Dia de la Madre

Today was a nice and peaceful day. It wasn't raining when I woke up - very exciting.

After breakfast I headed out to explore. A bunch of artists were in the little squares selling paintings. I'm a sucker for artwork so I bought a litle acrylic painting. It's not too touristy but it is of a woman dressed in a flamenco dress walking with a man away from the viewer. It's tasteful and more subtle than most.

With all the museums I've visited and local artists I've seen, I'm excited to start working on my large white canvas I've had hanging for almost a year. Finally decided what I want to paint.

Once I got to the river I walked along it a bit past kids having fun at a skate park, and sat down on a bench overlooking the river. Other people were walking their dogs, reading the newspaper, and people watching. I read my book in the sun, soaked up a healthy amount of vitamin D, and then headed for the shade.

A guy named Victor came and shared my bench with me and wanted to chat. He was nice, told me what sites I should visit in his broken English. He was embarassed but felt better when I told him his English was a lot better than my Spanish. I have enjoyed the fact that very few people (especially waiters) here speak English. After about ten minutes he said goodbye and wandered off. And then about an hour later when I was walking down the riverfront he caught up to me and gave me his digits, in case I wanted to do some sight-seeing with him or to grab a drink. I told him I was leaving tomorrow but he didn't seem to care. My little collection of numbers and email addresses has grown quite a bit over the last few cities. While the Spanish men are less flirty than the Italians, they sure are quick to give out their info unsolicited.

I spent a few hours by the river. Lots of crew teams and kayakers floating by. I got a little sad while I was there thinking about my mom so I opened up my notebook and drew a bit of the scenery. A little art therapy if you will. Dia de la Madre is celebrated the first sunday of May here, and it is advertised but luckily not as much as it would be in the U.S. My mom loved to travel and had plans to do a large family trip to Europe. So every trip I take I feel like I'm honoring her in a way. Happy Dia de la Madre to all you mothers and soon-to-be mothers out there.

I hopped in a Starbucks, not to buy a coffee, but to see what they call the sizes here. Sure enough they call them "tall, grande, and venti" like in the U.S. Interesting. While I wouldn't support Starbucks here, I could see myself buying an iced coffee there in the brutal heat of summer, since that's not something you can get at the local shops.

After a while I had to use an aseo, so I headed to find a little cafe. I ordered a glass of wine and asked her what kind of vegetarian tapas they had. She said they had two - patatas bravas and something called Salmorejo Cordobes, which she explained is a local cold soup, very popular. I looked over and sure enough the people next to me were eating it. So I said vale!

I didn't like the soup or the angry potatoes. But the wine was good and I got to use the aseo.

I then walked through the Parque Maria Luisa. That's when it started raining. At first a nice drizzle but then it got pretty strong. Not as bad as yesterday though. I found a little pond and was on the lookout for some water turtles when all of a sudden a bunch of ducklings appeared. Made me so happy watching them for about ten minutes. Took a cute little video of all 9 of them getting out of the water to follow their mama. Happy Dia de la Madre to her too.

Along with my land turtle I want a duck someday.

At the end of the park is the Plaza de Espana. It is quite impressive, took as many photos as I could in the rain. I then sauntered back to the hostel to regroup before my flamenco show.

All the stores were closed today except for the souvenir shops. I did find one sweatshirt (most shops just had t-shirts) that had a small bull silhouette and 'Sevilla' written in small letters underneath. Not too tacky. I was going to buy it, but they only had small & medium. The medium sleeve covered about half of my forearm. Oh well. Maybe the weather will get nicer.

The flamenco show was 6 times more expensive than the one I went to in Granada, and about 20 times better. It was very professional and had lots of dancers. I got there about a half an hour before it started so got a good seat. The cheap seats are 36 euros and include a drink. The more expensive seats are at tables and include either tapas or dinner, but they sit behind the cheap seats. So it doesn't really make sense to eat dinner there, if you ask me. It didn't look or smell very good either. It was a fun show. Kind of reminded me of the tango show I went to with my parents in Buenos Aires. I took a few short videos if anyone is curious.

A few random notes:
1) My hostel is next to a church, been fun to hear the bell tower every hour.
2) Fifty German students checked in yesterday. Made me think that I'd like to be a parent chaperone someday. To cool locations only though. I remember my mom really enjoyed going to the Pantanal with a group from Ang's class.
3) Musicians - I love to support street musicians when it's my decision to watch and listen to them. I don't like it when you are stuck in the metro or sipping a coffee and they walk by your table and expect you to give them money. Especially when they don't have talent. No gracias.
4) I've noticed a lot of all white pigeons here which I find odd. Speaking of pigeons, the Spanish ones have been kind to me.
5) Spanish beer - while I'm sure you can get all the types everywhere - there seems to have been a particular one advertised the most in each city (on umbrellas, napkins, and in bar windows etc). Mahou in Madrid, Estrella in Barcelona, Alhambra in Granada, and Cruzcampo in Sevilla. I must say that Estrella has been my favorite. The most popular cocktails seem to be mojitos and caipirinhas.

I donated Madame Bovary to the hostel. Will start my next book on the bus ride tomorrow (the one that Andrew gave me). Bus leaves at 7:30am so will leave the hostel around 6:30. Will probably pack tonight and sleep in my clothes so I don't wake people up that early.

It's about a 5 hour bus ride to Portimao, my first stop in Portugal. Pretty excited!