Allie in the South of Spain

On Saturday I went to the circus for the first time in my recollection (thanks to a conversation in which I mentioned this fact). We arrived a few minutes early to stand outside in a line of children buzzing with anticipation outside the big top. It was infectious and I couldn´t help myself. I was just excited as them as we finally entered and found a spot. First positive: we had seats and weren´t on bleachers. Second bonus: Spanish circuses allow beer. Though I will say as a disclaimer that as an overall experience, I enjoyed myself, I think it would have been much better had we had a child or two with us. Like a niece or a borrowed neighbor (no kids for me right now, thank you very much). That being said, even riding my sugar high thanks to my first cotton candy in years, I was somewhat disappointed with my Spanish circus. The first act was the Amazing Miss Cameltoe, a very flexible gal whose ultratight body suit left little to the imagination. She was certainly a hit with the Dad cr...

Thanks to Groupon (if you aren´t signed up in your area you are crazy), Jose and I were able to spend last weekend in the central part of Spain. We visited Valdepeñas (a city famous for its wines) in Castilla-La Mancha where we were able to go to a spa and partake in a winery tour. We also went to visit the famed windmills (molinos) in Campo de Criptana (a pueblo that has little else) that are supposedly the ones mentioned in the epic battle scene in the Quijote by Cervantes. Thanks to my semester long course on this the first modern novel, I was able to nerdily enjoy them more than your average tourist. That being said, I got to thinking about our dearest Don Quijote and what his story would be like if he lived now. If you don´t know the basic premise here it is: a don nobody (Alonso Quijano) reads a bunch of chivalric novels that addle his brain enough that he changes his name to Don Quijote and sets out on a quest like the ones outlined in said books. He part...

Last week I had several run-ins with gypsies here in Sevilla where it seems you can´t swing a dead cat without hitting one (as my mom would say). What are gypsies like in real life? Well first of all, we aren´t talking about Disney´s Esmeralda (from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, one of Disney´s most underrated films) which was what I imagined before arriving. In order to give my perception of what a gypsy is like here in the south of Spain, I am going to make some generalizations here (this is my disclaimer). Gypsies tend to have cartoonishly proportioned body types. They are either rail thin or barrel bodied (think extreme apple shape). They have darker complexions and the women have loooooooooooooong hair. They are easy to spot because of the haphazard way they are often dressed in contrast to the very careful way other Spaniards choose their clothing. If Spanish people in general are loud, gypsies are scandalously so. If you are ever walking by the c...

I recently got a comment saying that I was slacking with my posting and I can only agree. Allow me to explain why. In all honesty, my attention has been focused elsewhere on the two huge meltdowns effecting the world today. One of course (and certainly more important in the scheme of things handsdown) is the potential nuclear meltdown in Japan. I have been glued to the news to keep track of what is going on with the sad tsunami aftermath as well as people´s reactions to it (which have been surprising in many ways, see some of my friends´Facebook status update claiming it, the earthquake in Haiti and September 11th were God´s will in a roundabout way or some other such nonsense based on a Bible verse whose logic I didn´t quite follow). In any case, my thoughts are with those people effected. On a lighter note, I was also engrossed in following the Charlie Sheen meltdown. Thank God for Youtube and all the people who uploaded his interviews and rants. I heard all about winning a...

This weekend Jose and I took advantage of yet another day off of work for a holiday in order to plan a trip to the north of Spain. We left Friday afternoon, spent the night in Malaga and flew out early on Saturday morning. We arrived in Bilboa and caught a bus to San Sebastian where we met up with two of Jose´s friends from when he studied abroad, Ibon and Arantxa (which are Basque names). Even though it was cold and raining on and off the whole day, we spent a few hours touring the city, riding the funicular up a hill to see the views as well as the creepily delapidated amusement park at the top and later trying pintxos which are this region´s answer to the tapa. Pinxtos  When we walked into the first bar at lunch time, our eyes lit up. The entire bar was covered in deliciousness in snack sized versions. We tried skewers of shrimp, bacon and goodness, grilled things and fried things, nomnomnomnom. Later that night we went to a sidreria which is a restaurant that makes ...