The weekends have been pretty low-key for me since I was running pretty low on money for a while. I figured it was good that I was broke so that way I would be forced to spend wisely - to only buy things that I absolutely needed. Because of this I spent a lot of time walking around Granada at night and on weekends. A few weeks ago it was so warm here! It got up into the 80's. I spent much of that weekend in el Parque Garcia Lorca working on a tan. Who needs the beach when you've got the park!
Last week was a little colder and it rained a few days. Friday was freezing and was my ultimate day of boredom so far here in Granada. It was just too cold and wet for me to want to do anything. I stayed inside all day - without internet - and almost lost my mind.
Good thing Saturday came along. AIFS took us on a trip to Ronda. For the longest time I had no idea what was there. Good thing we have Google though. I googled Ronda and found out that Spain's oldest bullring is there and there's a big ravine caused by an earthquake that splits the city into a new section and an old section.
One of the views in Ronda
It was really pretty there. The view. I couldn't stop taking pictures. When I look at them they're mostly of the same view. We had a funny little old man as our tour guide who had the greatest outfit on. He took us to the Puente Nueva (new bridge), the Old Bridge, a cathedral (?) that was once a mosque, and then a building that had a garden in back with an amazing view. After all of those we hit up the bull ring.
In front (or behind...?) of the New Bridge in Ronda
The oldest bullring in Spain - in Ronda
That night when we got back to Granada I went for tapas with my friends Lauren and Mo. We went to this new place I had heard about called "Los Cuadros". It was very Chic. There were so many kids there, like high schoolers and college kids. The list of tapas never ended though! We got tortellini for our first one and then these breaded balls of chicken. I'm gonna miss tapas a lot!
Last night I went to a bull fight that was held here in Granada as a charity to support Down's Syndrome. It was actually really cool. I wasn't really bothered by the death of the bulls. I was just really interested in how everything happened and the culture of the event.
The first bull - before he's been stabbed with anything. Next a man on a horse will come out and stab him in the back. After, two more men will come out and each will stab two more spears in the back that'll stay in there the rest of the fight. The matador is next, he'll eventually put a sword through the back, and finally another man will stab the bull in the head to...well...make sure he dies.
One thing that I thought was cool was how they gave out the trophy. Once the matador kills the bull people will wave white flags. The president, some bull-fight critique, and his two assistants will then decide how many white flags to give the matador. He can get up to 3, with 3 being a perfect bull fight. 1 Flag means that the matador gets one ear from the bull, 2 flags means both ears, and 3 flags means the 2 ears and the tail. The 4th matador to go out there got all 3 flags and when he got his trophies he threw them out into the audience. Could you imagine being the one to catch the tail?! What would you do with it?! I don't think customs would let it back into the US.
The second matador who was very fun to watch. He was jumping all over the place. At this point he threw his cape and sword behind him, got on his knees and was ready to fight the bull by hand. But the bull didn't move. He got two ears for his trophy. I was surprised at how the bulls died. I had never seen that part before but at the end the matador aims for the bull's back with his sword, charges, and stabs him. Then a few men will come out and try to tire the bull out. Within like 10 seconds, maybe a few more, he falls to the ground like he's going to go to sleep. That part is a little sad because you know it's the end. Then another man will come up with a knife and stab him in the head to end it. Ehhhh So yeah, I don't know if I should have written that as it bothers some people but I always wondered how it ended.
Not many people in Spain like the bullfights. I only talked to a few kids here in the residencia and none of them like bullfights. I heard that it may be on it's way out - that's it's a dying tradition. So maybe in a few years we won't see it anymore?
Yep, so that's my post. I don't want to bore people with details. Only a little more than a month until I go home, which is really quite sad. Everyday that I go outside I try to take in as much as I can. I absolutely love Granada. I want to bring it all back with me.
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