Priego & Baena...woop woop

Currently I am traveling in Barcelona but before I even get into that I'm gonna go ahead and update you on LAST weekend...

Since I've committed (to myself) to try to travel all the rest of my weekends here in Spain last weekend I headed to some towns close to mine. I just have too much to see and not enough time! I wanted to check out these small towns nearby partly to see some new sites but also to visit some friends that I've made along the way (here in Spain).

I did stay in Lucena that Friday night (the first in a while) and went out with some friends but only until the early hour of 4am. That next morning I had to catch a bus to the first town- Baena. It took about an hour + to get there by bus but it really isn't that far away in car...but since i dont have a car here, well buses have become my very good friend. When I eventually arrived to this pueblo I met up with my friend and her roommate. We headed back to her place to chat for a while and it was great because I was actually able to use big and complicated words again haha. I mean when I teach english its not like it makes any sense to use any complicated lingo so I dial it down to be able to communicate but it was just nice to be around some girls that I could have some really intelligent convos with...minus the few blonde moments I had.

That day we just walked around the town but amazingly enough ended up headed to all 4 major grocery stores in the town- and ALL by foot- that IS an accomplishment. We did run into some people that my friend knew and even had a tag along, haha well a friend we ran into, after leaving the 3rd grocery store and she stayed with us the rest of the night. These girls were great and what was also really cool to me was that they were from all over, Texas, Kansas and Germany...oh plus me from Washington!!! The day was really just spent chatting and laughing our butts off at random stuff and by the end of the day my face was hurting from smiling so much. A very good sign. We had some great quotes but one of my favorites was from Claire, "you know, its like they say, its like a blueberry in red soup...or something like that" (comparing Austin to the rest of TX). Appetizing no?

That night we also went to a nearby bar to watch a soccer game and have some tapas. That was then, of course, followed by more going out...like always. It was amazing to me but this small town had more night life than Lucena but I was glad cuz it made for a great night out. I got to practice some of my latin dance steps and meet some more new people. I think I ended up going home around 3am since I had to get up around 10 to catch a bus to my next destination. Normally I would have stayed out later despite my travels the next day but since I had gone out the past 2 night until early hours and had got about 11 hrs of sleep between the 2, well I thought it was best to get some rest so I could at least function.

My next adventure was Priego. I also met up with a friend there, from Oregon actually, and then I also had some spanish friends (from Lucena) meet me there too. Priego is known to be a very pretty town so I got some great pictures from there. They have a lot of the traditional white houses with the flower pots hanging along the walls...I've been having numerous internet problems but now they're fixed so I will get the pics up in no time (fingers crossed!).

We also got a chance to check out the castle they have there. Its not very big but I mean castles are always cool and I never refuse a chance to check one out. I have to mention that while we were walking through and checking things out my friend turned around and told me "you've got castle on you" haha...I had been taking a picture and leaned up against the wall...getting castle on my jacket. Another great quote from the weekend. One other thing to mention- in the castle they actually had old canons lying around...made of stone. Super cool.

Another main attraction in Priego is this fountain. In the middle of the fountain is Zeus or Neptune or something like that...I'm guessing Neptune because it was in the middle of the fountain/water. Then around the insides of the fountain were different faces. I am told that there are supposed to be 360 faces and they're ALL different. Its really quite pretty and the town in general is worth checking out if you're anywhere nearby.

After a few hours in Priego, we had pretty much seen everything and headed home. I got a ride from my friends that met me there so it was MUCH easier and way less time than taking the bus...I think it only took us about 30 min to get back. So my advice is take a car if you have one. After we got back I stayed at my friends for a little bit and then met up with my Spanish mom, Elena, and THEN eventually got back home.

Other than the norm of working and not going to my pilates classes (ugg I'm getting lazy!) I had to prep for my parents arrival. They got here this week on Wednesday so I had to make sure the house was ready for them and just to make sure they'd get to my place safely. Luckily everything worked out great and they got here with no problems. Not even any run ins with gypies haha. That night we went out with my friends Teresa and her husband Rafa for a WONDERFUL dinner at Tres Culturas (a great restaurant in Lucena). They got a chance to try all sorts of typical spanish food and they loved it.

After arriving they basically had minimal time to rest because we just had too much to do. The next day we were to go on a field trip so we had to get up early...they've been coping well with all the traveling...thus far ;) We actually went on a field trip with some of the older students to a research facility in Cordoba and then to a brewery! We went to the Alhambra factory and learned a little bit about how the beer is made, saw a tour of the factory and even got some gift bags from them in the end. Always fun to visit a brewery. We got back and only had a few hours before we had to catch a bus to Malaga, why? We were going to catch a plane early the next morning to BARCELONA! Which brings us to now. We are currently in the lively city of Barcelona and its wonderful! I will post more about this trip in another post after we've seen a few more things but I just have to say this city is fun. I can see why everyone loves it. So keep you eyes open for the next post!