Stop right there! This is part two our our weekend trip, so if you haven't read about Toledo, skip down the the previous before you read this one.

I guess you can tell by the picture where we ended up. Three hours into our moto trip from Toledo, we made up our mind; we would grit out teeth and bear it. We were so cold and tired that nothing really sounded better than a warm place with a beach. As the kilometers in-between us and Valencia grew smaller, we would at times see patches of blue sky behind the thick gray clouds. The first one I saw, I made the mistake of excitedly pointing to it with an upstretched arm, causing me to nearly be flung off of the bike due to the force of the wind, and when I clung on for dear life, the entire moto began to wobble. The wind was so strong that I couldn’t sit up straight without my helmeted head being pulled back, so our only option was to take a racer’s position of hunched backs and low heads, but poor Andrew had to keep his neck craned to view the street, while my heavy head rested on his back. 40 kilometros out from Valenica, we began to smell fragrant flowers, and at times sweet oranges, and have more glimpses of light. Just as we reach the Valencia city limits, the sky opened up and we could see true shadows on the ground; the city was full of sun! People in this town walked slower than anywhere else we had seen in Spain, and wore clothes similar to those from San Diego. We were filled with an overpowering, yet tranquil joy, which we expressed to each other with weak thumbs-ups and smiles behind our helmets. Once in Valencia, we refused to dismount the bike, and decided to ride until we saw the ocean. In our pursuit, it got very hot and I needed to quickly take off my two jackets (it was a great feeling). We rode around for 30 minutes, following any palm trees, people with bathing suits, or place of business with the words, “mar,” “playa,” or “arena.” Finally, after following three young men wearing trunks, and seeing a sign for “Puerto,”(port) we FOUND THE BEACH! We parked at once, and were so happy in a tired, sore and almost grumpy kind of way. We decided to get a hostel right on the beach, and found luck on our third attempt. Here is the view from our side window! Once we got in and cleaned up, we felt like brand new people! We decided to walk down the boardwalk and we had such a great time! We were so happy with the sunny warm little city we found. We ran down the beach and put our feet in the Mediterranean sea, for me the first time. Up and down the boardwalk, immigrants from all different countries have a hundred booths set up of all sorts of things to buy, music, hair braiding, etc. We grabbed a quick dinner at Pans&Co., and were so stoked to be in Valencia. We thought it was a fun, casual beach town, but later that night we would be proved very wrong.
That evening we were so tired we wanted to just fall asleep, but we decided to go on a walk up and down the board walk. To our surprise, the city had morphed in the setting of the sun into a posh, high-class town of night life. At this time, the port of Valencia is having there, “32nd America’s Cup,” of million dollar sail boats, sponsored by Louis Vitton and a few other notable affiliates. Everywhere we turned, was the most elaborate and modern night club, concert or lounge, and all the people looked like they walked right out of Vogue magazine, except of course Andrew and I. One particularly tall, white night club with interesting architecture would change it’s outside paint every 5 minutes, with the use of a projector. We turned it at 1am, after riding an aqua-bus through the port, listening to the concert and seeing all the sites, but 1am was just when the parties were first getting started. I can’t imagine another place on earth would be more luxurious, hip or “de moda.” Here is a short video of the concert at the Port;


The next day, we were probobally the first people in the whole city to wake up at nine. We ate breakfast out (first time I did this my whole time in Spain) with Bocadillos de Tortilla, and café con leche! (so fun!) Then we retired to do what tourists do best, lay on the beach with our books. As I sat there, taking in the Sun, I couldn’t help but to think about all my classmates in rainy Valladolid, where everything on Sunday is closed, and so they would be restricted to their little homes. I knew the long trip had been worth it. As time wore on, I slowly began to realize the this beach was a topless beach. Kind of a nasty surprise since those who decided to tan their chests were generally neither young nor thin. What a culture shock, but it really wasn’t as big of a deal as I may have presumed.
After we checked out of our room, we went into the city to do some touristy things and get lunch. We decided on McDonalds, and were beginning to have a nice relaxing lunch when we were approached by a Gypsy (my favorite…). So reached over our table and began to take some of our French fries, but just before she touched them, I slapped her hand and yelled, “VETE, GITANA!” My rude request wasn’t adhered to, and she persisted. Although she obviously didn’t go hungry, she told us she wanted some of our food and kept grabbing at it, but we forcefully told her repeatedly; no, get away from us and out food, leave, and don’t touch us, goodbye, while we glared at her. Andrew ripped my purse away from where it was sitting on a chair next to her and stood up and told her to leave right that instant. (she shouldn’t beg food from tired people who have been on a moto for more than 9 hours in the past day, plus never ever give anything to gypsies, it’s a rule) Finally she left, and we were pretty much ready to wrap up our visit to Valencia. We stopped quickly at the bull-fighting museum on the way to the moto, but when I took out my camera to take a picture and a lady yelled rudely at me, “Guardalo!” I walked out of the museum. We were extra ready to come home. We got on the bike, and prepared for out 4 our ride to Madrid, which was more pleasant that the chilling ride there. Once we got into Madrid, we rode in and out of rain, looking for the moto place for an hour and a half. Estaba harto de estar en el moto, y querria llorar. Finally, but put it away, and took the metro to the bus stop, bought out tickets and had a quick sandwich for dinner. I was so homesick for Valladolid, my little house, my little room, and Visi. It was all worth it, but it was quite exhausting. It is an everlasting memory of an adventure we will never forget. Que bueno tener un amor de la vida, Andres es el major hombre en todo el mundo aunque me hacia viajar por moto por mas que quince horas. Andrew went home the next morning, and I am left to wrap up school!
see you guys soon



ps. this is where bulls die in Valencia:

BUENO! Bienvendios otra vez!

Salemanca. That is where my whole school was going on Saturday. All day. 100% chance of rain. Famous for a couple historical sites and their abundance of discotecas. I imagined classmates scurrying around in soggy groups from place to place to escape the rain. We were basically over it as soon as we heard about it, so Andrew made other plans last minute while I was in class. Friday after school, we hurried home and quickly packed what we would need for a weekend in one backpack; two shirts each, one book each, one extra pair of pants, socks, toothbrushes, two apples, one plum, 9 cherries, the two sandwiches Visi made for us just before we left, and we strapped our big jackets to the back of the backpack. After a quick, but LARGE lunch, we excitedly went to the estacion de autobuses, and hitched a bus ride to Madrid. We were late to get to the little shop, "Alquila motos," so were ran to the metro, then ran through the city, asking hurried directions when we could. Finally we found it, and we entered into the little basement full of many motorcycles and two tough looking guys. Walter pulled out our motorcycle for the next two days; a silver Honda with a place to pack our backpack and comfortable seats. We were really excited and the men helping us were very nice, but it was already almost 9pm, and we needed to get on our way. We had one night booked in a hotel in Andrew's favorite Spanish town TOledo, which was one and a half hours away. We told them where we were going that night, and the day after we were going wherever there wasn't rain. Walter looked up the weather online for us, and the little map of Spain that popped up was covered in little glowing rainclouds, except one spot, Valencia on the Medeterrainian coast, five hours from Toledo. We decided to decide our plans later, because we needed to get on our way. The tank was empty, and we didn't know where any gas stations were, so Walter said we could follow him to one. After we filled up, he told us to follow him and we would go our separate ways once we were on our correct road. We tried our best to keep up with his, but Andrew was still trying to get used to the moto, as well as they crazy streets of Madrid. At our first red light, Waltar looked over at Andrew's bare hands and exclaimed, "NO TIENES GUANTES!?" Andrew shook his head. Walter immediately took the gloves off his OWN hands and pushed them into Andrew's hands. We were so thankful for all his kindness! Finally we came to the street where we need to part ways and WAltar sped off towards Andalucia, and we took the tunnel towards Toledo. I couldn't help but to low him a kiss as he left becuase he was so great. Is was just past nine and we sped down the road with the last remaining 20 mineutes of orange light in the air. Once is got dark, it got pretty cold especially with the wind gushing by you on the moto. We made one quick stop at REPSOL gas station and I put on every piece of clothing I brought; three shirts, one sweater and my jacket.

About an hour after our stop we arrived in Toledo and drove around up and down (WAY up and WAY down) the narrow and wet cobble-stone roads. I couldn't believe how narrow they were, I felt that is I streatched my arms out on either side I could touch them. The city is ancient and beautfil, and we found our hotel easily by the impressive Catedral.
Our hotel was a dream come true, so clean and nice, and we even had a small wooden balcony from which you could see the Catedral tower. Our room looked like a little hobbit room with small carved desk and chair, and little round wooden door. We walked the wet streets and stopped by to have a glass of wine from a quite little place called, "Entre Vasos."
It was the best wine I had ever had and for only two Euros. We were so tired afterwards, so we went straight to bed and fell asleep before our heads hit the pillow.
The next day, we paid six Euro each to visit the world famous Catedral which was constructed in 1222, and obviously at the height of Catholic power and prosperity. It was the most elaborate place I have ever visited, every minute detail attended to with the utmost care, superfluous attention paid to each small attribute. We spent about an hour in there because there was so much to see, but after a while I started getting annoyed and was ready to leave. I was sick of seeing Jesus hang on intricate golden crosses, embedded with jewels, and have the faces of ordinary men exalted on the walls of a church just asking to be worshipped. It made me sad to see the troves of tourists from around the world learning that Christianity was about things that don't matter. I wanted to tell them, 'Jesus hung on a WOODEN cross, no jewels, and he doesn't want money to be wasted on this kind of crap when it could actually be used for his will in HELPING PEOPLE!' So we left, me feeling irritated. Sometimes I feel the "Saints" made the same mistake as Lucifer.
<---Look at this guy

We toured the amazing city, bought a couple souvenirs, and decided to be on our way before it started raining again. But just as we loaded up our stuff, it began to sprinkle. The lady at the front desk was so worried about us and made us jackets out of trash bags and scissors, she was so kind and had always treated us like family. By the time we got on our moto, it had begun to rain pretty hard, and though we didn't know where we were going, but we just wanted to leave. The first fifteen minutes on the moto are always the worst.
You feel like you have been on there for 3 hours, but after that your body adjusts the extreme conditions of wind, cold, posture, noise and a few other things. Thirty minutes outside Toledo it stopped raining and the rain began to stream off our helmets and our clothes began to flap dry in the wind, which felt great. Somehow my rain jack started coming apart bit by bit and flying off into the wind behind. Pretty soon it was all gone, it was quite odd, and we thought it might be due to the intense winds. Birds couldn't even fly straight. After an hour, we stopped at a field and ate the food we had smuggled from the European Breakfast buffet. ( One shared sandwich, an apple, a pack of crackers and a piece of cheese). WE didn't really know where to go, so we decided to attempt Valencia, but decided to stop if we saw someplace better on the way, know that five hours on one moto would be very difficult in many ways....

well, i am going to have to get back to you about what was in our fate, but its really exciting, so check back soon as to where we ended up!

xoxo

Ok, here is a short blog that is a bit sentimental. Four years ago Andrew studied abroad in Madrid Spain, one month after we first started dating. While he was over there he visited Retiro park and took this picture. When he sent it to me in the states, he titled it, "thinking of you." This year we went to the same exact spot and i was so excited to see it. I begged him to get back up on the rock and pose as a statue once more! I hope you enjoy! I think it's great!

Weekend of Joy in the dirty City

Hola!



Hi everyone! Oh my gosh, I can't believe that it I have already been living here in Spain for more than two weeks! Well, I really wanted to share with you my weekend. I had the best weekend of my whole trip, despite being in a dirty and busy down town area. Last Monday, I began the countdown to Friday; school would be out (both my classes here and my on-line class), my friends and I would be traveling down to Madrid together, and ANDREW was flying into Madrid that very morning! Pretty soon, Friday was upon us, I could barely pay attention all day in my classes, and even ran out of class to answer my ringing cell phone call from Andrew! He had made it safely to Spain and was running errands with his host mom from four years ago that he had surprised at her house!! (He had no where else to go, he couldn't check into the hotel for another five hours) After school, I ate a quick lunch, and Visi (mi mami) was glowing and smiling all day at the prospect of my date with Andrew! "Hoy es el DIA!" she kept saying, unable to stop smiling. She kissed be goodbye, then one more time, and I headed for the bus. After our 2.5 hour bus ride, I parted with my friends and attempted the interweaving metro lines with surprising success. ( I basically prayed the entire time that I wouldn't get lost). At my stop, I ran I up the hill and easily found the hotel, and ran into the lobby. I WAS SO EXCITED! Andrew and I had only talked on the phone for the last ten days, and couldn't wait to see each other. The hotel attendant asked me Andrew's birthday to get the key, which is hard to remember,as well as to say in Spanish when you are in a hurry. But finally, we had a joyful and happy reunion! We laughed and cheered and hugged at the moment we saw each other.
That evening, Andrew and I toured the city of Madrid which was bursting with people in every street, music, attractions, things to do and see. There were many free movies in plazas on big huge screens, and many street performers. Andrew still knew the city pretty well from the last time he visited. We ate Paella for dinner, which was fantastic, then went on a special date for Champinones and the best Sangria in town at a little place called, "Las Cuevas." (The picture with the green background right below) So romantic!



The top picture to the left is us in the Plaza mayor of Madrid, the central point of the entire capital. It is completely enclosed on all four sides and is quite a site to be in the center of the tall walls all around you. It is always buzzing and full of people from around the world, meeting, eating, having fun and watching the performers. Let's just say Spain is VERY different from home!
Saturday was full of fun an excitement that if I tried to tell you all, I would write a novel, so I'll tell you basic highlights. We got to the Prado Museum at 830am, and saw all the classic art of Spain, (alot of jesus, the diciples, kings, queens, bible scenes, popes, etc.) my absolute favorite being, "Las Meninas," by Velazquez"--->.

After a while, they all began to look the same, so we went straight to the Museum, "La Reina Sofia," after a quick starbucks break, and we stood in AWE of the amazing paintings we encountered. it was pretty exciting, and I liked the Reina Sofia much better than the Prado. It was full of Dali( kinda a freaky guy, but excellent just the same), Miro, Goya, Velasquez, and we stared at La Guernica, by Picasso for about ten minutes (This was the painting I was most excited to see while in Spain! It had quite a presence, two guards and a rope blocking close proximity)


Right after we visited the BEAUTIFUl Botanical Gardens of Madrid, and a few other land marks of the city, but pretty soon our dogs were barking so we needed to get our Siesta and FAST! That night, we met friends from school in the Plaza Mayor (easy landmark) for dinner and topped it off with Helado.

On Sunday, we went to Retiro Park. This Park is enormous and we could barely get though the whole thing once without having our feet drag. (story of our lives, eh?) This is the place where all the Spaniards do what they do best; lounge around with friends. They had boating, and fountains, etc. This picture is the Crystal Palace by a Coi pond

That night we met up with some great friends from home, Aaron and Kelly, and had SUCH a fun time! We were so excited to meet up with them and looked forward to it all day. We happened upon an amazing Flamenco club that night, which felt we were in the true essence of Spain; Sitting in a dark room with a glass of Sangria watching talented dancers stomp, twirl and clap around the stage. Here's a short video I took


Afterwards, we went to "Las Cuevas," for a second night in a row for some Champiniones (stuffed, boiled mushrooms) and more Sangria. We were sad to say good bye to our friends, but it was a great night! That night, we took a taxi home becuase at that time, all the metro lines were closed. We LOVED TEH TAXI! It was the biggest luxury of the weekend! (seriously, it was amazing to ride in a car, and arrive just were you need to be without stopping, and only 5 Euro!)


Phew! So that's all for now, that was a big blog and I am forgetting alot, but it was a big weekend! Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to talk to you again soon!

Much LOVE!

XOXOXOXOXOXO
Amy

Un Entrada Mas!

Hello everyone! Well it's been just a little over one week here and it already feels like home! I am feeling comfortable with the city, the language, my classes, etc. It's really wonderful over here! Recently My feet have been complaining to me about my sudden reliance on them for transportation, but I know they'll get used to their new job; I think they should feel lucky that i at least take the bus some of the time. One of my favorite aspects of the Spanish life is the community. Every evening the streets, cafes and parks are all full of people walking with their families and friends, especially on the weekends. Everyone is dresses in their finest attire; men in their GQ suits, women in heels and nice clothes, and children here dress kind of like the children out of the Dick and Jane books with dresses, and leather maryjanes (both boys and girls wear the mary-janes with colored stockings). Sometimes when I think of life at home in the US while out I am out and about in the city, I feel like life in America can at times be very isolated in comparason to other parts of the world.
My Mexican Spanish is slowly but surely transforming into a more European form of the language. I am learning that many of the Mexican words that I know are unheard of here. Some examples are the words for Computer( not computadora but Ordenador) and Juice (not jugo, but Zumo, pronounced, "Thumo") If I asked for a tortilla and expected round flatbread, I would be suprised when I recieve a potatoe omlette, the only "tortillas" they have here.
On Saturday we took and excursion to Segovia, one of the most ancient cities of Spain. It was a very interesting city filled with both Gothic and Roman architecture. In this picture we are standing next to the famous Aqueducts of Segovia from the first century. When you get to the top, you can see the famous mountains, "La mujer dormida" or "Sleeping woman," which consists of her face, and other inportant aspects. This sight was not quite as exciting as other attractions, but worth the climb. Our guide kept reminding us that the aqueducts have no cements binding the rocks together, and that they will never fall. As I craned my neck to peer up at the rock arch above my head, I realized what a feat this was!
This picture is me at the top!-->
Shorty after, my friends and I went walking and found a castle which housed King Fernando and Isabel, most famous for allowing Christopher Columbus three boats to travels to America. (Accually this bit of history is not nearly as important to the Spanish people as it is in America, these two are more famous for uniting the provences of Aragon and Catilla.)
It had a moat (now dry except for a small trickle) around the perimeter, and many of the original features of the castle. These included their wodden thrones, fourpost bed with red drappery and plaza in the center. It was very beautiful and quite elaborate from ceiling to floor. That Day we skipped our siesta becuase we were away from home and I can't beleive the effect it had on all of us! We were so tired and from two oclock to about four we stumbled around the city dragging our feet thinking about our beds at home. Luckily our mami's packed us lunch, mine was a tortilla sandwhich, and hopefully you you know that that is a piece of omelette between bread.
This weekend, ANdrew comes into town and I am very excited and so is Visi. I think that we will spend our weekend in Madrid, and hopefully go to the Prado, especialmente quiero ver al "Guernica," por Pablo Picasso.
Well that is all for today! I hope that you have learned alot about Segovia and other aspects about Spain. If any of you are interested in contacting mr, my address is; Aragon 3, Bajo derecho, Valladolid, Espana! ANy letters, or boxes of cookies are openly accepted, remember, I don't leave until June 22!

Con Mucha Amor a cada una de vos, adios y ahasta luego!

PRAISES!

ok ok, great news!!!
Yesterday I came home from school, and there, sitting in my room was my long awaited MALETA!(suitcase!) It was battered and bruised, but it was here, and I was so happy! I kissed mi mama Española on the cheek and could not take a siesta because I was so happy, she was SO happy too, she called all of her friends to tell them. (we are good friends,ella es muy preciosa) Now here is where it gets good... Last night, Andrew the best hubby ever, prayed that I would get mi maleta ASAP, and the next day there it was. At school the next day I eagerly waited for my friends who weremissing theirs so that we could be excited about our returned bags together, but no one else recieved their belongings. In fact, one girl said that when she called the airport, they told her that there were NO deliveries to Valladolid the day that mine came! Its a miracle, and one of the best miracles! I washed my hair with shampoo and brushed it, and wore pajamas last night, and wore clean clothes, and put on deodorant, I feel like a million bucks! Keep my friends without maletas in your prayers becuase they are getting very very sad.

As soon as I leave my house in the morning to get to school I walk through a HUGE beautiful park full of trees, beautiful fountains, a river, benches and birds. The most bird most commonly seen and heard in the park is the proud male peacock, who roam where they please throughout the park. At times they sing, which sounds more like yelling,¨"EEEH-YA!¨"
Today I saw for the first time uno que era plumado, or with his tail up and furled, quite a site. He was about 7 times his size with his fan like tail. I think he was showing off for me.
This weekend I go to Segovia with some friends, as well as Madrid.

Life in Spain looks like this. Wake up in the morning,go to school or work, come home for a HUGE lunch at two and then it´s time for siesta, or nap. Everyone does it and all the shops, banks, everything closes. After that, at around 6pm everyone goes outside in the streets, dressed very nice and goes on a walk throughout the city. It is very fun and there is a great ambiance. The sun goes down around 9pm, then dinner at 10pm. Some then chose to go out to Bars, etc. and others chose to wind down for bed.

Adios ahorita, pero escribere muy pronto. He escuchado de muchas de las familias de mis amigoas, y tengo mucha suerte como mi Visey!


çiao

My first few days

Hola Amigos!
Well, I want to let everyone know that I have made it safely to Spain! I have been traveling for four days, and in Valladolid for three days and eagerly await my luggage. I love it here, but honestly I have been having a very difficult time everyday consisting of many adventures which I won't bore you with at the moment. Some of my difficulties include that I have been wearing and sleeping in the same shirt, pants, sock, etc. for four days. Today mi Mama Espanola (the lady i live with who is darling) let me borrow a sweater and scarf, so I am rocking the grandma style! I have been washing my hair/face/self with her body wash each night, and promptly go to bed without brushing my hair, seeing as it as well is in my suitcase. But despite my appearance, I have been making a lot of good friends and have truly been enjoying the city, when I am not lost in it.
I will fill you in on my first day of travel very quickly. I took three planes and ended in Madrid accompanied by my good friends Kelsey and Madelyn whom I met en route. Cuando llegabamos, Kelsey and I didn’t get our luggage which made us miss the 3 hour bus ride from Madrid to Valladolid with all our classmates. After three hours in the airport, We were told we need to take the metro, then the bus. After the metro, We found a bus and as we began to board, he told us we need to walk half a mile to get our tickets. We ran as quickly as possible through the crowds and got out tickets and returned with just a minute to spare. As we boarded feeling very assured for once, he told us our bus was full. He pointed to a different bus and we boarded. After our 3 hour ride, we arrived at the station and called our families at half past midnight. Mi mama Espanola told me that she lived close and I should walk. I was scared and my friends didn’t want me to, but the taxi man said it was close. As I turned my first corner, I was confronted with a bum peeing. I was completely lost, my friends gone, no phone, no numbers, freezing alone in the dark city of which I was unfamiliar. I tried not to cry but I was very very tired. Finalmente, after asking directions from two hotel lobby people, and ringing two door bells of sleeping people, I found home!
Since then, I have gotten lost many more times, and although each time seems very hopeless, it turns out well and I know God is trying teach me something, if it’s only patience.
I can honestly say that this is the mst wonderful and beautiful city I have ever experienced and love everything about it. I will try and write soon, perhaps even make a blog which will allow those interested to be updated at their own will.

Que te vayas con Dios, (y yo tambien)
Amy

Toda la comida esta llena de aciete, y me duele la estomega pero no se come decirle.... jajaja