This morning, Michelle, Liz and I walked to the bus station in the morning to buy our bus tickets for the beautiful city of Rhonda…but to my dismay, buses were not running at the times we needed them to run did not mesh and we would have been stuck there. We ended up walking around Cadiz for a bit, running errands – exchanging dollars into Euros, and buying Spanish postage stamps. At Siesta, we walked into a café by the market area and ate REAL churros. Can I explain in words how amazing those were? We sprinkled two packets of sugar over them, and stuffed our mouths with the warm dough. And then…wait for it…wait for it…I drank the best orange juice I have ever tasted. Spain is apparently known for their orange trees, and even moreso, their hand squeezed orange juice. It will be incredibly hard going back to Tropicana and Sunny D’s.
After the café, we walked back to the ship and got changed for a day of sun and beach. La Playa (the beach) was beautiful. We arrived there around 1:30ish and spread out our towels like true Americans. I felt uncomfortable when I began to look around, but I couldn’t quite place it. Then it hit me. This beach was not like Cocoa beach or Daytona. It was a kind of nude beach. Women walked around with their breasts dangling, men rubbed oil on their legs, all the way up to their itsy-bitsy speedos that barely covered anything, and there I was, half afraid to take off my tank top. Wow.
It was hard not to stare, to blatantly gawk, at everyone. Kids ran around pretty much naked, no inhibitions, no questions as to why their mothers did not wear bikini tops. It was amazing, and peculiar, and not something to wonder about at all. I was in Europe, Spain…and people are pretty much always naked in Europe. This I’ve learned. Billboards, public displays of affection, beaches, street corners…it’s what’s normal.
So, I took off my tank top and boy shorts and definitely not my bikini top, but I managed to stop staring at people in awe. I went with the flow of no inhibitions, and I walked away from that beach five hours later with the worst possible sunburn I could have managed. The backs/creases of my legs were so raw that I could not sit down for at least ten minutes after epically failing at lowering myself into a chair, my bed, or anywhere else. I know, I know…sunscreen much? I did put it on…my shoulders and face, which tanned very nicely. But my back and legs are so sore, but pain was worth the beauty of that beach, those people. It could have been sweetly prevented, yes, but it wasn’t so I don’t complain. I deal.
On the way back from the beach, we received at least 8 different forms of catcalls. It was weird and degrading and considering I looked and felt like a lobster, it was hilarious. I found it quite funny.
After the beach, we hobbled (me) to a café called El Pardinero for tapas/dinner. My food was very good this time:
Paella Mixta (Spanish rice with clams and an assortment of other fish. I got a bone in one, but other than that, it was delicious.
Albondigas (meatballs)
Flan (Famous Spanish dessert, looks like an upside down cupcake. Made with custard, eggs, and other yummy ingredients. It has a kind of carmelized sauce on top which tasted like coffee, and I had to scrape it off)
While at the café, an older man who had hair in his ears came up to our table and started gesturing at Michelle, saying something about Flamenco. The other girls did not look amused, and the one that spoke fluent Spanish at our table looked disgusted. He kept going on, saying different phrases and smiling nicely at each of us. It was incredibly awkward, and I had to turn my head away because I couldn’t help but laugh. I’ve learned that laughing is the way I deal with awkwardness and most of life. When he eventually walked away, Liz, who speaks fluent Spanish, rolled her eyes and told us that he was complimenting our beauty and said that we should be Flamenco dancers, to which I laughed even harder. Flamenco? Has he seen the way true Flamenco dancers move? Look?
The rest of the night flew by, and I skipped going out on the town because I could barely move from being so burnt, let alone try and dance in some dark club. No, gracias!
My love to you all :)
A.
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