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!