This is from my Xanga Blog. in 2006. bahaha. I miss Xanga some days. I re-copied it here for you because it relates directly to the new post below this one. I hope you enjoy both posts thoroughly.
Me Gusta Comer Cosas Sin Ojos
Currently Listening
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Walk the Plank
It was a sunday, and the poor study abroad student was starving after a long morning of Catholic Mass and covert pastry ingestion, which as you know, only makes you more hungry for real food. She arrived home, but was not greeted by the usual thick aroma of Churizo or Pescado. She wondered why, and entered the kitchen. There was the family, ready to partake of the Sunday Comida.
(translated for your benefit)
"ahh, good afternoon! sit down sit down, we are ready to eat!"
"oh good! what we eat?" (clearly this is how I would sound if literally translated)
"Crab? Have you ever tried it?"
"I don´t know what word you say, but I eat all foods!"
"of course you do! You´ll love this!"
And out comes the plate. Actually a platter. A platter full of inexplicably fresh crabs, completely and utterly intact, raw, and cold. All 10 pairs of eyes staring me down from their porcelain grave. They still have the green of the sea on their backs, little shells attached to their bodies.
"Don´t worry LO-rraine, the are dead."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Now eat. These were very expensive."
And with that the family all reaches in takes a crab for themself. What follows is a scene too barbaric for words, as crab limbs are torn, chomped, sucked out and flung across the table back into the once-full platter. No instruments, only teeth. Now you know why europeans have bad teeth.
"LO-rraine, you didn´t eat the eyeballs. Those are the best part. And very expensive. Eat."
I won´t bother to elaborate.
Sunday was an otherwise quiet and lovely day after a very fantastic and adventure-filled Saturday. My study abroad group had taken to the incredible national park about 2 hours East of Oviedo for a kayaking adventure down the Rio Sella. Even as a totally granola nature nut, I was skeptical about the event. Did I really want to spend the extra euros to do something that I could do in Utah any day? Plus the sky was in it´s usual rainy overcast Asturian funk, and I didn´t want to be freezing for 4 hours. And then I realized that I was being a total idiot, and agreed to go.
The first, best, and most humiliating move was donning the wetsuits, but in the end I was very very glad that I had. We got our crash course in Kayaking, and I was glad I had done it before, as the crash course was in spanish. Then we loaded our kayaks onto a moving ramp that takes them to the top of hill overlooking the river. When we reached the top, we got into our kayaks and one at a time they push you off the hill and down a chute that drops you straight into the river. What a thrill!
The view was gorgeous in every way, and I quickly realized that this was definitely NOT something that you could do in Utah. Everything was so green, and the mountains so tall above us, and wildflowers everywhere! Every once in awhile you would see these OLD stone stairs that just came out of nowhere all along the river and end right at the water´s edge. it struck me as something you would see in The Shire or Rohan. In fact many people remarked how similar the landscape and experience was to Lord of the Rings, but less impending doom and smaller feet.
For lunch we stopped under an old stone bridge and devoured our food, and our guide told us that a lot of people jump off the bridge here, because the water is about 30 feet deep. Immediately a herd of boys and I take off towards the road to the bridge. We get up there and I immediately recognize that this bridge is just a tisk higher than my highest jump I have ever done in Lake Powell, but being the only girl, and having a lot to prove for all my talk about the rowing team and living on a farm and stuff, I knew I had to do it! So three boys go off first (there was no way I was going first, I wanted to see if the first kids died or not) and say it´s awesome, so me and two other guys climb the side, girls cheering me on below. On the count of three me and ONE guy jump off, because the third guy was a freakin wuss, and about halfway down the jump I realize that I would really like to be that one guy still hanging off the bridge. but after a very cold impact and a safe return to the surface, I gladly accept the applause of my fellow students. You know how I love an audience.
The rest of the trip was every bit as delightful, and I was happy to return to clean dry clothes that were not inherently suctioned to my body. After that we made a quick stop at a church built into the side of a cliff because that is where the virgin mary ever-so conveniently appeared to some poor monk. So there stands the sweetest little church too small to accomodate an indoor mass, so mass is held outside the church on the edge of the cliff. completely beautiful. below THAT is a fountain that legend says will grant a marriage in the next year to anyone who drinks from it. Me and a number of other girls decide to tempt fate and drink an obscene amount of marriage water, fill a few bottles worth to take home, and of course get a picture or two as well.
Though I have to admit that between the unpurified water from the marriage fountain and the crabs, my stomach has not felt the same since. But what´s a trip abroad without a little stomach churning??
Me Gusta Comer Cosas Sin Ojos
Currently Listening
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Walk the Plank
It was a sunday, and the poor study abroad student was starving after a long morning of Catholic Mass and covert pastry ingestion, which as you know, only makes you more hungry for real food. She arrived home, but was not greeted by the usual thick aroma of Churizo or Pescado. She wondered why, and entered the kitchen. There was the family, ready to partake of the Sunday Comida.
(translated for your benefit)
"ahh, good afternoon! sit down sit down, we are ready to eat!"
"oh good! what we eat?" (clearly this is how I would sound if literally translated)
"Crab? Have you ever tried it?"
"I don´t know what word you say, but I eat all foods!"
"of course you do! You´ll love this!"
And out comes the plate. Actually a platter. A platter full of inexplicably fresh crabs, completely and utterly intact, raw, and cold. All 10 pairs of eyes staring me down from their porcelain grave. They still have the green of the sea on their backs, little shells attached to their bodies.
"Don´t worry LO-rraine, the are dead."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Now eat. These were very expensive."
And with that the family all reaches in takes a crab for themself. What follows is a scene too barbaric for words, as crab limbs are torn, chomped, sucked out and flung across the table back into the once-full platter. No instruments, only teeth. Now you know why europeans have bad teeth.
"LO-rraine, you didn´t eat the eyeballs. Those are the best part. And very expensive. Eat."
I won´t bother to elaborate.
Sunday was an otherwise quiet and lovely day after a very fantastic and adventure-filled Saturday. My study abroad group had taken to the incredible national park about 2 hours East of Oviedo for a kayaking adventure down the Rio Sella. Even as a totally granola nature nut, I was skeptical about the event. Did I really want to spend the extra euros to do something that I could do in Utah any day? Plus the sky was in it´s usual rainy overcast Asturian funk, and I didn´t want to be freezing for 4 hours. And then I realized that I was being a total idiot, and agreed to go.
The first, best, and most humiliating move was donning the wetsuits, but in the end I was very very glad that I had. We got our crash course in Kayaking, and I was glad I had done it before, as the crash course was in spanish. Then we loaded our kayaks onto a moving ramp that takes them to the top of hill overlooking the river. When we reached the top, we got into our kayaks and one at a time they push you off the hill and down a chute that drops you straight into the river. What a thrill!
The view was gorgeous in every way, and I quickly realized that this was definitely NOT something that you could do in Utah. Everything was so green, and the mountains so tall above us, and wildflowers everywhere! Every once in awhile you would see these OLD stone stairs that just came out of nowhere all along the river and end right at the water´s edge. it struck me as something you would see in The Shire or Rohan. In fact many people remarked how similar the landscape and experience was to Lord of the Rings, but less impending doom and smaller feet.
For lunch we stopped under an old stone bridge and devoured our food, and our guide told us that a lot of people jump off the bridge here, because the water is about 30 feet deep. Immediately a herd of boys and I take off towards the road to the bridge. We get up there and I immediately recognize that this bridge is just a tisk higher than my highest jump I have ever done in Lake Powell, but being the only girl, and having a lot to prove for all my talk about the rowing team and living on a farm and stuff, I knew I had to do it! So three boys go off first (there was no way I was going first, I wanted to see if the first kids died or not) and say it´s awesome, so me and two other guys climb the side, girls cheering me on below. On the count of three me and ONE guy jump off, because the third guy was a freakin wuss, and about halfway down the jump I realize that I would really like to be that one guy still hanging off the bridge. but after a very cold impact and a safe return to the surface, I gladly accept the applause of my fellow students. You know how I love an audience.
The rest of the trip was every bit as delightful, and I was happy to return to clean dry clothes that were not inherently suctioned to my body. After that we made a quick stop at a church built into the side of a cliff because that is where the virgin mary ever-so conveniently appeared to some poor monk. So there stands the sweetest little church too small to accomodate an indoor mass, so mass is held outside the church on the edge of the cliff. completely beautiful. below THAT is a fountain that legend says will grant a marriage in the next year to anyone who drinks from it. Me and a number of other girls decide to tempt fate and drink an obscene amount of marriage water, fill a few bottles worth to take home, and of course get a picture or two as well.
Though I have to admit that between the unpurified water from the marriage fountain and the crabs, my stomach has not felt the same since. But what´s a trip abroad without a little stomach churning??
Comments
I loved this adventure journal snippet! Thanks for sharing. It fills me with wander-lust and I can not wait to travel!