Segovia, Toledo, and Burgos

Last Thursday I went on a hike in a town just outside Santander, Llerganes. It was about a fifteen-twenty minute train ride. We asked our teacher where we should go for a hike and she recommended Las Tetas, the mountains in Llerganes (I’ll let you guess how they got their name), but like always we weren’t really sure if it was an actual hike or a walk. Two of us showed up ready for a hike, me being one of them, and the other two showed up ready for a walk through the city. Turns out it was an actual hike. Probably took us about three hours. Instead of taking the trail that looped back and forth we decided to cut straight up the mountain. Made for some very cow poopy shoes. First time I had really exercised in a while so I was feeling it for the next couple days. The town was also known for having really good churros con chocolate so after our hike, with fifteen minutes till the next train arrived, we ran to the nearest restaurant to try them.

Las Tetas

At the top

Aqueduct in Segovia

Friday morning the whole program left for our weekend excursion. Our first stop was Segovia, a six hour bus ride away.  I tried to sleep for most of the ride but its dangerous sleeping on a bus with twenty-five other people. You are guaranteed to wake up at one point or another because someone is taking a picture of you sleeping. Fortunately, I was the one taking pictures most of the time. When you are on a bus for that long with little sleep its crazy how funny someone sleeping with their mouth open can be to you. Anyways, we got to Segovia and put our stuff in our hotels rooms and then went to lunch. After lunch we went and saw the Aqueduct, which was built ages ago to bring water from the mountains into the city.  The thing is massive and so long. The crazy part is that it was built with no cement or mortar, just blocks stacked on top of each other. After that we got to walk through a castle. Someone said it’s the castle that Cinderella’s castle was based off of but I’m not sure if they were lying. For the sake of the story let’s say they weren’t.

Cathedral at night

Segovia

Toledo

Saturday morning we got back on the bus and headed two hours south of Segovia to Toledo, which was a very pretty town. To be honest I can’t remember what all we saw there, I need to look at my pictures. I know we saw a cathedral because we saw one in everyone. Pretty sure we saw another castle too. Basically we saw a lot of really cool buildings and learned a lot about their religion. We went back to Segovia before dinner and stayed another night there. Sunday we stopped at Burgos on our way home to Santander. That by the way was weird to say, calling Santander “home.”Anyways, in Burgos we same some giant building right when we got there but none of us really sure where we were. After that we had lunch, went and saw another cathedral, walked around looking at some more stuff in the city and then headed home. Overall it was a really good weekend. Got to see some really cool stuff and eat some really good food. One of the new things I tried there was morcilla which is rice and blood. It was actually really good to.

Another week of classes and then I am off to London! Still don’t have a hostel but I don’t think I’m going to try and push my lock again. Think we will try to book something tonite! Time is flying by, my mom will be here in no time!

Best part of the day: Lunch

People trying to sleep on the bus

Toledo

I HATE when they say we are getting dessert and they bring out this crap!

Another sleeper

Weirdest lunch. A community salad and a plate of meat. Good things this was only our first course.

Toledo

I think this is Toledo

Model of the Cathedral in Burgos

Weekend in Paris!

                Well after Morocco I was super tired so I took advantage of the two days before we left for Paris to catch up some much needed sleep. Not really sure when happened in class those two days. Our flight left Thursday night. We had just enough time to go home and have lunch before we caught the bus to the airport. We had a pretty big group of 12 people going so I was pretty stoked. Unfortunately only half of us had reservations for a hostel that night because the other half were unable to find any availability. I of course was in the group with no reservations. Makes things more exciting.

                The airport we flew into was just outside Paris so we took a bus into the city. The bus ride took about an hour and a half I believe, maybe a little less. We had probably only been off the bus for about ten minutes when one of my friends realized her wallet was missing. We had all been warned several times and were trying to be very cautious so when we were walking she was telling me how she felt nervous about her wallet being in her backpack because there were people all around us. She stopped to take it out and literally it was gone. There is chance that she left it on the bus but these people are good at what they do and either way she didn’t have her wallet.

                Once again we found ourselves in a foreign country where they don’t speak our language and no idea of where we are heading. Some people don’t like this but honestly it is one of my favorite parts. If I am going to be lost any where I want it to be in a foreign city that I have never been to. Eventually the twelve of us were able to find our hostel. Well not our hostel but their hostel. My half was crossing our fingers that they were going to have availability but no such luck. The guy was nice though and offered to call a hostel nearby. Still no luck. We asked the guy if we could pay to just sleep on the floor but he didn’t go for it. As of now it looked like we were finding a park bench but he finally realized how desperate we were and he offered to rent out his flat to us and told us to make an offer. So we thought it over and offered 100 Euros; 16 a person. He then wanted to think it over and then came back and said 20 a person and it’s ours. With no other option we took the deal. I was a little afraid that he was just going to take our money and send us to some random place but it turned out to be pretty legit. We had a roof and a warm shower in the morning!





                That night half of us walked to the Eiffel Tower and wow! So amazing. I felt like a little kid. It is something you see allll the time but it was really something else to see it in person. Especially at night when it’s all lit up and every hour the whole thing literally sparkles. We weren’t out too late that night because we wanted to get an early start the next morning. We met up with the group first thing in the morning and we all went to see the Eiffel Tower again.  Next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. There we also ran into McDonalds and a huge H&M. We of course had to walk through it but we left frowning because we couldn’t buy anything. After that we went to the Louvre where the Monet Lisa. We went inside but we didn’t actually pay to see it. Last stop was the Notre Dame. We took some hunchback pictures there and then we decided to head back to our hostel to get ready for the night and try to get some energy after walking a million miles.



Moulin Rouge



                The next day we got do some more walking around the city and see Moulin Rouge and the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur before we left. Got into Santander around 9 and pretty much called it a night! Plans for this week: Tomorrow (Wednesday) try surfing after class, Thursday going for a hike, and Friday heading to Segovia, Burgos, and Toledo for our weekend excursion! Can’t wait. Time is flying by here. I haven't been able to upload my pictures so these are some I was able to steal! Miss ya'll!

Me and Terrill after Morocco at school

RED BULL

We were jammin in a little store in Morocco

Morocco. Words can't even explain

                Morocco has to be the coolest place I have ever been to. I wish everyone could go there and experience what I did. I don’t even know if I will be able to really explain how amazing it was but I will try...

                Our trip started on Thursday after school. We had enough time to go home first and double check our bag, making sure we didn’t forget anything, and have lunch before we met up to take a bus to the airport. The airport is only 15 minutes away from where I live and it’s pretty small so there wasn’t a bunch of lines which was nice. For some reason though I kept setting the alarm off trying to walk through security so they made me go back into a dressing room to get the pat down. Have to admit I was a little nervous when she shut the curtain. We were supposed to fly out at 7:00 but our flight kept getting delayed. Eventually we found out that we were going to be leaving till 12:00 pm! Good news was we got a free dinner and who doesn’t love free food! My host mom packed me some sandwiches so I decided to use my money on a drink and piece of chocolate cake.

                I would compare our first flight to a bad infomercial. Maybe that’s just because one of the flight attendants was on the intercom or walking up and down the aisle trying to sell something while I was trying to sleepJ. We finally got into Madrid at a 1am. Our next flight was at 6am so we didn’t have enough time to get into the city to sleep. We decided to find a quite place in the airport and sprawl out on the floor. We looked and looked for some carpet but no such luck. Boy let me tell you how comfortable tile floor is to sleep on! My backpack was to giant for me to use as a pillow so I settle for my purse with my left over sandwich in side. It was the softest thing I could find. Eventually I started taking clothes out of my backpack to serve as a pillow or blanket but there was no getting comfortable. It didn’t help that every twenty minutes, or at least what seemed like every twenty minutes, this obnoxious guy came across the intercom warning us either about leaving our bag unattended or missing our flight. At about four we “woke up” and about this time all of our families had heard about the bomb that went off in Marrakesh, Morocco. Right where we were heading. I think it was our last day we finally heard the whole story. A man walked into the restaurant, right in the main square, with two briefcases; one with a computer and one with a bomb. He ordered a glass of orange juice and then walked out, only taking the suitcase with the computer. Rumor has it Al Qaeda was behind it.

                We got into Morocco at about 7:30 am I believe with the one hour time change. We took a bus into town and got off pretty much at the location of the bombing. We had some trouble finding our hostel and so we asked some people for directions and here is where we learned lesson one: don’t ask people for directions. They talk you there and then they want you to give them money.  We had to walk through the big square, a big common area by the shops where venders set up, and were intersected by guys with monkeys. Next thing you know the monkey is on you and the guy is asking for money. What was worse are the guys walking around with the big snakes! Bout had a heart attack when I turned around and saw that in my face. There were also guys with black cobras playing this instrument that they would rise up to. SCARY! We tried to take pictures but they would quickly block them from the camera.   Lesson two: don’t take picture of animals even if they put them on you!

                We eventually made it to our hostel which was way legit. Right away the treated us like royalty. They made us a spot to sit and brought us out warm tea. The tea is amazing here! I have never really been a big tea drinking but this stuff was good. It might be because they use half a cup of sugar in each small glass or the mint leaves but either way so good. Our hostel was a big square with a giant courtyard in the middle where we ate breakfast and could hang out. We also had a terrace on top of the hostel where we hung out one night. If anyone goes to Morocco let me know because I would definitely recommend this hostel.

                After we got settled in we went back out and met up with some friends that we met on the way over here. First thing we did was get some henna tattoo. Even something as simple as that turned out pretty intense when two ladies literally started fighting over us. Next thing I know one lady is literally yanking me down in here chair and yelling at the over lady to go away I’m assuming, I don’t know Arabic very well. After that we went and got lunch. Had some Tagine with is vegetables, potatoes and chicken for 2.5 Euros and tea. All the food is so cheap here and sooo good! Loved it.  We walked around and explored some shops after. One guy brought us into his little shop and had us sit down with two of his friends around a big bowl of couscous so we could try it. I wasn’t sure it was sketch eating food from a stranger in a shop down an alley but it was good. I ended up bartering a big hand painted bowl from the guy. First meal served in it will definitely be couscous.

                Saturday morning we wanted to go on a camel ride. There were places on every corner offering excursions but we heard that it’s cheaper if you just find a bus out of town where there are camels and pay for it separately. We headed to the bus station where we found a guy who said he would take us out to where the camels where and then takes us back into town right after. Not quite what happened. On the way out we stopped a couple times because he knew we were tourists and wanted to take pictures. A man walked by with a donkey and the driver actually paid him for us which surprised me. We asked him if he had any Moroccan music and he stopped at a store and ran in and bout two cds that he ended up giving us at the end. The problem was that he has a lot of family and friends that he wanted to share his business with. When we eventually arrived at a little town I thought it was time for camel rides. Next thing you know we are going on this crazy hike up the river. Had I known I may not have worn old navy flip flops. It was actually a really cool hike and we got to take some really cool pictures but of course when we got into town the guy told us we needed to pay him. Most of us were refusing to pay him, at least as much as he was asking for, due to the fact that we never asked to go on a hike and were never told how much it cost. At the same time we were also stopped at a restaurant, a friend of the drivers, where we were told we had to. Us, being the cheap people we are, were trying to refuse to eat there but they just weren’t having it. Our meal started off at 120 dirhams I guess, 12 Euros, and ended up going down to 30 dirhams, 3 Euros, before we actually said we would eat there. This was actually a huge argument that we had outside. We were yelling at our driver for not taking us to ride the camels as we were refusing to pay the tour guide and eat at the restaurant. I was afraid if we didn’t eat at the restaurant we wouldn’t get a ride back into town.

After we got our cheap food we were all a little happier. Our driver took us to find some camels.  When we found them it started to rain a little. At first were thinking about backing out and waiting till the next day but of course the guy with the camels wasn’t going to let us leave. He ending up literally putting me on the camel before we had even really decided if we wanted to or not. So glad we did though, it didn’t even matter that it was raining or that we were soaked and had camel poop on us.

Sunday night we got two hours of sleep max because we had to catch our flight early Monday morning. When we tried to leave we were locked inside our hostel. We didn’t know what room the workers slept in so I just started guessing and I guessed wrong. People weren’t very happy to be woken up at 5 in the morning. I don’t know why. We got into Madrid early and went and dropped our bags off at our friend’s place that we had met right before the trip and then went and walked around Madrid. We were exhausted though! Had to make a red bull run but it was barely enough. For some of us it was the only day we might see Madrid so there wasn’t time for a nap (or a place). We went out that night and at 3am we caught a taxi to the airport. It took us a while to get to the airport because we were looking for a bus at first so by the time we got there it was 5 am and our plane left at 6:30am. We slept on the plane and got into Santander at 8am and had to go directly to class. Luckily our first teacher was sick we had two hours before class. We were sleeping on the benches but the school woke us up because they thought it was weird. “School is not a bed.” Heck yeah it is. If you’ve only slept two hours in the last 48 hours pretty much anywhere will work as a bed. Class was brutal though. Can’t even count how many times I fell asleep. Still trying to catch up on sleep. Got to get ready for Paris tomorrow!! Sorry this blog was a little long! There is so much to say and I didn’t even get to say half the stuff I wanted to!

I bought a flower from a little boy and five minutes later another boy made me give it to him so he could sell it again

Snuck a large bowl onto the plane

Comfy

Before our crazy adventure

Stepping into AFRICA

Brave one in our group

I tried a snail. Clearly I liked it.

Trying to fit int

Easter in Espana

Tuesday the whole group got to go on an excursion after school. We went to Comillas and Santillana, about an hour outside of town. In Santillana we got to walk around the village and see inside the church of Santa Juliana. Afterwards we had time to walk around so we went into a little bar and tried the local sidra. Not too bad! In Comillas we took a tour in the Sobrelleno Palace which was designed by one of Gaudi’s workers. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but after the tour the lady said “go ahead as long as I don’t see you taking them.” So me and my friend Kayley ran back and took as many pictures as we could. We were even able to sneak into the library as you can see.  We then saw the El Capricho which was actually designed by Gaudi himself (Jewel this house made me think of you!). It was like a giant sunflower house. Apparently they have now made it into a restaurant and you can eat there.

Sneaking in the library

Gaudi's El Capricho

                                                                  El Sobrelleno Palace

Got to spend another long day at the beach Wednesday and that night there was a futbol game, Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, so we all went out to watch it at bar. Man they love their futbol. They town went nuts after Real Madrid won. We were walking through the plaza hours after and people were still waving the flag and singing what I’m guessing is their fight song. Before I knew how expensive it was I thought it would be cool to go watch a game one time but I think I could settle for this. It was definitely a fun night.

One of my friends parents left for Semana Santa (their Easter) so Thursday a couple of us went over to his place to watch a movie. This might be the one thing I have missed the most and by dying to do. Just sitting on a couch, feet up, curled up in a fuzzy, watching a movie. By the way no one here knows what a fuzzy is. I keep referring to my blanket as a fuzzy and no one knows what I’m talking about, which didn’t really help me in the ongoing joke about me being from the country. But anyways we kind of felt like we were in high school again. All excited when someone’s parents go out of town and trying not to touch anything the whole time we are there.

Castros

Friday a group of us took a bus to Castros for Semana Santa. I think it was just like an hour and a half outside of Santander. We got to watch a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus or pretty much Passion of the Christ in live. It was an outdoor play that moved throughout the city and pretty much went all day. It started at 10 am and was over at like three. It was pretty long but so amazing to see. They had speakers throughout the town too so even if you couldn’t see it you could still hear what was going on.  You could tell that so much work was put into making this. It was intense though! At the beginning one guy hung himself. It showed Jesus being whipped. The whips that they were using had red ink on them to make it look like he was bleeding so part of it was costume but they were still whipping him hard enough to leave welts. Can’t even explain what we saw.

Jesus being whipped

Most of us were on three hours of sleep so after standing for five hours surrounded by hundreds of people who have no idea what personal space was we were exhausted. Of course we had to get one beer and tapa afterwards but after that we were done. We went sprawled out on some stairs until it was time to take our bus back because we didn’t have any energy to walk around the town. I think everyone of us slept the whole way home.

Two of my host mom’s kids are in town  and one son-in-law and are going to be staying at the house for the week. They are very nice and its fun having them here. The son-in-law speaks English and doesn’t really know any Spanish and her daughter, his wife, speaks Spanish and can’t really speak English so I haven’t quite figured that one out. It’s different to see the parent-child relationships here and just the whole family structure in general. It’s very different from how it is in the US. Here kids don’t even get there first job until after college. Nobody works before or while they are in school. I told them about my family and how my brother and sister are married and how old they are and it just sounds crazy to them.

Sad to be missing my favorite holiday! I know you guys are all sad to not have any of my treats during this fine holiday. I think we might try and go to a Spanish mass tomorrow and try to have our own little easter here in Spain.

                                            Taking an elevator from the top of town to downtown

Santander from the elevator