This weekend was quite action-packed and delightful and, surprisingly, I didn’t even have to leave my town. My friends in Alicante told me that they were going to visit me in Jávea, and I was so excited. It’s been a while since I’ve been around some Americans and, after the long and semi-stressful week that I had, a weekend with my American girlfriends was exactly what I needed.
One of my friends was coming to visit me on Friday and two of my other friends were coming on Saturday. On Friday morning, I got up early and started to clean my piso. It actually took me a little longer to clean up than I expected it to, but it could be because I wanted everything to look perfect (typical me). I also went to the grocery store to get a couple of food and drink items that morning. By the time I finished cleaning and got dressed, I was running to the bus stop to go greet my first visitor.
I forgot to mention to my friend that instead of the fancy bus stations that most cities have, Jávea just has a bus stop that basically consists of 3 benches for people to sit on and a bus sign. When my friend arrived, she was so confused so she called me to make sure that she was at the right place. I finally got to the bus stop to meet my friend and we went to my piso to drop her things off and then headed off to do some exploring in Jávea.
First I took her to the historic part of Jávea to see some of the “main attractions” of the town, like the market, the cathedral, and some gothic-style buildings. She pointed out a lot of little things about the town that I never really paid any attention to, that’s why it’s good to see things with other people. While we were in this part of town, we noticed that men were putting up these cage-like structures all over the center. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn’t bother to ask. After leaving the historic part of town, I decided to take her to El Puerto, to see the sea and sit down and have some café con leche. When we got down to the port however, most of the restaurants were closed (stupid Siesta time) so instead we walked along the rocky shore staring at the beautiful sea and waiting for places to start opening back up. As we were waiting, I got a text message from one of the teacher’s at my school telling me that there was a Bull Run in the historic center of town (that’s what the cages were for) and so we decided to skip the café (unfortunately) and go see the bulls. The Running of the Bulls is a very old Spanish tradition in which bulls are let loose in a sectioned-off part of a town’s streets and a group of people run in front of and tantalize the bulls while the bulls try to conquer them. This was the first Bull Run that I’ve seen since I’ve been to Spain, and I must say that it was quite amusing. To me, it was very interesting to see the young guys and older men run in front of the bull, not only for leisure but also because it’s just a cultural norm. While watching the Bull Run, I wondered if participating in this custom was a way that Spanish men define their manhood. I honestly feel that in Spain, if you’re a male and you’ve never participated in a Bull Run, you’re not a "real man." It’s an interesting concept and one that I plan to explore further. (Check out the video)
The Bull Run was very interesting, but at that time my friend and I were very hungry, so we said goodbye to my teacher friends and looked for a place to eat. We decided to try out this winery restaurant and the food and wine were very good. While waiting, the waitress brought out some green olives and although I’ve never liked olives, I tried these, and they were actually not bad at all.
After dinner, we went back to the piso and talked, watched TV, and had wine and chocolate until we grew tired.
On Saturday morning, we woke up early because the teachers invited us to have breakfast in the port with them the previous night. We got to the port and had a wonderful breakfast with about 4 of the other teachers from my school at a restaurant facing the sea. We talked about the educational systems in Spain and the U.S. and the economic crisis that we are both facing. The weather that day was so wonderful and the sea was beautiful. After breakfast, two of the teachers took us to a part of town that’s only easily accessible by car. We went to where you can get a magnificent view of the sea and of a small island. This part of Jávea had to be one of the most beautiful parts that I’ve seen. I was very happy that the teachers took us to see this, especially since we weren’t on the best terms earlier during the week.
Afterwards, my friend had to leave; she wanted to get back for “La Manifestacion” in Alicante (future blog topic). We walked to the bus station together and as she was getting ready to board the bus, my other friends from Alicante had just arrived. I was excited to have more visitors.
Once we saw my other friend off, we made a quick stop to my piso and then headed off to the port to get something to eat. We went to a nice restaurant, also facing the sea, and we each ordered from the menú del dia. The food was very delicious. After eating and chatting for a while, we finally left the port area and decided to head back to the pueblo. I told my friends a while ago that there was a British supermarket in Jávea that sold bagels and lots of other American things that are hard to find in Spain so they were dying to go there. We stopped at the British supermarket, and while we were there, we bought some very good, but unhealthy things to eat for dinner. We decided that for the night (since it was cold) we were going to some eat some yummy foods, watch some girly movies, and sit under the very warm table that I have in my living room ( the table really is warm, it has a radiator at the bottom of it).
So that night we had a very successful and girly sleepover!
In the morning, we ate a good breakfast of bagels and fruit and we decided to walk up a mountain trail in Jávea. One of my friends had been to Jávea and walked up the trail before so she knew how to get to it. While we were walking up the mountain, we had the most breathtaking views of the sea and of all of Jávea, so we occasionally took a break to sit and stare at the beautiful sight. When we finally got to the top of the mountain, we stared at the beauty of the town and pondered even more. It’s still sometimes hard for me to realize that I live in such a beautiful place, it’s like I’m dreaming.
When we finally got back down to the bottom of the mountain we were famished, so we went to the first restaurant that was open and ate there. The food was great! After eating, we decided to go back to my piso and relax for a couple of hours before my friends were set to leave. After they left later that evening, I started trying to prepare for my week ahead and I also called my mother wish her a happy birthday. I went to sleep early.
I was so happy that my friends came to visit me this weekend. After the week that I had, I was a bit discouraged and still a little sad and angry. But it turns out that all I needed was to be around some people like me. I hope that I get a lot more visitors before my time in Spain ends and I definitely should, I mean… who wouldn’t want to come to Jávea?
P.S. I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the best mother in the world, I love you!
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