Santiago de Compostela
This past friday we took another group excursion with AHA. It was to Santiago de Compostela, a piligrimage town that caters to throngs of travelers coming to visit the cathedral of Santiago. If you´re really cool, you can walk the path that takes about 5 weeks from the border of france all the way across northern spain to this town. If you do this, you are practically guaranteed free lodging and food along the way.
Maybe some day i will come back and do it with Michael. THen, when you get to the famous cathedral, there is a pillar at the front entryway that you are supposed to touch and it actually has indentations of five fingers from hundreds of years of people touching it in the exact spot. then you go around to the back of the pillar and bonk heads three times with a statue called Maestro Mateo. Both of these tradiciones are supposed to bring you good luck. After completing these taskes you can then go into the back of the church where there is a huge...i don´t know what you call it...shrine thing, where you go to give Santiago himself a hug. (he´s a huge statue plated in cold and jewels). My host mom says that he´ll make are your desires come true if you tell him in his ear before you give him the hug. i felt stupid so just gave un abrazo. All of these things, if I were catholic i assume, would cleanse me of my sins and make my life better.
too bad i´m not catholic. It was a great experience though. i love traditions. The weather was horrible, windy rainy and freezing cold, so we spent the rest of our time hiding out in a cafe.
We also went to an old roman city on a hill. all that was left were the surrounding walls of each tiny little home, because the tops had been built every year out of straw and mud and poop. No joke. the guide said poop. They are all circular and have a hole for the door. i have pictures that i haven´t been able to post. It was eerie becuase the town was built less than a hundred years after christ was killed...so it was FREAKIN OLD. Based on the sizes of the houses, I couldn´t help but imagine a city buzzing with midgets. not even a few of me could have fit comfortably in the houses.
Our final day, a few of us went out to the coast and collected sea glass, rocks and shells becuase they are beautiful here. and the waves were huge and crashing. if not for the fact that i was about to get on a bus for the rest of the day I would have tried to go body surfing.
We took the bus to a city called Lugo, where there remains a roman? wall. the entire nucleus of the city has a huge emposing wall around it that you can walk on top of becuase it´s probably 6-8 feet wide. It if weren´t for the wind we would have walked the circle, but it was just too cold. I think someone said in total it was about a mile all the way around. There was another old catherdral there too but not as cool as Santiago.
I ate a hamburger there, just cuz I was missing greasy american food...and it made me really really sick. I spent the following two hours on the bus sitting really still and takeing shallow breaths because I didn´`t want to puke on the bus. when we finally got to a rest stop, I tried to make myself throw up just to feel better, but I couldn´t do it. I felt a little better just being off the bus but didn´t fully recover until today. I don´t know what it was, but I´ll just stick with spanish food while i am here and leave the hamburgers to america for when i return.
Our time here is getting so short. I was looking at my calendar the other day and started to freak out a little bit. I don´t want to think about all the things i have to do when i get home. It´s been so nice to just be here, nad have nothing to worry about but being here. My host mom cooks all my meals, cleans all my clothes. my credit cards pay all my bills. i don´t have to feel bad for not having a job cuz it´s illegal for me to get one here...
anyway. i guess they call it re-entry culture shock. blah. culture shock sucks by the way.
I love you all
Maybe some day i will come back and do it with Michael. THen, when you get to the famous cathedral, there is a pillar at the front entryway that you are supposed to touch and it actually has indentations of five fingers from hundreds of years of people touching it in the exact spot. then you go around to the back of the pillar and bonk heads three times with a statue called Maestro Mateo. Both of these tradiciones are supposed to bring you good luck. After completing these taskes you can then go into the back of the church where there is a huge...i don´t know what you call it...shrine thing, where you go to give Santiago himself a hug. (he´s a huge statue plated in cold and jewels). My host mom says that he´ll make are your desires come true if you tell him in his ear before you give him the hug. i felt stupid so just gave un abrazo. All of these things, if I were catholic i assume, would cleanse me of my sins and make my life better.
too bad i´m not catholic. It was a great experience though. i love traditions. The weather was horrible, windy rainy and freezing cold, so we spent the rest of our time hiding out in a cafe.
We also went to an old roman city on a hill. all that was left were the surrounding walls of each tiny little home, because the tops had been built every year out of straw and mud and poop. No joke. the guide said poop. They are all circular and have a hole for the door. i have pictures that i haven´t been able to post. It was eerie becuase the town was built less than a hundred years after christ was killed...so it was FREAKIN OLD. Based on the sizes of the houses, I couldn´t help but imagine a city buzzing with midgets. not even a few of me could have fit comfortably in the houses.
Our final day, a few of us went out to the coast and collected sea glass, rocks and shells becuase they are beautiful here. and the waves were huge and crashing. if not for the fact that i was about to get on a bus for the rest of the day I would have tried to go body surfing.
We took the bus to a city called Lugo, where there remains a roman? wall. the entire nucleus of the city has a huge emposing wall around it that you can walk on top of becuase it´s probably 6-8 feet wide. It if weren´t for the wind we would have walked the circle, but it was just too cold. I think someone said in total it was about a mile all the way around. There was another old catherdral there too but not as cool as Santiago.
I ate a hamburger there, just cuz I was missing greasy american food...and it made me really really sick. I spent the following two hours on the bus sitting really still and takeing shallow breaths because I didn´`t want to puke on the bus. when we finally got to a rest stop, I tried to make myself throw up just to feel better, but I couldn´t do it. I felt a little better just being off the bus but didn´t fully recover until today. I don´t know what it was, but I´ll just stick with spanish food while i am here and leave the hamburgers to america for when i return.
Our time here is getting so short. I was looking at my calendar the other day and started to freak out a little bit. I don´t want to think about all the things i have to do when i get home. It´s been so nice to just be here, nad have nothing to worry about but being here. My host mom cooks all my meals, cleans all my clothes. my credit cards pay all my bills. i don´t have to feel bad for not having a job cuz it´s illegal for me to get one here...
anyway. i guess they call it re-entry culture shock. blah. culture shock sucks by the way.
I love you all