Andalucia!

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"Don´t know about you,
but I am une chien Andalusia,
I am une chien Andalusia,
I am une chien Andalusia,
When I grow up I want to be, be a Debaser....."
- The Pixies

Hola everyone,

it´s been a while, but I haven´t really had a chance to walk into an internet cafe. If you´re wondering about the Pixie lyrics, it´s because I am in Seville, the capital city of the province of Andalusia (You try making a pop culture reference about Andalusia).

Ok, this will be kind of like a postcard where I´m sending it from Seville, but it will be about what I got up to before I arrived in Seville. By the way, it´s a sweltering 38 degrees here. What´s Melbourne like?? 😊

Since I last left you guys, I´ve stayed in Madrid for a couple of nights before spending five days in Portugal and arriving back in Spain, but we´ll see how far I get before I get tired of typing 😊

Madrid is a very busy little city, around the size of Melbourne, only the traffic is more chaotic (that and they happen to speak Spanish. Funny that....). After spending a few days in Spain, I´ve found that my Spanish has improved from non-existent to ordering food and beverages whilst also developing sublime pointing skills. I´m so flexible with my Spanish that I can order beer, Sangria (Spanish fruit punch), water, coffee or orange juice in either a small or large glass or even a carafe. Pretty good hey?

My pointing and nodding is so good that I can also order most food and train tickets....

The Tapas has been amazing, with their large selections of cured hams and sausages. The seafood has also been impressive, with the octopus with red onions in olive oil deserving a special mention. Swordfish and scampies have also been very fresh. You may be curious to know that I have basically phased coffee out of my diet since I´ve started travelling but am drinking more beer (probably because I´m so adept at ordering it now).

Avoid the next section if you are squeamish, it´s about bullfighting.....

I also went to a bullfight in Madrid, which is probably as close as you get to gladiatorial fights nowadays. The crowd has the ability to influence the fight with their shouting and their coloured handkerchiefs. If the bull is not up to standard, people will start booing and waving a green handkerchief, hoping that the official will also do likewise. If the official (usually sitting in the president´s box) waves the green flag, it means the fight is over. The bull is then joined by a herd of ´Judas´cows in the ring which are trained to run out of the ring and getting the bull to follow.
(A ´Judas´cow in the traditional sense is the cow that is trained to walk into an abbatoir and hence lead it´s brethren to a premature end. It survives to lead as many herds as it can....)

If the crowd boos and waves the white handkerchief around, it means that the Matador is crap. Usually this means that the Matador is not skilful and is taking a long time to knock the bull off. A skilful matador will be able to dodge a bull and put a sword through a bull´s heart and make it drop dead within seconds. A bad matador is one that misses and has the bull endure a prolonged death, and having it die from bleeding internally whilst making these awful bellowing noises. I saw both examples that night and the crowd do not appreciate a poor performance from either party. It´s a tough gig....

Rejoin here where I can tell you about Salamanca

From Madrid, we headed towards Salamanca, this little university town with an old quarter full of sandstone architecture. The old quarter is beautiful, and it also has one of the oldest universities in europe and it was opened in the 1200s or thereabouts. Apparently it´s highly prestigious but I´ve not heard of it.
(A little aside here, If you have Asian parents, you will know that even though they can´t speak a word of english, they will still be able to reel off the names of all the prestigious universities that they´d like their child to attend: Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale etc. I haven´t heard one of them mention Salamanca, so it can´t be THAT prestigious...)

It was here where I pretended to be a local and had dinner in the plaza mayor of Salamanca, dining al fresco in the square and imbibing Sangria til the sun went down at around 10pm. A wonderful little night with great food, nice beverage, and good company.

Okay, I´ve had enough and I´ll try and tell you about Portugal next time.

Adios,
Ben

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