. they LOVE to haggle, and it turns shopping into a game to try to beat your last great bargain. it's really fun, but gets tiring after a while. i haven't spent my life practicing the art like they have.
there was so much about the Moroccan experience that would take pages and hours to tell. i'll just put up some photos now...
we met and became friends with a great group of people who were on this tour with us - adventurous and fun folks from North Carolina, British Columbia, The Canary Islands, Luxembourg, and Portugal. not least of all were the desert-raised boys who led our camels into the desert and hung out with us on the moonlit dunes after the "programmed" activities ended, smoking cigarettes and sharing their life stories. it was a fine evening in the Erg Chebbi dunes of the Sahara.
not to say that our travels were a piece of cake. to begin this leg of the trip, we flew into Tangier from Madrid, then took a 10 hour overnight train to Marrakech, which wasn't so bad since we had a couchette all to ourselves - with bunk beds, compact couch, sink, storage, and reading lights. even a window which we could fully open to hang out heads out and take photos. i did this at one of the stops, only to see when i turned around that a few other people from their couchettes were hanging out the windows with their cameras pointing in my direction.
in the morning, we arrived in Marrakech and were picked up by a white Landcruiser, met the 2 over SUVs full of people, and were on our way.
after getting back from the desert, we stayed at the Moroccan House Hotel in Marrakech, where Federico and Domingo from Las Canarias were staying. the next day was spent seeing the sights around town. arriving by cab in front of the Menara Gardens with Federico and Domingo, we ran into the gang from Lisbon and Luxembourg, also on their way there. we walked around the gardens and then back into town, marked by the large mosque in the center. the Medina, with it's labryinthine alleys packed to the hilt with souks selling everything from baby squirrels to cheesy souvenirs to beautifully woven rugs and herbal medicine. oh yea, and thousands of miles of colorful Saharan scarves so you'll never find yourself in a sandstorm without one.
the shopkeepers are relentless businessmen. some will not let you leave until you've haggled and come to an agreement that both parties are satisfied with. they LOVE to haggle, and it turns shopping into a game to try to beat your last great bargain. it's really fun, but gets tiring after a while. i haven't spent my life practicing the art like they have.
there was so much about the Moroccan experience that would take pages and hours to tell. i'll just put up some photos now...
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