What's up my wonderful followers,
I'll try to make this was one shorter, and hopefully sweet. :) One week before Semana Santa (Holy Week--Spring Break to most), the girls and I stayed around Toledo to relax...after all, we had traveled the last 3 weekends in a row, plus we'd be gone the next 2 weekends for our week long break! We were in serious need of some chill time. Or at least a break from going going going, and spending money. Lucky for us, there was an excursion planned for Friday, and since it was free, we took it! Plus, my school had free tickets available for a play in Toledo that night too, so I took that opportunity too! Woo!
Friday morning started out on the provided coach bus, and we proceeded to be driven around the region of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain has regions, just as we have states), where the fictional route of Don Quijote was laid out. For those of you who aren't familiar with Don Quijote, he's a character in the VERY famous Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, "Don Quijote de la Mancha." It's a pretty big deal in the Spanish world. Just a quick low-down of Mr. Quijote...after reading too many books about medieval knights, he kind of went crazy and started believing he was a knight (which didn't exist anymore). He ended up getting this real winner of a man named Sancho Panza to follow him, and they went on all sorts of "adventures" around Castilla-La Mancha, including the ever-famous run in with windmills. These windmills, though ordinary to most people sane, appeared as real giants to Don Quijote, and he attacked. After being pushed off his horse by one of the "arms," he concluded that the giants were magical and at the last second, transformed into windmills. Yup. Crazy man. But we still love him.
Anyway, not really knowing what to expect with this tour, I went with an open mind, as everyone else did too. I think we all were a little curious of how exciting it would actually be to drive to little bitty towns to see Quijote "landmarks," so I think we all decided to have our own fun. Good thing too, as our tour guide ended up being my Literature professor, who, let me tell you, is not the most animated lecturer. 2 1/2 hours is plenty of time to spend with him during the week, so having to concentrate through a whole day of his unfortunate, monotone voice was a bit of a struggle. But, like I said, we made our own fun. We arrived at a plaza that would have been a sort of hotel in the times of Quijote, complete with an old wagon, cacti, and giant ceramic jars. We took this opportunity to take many ridiculous pictures, including one of my favorites so far (please look above for reference...you'll know which one). Everyone became good friends for the day, and we took advantage of the fact that we were all easily entertained. For instance, I spotted a strange sign that offered such things as cheese, wine, olive oil, and at the end...pain. Pain? I'm not sure what they meant by that, but I don't really want a side of pain with my olive oil.
We then trekked over to some mountainous terrain(s) to see some of the famous windmills, or "molinos" from the area. Pretty cool I must say. As I looked up at the enormous structures, I couldn't help getting the urge to find a lance and duel one of the magnificent creatures, all in the name of our friend Quijote. Still, I resisted the temptation and instead tried to become one with the molino (see above pictures again for reference).
After a quick lunch, we were taken to a lovely little town, and actually the only one I remember the name for, Consuegra, to see the castle there. It was a pretty standard-ish castle, very nice, though I sadly scuffed one of my Spanish (and stylish I might add) boots on the side of one of the walls. However, I felt a little consolation knowing I"ll be able to tell people I scuffed my boot on a CASTLE wall... :) ...oh, us Americans and our fascination with castles. I firmly believe it's because of Disney movies...you know it is! We won't admit it, but we've always had the hope we'd marry a prince or princess and live in a fairytale, complete with castle...don't even pretend you don't! And don't worry, I won't ever really lose the hope either. :D
Alright, well I realize this is actually not a short blog post like I promised, but if you've read this far, I assume you love me enough to read the rest.
The castle concluded our "Ruta de Quijote" excursion, but it nowhere near ended my day/night. Once we got back to Toledo, I had to run home to change into nice clothes for the play. First time wearing a dress here! And since I had no tights of leggings on, I got stared at like nobody's business. Yeah, Spaniards are kind of sissies when it comes to cold weather. It wasn't that bad, but they just thought I was crazy. Well, it could have been that, or maybe I was just blinding people with my incredibly sun-deprived skin. Whichever. Well, I met up with some other Fund folks at the theater, and let me tell you, this play may have been translated from English (though it was all in Spanish, yes), I have thankfully never heard of it. It was full of all sorts of treats,...drug overdose, mean/angsty teenagers, incest, oh yes. I most definitely had my mouth open the whole time with shock. Not my favorite play we'll say. And I know the premise sounds familiar to my favorite musical, Spring Awakening, but it was NOWHERE close to it...it was CREEPY, and certainly DISTURBING. Gross. But hey, it was an experience! After that, we all had to go out for a few drinks to try and purge the images from our minds. We hit up a couple of places, and I finally headed home at about 3 am...I know, early (usually Spaniards get in about 7 am after going out)...yikes.
The next night Anna and I tried out a "Botellon," which is pretty much a weekly BYOB event, where friends get together outside in this giant park to hang out. Wow...lots of people, but kind of lame if you ask me. I realize now that this weekend makes me look like I am quite the party animal, but grandma, if you're reading this, I want you to know this is not a common occurrence! It's just socializing! Don't worry, I'm still being a good girl for the most part. :)
Well, I think I'm finally done with this post, and I apologize if any of you were expecting to quickly get through this, as I mislead you in the beginning. But, if any of you suffered through, thank you again!
Until later.
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