Saturday and Sunday

This weekend has been a pretty relaxing weekend we didn't travel by train anywhere, in fact we walked everywhere. On Saturday we got up in the morning and swam for a while then we decided to get something to eat (bread) and to drink (granizada--frozen lemonade). We then went to see the Bullfight museum. We determined right when we walked in that a tour was going on right then and there so we rushed in and got to see the bullring. This was good because after seeing the rest of the tour and learning more about bullfighting we determined we never want to see a bullfight. We got to see the old hospital, but the guide said there have been no deaths in Sevilla for a long time and only 3 bullfighters have died ever. We also learned that there are many parts to a bullfight and that the matador kills the bull and the end to prevent it from suffering any more. We saw some heads on the wall (I know very gross). One bull had one ear gone which meant it was a good fight, another had two ears gone which meant it was a better fight, and the final had both its ears. It was one of two bulls saved in Sevilla for breeding. This one was saved recently only 3 years ago and it died in a pasture before it was mounted on the wall.

Where they keep the horses. 

We also decided to go see a church  (Basilica de la Macarena) after lunch that is highly recommended as it talks about the Feria of Sevilla. However we underestimated how long it would take to get there. We only ended up having about 20 minutes to explore it and its treasury, but it was cool none the less. We then rushed to meet Tirion's speaking partner, but we got lost. Partially H's fault and likely both of our map reading skills. We ended up having to call our speaking partner for help and had to meet at a different location. He no doubt thought we were stupid, but we had never been to the part of the city before and reading maps can be difficult when you are in a hurry. We ended up talking to him for an hour or so before we had to walk all the way back. Of course we put some major miles in.

Today we also swam, but then decided to visit a little amusement park that is a little smaller than Carowinds. We went with some people we know from the program and it was an interesting experience. We liked the rides, but there were no signs anywhere. The park was also closely associated with water so there were many water rides. We went on our first roller coaster where our feet didn't touch anything and were hanging (terrifying). We also went on two flume rides. While there we saw some interesting cultural things for example a boy peeing in line to get on a ride and lots of children running around with their shirts off. We all contemplated what age that stopped being appropriate and why these phenomena are different in the U.S. Overall it was a good couple of days.