My 145 Day Journey: April 2011

Jamón Ibérico, "Caving", the Beach and Catholic mass: an Interesting Combination

For each of my business classes, we are required to go on a company visit that pertains to the class. For example, for my International Finance class, we visited a financing company that works with hotels and tour agencies around the world. This past Friday, for my International Marketing class, we visited the company Cinco Jotas (literally translated means 5 J's, but the company never translated their name) that sells their products all around the world. More generally, they are known as Sanchez Romero Carvajal. Here, we learned about the process that they use to make their jamón Ibérico.

The company is located in a small town in la Sierra Norte del Sevilla. There were about 40 of us on this company visit. When we got there we watched a short video about the products that the company sells, and then we had to put on our shoe covers, plastic jackets, and head covers to go on a tour of the facility. We saw the rooms where they sliced the various parts of the pig, the salting room for preserving the ham legs, and the cellars, where the ham stays for 24-36 months while it matures, and the different rooms for chorizo while it ages. It was a very interesting tour, and none of it bothered me, but I know the vegetarians in the group didn't completely love the tour. At the end of it all, we got to taste some jamón Ibérico with a glass of sherry, which I thought was a very classy way to end the tour. Also, if they sent us to the gift shop, where we could buy Cinco Jotas piggy banks, t-shirts, paté, small packages of jamón Ibérico, and 330 euros legs of jamón Ibérico. It was just a little out of my price range.

When we left that town, we headed for Aracena, another town in la Sierra Norte del Sevilla. Here, we were given money to go tapear (to go eat tapas), which was a lot of fun in and of itself. The group that I split up with went to a restaurant outdoors to tapear, and we invited Jaime (our program's resident director) to join with us. After tapas, we walked around the town a little bit before we had to meet up again to go "caving." I put it in quotations because it wasn't really caving, it was just walking along a path, taking in the wondrous sites that the caves had to offer us. The whole time, the guide was yelling at our group to stop taking pictures (I at least made a game of being sneaky without the flash). When she told Jaime that she was going to call and complain and he told us about the complaint, he just said "no pasa nada (don't worry) it happens all the time with the business program. I just found that funny. By the time we got home, and all was said and done it was 7pm, and I was completely exhausted.

The next day, three other friends and I decided it would be fun to go to the beach for the day in Huelva to las Matalascañas, which is the closest beach to Sevilla. We took an 11am bus, and arrived just after noon, and headed straight for the beach. Even though the entire week had been absolutely perfect weather, it was a little cloudy, and a little windy. We braved it though. Once the sun came out and the wind calmed down a little, it was the perfect temperature to lie out in the sun. Slowly, more and more people arrived to the beach: families, friends, Spaniards, foreigners. We were all there together chatting and sleeping, playing games in the sand. Something my friends and I found interesting and funny: Spaniards, especially those in Sevilla, will wear long pants, boots, and jackets when it is 75 or 80 and sunny outside, but as soon as they go to the beach they are the one's most willing to sunbathe with imperfect temperatures. Just an interesting observation.

Just like the weekend before in Lagos, I braved the Atlantic not once, but twice with my friend Ashley. The waves at the beach were absolutely perfect for body surfing. I hit numerous great waves, but also hit some others too early (ending in me being flipped in all directions under the water), or too late. All in all, it was all kinds of fun! Our señoras had made us lunches so we wouldn't have to worry about anything when we got there. It was a great care-free way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

When I got home around 7:30 before I could even put my things down in my room, Miguel walked in and invited me out to a discoteca with his friends, which I ended up passing on because I was so completely exhausted, and I knew if I went out on Saturday night then I wouldn't be able to be productive on Sunday (and I had to be productive on Sunday!). I told him that we have to go out the following Saturday and he sounded all for it!

Sunday, I was in fact productive. It's crazy to believe, but this is my 3rd to last week of class. Therefore, all of the semester-end projects are coming up rapidly, along with normal everyday homework, so my plate is filling up fast! I asked my friend Vanessa if I could tag along with her to mass at the cathedral on Sunday, and she said of course. I figured, even though I'm not catholic, it would be silly for me not to go to a mass in the world's 3rd largest cathedral when it's literally been in my backyard for the last 3 months. Even though I've been in the cathedral before, with my family 6 years ago, sadly but surely this was my first time in there during my stay here. The mass was in a side chapel in the cathedral that could fit about 100 people. The service itself was pretty cut-and-dry since there wasn't any singing and all of it was done in Spanish (of course). During the service, someone started to practice the organ in the cathedral I would assume in preparation for Holy week, and the sound echoing throughout the cathedral was so glorious. It was just amazing to be in a building with so much history and so much beauty, with the amazing sounds surrounding me.

All in all, the weekend was a combination of a handful of very different things. They were all amazing in their own ways, and I'm blessed to have done them with classmates that have become such amazing friends.

This was one of my last weekend in Sevilla, which is just so strange to say. The next month is as follows:

This week: Class and a trip to Morocco on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

Following week: Class, and that Friday my family arrives!

Following week: Holy week and traveling with my family

Following week: Class, leaving for Palma de Mallorca at the end of the week

Following week: Feria in Sevilla, splitting the week in Mallorca and Sevilla

Following week: Class/Final Exams

Following week: Traveling with Mandy

Following week: Traveling with Mandy/HOME!

It's unbelievable that that's all the time I have left. As it stands now, I have 52 days until I am home. Crazy. But to keep my sights in the short-term, I am looking forward to my trip with my program to Morocco at the end of this week. It will be a different cultural experience, and also will help me in my sibling domination at conquering the world one continent at a time. I have beaten John and Dave to Europe, South America, and now Africa. It just doesn't even seem fair to them anymore. Step up your gam boys! And in only 10 days my family will be here in Sevilla! I absolutely cannot wait for them to get here because I've missed them so much. I can't wait to show them all around Sevilla: my European home.

The product line for jamón Ibérico.

Some friends and classmates getting ready for the tour.

All dressed up for ham!

The salting room. Also the refrigerating room.

Ham

Older ham.

I like ham THIS much!

My friends and me in the ham cellar.

Hand cutting the ham for packaging.

Chorizo.

The smoking room for the chorizo.

Alacena for tapas! It was beautiful weather!

Maria and I having some fun!

In the caves.

Beautiful

At the beach in Huelva

I made it in the ocean for the second week in a row!

A Change in Plans

So there's been a change to my itinerary and the date when I will be coming home. When talking it over with my parents, we all agreed that it would be silly for me to stay the whole four weeks, if I didn't have anyone to travel with for the whole time. Also, as my original arrival stood, I would get back on June 10, and summer school at Purdue would start June 13, not giving me anytime at all to recover and I wouldn't have very much time with my family after being away for so long! So, now I will be coming home Friday, May 27, which is 2 weeks earlier. Instead of being "My 145 Day Journey," it should now be "My 131 Day Journey." Although, in all seriousness, the extra 2 weeks that I will be home will also be part of my journey, because I will have to adapt back to normalcy, which will be filled with changing back to Eastern Standard Time, car shopping, and catching up on that's happening while I'm away now. I thought I should just let my small following of readers know the update in the itinerary. For the two weeks that I will be here after the program, my best friend from home, Mandy Ball, will come over after she graduates, and we are going to (hopefully) some form of combination of Italy, Switzerland, and Paris. Once I have all of the details set on that, I'll let you know!

Lagos, Portugal

Right when I feel like I'm on top of my blogging, I get a whole week behind! Let's see if I can make it up to you now...

So last weekend (not this past, but the weekend before during March 26), I went with four other friends to Lagos, Portugal. Lagos is known for it's beautiful beaches, and are considered some of the most beautiful in the world. When planning this trip, our only goal was to lie on the beach and do a lot of nothing. Planning, and taking everyone's opinions into consideration was somewhat difficult, but in the end, we all agreed that those were the two most important objectives for the weekend.

We took the bus from Sevilla at 7:30 in the morning on Friday, and prepared for our 6 hour bus ride. The ride was uneventful, just like I like my traveling, and we arrived in Lagos at noon (Portugal is an hour behind Spain). Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm, we walked near the marina, and found a nice little restaurant to eat outside. The weather that day was very nice, about 75 and sunny, so we had no problems except squinting too much without sunglasses!

After lunch, we had to wait for a while for a bus that would take us in the direction of our hotel, since we learned that is was technically in Lagos, but more-so in a small town over from Lagos. After getting lost, and then helped by a nice scottish couple, we finally arrived at our hotel just in time for check-in. The place was perfect for what we were wanting: quiet and beauty next to the ocean. We all immediately went and put out swimsuits on and headed for the pool area, and sun bathed for a little bit, but eventually the winds came in making it a little cold. So, the rest of the day was spent getting drinks at the bar, siestas, and a little bit of homework. An absolutely perfect afternoon. For dinner, we took a walk around the town, which was more or less deserted at night, since my friends and I had already n Portuguese oticed we were killing the average age. It seemed that the vast majority of the residents there weren't, but rather were northern Europeans, mostly from the UK. For dinner we enjoyed some great Chinese food (not very Portuguese, I know), but the place reminded us all of our own favorite Chinese restaurants from the U.S., so for a night we "went back home." It was a fantastic time, and afterwards, since there weren't really any options for going out, and since all of us were still exhausted from the week, we called it a day early.

The next day, on Saturday, we headed to breakfast during the time slot it as served, and found a nice surprise: REAL breakfast food. If I listed all of the foods I miss from home, the list would be long, but near the top is a solid breakfast. The buffet had cappuccinos, cereals, a fruit bar (amazing), scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, pastries, and the list continues. I think all five of us ate like it was our last meal, since it is uncommon in Spain to have a nice, big breakfast consisting of more than toast and coffee. The only thing that would have made the breakfast even better would have been pancakes. I suppose that one will have to wait until I'm home.

The rest of the morning was spent with more sleeping, followed by some homework, while we waited for the temperature to get warmer. The weather that day was mostly cloudy, and it didn't get above 65 degrees, making it difficult for us to actually lie out on the beach. We refused to give up on our wish to go to the beach, so we all put our suits on, gathered our things, and headed to the nearest beach where we proceeded to have our own personal photo shoots with each other. It was a lot of fun! And, I persuaded Maria to go into the water with me. It was cold, but I wasn't going to let that stop me! So we both braved it, and went under the water.... after we numbed up it was really rather nice!

After we left the beach, we headed to lunch at a nearby English-owned restaurant, where we had some pretty amazing quesadillas and some of the best carrot cake I've ever had! After lunch, since the weather was not improving, we headed back to our rooms, where once again, we did some homework, took naps, and generally relaxed. Some people went and had professional massages, but I just had a nice relaxing bath. Once again, our goal was just to recover from any stressors and recoup. At night, since we all liked the restaurant we went to for lunch, we decided to return. At the restaurant, we enjoyed wraps, more quesadillas, more carrot cake, and staring at a cute surfer with a british accent that happened to be our waiter. A perfect atmosphere for 5 college girls!

Once again, since we didn't have much of an option, and I don't think we wanted an option (plus it was raining, so it was perfect), we headed back to our rooms early and just hung out for a while before falling asleep.

In the morning, we got up for another great breakfast, and checked-out early so we could go into Lagos and site see a little bit. We had looked at the bus schedule before and had figured out that we had to be there by 9:50 for the bus to take us back, and so we sat, and waited, and waited, and waited... Finally, after studying the map and the bus schedule closely, I realized that since it was the off season, the bus only came ever two hours. So, we went and got some coffee at a nearby cafe, and met a fellow American, whom we had a nice conversation with until it was time to head back to the bus station at 9:50. So we sat there, and waited, and waited, and waited.... finally, we all agreed something wasn't right, so we went to a nearby hotel, and the man that worked there said he would call a taxi for us, and so he did. And, only about 5 minutes after he called the taxi, as luck would have it, the bus finally showed up. The bus was on Spanish time: slow. We decided to stick with the taxi, since the man had already called it for us, and eventually, we ended back at the marina for our last lunch in Lagos. At that point, there wasn't enough time to go see anything, since we really didn't want to miss our bus back to Sevilla.

Since, we had to add an hour to our travel when we crossed the boarder, the bus ride was about 7 hours, and I finally got home around 9:30. The weekend was perfect for us, since we didn't want to plan any big excursions, or any big plans. We just wanted to spend our time next to the beach, with the smell of salt water in the air, and with sand between our toes at least once. Although the weather didn't completely cooperate, we still got to enjoy Lagos, and had a great time together as friends!