Lisboa

I definitely should be packing my suitcases for the final goodbye on Saturday…but I think my brain just doesn’t want to accept that this time next week, I won’t be a Moralia anymore. Writing here is a good way to procrastinate the inevitable.

Not this past weekend, but the one before, myself and two other auxiliares (Sara and Anna) took a trip to Lisbon.  We caught the (very long and uncomfortable) 8-hour long overnight train to the city.  Between engine problems and a lady freaking out around 5.00am that all of us on the train were going to die from carbon monoxide poisoning, we pulled into Lisboa around 7.30am.  The three of us made our way to our hostel and were pleasantly surprised when the 20somethings that run the place offered us breakfast (technically we should only have gotten it the morning after we slept there).  We ate with the Portuguese guys and after commenting on some quirks of the only one-month-old hostel (salon-style bathroom doors, no keys for us to enter the building, Peep Show one building over), we set off to explore.

We ended up taking a taxi to another side of town because we couldn’t quite figure out the tram system.  The taxi dropped us off right next to the famous Pastéis de Belém where we ate some mouth-watering traditional pastries. We (un)fortunately limited ourselves to just one each, but definitely could have eaten about 20 more. 

Incredible.

Next, we went into the monastery and then into the Torre de Belém.  The tower was like a perfect sandcastle. Truly beautiful.  Ascending the winding narrow staircase while others were coming down almost gave us heart attacks…but the view was worth it.  The way down was equally as nerve-wracking. 

After getting on a tram to the part of town we had come from, we tried some Passion fruit Fanta and went shopping in our favorite shops (Zara, H&M, Blanco…), ate some bacalao for lunch, and made a friend with a makeup lady in Sephora (she told us where we should go around the city).  We were exhausted at this point, so we wanted to take a nap in the hostel.  However, when we tried to buzz into the building (like I said, no keys), no one was there. We found out later that the worker who was supposed to be around to let us in was taking a nap of his own.  So what did we do?  Ate ice cream, of course.  But this was no ordinary ice cream. This was the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life.  I got mango and chocolate chip and was in heaven.  It was so fresh and we vowed to return the next day. 

We were finally able to return to the hostel a bit later, where we rested and freshened up for the night.  We also met the other people staying in the other rooms there.  There was a pair of Swiss (?) guys and another American woman who was staying in the same room as us.  Eventually our three new friends, two of the hostel owners, and the three of us all went out for a dinner together.  After eating, we were so tired and it was raining, so we decided not to salir de fiesta and to instead, go to bed.

Just like San Francisco and Río.

In the morning, we ate our breakfast and then took a taxi with the other woman in our room, India, to an outdoor market.  It reminded us a lot of a garage sale…it seemed like people just grabbed the junk from their houses and were trying to sell it. But there were some good things.  After exploring, we ate lunch at a charming little place and felt like experts, declining the cheese that they so cunningly put on our table and then would have charged us 3 euros for, without us ever even ordering it (very normal in Portugal).

We then headed over to the castle and saw it from the outside, went into a church for a second, shopped for souvenirs (green wine), ate more ice cream from the amazing place, then went back to the hostel to chill before dinner.

We had grand hopes of watching the Portuguese sunset from a rooftop bar we had heard a lot about, but when we arrived, we realized we were not nearly fancy enough to be there, so we beelined to a near-by Indian restaurant.  I know, I know, I I‘m always the first one to complain if someone is visiting a place and doesn’t eat the local cuisine…but Portuguese food is so similar to Spanish and Indian sounded really good.  It ended up being delicious.

After dinner, we had a tea, said goodbye to India (she was super cool and had been traveling all over Europe for quite a while), and went to catch our late night train back to Extremadura.

The train ride home was painful. On the way to Lisbon, I was able to sleep an hour or two. On the way back, nothing.  Leaving Lisbon around 10.30pm, I got off in Navalmoral and back to my piso around 7.30am.  I took a quick shower (trains can be gross) and went right to sleep until bout 2.30pm.  When I did wake up, I was greeted with a MILLION ants swarming our kitchen.  We’ve had a problem with ants (and no, there is not food laying around the place) in the past, but this time, it was horrific.  I sprayed a bunch of toxic stuff to kill them and prayed they wouldn’t come back…oh, but they did.

Late Nights, Early Mornings.

This weekend was one for the books. Whitney (language assistant here last year) came in to visit on Thursday night and we kicked off a great couple of days with our normal “jueves social” dinner. We went to La Taberna de Loco and the food was, as always, incredible.  We had mushroom croquetas, a salad with tomatoes topped with caramelized onions and goat cheese, a platter full of amazing meats, fried camembert topped with marmalade, and a potato mixture of something that can only be described as paradise.

Delicious dinner at the Taberna

After we were full from the food, desserts, and a plethora of strong (and not so yummy) free shots from the waiters, we headed out to El Abuelo.  It was a good night there because the main bartender, Isra, gave us candy to munch on instead of the normal nuts. It’s the little things in life.

The next day, Whitney went to go visit her old schools and I had a private class to go to.  Once we got back together, we went out for a few cañas con limón and did some shopping at Mercadona.  We decided that we would save Saturday night to be our “big night out,” so after showering and making a “bucket list” for what we wanted to do during the weekend, we dressed pretty casually for what we thought would be a low-key night…man, were we wrong.

The rest of our friends were either out of town for the weekend, or for the night, so Whitney and I were on our own for dinner. After trying Quetapa (and failing) to get a kebab (they had run out of meat), we decided to get dinner on the terrace at Los Claveles.  We chatted over the delicious food and wine and after being coerced into giving an impromptu English lesson to the table next to us, we went off to Canterville…the bar that no one ever wants to go to except the two of us.

Canterville was fine.  The reason our friends don’t like going is because of the crowd that hangs out there…but we like the music. After Canterville, we met up with some of Whitney’s friends from last year and went to dance at Boulevard. From Boulevard, we went to Mama Soul, a very classy bar with couches all over.  When we got there, the gate/doors were shut…but after exploiting some connections, the staff let us in to party with them. It would be a lie to say we were only there for a short time.  Over two and a half hours later, we left the bar and were greeted by the morning’s sun.  It was almost 7.30am. That could only mean one this…CHURROS TIME!

Opening at 6.00am, I’ve only made it to churros one other time this year, so I was happy to be doing it (probably the last time) before I leave in a few weeks.  The chocolate and churros were just what we needed at almost 8.00am after a night out.  On the way home, we saw many people out for a Saturday morning stroll and even asked one of them to take our picture. No shame.

It was pure daylight.

I slept until 2.30 in the afternoon and Whitney until 6.00pm.  We lazed around and ate some spaghetti, before being invited over to a BBQ on the rooftop terrace of our friend, Diana’s, house.  Between all of the meat, playing “fishbowl” and not knowing ANY of the Spanish celebrities, and getting a noise complaint from a very angry, elderly neighbor, we had a great time.  After the BBQ, we went to the (always empty) MundoPop and were surprised that about 10 other people were there. Whitney and I had to call it an early night around 3.30am.

Eric, grilling up a storm.

Sunday, Whitney and I went out for some more cañas con limón after lunch in the apartment.  Around 4.00pm, we met up with Diana and Eric (an auxiliar here two years ago who now lives in Madrid) to journey to the gargantas for a day of sunbathing and swimming.

We drove through the beautiful region of La Vera and stopped at la Garganta de los Cuartos.  Las gargantas are a big deal here. I’ve been hearing about them since I first arrived and have always wanted to go.  Basically, they are streams of water that come down from the mountains and everyone goes to them to escape the scorching Extremeño heat.

Jumping off some pretty tall rocks.

We had a great time, jumping from rocks, swimming with the fish, fighting the currents, and lounging in the sun.  After we spent a while there, we drove around La Vera some more, stopping to look at a HUGE garganta (called “The Devil’s Cascade”…you can imagine how big it is) and getting a drink in a town called Villanueva.

Navalmoral's favorite Americans.

When we got back, Whitney and I went to Quetapa to finally get her a kebab, hit up Manzano to get their delicious honey-covered goat cheese, and ended the night at Zaragata with some more tapas.  Once we got home, we crossed off the things we managed to do on our “bucket list.”  We only didn’t do about 3 or 4 of the things, so we felt pretty good about it.

In the morning, I had school, but was able to meet up with Whitney and a few other friends to say “bye” to her before she went back to Valladolid.  The next week at school was fine…normal.  Today, I have my last private Thursday classes and then at 12.30 tonight, I’ll be on the overnight train to spend the weekend in Lisbon!

Social Weekend at Home

Over a month ago I had booked a trip to Lagos, a beautiful beach at the southern tip of Portugal, through a student excursion company. A few other auxiliares had also booked, so we were all looking forward to going there the first weekend in May, a long weekend for us. Unfortunately, the rain in Spain does not stay mainly in the plain, as Spain and Portugal had been getting drenched for weeks and a few days before the trip, I decided it wasn’t worth it. I would have had to pay a lot of money to get down and back from Sevilla (where the group left from) and since it would be raining, I wouldn’t even get to go to the beach. I got my 40% refund on the trip, counted my losses, and tried to find something else to do for the long weekend.

Things just didn’t really come together with planning a trip, so I ended up staying in Navalmoral. Mamen and her boyfriend were heading up north to “THaragoTHA,” so I was really nervous that I would be stuck in the apartment all weekend, bored, with no one to talk to. Luckily, most everyone had that weekend off of school and work (it was Spain’s Labor Day), so people who are from Navalmoral, but don’t usually live here, came back for a few days. This meant I actually had a social life!

Over the weekend, I went out to dinner and drinks a couple of times, drove to a nearby town to see “Los Vengadores” (aka “The Avengers”…in 3D…), and hosted a game night in my apartment. We played the game where you get a piece of paper with a character on it and have to ask questions to find out who you are and Uno. I thought it was really ironic that Spanish people also have to yell “UNO!” when they have one card left...shouldn’t they have to yell “ONE!”?

Hanging out in Boulevard

Playing the "juego de papelitos"

All in all, the weekend ended up being super fun and I was really happy I didn’t end up going to Lagos. Later, I saw some pictures of the people who did go on the trip, wearing rain jackets and looking very cold in all of them. Not my type of fun.

This past week in school was really short (only worked on Wednesday) and my weekend was spent mainly on the couch. Though I did take a day trip on Saturday to Mérida, a Roman city a few hours south of me, with another auxiliar. The city was really amazing. It is very strange to think of Roman ruins existing in Spain…

Roman Amphitheatre in Mérida

Exactly four weeks from today I will be on a flight back to the USA. Really gut-wrenching to think about. Because I’ve started to freak out a bit, I’ve been trying to take as much advantage as I can of my time left. I’ve booked a weekend trip to the Canary Islands, I’m trying to get together a trip to Lisbon, and next weekend, Whitney is coming to visit and we’re going to tear up the town. Should be an awesome last month. Oh, and did I mention that for my last night in Madrid, before my flight out, I’m going to be staying at the Hilton? That’s right…leaving in style. Thanks, dad!