Blog Post 7.
Yesterday I visited an unreal place. Several, actually. Our program director, who I dubbed “Queen Vicky” (we’ve taken to just calling her “Reina”), decided we needed to have a tour of the Province of Cádiz. Our day trip started here in the city of Cádiz, seat of the province, and took us to Vejer de la Frontera, Bolonia and then into the UK territory of Gibraltar.
Vejer. A white city- I thought they only existed on the coast of Greece and Croatia, but Spain has her own set, and they rival any of the Mediterranean. I was most enchanted by the plants. Big vibrant green leaves juxtaposing white walls practically makes me weep. I added to my collection of interior/garden design photos for future use and I walked up some steep, narrow streets. The town itself is situated atop a random mountain of sorts. In the past, this protected it from invasion and today it indicates its ethereal essence. A place where I would return if I wanted to slough the weight of time. On one side, a view of fields that have been worked for hundreds of years. On the other a view of the Atlantic.
Bolonia. This is where the full unreality of the day was achieved. Along the beach, which is long and blue, there are astoundingly well-preserved ruins of a Roman city built in honor of Emperor Claudio. From the city, we could see Africa. On the beach itself, there is a sizable dune that leaves the impression some giant toddler accidentally dumped its bucket of sand there because it simply doesn’t make sense. This is exaggerated by the endless, neon green forest that lives on the other side and, quite literally, begins where the dune ends. It was windy and I will probably have sand in my ears and hair for two weeks. 100% was worth it. Our group shared an utterly carefree energy as we ran around or stared in awe (I, of course, snapped lots of photos). If you are ever in Southern Spain, go the Playa Bolonia. My words and my photos do the place very little justice.
Gibraltar. The day before yesterday I jokingly told my mom I would be popping over to the UK the next day. I guess it wasn’t a joke, but I think it’s so funny that the rock- a rock that no one really even wanted in the first place (it’s true- Spain practically gave Gibraltar to the British around 300 years ago), has remained a faithful territory of the United Kingdom for centuries. The rock itself is much larger than I thought it would be. More of a mountain than a rock. On the rock-mountain live wild Barbary macaques- a species of ape from Morocco. My host mamá made a special effort to ensure that I was afraid of these small monkeys before leaving. I think I am immune to such fears and, for this reason, was not harmed in any way by the creatures. In fact, one youngster (pictured below) seemed to take a special liking to me (its mom did not like that). I felt like a National Geographic photographer with the monkeys, some of whom really know their angles.
As we made our way through the (very lax) Gibraltar to Spain border security, Queen Vicky asked us which place was our favorite. The group was silent as we mulled over the events of the previous ten hours. I finally said “de formas distintas, me encantaron todos” (in different ways, I loved them all), and everyone seemed to be in accordance.
This day trip helped me to feel closer to my companions in the program- there are only six of us so it’s already a pretty tight group. We all like each other but I don’t think, under normal circumstances, we are people who would necessarily have fallen into friendships. In this case, our situation has presented to each of us the opportunity to be friends with totally fresh people. It’s pretty awesome.
Kulani Sol 