Ronda, Gibraltar, and Carnaval in Cádiz

Last weekend (on Friday), we went to a small town called Ronda with ISA. It's home to the oldest bullring in Spain. (No, we didn't see a bullfight-- it's too early in the year.) It also has this huge bridge that connects the two parts of the city. The views from there (and of the bridge itself) were so amazing. A group of us found a cute gazebo that overlooked the surrounding mountains and sat down to eat lunch. I literally could have stayed there all day. Towards the end of lunch, an older Spanish man came and set up his stuff and started singing "Hotel California." He was pretty decent, so it was actually kind of nice. :) After lunch, we just wandered around the city. While we were exploring, we came across another little Spanish man who started telling us about the history of the area. It was pretty cool until he pointed to a plain, dead-looking tree and said, "Y esto es el árbol del amor," to which my friend almost responded, "Está muerto, ¿no?" (Translation: "And this is the tree of love." "It's dead, no?") At this point, we knew it was time to move on, and we spent the rest of the afternoon hunting ice cream and meandering through a medieval fair market.

On Saturday, some friends and I went to Gibraltar with a company called DiscoverSevilla that puts trips together for foreign students. For those of you who don't know about Gibraltar, it is a self-governing British colony located in the very south of Spain. (Ever heard of the Strait of Gibraltar?) It's where the huge Rock of Gibraltar is. When we got there, we had to get off the bus and show our passports to cross the border. Then we all separated into smaller groups, and our guide drove us around and told us some interesting tidbits about Gibraltar. For example, the police force is the 2nd oldest in the world, as is the newspaper. The heaviest gun in the world is located there, which we got to see in passing, and Gibraltar currently has the cheapest gas in Europe. He then drove us to Europa Point, which is the southern-most point in Gibraltar and overlooks the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, and Africa! After taking muchas fotos, we went up the Rock to a place called St. Michael's Cave. It's a nature-made cave inside the Rock. It was so amazing-- I normally don't care too much for caves, but this one was breathtaking. Pictures just can't do it justice. And finally, we went down to the Apes' Den, which is where monkeys are allowed to live in a semi-natural state. It's the only place in Europe that allows that. It was cool, too, but I was a little afraid they were going to jump on my head, something they did to one of my friends!

(the group in front of Africa!)

Yesterday, a ton of people made the trip down to the coastal town of Cádiz for one of the biggest fiestas of the year: Carnaval. Think Mardi Gras merged with Halloween. Everyone wears a costume and hangs out it the tiny streets, occasionally dancing to some impromptu music. It was literally wall-to-wall people. It was a lot of fun and definitely an experience that I'm glad I can say I have, but once is good enough for me! I also managed to take some pictures of some of the buildings there. It is, after all, one of the oldest cities in the world-- more than 3000 years old. :)