Saturady morning Cecilia, Erin and I took a bus to Carcabuey, a village near Priego. We were going on a walk for the membrillo (quince) festival. Our first stop was the center of Carcabuey where we had a breakfast of bread, olive oil and membrillo. The membrillo was good, the bread was way too soaked in oil for my taste. Then we walked along the olive trees to Zagrilla, another village). The walk took about two hours. Along the way, we were given free, bright yellow, t-shirts. When we got to Zagrilla we went to the festival tent where there was food (for sale), candy, homemade soaps and olive pate and jam. None of the food looked particularly appealing, so we ate the fruit we had brought with us. The problem was that we had to hang around for three hours because the return bus didn’t leave until 5pm. We made friends with a Spanish family. The daughter (who was in Sevilla) had done a camp program in the US and was placed in Sandwich, MA. Her mom was shocked that I had heard of the town and knew where it was. They live in Zagrilla but want us to go to their house or something (we have no way of getting there). We also were befriended by a British couple who live near Zagrilla. They bought a house four years ago and gutted the entire thing, had central heating (not normal here) put in and heated towel racks. We were invited in case we get cold in the winter. They go back and forth between Andalucía and England (80 miles from London) fairly often. On Tuesday they’re driving to Bilbao and taking a 36-hour ferry to the UK. While we were pretty bored during most of the fiesta, we amused ourselves by checking out the clothing on the Spanish people. One woman had red and white polka dot shoes and a red and white polka dot belt. The Spanish are very big on matching their shoes to their belt to their bag to their accessories. It can get really interesting, like when they match their umbrellas to their outfits.
We were pretty tired before our walk because we had gone to the gym the night before. We took a pilates class, which wasn’t that great and an abs/glutes/legs class, which was much harder and left us feeling sore. It was a free trial day at this very uppity gym. The locker rooms had a Jacuzzi, sauna, tanning booth, showers and tons of hairdryers. The gym had tons of machines and weights and stuff. Everything was new and shiny. There was also a bar, which had protein shakes, juice, coffee and, no joke, beer. I’m not sure if I’m going to join this gym or another one. I’m going to go to the yoga class to try it out, but I don’t know if I’m going to like it. I can’t seem to find any ashtanga classes here.
I’m also not sure if joining a gym is worth it because I can run on the streets. However, this is difficult because there is not a single flat street in Priego. Every street has an uphill or downhill part. The only semi flat streets are 5 houses long and not really worth running down because you get to the end of the block and have to run down a hill, or up a flight of stairs.
While at the gym on Friday, we saw one of the funniest sights….a woman was on the treadmill in heels. They weren’t very high, just some pumps. But still….she was wearing heels on the treadmill.
That brings me to a good subject: Spanish fashion. Men wear their hair in mullets, sometimes with a rat tail and other times just a mullet. Women match all of their accessories. Sunday Cecilia and I saw a woman with magenta boots on over her skinny jeans. She also had on a pink jacket, magenta scarf and she carried a pink bag. Children of the same family often match. It’s semi-nauseating actually. We also saw six children dressed in three pairs. Two girls had on beige jumpers over pink shirts. Two boys had on jeans with pink and navy rugbys. Two other kids (a boy and a girl) had on jeans and pink shirts with black and red writing on the shirts. The six of them looked hilarious. Twins at school always have on the same outfits.
No comments:
Post a Comment