My First Weekend Adventure!

Ronda

Que divertido! This past weekend my friends and I took a day trip to a small town, a little over 2 hours away by bus, called Ronda. It was the first trip that we decided to plan by ourselves, so we were pretty proud that it worked out okay! We of course never would have gotten through it without our good friend Rick Steves, whose guide book we all follow religiously!

Like I said, Ronda is a very small town that is very quaint and quiet. The buildings and streets were beautiful with very little sign of modern styles of architecture. 

The coolest thing about Ronda though, is that it is pretty much built on a cliff. You can look over the edge of the city and see a scene of rolling mountains that is absolutely breathtaking.

Reminds me of the fields and bluffs of WI, but on steroids!

The whole group! And a random baby :)

Jackie and Me

Hiking

Underneath this huge bridge, there is a gorge, El Tajo, that we hiked down into. It was a beautiful day, so it was perfect to be surrounded by nature and beauty. 

The paths down by the bridge were very narrow and often times had drop offs on either side! It was very scary, but pretty exhilarating at the same time!

There were lots of random abandoned structures...I don't know what from!

You are also all probably wondering who this guys is:

Well...he was just a very friendly (probably lonely) old man who knew a lot about history, but not a lot about personal space! He explained to me the Arab bridge that we were looking at below and then proceeded to tell me about the tree of love behind us....okay.. He then started randomly naming U.S. cities, so I started listing off cities I knew in Spain. When I left he leaned in for what I thought was a typical Spanish goodbye ("kisses" on both cheeks), but instead he planted one right on my cheek! I can still feel his scratchy whiskers to this day. Don't worry though, I had all of my money at the end of the encounter! 

Bullfighting Arena

Ronda is also known for its very old bullring. It has the largest arena in the world. There was a small museum inside that I learned a lot from!

Sarah and Me

Bullfights in Spain (This is a little bit lengthy, but interesting!)

We also learned about bull fights in my class this week. I found out that the fight is really a symbolic ritual that is actually religious based. The bull represents instinct, savagery, and sexual lust, while the torero represents intelligence and spiritual superiority. It shows that intelligence conquers instinct, and that every man can overcome the beast inside us with the Christian spirit. I found this very interesting, because I did not think that there was any religious significance at all.

We watched a short clip in class of a bullfight and it really made me disgusted by the whole idea. The bull was slowly bleeding to death with harpoon-like sticks wedged into his back, while the matador manipulated it by playing with the bull’s natural instincts. Of course man will win, the bull is already half dead and doesn't understand what is going on!

I

I asked my host family about it, and they gave me another interesting perspective. They said that it is very much an economical thing. Spain earns a lot of money through these shows and the tourism they bring. My host father also simply said that to be a torero is a profession. Many are poor, can’t go to school, or are desperate for money in some way so they become a matador. When I asked them what they thought about the bullfights overall they were pretty indifferent. They agreed that it was cruel, but it is part of the tradition of Spain and therefore shouldn't be banned all together. It's up to the people if they want to go or not they said. This has been one of the most interesting topics so far and I could go on all day about it (sorry if this bored anyone to death!). 

The Usual

Last weekend was a nice break from my class, but now I am once again swamped with all of the work. I also am STILL waiting to become accustomed to this eating schedule here, because I seem to be constantly starving! Every meal is absolutely delicious and super filling, but I can’t go from 2 to 10 pm with only a coffee and maybe a croissant in-between! Apparently several small meals throughout the day isn't a thing here. 

On the bright side I finally found peanut butter! After I bought it I went right home and literally ate a quarter of it right then and there. No shame!  

My secret food stash 

Stay warm everyone and appreciate those hearty, early dinners :)