Making the Most of March Madness

In the spirit of March Madness, ahem, of traveling and enjoying the Andaluz that is, I have managed to leave the province on Huelva, not once but TWICE so far this month. Can I just say, amazing! The days don't always pass super quickly. Sometimes I even look back and think, wow that all happened today!?!? But those are the days I especially like, the days that seem to transform themselves from beginning to end, and leave me feeling like there's a story that needs to be told, or at least written down. Lately, I've been thinking I have to get up, out, and about, my tmie is winding down, and as always I want to make the most of every moment because how else do you make memories? Usually not by sitting on your culo waiting for towns, people, and cosas to happen to you. Anyhow, my latent inner need to be up and out of Huelva was facilitated by other people, so I really can't take all the credit, but I'm very glad, however it was made possible, that it happened. So, in the spirit of dual synopses... here goes:

Last weekend:
I went to Huelva City and spent the weekend bonding with my Huelva BFFs, La Rubia y La Morena. On Thursday night, I believe we had a nail painting party. Then on Friday, we caught a bus that brought us to a small, really bright, town on the border of Huelva and Portugal called Ayamonte. For a 50-minute bus ride, we got to see a little park, a cute little river through the town, lots of boats, la zona comercial, I got a pair of earrings as the girls know my weakness is shopping (!), and most exciting of all: took a 15-minute ferry ride to PORTUGAL! (So now I will say I've been there, even though it was only for one hour...) In the Portugal border town across the River: I liked what I saw, I know it was just on the other side of the water, but the architecture was different, lol! And for whatever reason it shocked me that people were seriously speaking Portuguese. I guess I did cross a border - without even needing a passport - but I am still surprised it was so different. A personal highlight was not getting stared at (score), and seeing maaaad towels lined up at the touristy booths along the Portugal port. When we at last made our way back to Huelva Fea, we ended up going out for a night on the town to some surprisingly new places, and although we caught a couple of awkward stares from the usual weird older man crowd, I saw an attractive Spaniard (a nine indeed, the first to reach that nivel de guapeton-ness).

That was Friday... on Saturday, we sat on the pier designed by the same man who did theEiffel Tower and took in the hottest rays I've felt since arriving in Septemeber. Later, we hitched a ride with a University of Huelva grad student and fan of the BFF's website, to Palos de la Frontera to see the Medieval Feria the town puts on to celebrate the return of Columbus after his first voyage to the "New World". I put that in quotations because we all know it wasn't really new.... but anyhow. Palos was the place he left from in 1492, and the place he returned to March 14th, 1493 after completing the first voyage. Little known Blakc History Factoid I picked up from my friend: despite Spain claiming all rights to the voyage, Columbus apparently did not collect all the water or all the seafaring men for is voyage in Palos de la Frontera alone; he stopped on the west coast of Africa, in Ghana, to pick up more agua, and more seamen because Ghanaians knew the shortest route to the New World. Not sure if that happened on the first journey, the second, third... or all, but it was definitely a detail our Huelva friend left out.

On Sunday, after waiting for a city bus to a park for an hour, we gave up and decided to go to Punta Umbria (my second time, since I went the week before to, but only to the commercial zone). There we got to lay out, peacefully, fully falling asleep for a couple of hours before going back to Huelva, where I caught the evening (and only bus on Sundays) back to [the sometimes very] buocolic Bollullos, unpack and prepare for writing lots of postcards, and getting my life together for my three-day work week and all the (um) stress in between...

So... that was last weekend.
Today:
Cadiz City - Originally I had planned to go to Cadiz on Friday, catch a bus to Sevilla, a train or bus to Cadiz, and somehow make a relatively tricky daytrip out of it. Much to my surprise, my roommate's parents are in town for a week or so, and wanted to go to Cadiz as well. So when I went out Thursday night, stayed out late, and then woke up at 2pm on Friday afternoon, it was actually the best thing that could have happened, because I met the parents Friday night and they offered to take me on their travels on Saturday to Cadiz.

Which, I might add, is a lovely beach city. not a beach town, but a small city. I liked. It took my mind off the fact that my roomie for life is getting married today and I'm nooot there... booo. So I'm not in Hawaii. But on the other side of the world, I chillaxed on the beach, climbed a steep wall along the beach as well as a winding sloped walk-up/ramp to the tower atop the Cathedral, walked through the Old Town/Casco Historico, had a kebab in the middle of a plaza facing the Cathedral, and picked up a pair of yellow flats. Priceless. On the way back to Bollullos, I got to see the sunset from the car, which happened in a matter of seconds, and reminded me of the how quickly the day comes to an end. No matter how long it took to get through it, they always end. No matter what happened along the way, the sun will go down and rise again. So in a lifelong effort to make the most of each day, I will continue the travels, plotting and planning the details, making the most of the moments, happy, sad, or in between, and filling my mind with positiveness to help me grow in the midst of a very emotional, spiritual, and sometimes physically taxing journey.

Here's to the spirit of my own personal March Madness!