Salamanca es salarific

The first time I heard of Salamanca, Spain, it was because of a bootleg Radiohead disk that I had from them performing live here in 2002. But after being here, in my humble opinion, it's an incredibly lively, young city due to the large student population. It's got beautiful cathedrals and an incredibly ornate Plaza Mayor. It has a great arts scene, and the standard start the night out at 3 am. Unfortunately there was a Feria de los Libros (book fair) here this week, with these ugly orange mobile book stalls staining the Plaza. On the other hand, there was free music all week long in the Plaza, so that was a tradeoff.
I've been surviving the last few days on falafel, since I'm getting tired of the standard Spanish fare. Unfortunately it's not like the falafel sandwiches back home, but the Spaniard version of it. So rather than hummous, eggplant, and tahini with the falafel in a pita, it's crappy iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, and this mayo concoction. It's more like eating a Big Mac without the meat.
The cathedral viewed from the Puente Romano
The dome inside the Catedral Nueva
Everyone loves a wedding

I wish I could have stayed for the reception
Climbing to the top of the Catedral
A church with a building in front with a scallop shelled facade
views from the top of the cathedral

Plaza Mayor
The view of Plaza Mayor at night from my hotel room with the damn book fair ruining the shot.
The concert stage is nice, but that ugly yurt tent thing is a real eyesore
Never an eyesore, just silky smooth, Dónde está Che Pelotas?

A Week in Spain of No Spanish, Only English

Just spent the last week in a little town outside of Salamanca called La Alberca. For the last seven days, I´ve been working in an Adult English Teaching Program with the company Pueblo Inglés. In exchange for free room and board and wine, we worked in a fairly intensive program where no Spanish was allowed. The Spaniards in the program could only speak English. I´m not gonna kid you, I originally volunteered to get free accomodation for the week, but I ended up leaving with many new friends. I cherish especially the Spaniards who taught me essential curse words and hand gestures.
The only bad part of the experience was the food, especially being a vegetarian. Everything was pretty much ham, meat, ham, ham or ham. Vegetable dishes consisted of overcooked, oversaturated, drippy, bland tasting, concoction of canned products from the Franco era. I ended up having to eat a lot of eggs, more than I´ve ever eaten in one week. I think I ate so many eggs that I might grow feathers out of my ass.
Vino, si si si.......Jamon, no me gustaBut now I´m in Salamanca and then heading to Portugal for a week before starting the next Pueblo Inglés program at a different location with hopefully better food. I know the next place Valdelavilla has free laundry, so that´s a good start since I´ll be going on 2 weeks since the last wash......thought I´d share that with you.
A mini procession in the neighboring town of Miranda del Castañar
This should have the photo I used for my friend Chad who passed away tragically. Sun and tree reflecting in a pond in La Alberca.
He's more ham than cheese, Dónde está Che Pelotas?

After a week in Piedralaves, heading to La Alberca to teach English

A sign on a building letting you know that you´ve arrived in Piedralaves. If you´re in a car, 30 seconds later is a sign letting you know that you´ve left Piedralaves.
So I had this wonderful week in Piedralaves. Typical Spanish countryside of warm sun, bottles of vino tinto, and siestas everyday. Today, I had to make the move to Madrid to start this English teaching program just outside of Salamanca. The unfortunate part is that I don´t have a car and have to rely on public transport to get to Madrid from Piedralaves. The really unfortunate part is that I had to walk 3 km uphill from the house I´m staying in Piedralaves to the bus stop. The really really unfortunate part, is that of all days, this morning was the day that it started to rain. Super-duper unfortunate was that no smart Spaniard would pick up a dripping wet backpacker trying to hitch a ride to the bus stop. So by the time I got onto the bus, I was soaked. Puta madre.
He´s just as silky smooth, wet or dry, Dónde está Che Pelotas?