Having not updated in so long, seeing as this website has refused to upload any photos at the moment I have neglected to write down everything I've been up to - and wow, it's been a lot. I feel as if I've been here a few months already, just because of how busy the days have been and the places I've been on a whim... or a train.
So since the "puente" or long weekend caught both my roommate Jessica and I by surprise we didn't have time to plan a big trip to Sevilla or Lisbon as we were hoping, but we spent the weekend in Villanueva and then woke up on Monday morning with the idea that we could go to Merida, to see the Roman ruins and see a bit of the city. Note that this decision was made at about noon... In any case, we packed our backpacks with lunches, rain jackets - you never know here honestly - and a change of clothes... just in case! Luckily we found a train leaving Villanueva at 14:00 to Merida for only 3 euros so we took advantage of that to spend the day there. Of course, arriving in a city during siesta (between about 14:00 and 17:00) when nothing is open is not always the best if you're looking for shopping but we in fact loved the lack of busyness when we got there, walked by the river and took pictures while navigating our way through the ghost-town. We stopped at a Doner-Kebab restaurant to pick up some snacks and chatted with the two men running the place, recent immigrants from Pakistan. We never really figured out why they wanted to come to Spain to work but apparently they know that Turkish kebabs sell well in Spain?
After that we bought our passes to see the Roman Anfiteatro and Stadium and spent a few hours just gazing at the ruins, touching the stones, touching history. I don't have any words to explain how it felt to walk and sit in the anfiteatro, despite the mass of tourists, it was relatively quiet.. silent amazement, I suppose. Unfortunately, by the time we left the ruins the Moorish castle was closed for viewing for the day as were the other sites included in our ticket… sights to be seen another day as the tickets don’t have expiry dates, much to our delight. Merida is a beautiful city dotted with Roman ruins, architecture, archaeological sites and beautiful buildings along the river. We are actually quite lucky it’s only a short 40 minute train ride away.
We returned home to our piso that night, deciding that the last train back at 20:50 gave us plenty of time to see what we could, sit in the plaza to enjoy a glass of cold – yes, cold – red wine and then be able to sleep in our own beds. The next morning I agreed to do the pilgrimage to Las Cruces to celebrate “La Vela” – the day where the statue of the virgin/patron saint of Don Benito is moved from the main church there to her basilica in the mountains (not really mountains, just a hill really compared to Canadian standards). So Miguel, Ana and the kids picked me up at 10AM, about 2 hours after the devotees already left to do the 5km walk. It only took about an hour and a half to do, in the hot sun no doubt. When we arrived, the chapel was stuffed with people taking pictures, leaving flowers at the Virgen’s feet and praying, singing etc. But the area around the chapel, a large grassy area was filled with picnickers, and tons of food and souvenir stalls were set up – this was really the place to be that day since everyone and their horse and donkey were out at this event. I met Miguel’s parents, a sweet couple who insisted on buying me “pinchos” – skewers of marinated pork with a salty/curry flavour – and to try various meats and cheeses. Such torture, no?
After many thanks and insisting that I was full we waited for the bus to take us back into town and I spent the rest of the day relaxing at home and getting ready for my first day of work. But that in itself is another story to follow soon.
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