Aventuras sobre Castilla La Mancha

It’s been yet another 2 weeks here in España and things just keep getting better and better. I am getting a lot more used to their way of living here, especially their schedule. Typical meal times consist of 8am piece of toast and coffee, 2pm huge lunch, 10pm dinner. I think I have finally trained my hunger when meal times are. I miss omelets.

Enough talk about food. Classes have gotten into full swing and I am more into the routine of being back at school. The university is about a 40 minute commute from my host mother’s apartment but it’s a pleasant commute. I have gotten closer to my Señora as we learn more about each other when we have meals together and talk. She used to work at a very prestigious news station in Spain and has met people such as Neil Armstrong, Truman Capote and 5 Nobel Peace Prize winners. Needless to say, she has great stories. She loves movies, especially musicals and comedies so when our soap opera ends at 11 she usually puts on a movie that she always claims as “mi favorita!” (my favorite) But shes 72, so every movie is her favorite. They’ve all been good so far so I trust her judgment in movies.

This past week has been hectic with events. A friend in my group had a birthday this past Thursday so we tried to think of something fun to do that none of us had done before. Our solution? A drag show. Now, they’re definitely not for everybody but for a group of fifteen 20-year-olds it was hysterical. There was an emcee named Shana and 4 different acts. One even picked a girl from our group and danced with her! It was a blast.

Our group spent the last 2 days in Castilla La Mancha, which is where the epic Spanish novel Don Quixote is set. The route he takes in the story is marked around the region and we followed some of it. We saw the huge windmills he fought in a famous part of the story in which he believes them to be giants. We also saw the jail cell where the author, Miguel de Cervantes was held when he wrote Don Quixote. We visited a farm where they produce manchego cheese, which is common throughout Spain and is made from sheep’s milk. We saw how it was made and were able to try the 3 different kinds. We then went to our hotel to have a siesta (break in the middle of the day) and then had a tour Almagro, a part of Castilla La Mancha. We saw an outdoor play and then had tapas for dinner. The next day we were up early for a hike around a different part of  Castilla. This part of the town was full of mountains and lagoons formed from limestone and rain water. There were tons of beautiful waterfalls and small coves of water that looked like Jacuzzis. We saw how the water comes up, yes up, from the soil in the mountain and runs down the side and into the lagoons. It’s ironic since La Mancha actually means dry land in Arabic so having a part of it with tons of water is a blessing to its citizens.

We then went to have lunch at a restaurant situated around a lot of Don Quixote gift shops. Castilla La Mancha is dedicated solely to Don Quixote; it is much like any boring town with one college in it. You can get Don Quixote anything…even underwear.  In all it was a very enjoyable trip. Castilla La Mancha is much more calm then the hustle and bustle of Madrid. It was nice to relax for 2 days but it’s good to be back. This coming weekend is booked for a 3 day trip to Barcelona! Just need to get through classes this week! Hasta la próxima!