The last night of class we had a real flamenco party in the middle of an olive oil refinery - parties, wedding, baptisms, etc. are where flamenco is traditionally performed. It was like getting a private concert with food and drinks. We all stood around clapping, singing, and those who knew how danced until 2:00 AM. It was a very very Spanish experience.
Saturday the girls and I took a trip to Cabo de Gata on the southeastern coast. It’s a big desert with the best beaches in the country, most of them with very few people on them.
The first day we were there it was really windy. These big gusts would come up and blow sand on you so hard that it hurt. I imagined they were probably having sandstorms across the way in Algeria. We brought a bunch of food to have a picnic and the sandwiches we made did indeed turn out to be SANDwiches.
Here are a few pictures of the terrain surrounding the beach. We were in the Parque Natural Cabo de Gata-Nijar. There were giant fields of cactus, agave and lots and lots of sand.
On the way to my favorite beach: Cala de Barronal
Tanya and I ascending the big rock.
View from the rock. Kate is that little white speck at the foot of the big hill on the right.
View of the other side.
It was so windy up there that it was almost scary. At any moment you felt like the wind was going to push you off the cliff.
Thanks to swimming in the ocean and the wind blowing like crazy my hair is awesome.
More of the beach.
Tanya’s sand mermaid.
That night we decided to have dinner at a pizzeria in San Jose, the little beach town nearby. We ended up spending four hours (but only 50 euros) there. It was run by some very friendly, perhaps too friendly, Italians who, after our giant meal served my companions several shots of lemon liqueur for free (yuck!) The owner had lived in Australia many years and spoke English with a very interesting accent. He kept trying to set Karin up with our waiter, Fabriccio, who did not hesitate to profess his love for her in a mix of Italian, German, and Spanish (“Eres guapa, bellísima, estoy enamorato de ti, etc.”) Toward the end of the night we had also been introduced to a couple of trilingual fellows from Austria and Germany. Lucky for us, Karin had given us a basic German lesson a few days before so we had a complete potpourri of languages. We managed to go to bed by 1:00 AM and slept in a very nice and very cheap hostel in the nearby village Pozo de los Frailes.
Kate, Tanya and Karin.
Karin
Kate adores me.
Fabriccio adoring a very drunk Karin.
The owner of the pizzeria, Kate, Fabriccio and Tanya.
The table says it all.
The next day: Here’s what happens when you tell me I get to go to the beach two days in a row.
The weather was much nicer the second day, although the water was too cold to swim. We spent several hours just laying on the beach and managed not to get too sunburned. It was heaven.
When we got back to Úbeda we had a going away party for Karin. She is going back to Germany to be an English teacher.
This week I begin the class that will prepare me for the Spanish as a second language certification exam and also have a lot of work to do for my independent contract through Evergreen. I’m writing an ethnography completely in Spanish and translating a short story into English. The other day my professor David also gave me another translation to do for the school’s website. I said yes thinking it would just be a volunteer thing and then he said he would pay me. He also offered to put me in contact with a few other people who need translations for their websites. Woohoo!
That’s all for now. I like to hear from the lot of you too, so keep in touch. I like getting your e-mails.
Love,
Marie
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