Two weekends ago, I went to Cáceres for an Irish music festival. One of my friends in Don Benito found out about it. Cáceres is only about 1 hr and 45 minutes from Don Benito by bus so it wasn’t a very intense trip. We went on Saturday morning and spent the morning walking around the old section of town. I kind of already did this when I was in Cáceres for orientation, but I really didn’t put much effort into it last time because I was so preoccupied by starting the program and very anxious to go to Don Benito. So it was nice to be able to go there again and really see it. The old section (“Ciudad Monumental”) was very beautiful. Its just a cluster of old buildings near the center. The music was supposed to start at 6:00. But ofcourse they were on Spanish time and the music didnt actually start until 7:30 at the bar we were at. That was more like a jam session, where who ever can play just comes and they improv it. Later that night were the actual concerts. The stage was set up in the old part of the city, so it was a very pretty setting. The first set was these two guys (I cant remember their names), they were pretty good, nothing exceptional. Then the “headliner” was an irish group called Dervish. Most all of their songs were in the Irish language. They were really good. They had some Irish dancers come out at times to dance during the songs. It was pretty cool.
Last weekend, I went to Trujillo for a day. Trujillo is only 45minutes from Don Benito, so it makes for a nice day trip. I signed up and went with a tour group of sorts from Don Benito. The trip, which included transportation to and from Trujillo and breakfast and lunch was only 10euros, which is really good. However, the lady from the travel agency told me that there would be a “charla” which is when we have to sit through a sales pitch of some sort, but we are not obligated to buy anything. I imagined that this sales pitch would be selling some type of local handicraft, like pottery of Trujillo or something..... but no.... the man was a mattress salesman. Mattresses?? How random This sales pitch lasted like 2.5 hours too. At first I was like, well I will pay attention and learn some new vocabulary, but after like an hour I was completely zoned out.
So after all this and lunch, we finally went to see Trujillo. The old section of Trujillo is very beautiful. It is the home if Pizarro, the conquistador. We went to the house where he was born and also to the old churches in the old section. We went to a Clothes museum that showcased the traditional clothes of many different areas in Spain. The sun was setting by the time we got to the Castillo (castle), so it was very beautiful. Castles are always situated on the tops of hills, so the view was amazing. We could see all around Trujillo... and with the sunset., it was perfect. So after all the mattresses and everything, it was a worthwhile trip.
Don Benito has set up Christmas decorations throughout the city. I am looking forward to seeing them all lit up once Dec. 8th rolls around.
So, me and my roommate have moved apartments... well almost. We have to go clean the old apartment tonight and then hand in our keys tomorrow. We wanted to live with a Spanish person, so we happened to find this girl, Irene, who just moved here who is in school to be a dental hygienist. So we had to move to a 3 bedroom. Luckily, our new apartment is right across the street from our old apartment. So it was a relatively easy move. I’ll put up some pics of our new place on facebook soon. I really love the new apartment. Its old, but has a lot of character. :)
Thats all for now. Thanks for reading my blog!
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