Last weekend CIEE organized a trip to Granada. I had an absolutely wonderful time, mostly because Kai, Ally, Sasha, and I were together. I hadn’t seen them for a very long time, because we all have classes at different times. It was nice to be back with my support group, with people with whom I always feel comfortable. The three buses left at 8:30 AM Saturday morning. My friend Nolan was supposed to come too, but due to his crazy Friday night he slept through his multiple alarms and phone calls. After the three and a half hour drive, we arrived. We would be staying at a fancy hotel right next to the Alhambra. Ally, Sasha and I were glad to learn that we could share a triple. Each bus had a different schedule and different staff members. There are a whole bunch of tour guides who I guess work for CIEE and tour everything. I recognized guides from the Cathedral and from Italica with us. We started out with a massive, delicious, buffet at the hotel. Many members of our group sampled their first paella, and we had great delight in watching Sasha removing her first shrimp head. It was amusingly frustrating how efficient the hotel staff was. As soon as you finished a plate, a staff member would swoop in and remove it. However, “finished” is a rough term. Many people’s plates were removed when their forks were merely on the return trip. I half-peeled an orange, got up to get tea, and came back to find my orange, half-peeled, gone. From then on we designated food-guarders if anyone had to get up. My group started out with a walk through the Albayzin, the San Nicolas viewpoint, and a visit to the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel). In a strange and quick walk downstairs we saw the tombs of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. It was really cold and rainy, so I was glad that our bus terminated the tour at a Tetería, where we had tea and Arabic pastries. We had free time after that, so the four of us just walked around. Luckily, Kai went to Granada last semester, so he wasn’t completely clueless. Granada is a hippie haven, and in one area there were sepetecientos identical shops selling hemp clothes, incense, tea, and the works. We looked for a new nose ring for Sasha, and warmed up with hot chocolate and pastries. Finally, we hopped on the 32 bus to ride up the hill to the hotel, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner.
Afterwards, Ally, Sasha, Kai and I spent way to long “getting ready.” When we were all primped, we walked down the hill into town. This night was the most fun yet, because it was the four of us happy to be together with matching desires for a night out. We went to a few bars, strangely didn’t run into any of the other hundred people on our trip, and laughed about everything we could in the past two weeks. As we were walking, we spotted a few people wearing the reflective yellow vests worn by Spanish garbage collectors. However, writing on the back said “Yo soy fan de Gonzalo.” We saw several more, and finally saw a bar packed with people wearing these vests. As we walked by, we were beckoned to come join. We asked what it was, and one fan de Gonzalo informed us that it was a bachelor party. He insisted that we join, and gave us vests. Ally became a fan de Gonzalo, I was “Dama de Honor, Granada 2009,” Sasha had “Tengo Novio” (much to her dismay) and I forget Kai’s. The bar was predominantly drunk thirty-year-old men, and we were the four token young Americans, including three girls and two blonds. This was a total riot. It didn’t matter that we knew no one, we belonged to the party. Finally we saw a man dressed head to toe in reflective yellow gear. His back read, “No busca más, yo soy Gonzalo!” (Don’t look any more, I’m Gonzalo). We wished him Felicidades, and he naturally greeted us with kisses. We stayed for only about five minutes, much to the dismay of the groom’s friends, and didn’t stop laughing for about an hour.
We proudly wore our vests as we walked around more (well Ally and I did, Sasha didn’t want to advertise her non-existent boyfriend and Kai didn’t want to embarrass himself since we were looking for his hopefully future boyfriend). We were so glad that we had been in the right place at the right time for the cherry on top of a great trip. We gave up on trying to meet up with other friends, and took a taxi back to the hotel. We were speaking all Spanish, and the driver complimented mine (since I was sitting up front) once we arrived. He speculated that I was German, and a guy at the bachelor party thought I was British, so I was glad to learn that I’m not an obvious American. We were all in such great spirits when we got back and we sadly parted ways with Kai when we went to our room. It was so nice going to bed with two great friends in the two beds on either side of me. After so many nights of being yelled at by my host mom, going to bed alone, waking up alone, and tiptoeing around as to not wake her up so I don’t have to be yelled at more, it was just what I needed. I woke up the next morning to the sound of Ally in the shower, and got to talk to friends before I even got out of bed.
We met a bunch of groggy Americans at breakfast, where we were celebrities because we were fans of Gonzalo, whom everyone had seen around the night before. After that, we split into groups again to head to the Alhambra. I was glad that we ended up with the guide who had toured Italica. I think Sasha and Kai were bummed that we didn’t have Alejando, the young, attractive, charming tour guide, but I was glad to have a mom figure for the morning. This guide is so kind, so warm, and so patient with all of our photo-taking needs and such. She speaks slowly, she laughs at our jokes, and she has the best smile. She remembered me as the one who stuck with the cat at Italica, and was not surprised when another girl and I were lagging behind because we had found another cat who was purring in our arms. The other girl named the cat Isabel, and the guide asked if we were sure it was a girl, then calmly grabbed the poor cat’s legs to check.
Anyway, the Alhambra was amazing (duh). We first walked through the Generalife Gardens, which were not at their prime season (full of flowers in the spring) but still gorgeous. It was full of sculpted hedges and fountains and artfully placed trees. Next stop was the tower, where we climbed up and had an amazing view of everything, including the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains. We could faintly see people (from the other buses in our group) at the San Nicolas viewpoint where we had been the day before. The next part was the palace, similar to the Alcazar in appearance but much greater in size and grandeur. It was full of the Moorish architecture, tiles, and other decorative arts. The cool part about the palace is that there is always water in all parts. There were numerous fountains, canals, and pools. Even just a tiny canal running through the floor was enough to give that room the tranquility and essence of the water. In the rooms with the bigger pools, the amazing architecture was reflected in the green water, an effect I could only dream of capturing on camera. There was also a little room with a domed ceiling that provided the cool corner-to-corner sound thing made famous by Grand Central Station. Kai and I told secrets in Spanish to whoever was listening on the other side (turned out to be a pair of elderly tourists).
After our tour we had free time before lunch. We were all cold and damp, and sort of in a relaxed trance after the history and magnificence of the Alhambra. We remedied this by setting up camp in the bar’s café, where we drank coffee, played cards (with Spanish cards, no less!) and watched the tail end of Federer vs. Nadal on TV. This group was the four of us, our friend Brendan from Indiana, and our new friend Dan from Macalester. When it was time, the same group proceeded into the dining hall for another beautiful paella. At this time, I learned the proper way to peel an orange in Spain. After lunch, we piled into the buses for the return trip. We stopped halfway at the weirdest rest stop in the world, where Sasha ran into a girl she went to high school with (now Kai’s the only one has yet to bump into someone he knows). The rest of the drive was very relaxing, because it was dark and raining, and Sasha and I confirmed our identical childhoods once again with our common car trip games. The five of us (four plus new friend Dan) played Ghost and Boticcelli as we ate un-PC candy. It was pouring out when we arrived, and a bunch of us headed towards Triana (our neighborhood). I happen to love walking in the rain, so this was a great way to end the trip. As people left the group for their respective side streets, Kai, Dan and I continued on. I love walking in the rain and I greatly enjoy their company, so rather than going straight home to the lovely Maria Jose I walked the two of them home, deep in Triana. We learned that Kai and Dan actually live very close together, which was a comfort to Kai who was feeling out of the loop. I walked back home reflecting on the wonderful weekend, feeling the best I have this whole time.
No busca más, yo soy Gonzalo
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