Cuenca

Hola a todos!

I just noticed some of the comments you all left, thanks! I miss you all a lot. Not quite homesick yet, cause there's a lot to see and do still, but I do miss my family and friends.

This past week was pretty great. On Friday, I got to see la Plaza Mayor. I need to do some more research about it, but it was really beautiful. A roommate and I explored more of the area near our house too. Friday night we made the mistake of going to an Irish pub here downtown. It's in a touristy area called Sol, and I don't think there were more than 5 actual Spaniards there althought the place was packed. It's kind of interesting that there are a lot of Irish pubs here, and they are actually pretty popular. The whole time I was there, though, I felt like I was back in Chicago. The MLB playoffs were on and they only played American music...and they served us Heinekens haha. We had fun anyway, but we learned our lesson and will not be doing that again.

We just got back to the apartment from our weekend trip to Cuenca. Before going, I didn't really know anything about the city, but it was beautiful! It's a little city in between two valleys, and it's about 800 years old or more. It's mainly famous for its famous "Casas Colgadas" (hanging houses), but we got to take a tour through a beautiful cathedral and the rest of the old part of the city. It was kind of creepy when the tour guide showed us a building used during the Inquisition and then told us they used to burn people alive in the parking lot above...yea. The city was great though. The old part is pretty small, only 2000 people live there now, but it has a great charm to it.

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel. It was also really old, located in the mountains near the downtown area of Cuenca. Yesterday we spent the day exploring the city, but today we did outdoor adventures. Some people jumped off cliffs into the river, but I was too afraid (and cold) so I went horseback riding instead. It rained a lot, but it was a good time. I got the lazy horse, Fenix, so I was stuck behind everyone, but it was a lot of fun. On the way back to the stable, someone was actually bit by one of the horses when it got startled by another one. No worries, she is okay, she is actually my roommate here. After the adventures we had a barbeque with A LOT of food, and then we got on the bus back to Madrid.

In a minute we are going to go to the Plaza de Cibeles for a big parade. It's pretty close to where I guess many different Latin American countries are being represented. Later tonight I plan on catching up on some homework and RESTING.

I posted some pictures for y'all....and I'll post more of Madrid later tonight. Entonces...hasta luego!