Caves are more interesting than my homework

I am procrastinating.

I don’t really know how much I need to read for my tres culturas class (three cultures—Muslims, Jews, and Christians) but it seems like way more than it should be. Obviously this confusion is distracting me from completing the actual assignment. Typical.

I am justifying this decision to temporarily alternate my priorities, by the fact that I believe that it would be simply unfair to make anyone wait two long weeks to read another novel of a post.  Also, I am super excited to tell you about my weekend.

I entered this weekend tired, but optimistic.  Friday morning, I slept in.  I didn’t shower.  I wrote the last post you read (Assuming you didn’t wimp out, and actually read it. Also assuming that you have been reading these in chronological order).  I ate lunch.  I think I ate puchero, but I cannot remember.  It was good.  I enjoy puchero.  We’ll say that I ate puchero…I then took Aisha on a guided tour (mild exaggeration) of the famous ceramic shops in Triana and we snacked at Charlotte, a hip café/pastry place in the recently renovated downtown street (they literally finished the construction last week and it looks really nice).  The city workers have begun to hang the Christmas lights all over the city. I’ve heard that they will not be officially lit until December 6^th, but I have no confirmation on this claim.  It’s going to look amazing, though. I’m excited. There will be pictures, no worries!

Saturday I awoke to find an email and then many facebook updates exclaiming the engagement of two of my dear friends from school, Nick and Lauren.  That was wonderful news!  Lunch was fantastic. Paella and boscarones (small fried fish that we have fairly often).  The best part, however, was that my older host sister and her husband ate with us.  I had a wonderful dinner-table discussion with them about sweets, Thanksgiving, the similarities and differences in our Christmas celebrations, my love of cooking, etc.  I tried several different dulces de navidad (Christmas-time sweets) and my host dad and I joke about needing to work out from all the food (but he was only half-kidding).  Later, Aisha and I finally found the free shuttle bus to the outlet mall. We made it just in time. I found boots! They’re really nice. “Chulísimo” (really cool) according to María.  My host parents had apparently gone to the beach for the weekend, so when María got home, she had Ale and two of her friends with her.  They made dinner and we chatted for a good while.  María introduced me as her “American sister.”  I felt included. It was reassuring. 

On Sunday I had to madrugar (to get up early…they have a single verb to describe this phenomenon!).  I went to Aracena (the pueblo I went to pick wild mushrooms) with my study abroad group.  We visited Las Minas de Riotinto and la Gruta de las Maravillas.  You’re probably confused.  Allow me to explain.

Las Minas de Riotinto:

Mines that were started by the British.  The water there is completely safe for your skin, but toxic to consume because it contains so many different types of minerals and metallic elements.  NASA actually does research here because the land has many similar characteristics as the planet Mars! We went into part of the mine and had to wear hardhats.  For safety.  We felt pretty official.

(A view of the the land with its layers of minerals, from above the mine.)

(Another view of the rocks.)

(Look at the red color of the water, caused by iron and other minerals.)

(Portions of the entrances of the mines had walls of pine logs for support because pine possesses desirable qualities.)

(The tunnels miners take to get into and out of the mines where they actually dig.)

(I could not contain my excitement. I was wearing a blue hard hat.)

(We were being taught about the mines...note how the logs are bound to form the sides of the tunnels.)

(Old portions of the mines from the outside.)

(In sepia because it looks old-fashioned.)

Gruta de las Maravillas:

Spain’s largest cave. I cannot even tell you how cool this was! I’m actually still in awe. ¡Que impresionante! (how impressive)  It was huge. We just kept walking farther and farther into it and circled around somehow.  There are 3 levels! There’s a bunch of water and so many rock formations.  We had to duck to walk through some of the tunnels and I almost fell at one point. I got cave juice on me!... One “sala” (room…that’s what they call them because it’s easier to explain different sections when they break them into “rooms”) was like a room of glowing chandeliers.  Another looked like cauliflower and another like garbanzo beans.  One looked like the Great Hall at Hogwartz, and one was called “la sala de los desnudos” (the room of the nudes) because it looked like there were male body parts on the walls.  There was a little boy on the tour with us and his dad covered his eyes, joking with his wife.  It was really cute.  They didn’t let us take pictures; however, we could purchase the snapshot they took of us for 5 €…What the heck?! This was a cave, not an amusement park! I do not feel that this was necessary. Needless to say (but I guess I’m saying it now…), I do not have pictures of this to share. But…here’s a link that does:

 http://www.google.es/images?q=gruta+de+las+maravillas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=2XbYTMOHN4-SjAfkmNnXCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CDMQsAQwAQ&biw=1280&bih=649

That is an epic URL. 

By the way, cueva = cave in Spanish.

Also in Aracena, we ate some pastries and some tapas and walked around a bit.  It felt like a wonderful fall day and there were leaves on the ground…I love fall!

Enjoy a few random pictures of the downtown area:

(We ate lunch at the place on the right. The man forgot to charge Aisha for her rice pudding. We didn't remind him.)

(Statue.)

(Some sort of government offices...?)

(In the background is a giant stone structure. It looked like a castle or an old church of some sort.)

(Chairs outside of the place where we got pastries.)

(Woman selling chestnuts.)

(Stray dogs roaming around.)

(My fall day!)

When I returned from Aracena, María and Ale invited me to have dinner with them at Burger King.  I thought it would taste different than at home, but I didn’t notice anything distinct about it.  Dinner was fun, though. I was having issues hearing María and when she told me that people in Spain joke that the hamburgers there are made of rat meat, I said that people in the U.S. say that too, but it’s true.

(pause for effect)

What I meant to say was that the quality of the meat is worse at fast food restaurants than at sit-down establishments.  When they said “rata” (rat), I heard “caca” (poop), thinking they meant that the meat it crappy quality.  The look on their faces was priceless.

In addition to these wonderful events, I also had the opportunity to speak with several of my good friends online and through Skype, including my best friends who I hadn’t talked to in 70,000 years.  I felt so content afterward.  Even though I did not do my homework, a void was filled that I had not even realized was present.  It is a truly comforting feeling to be reminded of who is most important in your life and who your true friends are.  I have the greatest friends and family in the world.  Really.    

P.S.  I don't know why I just put this together, but I can change the fonts on my posts. How does this font make everyone feel (the font, not my absentmindedness)? I'm going to experiment with this now. Feedback is appreciated. 

P.P.S.  When I got home after class this evening, my madre was leaving and all the lights were off.  It was dark. On my way down the hallway to the bathroom, I ran into the wall.  Approximately 15 minutes later, I went to wash my hands and I did it again. I don't know what happened. We don't question these things.