Valencia

This weekend I went to Valencia.

I know you are saying "Wow. Traveling again? What a life!"

And honestly, it's true. My life right now is immensely full and beautiful. But sometimes, I tend toward full throttle when I need to say "WAIT! BRAKES PLEASE!"

I'm not sure why I do this. I am convinced that while some experiences are once-in-a-lifetime, if it's really an experience you want to have, you can help to bring it about and bring it about again. But something in me shifted to "Oh no, this is going to end soon." The Spaniards tell me "haces bien" - you're doing fine, keep aprovechando, keep seeing and doing as much as you can. And yet sometimes I forget to stop and take it all in. I'm not entirely sure if this is making sense as this is the first time I have spoken English in 2 days. I love it.

Valencia was incredible. I stayed with a really great friend, Cristina. We laughed a ton, took a million photos (aka ~200), had beautiful conversations, ran around old and new Valencia - impressive architecture. Beautiful, in fact.

Culinary interests include trying a torta which reminded me of my mom's coffee cake, there was a plain one and an apple one; drinking horchata de chufa (orxata de xufa) which is a sweet drink made from tigernuts that tastes slightly like carrots, seeing (but NOT tasting) boquerones en vinagre ice cream, that is, anchovies in vinegar ice cream - YUCK, finally eating at 100 Montaditos; eating a white chocolate sandwich; AND, passing through a park where they were giving out free paella. The paella was ENORMOUS and included chicken and snails, which I picked around. Also, I tried agua de Valencia which is a cocktail of orange juice and some liquor. Yes. I loved Valencia.

To counteract the culinary delights of the trip, we traversed the old riverbed in bicycle. The city redirected the river in the 60s because it kept flooding. They decided to make use of the old river path by filling it with football fields, foot and bike paths, playgrounds, and benches. I found it quite enthralling to go under bridges on foot and on bike that reminded me of the bridges in Seville. Under one bridge, there was an African dance group dancing and playing drums. I decided that organic drum beats like that are my personal opposite of techno or eurotechno music (shout out to Ralph). When I hear them, I can't help but move and sway and want to dance. On the other hand, when I hear techno or remixes of songs, I just want to stand still and/ or turn them off.

So, apart from that, nos reímos un montón, decidimos que nos gustaban los poetas sencibles y no los machos ibéricos, bailamos salsa, casi, casi nos acercamos a un chico super majo, por lo visto, les caimos muy bien a dos chicos italianos aunque estábamos en plan hippie, tuvimos una camarera que nos acordábamos muuuucho a nuestra amiga Virginia, intentamos quedar con el Alessandro, pero al final no pudimos, pasamos un buen rato con los bonicos, los padres de Cris, ... ya sabes. Un finde muy, muy lleno de buenísimas cosas. Oy! que tontita... fuimos a una oración de Taizé ahí en Valencia. Ahora me toca buscar una aquí... o en Cádiz o en Sevilla, habrá seguramente.

Bueno chicos y chicas, os dejo porque tengo que ir preparándome para el alumbrado de LA FERIA!!! Mi pueblo Jerez está de feria ya y me hace muuucha ilusión! Que bonito... las mujeres van en plan flamenco - y manana yo también me iré así al cole y luego con unas amigas para celebrar el cumple de una. bieeeen!