Most of the time when Iīve decided to go to some little city that is described in my travel guide in a couple sentences I find that their lack of interest in the city was probably due to the lack of time they spent their and the lack of touristy kinds of things to do...here, in Alcázar, they had it about right. It is full of shops (more childrenīs clothing stores than Iīve ever seen in my life, and lots of kids to go with them) and not much more. It is on the "Quijote path" whatever that is. I saw the sign in Toledo as well. Apparently Cervantes was baptized in the cathedral here (I havenīt seen it yet as I just got in). But Iīm here because it is close to a couple places. Benedore and El Toboso. The first has a castle that Quijote and Panza dined in, the second is the hometown of the lovely Dulcinea (there is a museum devoted to her there). So Iīm visiting places that were visited by ficticious characters...good times. Back to the past though...
I went back to Salamanca a couple days ago to try and get my pin number for my ATM card. I figured itīd been a month so it should be there...no. So Iīm having it sent to Sevilla. I figure itīll show up when Iīm in Granada in six months. But I had a great time in Salamanca. I got hold of my friends Pedro (from Uruguay), Florencia(Uruguay), and Paula (Chile) and got lucky. They had a friend from the dorms who had left and left her key so that some stray traveler could spend the night there (there was even a note that began "Dear anonymous visitor") so I had a few nights free (itīs been a costly vacation here in Spain) and my friends ended up cooking a bunch for me as well. On the down side, I had an incredibly hard time understanding what the hell they were saying as my spanish, after almost two weeks of not really using it, had gone to shit...So weīll go back in the past a bit more to Valencia.
The Beach. Lots and lots of the beach dealing with hangovers from late nights of drinking and dancing. Dutch, german, australian, kiwi, italian, french, canadian, french-canadian, polish, USA-ian, and no spanish...a bit sad really. I was surprised by the amount of people who were traveling here in Spain who spoke NO spanish AT ALL. Hola, was a new word for them. In-fucking-credible. The traveler culture is really a tourist culture for a longer time, more sex, more drugs, and sleeping in unconfortable beds...it is actually a whole lot of fun. But unlike in Latin America, there is little exchange with the locals and not much interest in learning the language. Oh well. anyway...Just south of Valencia there is a lake called LīAlbufera (in Valencian) which is where paella was supposedly born (no, didnīt eat paella there because we had to catch the last bus back into town). It was pretty. Took a little boat tour for a couple bucks through the nature reserve that is there. Took a walk through it and to the Mediterranean ocean (just a dozen minutes or so away) and found a nude beach. We walked along enjoying the view and took a seat. I then noticed that the view wasnīt quite as nice as before as there were only men. Now and again a couple would take a walk to the other side of the dunes for a few minutes and then come back and get in the water and make out. Interesting. But I thought, fuck it. So I got naked and jumped in the water (didnīt make out with anyone) and then sat on the beach and sunburned my ass. When something doesnīt see the sun for that long it burns very quickly FYI. We had good times talking about the surprise nudist (partially) gay beach and recommending it to people. All in all I spent too much time in the sun and was covered with little bumps that are slowly going away as there isnīt anyplace to strip down in the sun in inland Spain.
So. Iīm going to spend a couple days going to little towns in La Mancha and then head to Buņol and the tomatina (the tomato fight) on the 29th.
and then to Sevilla on the 1st to meet with CEA and my new group of youngsters on the 2nd (and my new family). Iīm a bit nervous about having to adjust to a new group of 19-21 year olds (hopefully not from the East Coast, Iīve had enough of that). Thatīs ībout it. Thereīs more pics for those of you who know how to find them.
|
