El pueblo de americanos

After my crazy week in Germany and Czech Republic then rushing home for a day of watching Pasos for Semana Santa, my host family proceeds to tell me, "Oh yeah, we are going to our beach house tomorrow..pack up!" Whaaa!? So I threw some stuff together, hopped in my family's car, and rode 1.5 hours to the small beach town, Rota. If you want to picture this tiny town, imagine any typical Florida beach tourist town. Lots of ice cream shops, burger joints, and dorky bars surrounding a beautiful and very crowded beach. Wait....ice cream and burger joints in Spain?! Well, this very popular beach town also happens house one of the United State's most important naval bases. It is right off of the Straight of Gibraltar, which is about the half way point from the U.S. to the Middle East. This base is actually shared with the Spanish, but "shared" is a loose term. The U.S. dominates with huge ships on the coast, giant jets landing and taking off frequently, and a few thousand Americans (soldiers and their families). Inside the base are baseball diamonds, movie theaters playing American films, and even a Ben and Jerry's! The American influence has spread into the town of Rota as well; the first burger joint in Spain was in Rota. 

The U.S. first started using this base in 1953 in a deal with Franco that the U.S. would supply military, economical, social, and political support to Spain in exchange for use of the Naval base. The base itself is HUGE, with most of its land just being trees and open fields...my host family was a little bitter about the wasted space. 

When we got there my host family and I went to their favorite bar and ordered flamenquines...the best things ever!! They are pork wrapped in ham with cheese, all breaded and fried, yum! After lunch my host sister, Laura, gave me a tour of the small town. The beach was beautiful! We relaxed for a bit on the beach, but it was a little too windy, so we continued to walk around the town.

Like any Spanish town there was a old castle! They restored it and now it is the Town Hall. Pretty cool!

Cute alleyway by the castle! 

After our tour, we settled in for dinner and t.v. with the family. The next day was raining, so we all relaxed in the apartment, spending time together and catching up on sleep!

Rota Visit #2

Just a week after visiting Rota with my host family, I took a field trip there with my class about U.S. History through Spain's perception. For educational purposes we were allowed onto the base to learn about the lifestyle of the Spaniards and Americans who live there. We learned in class, that when the Americans were settling there it was a sight that no Spaniard had ever seen. Everything seemed giant and very modern. Up to this point Spain had been isolated, so American influence was very strong. 

When we arrived we went through Spanish security. It seemed a little relaxed for being an American base, but I guess the Spaniards are in charge of security, so the American's there don't get a say! We first went to visit the air crafts and we were amazed by the size. These planes were huge!! The Americans leading us around were giving their talks all in English of course, but after being in Spain so long it was really weird to hear our tour guide speaking in English and watching our professors struggle to understand for once! 

Our tour guide said that this was one of our newest models and cost millions to make. I asked how many we had and he said 50...of just this model..Wow!

The huge inside of the plane

You had to climb this steep ladder to get to the place where soldiers sit. It looked like a regular commercial jet up top! 

So many buttons!!

After the tour of the plane we watched a presentation with one of the officers from the base. It was very interesting to hear the soldiers view of life here in Spain. The officer made sure to point out that this is a Spanish base and we are just using it. They are very respectful of that and hold several charity events for the Spanish living around the base. It was a weird experience to be away from American culture for so long to all of the sudden be thrown into an American military base. It was like two worlds colliding!

I was amazed at how little I knew about the culture of our serving men and women abroad. They are living in a foreign country, not being able to speak the language, having to raise their children on the base with the facilities they have. I am even more grateful now for the serving men and women and their families who sacrifice so much for us. It was a very eye-opening experience to see this in person.

After the presentation we looked around outside a bit and then headed to the beach where we saw the port from a distance. The ships were huge! There was even a section of the beach inside the base just for the soldiers and their families living there.

It was also interesting that the Spanish professors kept saying how the inside of the base was like a mini-America. How the buildings and everything were huge and had American style. I don't know about you...but these buildings in the picture below do not look American at all! But anyway it was fun to see how my professors got so excited to be in mini-America and taking tons of pictures in the huge jet.

The port 

We then had a bunch of free time where we relaxed on the beach while our professors went to the local bar and had a good time. We ended the day with a short tour of the castle. It had great views!

An old church by the castle

It was a great experience visiting the naval base and seeing how my two cultures collide in a small beach town on the coast of Spain. Traveling brings you to unique places.

Also, remember to thank one of the many men and women who are serving or who have served!