Weekend 1: Sevilla/Día de los Cruces
On Friday, several of us headed over to Sevilla, about 3 hours away from Granada, to the Feria de abril, the city's annual festival. We got there around noon, and walked from the bus station to the feria grounds, a little like a giant state fair. There are hundreds of tents set up, with kitchens and tables inside, for eating, dancing, and merrymaking. We apparently got there too early, since there was no one around, and all the tents shut up. Fortunately, the midway was not too empty, and we chose a slightly nauseating and exhilarating carnival ride to get the day started. Sadly, there were no tilt-a-whirls, but it was fun anyway.
We then headed over to a park (Sevilla is filled with lots of great, green parks) and chilled for awhile, eating our picnics and taking a Spanish siesta. We woke up for the main attraction of the day, a bullfight. Now, a lot of people have strong feelings about bullfights. I did not, though I had a vague suspicion that I would find it interesting rather than horrific. Turns out that I thoroughly enjoyed myself, for several reasons. First, bullfights- known as "corridas"- are actually pretty exciting. Corridas involve a lot of different people doing different tasks, and each one at least appears to be in considerable danger as a bull comes charging at them. It was also a bit bewildering, because there are lots of etiquette points that Spaniards who attend bullfights know, and which we didn't. Whistling means that the crowd doesn't like what's going on, trumpets announce when a phase of the bullfight is beginning or ending, etc. So it was exciting simply because we didn't know what to expect. It also made me think a lot about the symbolism behind the corrida, that of man vs. nature. While at first glance it seems that the show (which is an art, not a sport- it's listed with music and dance events, not sports) is about man dominating nature, for me it simply reinforced the fact that people and nature are intertwined, and that yes, we do kill animals. Everyone involved with the corrida shows a high level of respect for the bulls, and people have created this intricate show entirely based on their behavior. And they send the bull to a special butcher to be prepared for consumption, which is a definite plus for me.
Some of my companions did not feel the same way as me, and left after the fourth bull (there are 6 in every corrida). We met up with them afterwards and went back to the fair grounds to look for a bite to eat. The whole place had completely transformed. Every woman and child was dressed in a traditional flamenco outfit, with the men wearing suits. Thousands of people milled around the fantastically-lit grounds, or sat or danced inside tents. Unfortunately, they are all private tents, sponsored by families or companies from Sevilla, so there wasn't anywhere to eat. We realized we didn't have time to eat anyway, and ran back to catch our bus, arriving back exhausted in Granada at 3am.
That Sunday was Día de los Cruces in Granada, which means that different organizations set up elaborately decorated crosses in plazas to compete for prizes. It also means that Granada becomes a different city. The streets, usually completely dead on Sundays, were filled with as many people as there had been in Sevilla, eating outside, strolling to look at the crosses, wearing their flamenco dresses. There were also horses prancing about on the streets. I walked around for awhile, marveling at how different the atmosphere was in the city. It's too bad that we leave just as things are getting started...during the winter, people stay inside, or hurry from one place to another. Just recently have people really been "living in the street," as is said of the south of Spain.
Sevilla feria before...
...and after.
The bullring in Sevilla.
Día de los Cruces
Weekend 2: Cabo de Gata
This weekend, I went with the rest of my program to a national park called Cabo de Gata, which stretches several kilometers along the coast. Friday started off with a 9 mile hike that was really more like dodging scorpions and tarantulas, rock climbing without gear, and relaxing on beaches. It was a nice change from city life, hiking in the country and doing some strenuous exercise. Some highlights included watching a bunch of goats being herded, giant asparagus (that keeps popping up), these crazy dead trees (see photo below), and swimming in the crystal clear water. We ended in a town called San José, where we were to spend the night.
The hike was followed by a glorious Italian dinner, since San José has more Italians than Spaniards. All 75 of us sat took over the restaurant and were served course after course of pasta and delicious pizza, including several rounds of free sangria...Spanish food is great, but really repetitious, so the chance to eat any other type of food is always welcomed.
The next day dawned grey and cold, ruining our hopes of a day on the beach. But we had several activities planned, so three of us chilled in a cafe before meeting up to go snorkeling. As it was cold, we got to wear wet suits, which are one of the most intense things I've experienced. They took us 10 minutes to put on, and made breathing rather difficult. Nevertheless, they worked, keeping us relatively warm as we hovered above a reef, watching colorful fish, sea slugs, urchins, and waving sea plants called "Poseidons."
And after a relaxing beach side lunch, I headed back to Granada to finish up my last two weeks. If only I didn't have them filled with projects and studying...
This picture doesn't quite do it justice...we hiked up maybe a 60 degree incline here.
View from one of the peaks we climbed.
These are the great, odd looking trees.
