Spain 2012: Seville! Part 2

It's the last of our Spain 2012 adventures--the second part of our time in Seville. 

Our next stop was the cathedral. We had been walking around it since we got in town and using it as a reference point when wandering (you can see it's bell tower, La Giralda, from almost anywhere in the city). Now it was time to go inside!

This is an exact replica of the statue/wind vane that is on top of the bell tower. Unfortunately they were doing some repair work on the tower while we were there, so thankfully my parents got to see at least a replica of what was up there covered in scaffolding (like anything worth seeing in Europe...). 

The inside of the cathedral is beautiful. Seville's cathedral is the largest cathedral in Spain--and considering the amount of massive cathedrals on the Iberian Peninsula, that is saying something. 

Christopher Columbus is buried inside the cathedral. In conjunction with a large anniversary celebration Seville had the remains inside DNA tested. The results? It really is Columbus! (Or...so they say.)

Needing a little exercise after all those nun cookies, my dad and I hoofed it all the way up the bell tower. The bell tower was perviously a minaret for the mosque that stood where the cathedral now stands. Instead of stairs, the tower is full of ramps that lead all the way up to the top--this way the prayer leader could ride a horse all the way up to the top to sing the muslim call to prayer. 

It was a long way up, but the views were beautiful. 

Looking at the Giralda with one of the typical orange trees nearby (They are all over town--the moors planted orange trees everywhere because they never lose their leaves, so make great shade trees. All the trees are full of oranges, which endlessly confused my dad, but they are bitter oranges. For a long time they were used to make orange marmalade, but nowadays, they just fall to the street.)

Another look at the tower. It's structure tells the story of Seville: Roman foundation, Moorish minaret, & a Christian bell tower on top. 

After we burned off all those nun cookies climbing the bell tower, we needed to reload. Time for tapas! 

 

Mmm. This, to me, was the best meal of the trip. Starting at the top and working counter-clockwise: Baked goat cheese with honey (so good!), bacon wrapped sirloin in a fancy sauce & homemade fries, battered and fried eggplant in another fancy sauce, and meatballs in yet another tasty sauce. Good food + great wine, all at a lovely cafe, was an equation for success. 

Oh yes, there was a flan ending as well. (And it was the best of the entire trip!)

Late that afternoon we got the chance to meet up with the retired couple I met on the Camino de Santiago last year. They are some of my favorite people, so it was exciting to get to see them again. Making the deal even sweeter--they are native, and proud, Sevillans. They took us for coffee on a river barge, walked us through the historical neighborhoods, took us on the main paseo route (Spaniards typically come out for an early evening stroll through the streets. These particular streets were jam packed!), and took us to a local hole in the wall for a variety of local fried fish. The inside of the bar was tiny but we were lucky enough to grab a table outside from which to feast on our fish and watch...

A Semana Santa (Holy Week) procession! In January! 

I was so confused, and it seemed that just about everybody else was too. Maica asked people in the streets if they knew what it was for (Was there some special saint day?) but nobody knew (including some of the people IN the procession!). We finally settled on an answer though. 

See, Seville does Holy Week and Easter like no one else. The town is full of churches and each of the churches have processions during the week. Because all of the things used are silver and gold and silk and hundreds of years old, if there is bad weather they go into the nearest church and stop. Maica said that eventually they have to get these alter pieces, etc. back home--and you can't just put them in the back of a van and drive them over. No! You have to have a parade!

Anyway, it was a pretty small procession, but I couldn't believe that we were able to stumble upon a Holy Week procession during January! Que suerte!

Finally they took us to the city's new controversial structure called "Las Setas"(the mushrooms) by locals. I had seen the thing from the ground when Juanma and Maica's son showed me around town the last time I was there. I'll admit that from street level it looks pretty out of place. But before I knew it Juanma had bought us tickets and we were going UP inside the structure. I didn't even know you could do that!

Once you are on top of it (by elevator! much easier than the bell tower's ramps) you get to walk around and have a bird's eye view of the city all lit up. From that vantage point I could really tell that Maica was right--Seville is full of churches. 

It was a memorable evening, in a beautiful city with wonderful friends--the perfect ending to our Spain 2012 adventures. 

Banana/Chocolate Chip/Peanut Butter Bread

So back when I lived in Northern Spain my good friend Meghann cooked lots of yummy things. Probably my favorite was her Banana/Chocolate Chip/Peanut Butter Bread. Yum.

I made it this week and lots of people wanted the recipe (and I can never seem to find where I've put it when I want to make it) so I figured I would stash it here on the blog. It's got whole wheat flour and unsweetened PB in it, but I typically don't have those on hand and just use whatever I have (because Meghann said that was ok!) (but crunchy PB is def better than smooth for this) (and basically any kind of oil works, too).

It's perfect for those overripe bananas stashed in the freezer. The yogurt makes it really moist, with two bananas in it, it has to count as healthy (right?), and, let me tell ya, with a smear of Nutella on top--you'll be happier than a bird with a french fry.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar or raw sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2  teaspoon baking soda
1/4  teaspoon salt
2 medium bananas, mashed (very ripe)
1/3  cup unsweetened crunchy peanut butter
1/4  cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4  cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Coat standard loaf pan with cooking spray.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.
4. Whisk together mashed bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, egg, and oil.
5. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until combined.
6. Fold in chocolate chips.
7. Scrape batter into loaf pan.
8. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with few moist crumbs.
9. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.
10. Unmold then cool completely before slicing.

On The Road Again

Yesterday I saw a guy trying to parallel park in a tight spot. There were several guys watching and when he hit one of the cars they all yelled, opa! 

What is the point of this story? That's right--I am in Greece!

Kalimera (good morning--one of the 3 Greek phrases I actually remember!) from Athens! 

I made it! My flights were long (I didn't get much sleep stuck in a middle seat between to guys for 8 hours),  but uneventful. It's funny to me when I have long travel days how when I finally get where I am going, it feels like a surprise to be there (I mean after about 20 hours in transit it should sink in that I am going somewhere different, no?). But I am so excited to be back in Athens. I was here in July and it feels both like I was just here and that I was here about 3 years ago. The best part is that I had a soft place to land when I got here--I am staying with my Couch Surfing friend Fylenia. I stayed with her last time I was in Athens, and even though we only met for a couple of days, she feels like an old friend. 

We spent the evening catching up on changes, chatting about travels (she recently spent a month in India!), playing with her Cretan puppy, drinking tea and chowing down on one of the largest and best salads I've ever eaten (including lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, raises, apples, sunflower seeds, and cheese--YUM!). She is such good company that I made it to almost midnight before I crashed. 

All I can say is that I am in a happy place. I woke up contently snuggled in my sleep sack (I'll explain more later) and under the covers (because people, winter has not left Greece! Thankfully Fylenia gave me a heads up to bring some warm layers. I even saw snow on the ground! But I hear the sun is on the way soon!) Anyway, it is good to be on the road again, and it's good to be back here in Athens. 

And one funny story to close: when I got to the metro station by Fylenia's house I needed to give her a call to let her know I was there. There's no public phone, so I just asked a nice looking lady if I could use  her phone. Her boyfriend took over, dialed the number up and was super nice. After he said, you are from Texas, right? Um, yes. How did he know that?! He said my accent gave me away. And then he asked where I was from? Dallas? Fort worth? Yes again! It was one of those moments where you look down to see if you forgot to take off your name tag. He said he was from Mykonos and meets a lot of tourists, so has learned accents. So to everyone who says I no longer have a Texan accent, apparently here is the proof! (As for me, I am still baffled!)

{Also, if you are wondering how I am sending out this blog, check this out: 

Yep, that's the (ridiculously beautiful and fancy) replacement computer (which hopefully my student insurance is going to cover!). I don't know if it will turn out to be a good or bad idea, but I have it here on the road with me--so looks like the blog might live on after all!}

Good Vibes In Boquete, Panama

Where do I even begin on Boquete? I only planned on going for a couple of nights and ended up staying for almost a week. Boquete is a small town, and even though it is a well established stop on the backpacker trail and has its fair share of expats and NGO workers, it also boasts some beautiful scenery, lovely gardens and the best coconut flan I have ever tasted (why, oh why didn't I take a picture of that?!). 

I hiked, strolled through beautiful gardens, visited a coffee farm, saw live "gypsy music," observed a centennial parade, almost sold our soul and/or a passport to rent and watch Volver again (love that movie!) and also got a brief chance to volunteer: I got to spend a morning doing puzzles with mentally handicapped indigenous children, and then got to participate in what my host for the day Jenni deemed PX90 real life--turning a slab of concrete into gravel with a pickax inside a green house. I learned about smokeless stoves and aquaponics and offered up the only piece of useful information I could muster--that plant there is okra and it is best eaten fried. (I couldn't believe with all the collective knowledge they had there that no one had eaten okra. Southern girl to the rescue!) The entire time I was with their family I was amazed by the smart way they went about trying to assist the bottom tier of the economic structure. (Check them out at here.)

Boquete was also the first place I have ever been kicked out of a hostel. The people in charge told me I could only stay for one night because the place was full from then on. This was fine, but also perplexing because there was hardly anyone there. The next day I double checked and she told me again that it was full, so I moved across town. My friends in that hostel assured me that the hostel has not been full. I still have no idea what that was all about, but it made for some nice jokes. 

Speaking of friends, I met a ton of amazing people in Boquete--in the hostels, in the gardens and volunteering. I generally say the best and worst parts of traveling alone are all the people you meet. In Boquete they were definitely of the good variety. 

Some pictures below:   

The beautiful gardens in Boquete came with the reminder that I am allergic to seemingly any kind of plant these days. I got to make a fun trip to the pharmacy after this one for some allergy meds. 

Colorful buildings

I stopped in for mass one day and heard a sermon on the creation story. The priest used a metaphor of God going about creating like a pregnant mother preparing a nursery for her unborn baby. It was a surprising place to find a metaphor that was both feminine and compatible with an evolutionary take on creation. After spending a solid month this summer doing nothing but writing papers on the first 12 chapters of Genesis, I loved it.

Check out all those SPAM varieties!

In a photographic failure I somehow neglected to take a picture of the tricked out Diablos Rojos (repurposed  yellow school buses) in Panama City, but I did capture one in Boquete (and actually rode this one all the way back to David). But just so you get an idea of  how much more awesome the ones in the city were, if this one passed me on the street in Panama City, even with the fins on top and dual exhaust, I would have just let it pass and waited for a cooler one to come by. 

Machetes for sale in the corner store

A typical meal for me in Boquete. I ate in this cafeteria at least once a day, every day. All that goodness for about $2.50. 

So many gardens! So many pretty flowers!

My grandmother used to grow these. 

I trekked out to the hotsprings, which turned out to be a whole ordeal. It took me forever to find this sign. (And then forever still to get there from this sign.)

Oh yeah, did I mention I rode a bull? For more than 8 seconds too. 

(It's true. I don't always make brilliant decisions.)

The pharmacy where I got my allergy meds had all kinds of stuff in it. I suggested it as a possible place for a friend to find a copy of the new Girl Who Kicked the Something or Nother book. When we got in there I remembered, oh yeah--all those books I remembered seeing in there were all copies of the Santa Biblia (Bibles). Oops. They did have an EXACT replica of the scarf I was wearing though. Which was especially strange because I bought it at a Moroccan market in Brussels. 

OK, so that is a glimpse at Boquete! Next up, a few pictures from the parade/centennial celebration and my coffee tour. 

A Light Week

If there was theme for the past week, it would be light.

Monday I stayed up late (powered by a coma-like evening nap) and watched the entire lunar eclipse and a bit of the meteor shower as well. I switched off the lights in our back yard and waited as the moon got darker and darker. I've never seen the stars so clearly in Fort Worth and I don't ever remember seeing a lunar eclipse like that. The breeze and 65 degree weather were perfect, too. I sat listening to a random playlist of songs including the words moon/stars/luna/estrellas, drinking hot tea and just generally letting the last year and my future sink in. I won't say I had an epiphany, but I will say that out of the fog some shapes are starting to form. Which feels like a nice place to be.

Tuesday I basked in the glory of our 85 degree weather (in the shade!) by taking it to the park. I threw on a sun dress (on December 21st!) and went to smell the roses. Smelling the roses resulted in me barely being able to breathe by the time the afternoon was over, but it was worth it. Fort Worth's Botanic Garden is one of my favorite places and sitting in the sun after three months of cold rain was pretty close to perfect. THEN I got to watch some stars of a different kind--Dallas Stars hockey! I used to be a huge fan, and even though I hadn't seen a game in probably years, it was a lot of fun to be in the arena and see the guys beat up on one of the original Canadian teams.

Wednesday I got to get together with the girls from church and go look at Christmas lights. After the warm weather and busy last weeks, it was great to sing Christmas carols, look at lights and just generally get in the Christmas spirit.

And finally, to wrap up the week, I got to celebrate the light in a different way--in the form of celebrating Jesus coming as the light of the world. Christmas is always a big holiday for me, and a time of reflection. I love Advent, the time in the Christian calendar leading up to Christmas, which centers on hope and waiting. As a person who always seems to be waiting for the dust to settle so that I can see where the next turn in the road will take me, I can resonate a lot with a season all about looking toward the future with anticipation. And today, Christmas, is and isn't the climax of the waiting--it's both the now and the not yet. It's the day on the calendar and it's the baby in the barn two thousand years ago and it's also the reminder, or the hope, that God still cares today. It's inbreaking of the light.  It's the thrill of hope for which the weary world rejoices. After all, yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. 


Merry Christmas. And may you all be able to see the light on the horizon.


(Also, Sufjan Steven's version of Joy to the World might be one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.)

Go West Young (Wo)Man

I never planned to actually go to Abilene, much less make it my home (on and off again) for six and a half years. I swore I would never go to college there and then once I was there I swore if I ever did grad school I would go far, far away. We all see how that turned out. I won't lie though, it wasn't all easy: I spent a large chunk of time hating the place, the Mesquite trees, red dirt and ridiculous wind. Eventually though, I came to like the place. I even miss it when I'm gone. 

This past week I drove out and was busy both catching up and saying goodbye. It's tough cramming a semester's worth of socializing into one week, but I think I was lucky enough to touch base with just about everyone--from classmates and professors to friends, old roommates and former students who are now speaking English and holding down jobs with the best of them. On top of that I got to take in a few Abilene institutions like La Popular for breakfast one morning and The Paramount for their Christmas showing of It's a Wonderful Life. It was good week, so good in fact it even had me considering staying and taking a job there. 

Abilene I tell ya, it sucks ya in. 

I thought it through though, and I know I can't stay. So finally I got to say goodbye to Abilene (maybe) for good. 

A few pictures from the week: 

Driving out I remembered just how amazing west Texas sunsets can be. 

My friends also threw me an "engagement" party.

Thaaanks, guys. 

It was also time for our second annual Christmas cookie decorating party. This year thankfully Krystal made sure Abby didn't steal any of my cookies.  

Krystal's

Mike's 

Mandi's 

Mine

Abby's 

And, Cody's. Which are always a little special.  

Yum! 

Krystal's airplane cookie 

I also found this guy hiding away in my master's hood (which, I wore all weekend by the way). He came into our possession when we all worked in the Williford/Ellis suite at Logsdon. Some undergrad made an extra-credit 3D map of Paul's journeys with this lovely little guy standing in as Paul. Somehow we decided it would be fun to hide it in each other's bags/gas caps/furniture/desks/etc. Apparently it was my turn, but friends beware: I found him before I left town, so there is no telling where he is!

I also got to spend a lot of time with this little lady. 

Overall, it was a great week (even if I didn't make it out before my allergies exploded!). A big thanks to the people who made this week (and the last 6.5 years) great!