La Alhambra

   

Well things are starting to wrap up here in good ol' Lanaron, or LanJAMON as a clever student has dubbed it.  We have a little over two weeks left in Spain with the last five days spent in Madrid and most of us are really looking forward to heading back.  We've started to make plans about how to fit each other into our lives when we arrive stateside, making barbeque promises and on campus invitations to coffee.  The students are joking about a possible scenario where they all run straight for my Joe at the airport to hug him before I do.  I think they should do it.  Here in Spain, I now joke with the staff, let the maid complain to me about work and travel with ease throughout the country with little anxiety.  I'll miss many things about this place, especially tapas.  Two bucks for wine and they pretty much feed you free.  

     This Friday was supposed to take us on a trip to a river, ham (Jamon Serrano) curing establishment and chocolate factory.  I don't know how to say Charlie in Spanish otherwise you'd be in for a real zinger.  Either way, the bus never came as the liaison in Madrid didn't confirm.  We are all very very tired of being led around by our arms so to be honest most all of us celebrated our freedom and chose to do what we wanted for the day.  Scheduled trips during our free days can be a bit suffocating.  I took a hike to the Moorish castle, napped, had lunch and coffee and finished with a rented movie.  Couldn't have been better.  The next morning the bus DID show up for our scheduled trip to the Alhambra in nearby Granada.  

     So the Alhambra is a mideival moorish fortress/palace and considered widely to be a wonder of the world.  We strolled the gardens before and while waiting right before the ticket time a guide none of us were informed we would have , showed up after having frantically looking for us all morning.  Fun stuff.  Guides are a mixed bag as it's someone chatting away in your ear as you try to take in visions that are meant to impact your life.  For the history buff in me, I'm ok with it most of the time.  At this point?  I'm over it.  Again, getting pulled around by the arm is irritating and often more distracting than anything, especially when you've already covered the sight in your class... 

The Alhambra is richly adorned with the Arabic phrase "over all rulers, God" in calligraphic script as well as ornamental foliage patterns created in stucco originally imprinted with wooden molds.  It would have been painted but the color has worn from age.  The ceilings are often mosaic wood patterns and the windows would have also originally been stained glass.  Only one remained in the entire complex.  The horseshoe arch was allowed to metasticize into a type of ornamental stalagtite in the upper recesses of rooms creating a cave like appearance.  The gardens led always to fountains and cloister like oasis foliage, roses and cypress trees.  Queen Isabella thought it so beautiful that she was originally buried there.  To be honest, I thought the royal palace in Sevilla to be more beautiful but hey, it was worth the trip and then some.  

      Four of us walked down a municipal hill garden,  had a fresh squeezed cup of orange juice and chose to lunch at an Italian joint on pizza and pasta.  Gelato of course followed because we are all gluttonous Americans and how often is one in Europe?   We stumbled onto a runway fashion show of older women in Flamenco clothing.  I pet a few dogs as usual before we headed to our meeting place to ride back in the smartest, cleanest Mercedez Benz bus ever made.

      Fast forward to 2:30 am in the hotel.  The music is still pumping at top volume from the old folks' party downstairs, and it sounds like it's coming out of my bathroom.  They play "Bailando," squeal like teenagers and grope in the garden below my balcony whilst chain smoking.  This goes on at top notch speed until 4am.  4am.  No really, 4 am.  The elderly party until 4 am.  I may perhaps be the oldest woman in Spain because I stewed about it like a biddy all night and morning.  

      Today I am prepping for class tomorrow where I talk about my own work.  

Thoughts:  toilets here are number one and number two.  You choose which and pull the lever up to flush.

Most times, public restrooms don't have toilet seats.  

They just reuse the bottles here after cleaning.  No recycling the way they do in America.  I'm ok with it.

I may be addicted to queso curado and manzanilla tea.  Still, I'm done with ham.

I'm getting grayer in the hair since I got here.  

I look forward to being able to wash my clothes regularly and large scale garbage cans when I get back.