Mi cantar, hecho de fantasía

The weather in southern Spain is really starting to warm up!  Today it is 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and yesterday was mid-eighties.  The temperature really started to spike in the middle of last week, and my host mom told us it is not typical for it to get this warm so early.  We decided that last weekend would be a great time for a beach day, considering the recent change in temperature.  We decided on Salobreña, a small beach town in the Granada province.  Saturday we took a forty five minute bus ride from Granada city, and headed straight for the beach.  I am sure that Salobreña has an interesting history, but the point of this trip was not to learn, it was to relax on the beach and get a taste of the Mediterranean Sea.

The beaches in the Granada province are rock beaches, which is very different from what I am used to.  Also, the water was completely clear.  I did not see one piece of seaweed; my friends told me that from the beach they could see me swimming underwater.  It was beautiful.  The weather was overcast and very windy, but the water was still warm enough to swim in, and I took advantage of it.  There were barely any waves, which are my favorite part of the beaches at home, but it was still a lot of fun.  It was nice to take a day trip where we weren’t rushing around trying to get to tourist points before they closed or got too busy.  There were people jumping off the cliffs into the ocean, and I was tempted to try.  Unfortunately, I could not get my mother and two grandmothers’ voices at of my head telling me I better not think about it.  It was a very fun day, and probably our least expensive excursion yet. 

Tuesday my History of Art in Spain professor took the class on a field trip to Capilla Real, where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried.  The king and queen had originally planned on being buried in Toledo, but after the Reconquista took back Granada and the moors were finally expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, they decided to be buried in Granada.  Capilla Real is behind the Cathedral, and is, of course, very impressive.  The statues of the king and queen are very interesting.  They are lying down, and their heads are on pillows.  Isabel’s is more sunken into her pillow, supposedly to signify that she was the brains of the pair, while Ferdinand was more inclined to war.  You go below to see the actual coffins of the king and queen, which were much simpler than I was expecting.  Our professor tried to tell us tha going down was very scary; then, while one of the girls was climbing back up the stairs, our professor popped out and said “Boo”, causing the girl to scream. 

Wednesday, my program took as to a Flamenco show in Sacromonte.  Flamenco is a type of dance that was born in Al-Andulus, what the Iberian Peninsula was called under Moorish rule.  The dance is often performed by the gitanos, gypsies, and in its purest form is improvised throughout the performance.  When Flamenco first began the dancers did not learn through formal training but through observation of their family members who performed.  The music is provided by a guitar, and a singer, and is enriched by the clapping and footwork of the dancers. 

In Sacromonte you can find many caves, where the gypsies used to live.  However, now they are either ruined or have been “refurbished” in a way and now house Flamenco shows.  The show was amazing.  The chairs lined the walls of the cave, and the floor that the chairs were on is the same floor the dancers use.  There is no stage, and the show is literally right in front of you.  There were 6 or 7 dancers, one of whom was male, and they varied in age from about 20 to 60 or older.  It is hard to describe the actual experience of watching a Flamenco show.  It is extremely loud.  Between the clapping and stomping and the fact that you are in a relatively small cave makes the noise level almost unbearable at some points.  The costumes are amazing.  The women wear tight dresses with big ruffled skirts, which can be very simple, with one color or polka dotted and bright with a scarf thrown over.  The dancers themselves are completely invested in the performance which makes it very emotional, and it is easy to let yourself get caught up in it as well.  I was also very excited, because they sang the song Granada.  I more or less know the song by heart now, thanks to my art history professor making us sing it at the start of each class.  I hope I get to see another performance before I leave; it was such a great experience. 

That is everything I have for this entry! From today, I have 48 days until I get home (not that I am counting), and I know it is going to fly by.  Next Thursday, my friends and I leave for a trip to Barcelona, and then we come back to Granada in the middle of Holy Week, Semana Santa.  This weekend, I am planning on taking it easy and trying to avoid the heat.  I will try and send some of it back towards home!