Feria is the other spring festival that occurs in Sevilla. Everyone dresses up in traditional flamenco clothes to drink and dance at the Feria camp grounds all week. With horse carriages riding around and women dressed in flamenco dresses, I felt like I had been transported back in time!

©Sin titulo, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 28 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

Hi, here GlitchKawaii from Barcelona. Through my screen, I am going to explain you how to get success in the world of Videoart. You only need to take care about few basic things, if you don’t want to get in a loop. To exceed your expectations you don’t need so much talent, you only need MONEY. If you want to see your work exposed in any fair is easy as to buy your own space. At this point, the art galleries become screen partners of artists shaping into something brand new. Then if you want to enter into these circuits, don’t waste your time trying to improve your skills or talents, either your studies, cause it’s completely useless, at least you have money. Then, don’t get frustrated if you get into a loop, in the next fair or festival of videoart, if you see pieces of shame treaten as master pieces, don’t get surprised, or also if these ones are being sold for an overdose prize. The reason is flawless, the gallerist has bought his own space in the aforementioned fair to play his piece in a screen on loop during the whole festival. And this strategy, combined with a good marketing strategy in the social media, get the piece revalued, only to sell it to any art collector, who will speculate with it. Sometimes, the gallerist buys his own piece, throught other channels, just only to avoid that the piece becomes devaluated.

Once we get to this point, where crisis has arrived to everywhere and sectors, fairs and festivals, and bubbles has burst, we need to wonder, before to get the next loop again, that is quite absurd, if we need to find alternative ways in order to remove this kind of capitalist way, to avoid to fall into this trap, to get new distribution ways out of the screen, and find the right direction, where the piece is the main thing and not the money you have…

Hope you find this info usefull. Glad to see you next time with more stuff. Regards from my screen in Barcelona.

Sí, Madrid a veces es un lío… Aquí tienes un pequeño mapa para que te orientes.

©Sin titulo, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 27 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

This time I tried a new shade, P78 instead of 74, wich I have used since august.

I have to use two boxes because my hair is quite thick, and red dye fades fast so I have to do all of my hair, not just the roots.

Here’s the result!

Before

After

Sorry for the grumpy look -.-

I sort of ended up with an ombre-look. I have to admit, I am not a fan of that look, I think it looks like the worlds longest regrowth :P It’s not always that bad, it can be cool (or can it? :P) sometime. Whatever.

Anywaaaaays…. The colour didn’t stick as well in the last 6 inches of my hair as it did on the top, but whatever… I fixed it with revelon nutri colour creme (there will be a post on this later on!).

I tried several times to capture this failure on camera, but it’s not as visible in the picure as it was in real life -.-

Conclusion: NOOOOO! It’s too dark for me, too intense, too red… I’ve been feeling a little awkward for a week, and washed my hair more than usual to fade the colour a little :P

From now on I will stay true to this:

A teeny, tiny bit more brownish. Not as carrot-like as the P78. Real ginger FTW!

Have an amazing weekend! Our plans for the night is just mojitos and Minecraft, and tomorrow we’re going to se Iron man 3 ^_^ RDJ<3

I have been walking a lot this past couple of days, getting to know Bogota and meeting some local Colombians.

On my “first day”, Felipe’s dad (the family I am staying with now) took me for an “almuerzo” of a typical Colombian dish. I forgot the name but it was with beef broth with some potatos and spices. It was delicious! Felipe’s dad is so funny! He’s always smiling and makes a lot of jokes in Spanish. I have to admit that I sometimes don’t understand it but his laugh is so contagious that I just have to laugh with him.

After the “almuerzo”, I walked to the city center. It was a long walk on a busy street – about 3 kms. But I quite enjoyed it. I’ve always love walking and it was a great way to see the city for the first time (since I slept the day that I arrived).

Bogota is so big. It is apparently a city of more than 7 million people.  That’s more than twice the population of Toronto which is 3 million. So there’s always people everywhere. And lots of them! The sidewalks, the restaurants, the markets – everywhere!

From Felipe’s place, I have to take the Trans Milenio to get to downtown. It’s their rapid transit bus system. Bogota doesn’t have a subway but apparently there are plans to build one. For the meantime, the Trans Milenio is sort of their equivalent to a subway system. But there are also regular buses and taxes everywhere.

It cost about 1,700 Colombian pesos to ride these buses. It’s a bit complicated at first to know how it works but Felipe and his dad told me how to use it. I bought myself a reloadable card that I can reuse anytime. My question is why hasn’t Toronto use this system? Why do we still have tokens and spend so much plastic producing the card that we use every month and throw away after?

Oh and by the way, it’s really interesting how Colombian money is by the thousands. I had some Canadian money changed and they gave me a bunch of 20, 000 and 50, 000 bills! Imagine calculating your change in thousands! And really, I admit, I am not the best in math or anything that involves computations. So I am still adjusting in paying by the thousands. I was literally “half a millionaire” when I changed my dollars

After walking around downtown, I met Diego, my next couchsurfing host. He’s a really cool guy who is studying Political Science at a local university. He tried his best to speak to me in English but then, there was a time when I could see him getting tired of speaking it so I also tried to speak in Spanish but he would still try to speak in English.  We walked around the old part of Bogota called La Candelaria, had some beers in a couple of local bars,  had dinner and walked some more in the Plaza Bolivar where he tried his best to explain to me some of the history of the plaza.  We also went to Museo Botero.  And then more walking! But I had fun. Diego was very friendly and hospitable. And after hearing him share to me some of the history of Colombia, I made a promise to myself to know more of Colombia’s history.

Earlier today, I spent some time with Christian, another guy from couchsurfing who invited me to his place and offered to help me look for the clinic that offers the yellow fever vaccine for free. In Canada, the vaccine costs almost 200 dollars but after finding out on online forums that I can get it for free in Colombia, I decided to get it here.

But after walking for a couple of hours in the Chapinero part of Bogota, Christian and I couldn’t find the clinic. So we finally gave up and decided that I should just get it at the airport where they give it for free.

I met Diego again later in the afternoon and he introduced me to his twin brothers Sergio and Daniel. It was raining and I was cold but we hung out at the Universidad Nacional anyway while it was drizzling on and off. I really like this university. It was awesome to see so much graffiti and murals that speak so much about social justice! This is what universities should be about. It should be a place for learning and being involved in national politics and not just going to school to memorize a bunch of eurocentric histories and not using our brains to rethink what we learn. The hallways of the Canadian universities look boring in comparison to this. And it makes me realize (actually, I know this already) that most of Canadian society is so complacent, so apathetic and people are just so apolitical. Yet the reality is that injustices happen everywhere that we don’t know of or quite frankly, don’t care about. I mean, who cares about poverty when we “have everything” in Canada.

At the Universidad Nacional, Diego introduced me to a few more friends who taught me how to do this aerial acrobatic thing where we had a long piece of cloth hanging up on a tree and we have to go up on it using our bodies.  They call it “hacer tela”. It was really fun. The twins Sergio and Daniel made me go up after a few tries. I wanted to give up because I couldn’t move myself up but they convinced me to not give up and so I did it! I was able to move myself up. It was fun!

After the aerial silk/acrobatic thing, Diego’s friend Bertille, her friend John and I went to the “Feria del Libro” (Book Festival). It was packed. Apparently, this festival is the biggest of it’s kind in South America. We went to the comic’s fair and wanted to go to the Portuguese book fair (Portugal was the featured/honorary country this year) but it was so packed and there was a line up so we decided to just call it a night after that.

I will post more pictures of Bogota shortly!

¡Buenas tardes! Después de una semana de muchísimo trabajo por fín ha llegado el fin de semana. Queremos invitaros a que vayáis a una nueva edición de Madrid Market en ésta ocasión, este mercadillo de artesanía es un Especial día de la madre. Es una muy buena oportunidad para que allí encontréis un regalo original y diferente para ellas.

 Tenéis entre hoy y mañana para visitarles. 100% recomendable.

· ¿Cuándo?  Sábado 27 y domingo 28 de abril.

· ¿Dónde?  Sala Exoticae, Art Gallery.

 C/ Escorial 17, Madrid.

http://www.madridmarket.com

@MadridMarket

Besos,

¡No os lo podéis perder!

···

Good afternoon! After a busy week of full of work, the weekend has come. We invite you to go to a new edition of the Madrid Market on this occasion, the theme  of this Craft Market is Mother’s Day. It’s a great opportunity to find an original and different present for them.

  You only have  today and tomorrow to visit them. 100% advisable.
· When? Saturday 27 th and Sunday April 28th.

· Where? Exoticae Room, Art Gallery.
    C / Escorial 17, Madrid.

http://www.madridmarket.com

@MadridMarket

XOXO

Don’t miss it!

A-MAI
Abrochados
Ana Benitez
Belén Espejo
Carla con C
Carmen Salcedo
Degüé
Duna y Dunita
El jardín de Amlaki
El Olivar
Hapy Go Lucky
Hoertonn
Isabel Hargoues
Kiliart
Lulú Perpiñán
Mi trastero no da miedo
Mizifú
Monet Atelier
OlemiPepa
Palindromic
Pedal Couture
Pikiyina se viste de fieltro
The 3C Queen
Una maleta de ropa

¡échales un vistazo en nuestro facebook! https://www.facebook.com/rastromarket

©Sin titulo, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 26 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

¡Buenos días! Hoy  se inaugura la 37ª Feria del Libro Antiguo y de Ocasión, que como cada año se celebra en el Paseo de Recoletos de Madrid, organizada por la Asociación de Libreros de Lance de Madrid. En esta edición tenemos desde el 26 de abril al 15 de mayo para hacer un hueco en nuestras agendas y hacerles unas visitas. Cuarenta y una son las casetas  instaladas en el Paseo de Recoletos, una de ellas es un punto de información a los visitantes dónde tenéis a la venta distintos carteles y libros conmemorativos de la Feria.

Os recomiendo que vayáis.

¡Es una gran oportunidad para hacerse con aquel libro que tanto buscas, con suerte está allí o quizás descubras alguno nuevo que te interese! ¡Esta Feria tiene unos precios buenísimos y es difícil no hacer una buena compra!

En estos próximos días tenemos programadas una serie de entradas sobre la Feria, no queremos desvelar  mucho, eso sí, tendrán como denominador común, la moda y el arte.

Nos vemos entre libros ❤

Good morning! Today opens the 37th  Fair of the Old and Used Book (Feria del Libro Antiguo y de Ocasión), every year is celebrated in the Paseo de Recoletos in Madrid, organized by the  Asociación de Libreros de Lance de Madrid. In this edition we have from 26th April to 15th May to save some days in your  schedules and make some visits. Forty libraries are installed in the Paseo de Recoletos. You also have an information point where visitors have for sale various posters and commemorative books of the Fair.

100% advisable.

It’s a great opportunity to find that book you were searching for long time ago, hopefully it could be there or you could discover something new that interests you! This Fair has good prices and it’s hard not to make a great purchase!

In the coming days we have scheduled some posts about the Fair, we do not reveal much, though, they will have a common denominator, fashion and art.

See you between books ❤

Más info · More info http://www.feriadeprimavera.com

Pour la deuxième année consécutive (et nous espérons qu’il en sera ainsi pour de nombreuses autres) sera célébrée la fête du cannabis médical organisée par l’équipe de Soft Secrets (journal cannabique de référence depuis 1985 et responsable des éditions de la Highlife d’Amsterdam et de Barcelone), nous parlons ici de la Growmed 2013. Cette foire cannabique a commencé son parcours de façon surprenante, surtout en se concentrant sur le cannabis médical, mais également en souhaitant être une fête plurielle qui offre différents types d’animations, comme des concerts, des expositions, et bien plus encore.

L’événement aura lieu les 19, 20 et 21 avril, à la Feria de Valencia, et réunira les plus grands professionnels du secteur quel que soit leur domaine de prédilection. Nous rencontrerons ainsi des représentants de grandes entreprises fabriquant des engrais et accessoires de culture, comme Canna, Trabe ou Plagron, de nombreux Grow Shops exposeront leur matériel, et beaucoup de stands de banques de graines de cannabis, comme Serious Seeds, CBD Crew ou Ripper Seeds. Les têtes de cannabis ou encore de weed à important taux de cannabis sont le résultat de croisements du patrimoine génétique des graine de cannabis bon marché Cela se montre finalement concevable de recueillir chaque 5 semaines une importante proportion de cannabis

L’espace sera divisé en plusieurs zones, pour assurer que tout les événements soient célébrés sans déranger les uns et les autres, et que le public puisse ainsi jouir d’un confort maximum à tout moment. Un côté sera dédié à l’exposition, avec tous les stands et la foire. La liste des stands et le plan de leur répartition sont disponibles sur le site de la Growmed.

Dans une zone réservée dans l’enceinte de la foire sera mis en place la Medical Arena, c’est à dire un espace de communication qui accueillera différentes présentations réparties au fil de ces trois jours et coordonnées par le Dr. Javier Pedraza.

Parmi ces discussions, nous remarquerons:

12:00h Josep Pamies. (Association Dulce Revolución) nous parlera de l’autoproduction de Stevia, une plante médicinale édulcorante et régulatrice du glucose dans le sang, ainsi que d’autres plantes médicinales.

13:00h Jorge Cervantes. Nous donnera des pistes et indications pour nous conseiller sur la culture de cannabis pour l’utilisation thérapeutique et/ou pour les connaisseurs, afin de réussir à faire s’exprimer tout le potentiel de notre herbe.

17:00h Tikum Olam. Parlera de la régularisation du cannabis médical en Israël, où il améliore les conditions de vie des personnes âgées et malades et a été normalisé en conséquence.

12:00h Dr. Guillerm Velasco. Dans ce exposé, le docteur Velasco nous expliquera comment peuvent agir les cannabinoïdes comme agents anti-tumoraux dans le traitement du cancer, ce qui a été récemment démontré dans différentes études médicales modernes.

13:00h Dra Ester Aso. Cannabis et Alzheimer; relations et interactions. Quel rôle joue le cannabis dans cette maladie?

15:00h David de la banque de graines de cannabis Ripper Seeds. Séminaire: Élaboration d’extractions de cannabis médicinal pour vaporiser ou consommer oralement.

12:00h Dr Mariano Garcia de Palau. Nous y apprendrons le fonctionnement du système endo-cannabinoïde, un ensemble de récepteurs situés dans diverses zones de notre corps et qui permettent de ressentir les effets du cannabis, et que nous possédons depuis la naissance.

En parallèle, comme l’esprit de Growmed accorde également une grande importance au divertissement, nous pourrons trouver autour de la fête différentes activités de plein air, des exhibitions sportives et d’art urbain encadrées par des spécialistes de ces disciplines (BMX, Longboarding et Street dance, en plus de la réalisation d’une fresque) jusqu’à la zone de restauration, avec un grand nombre de caterings et restaurants variés, qui seront également présents dans l’enceinte de la fête.

D’un autre côté la Lounge Terraza, à la périphérie de la zone, se convertira en une zone de repos, animée par de DJ’s en direct qui assureront une ambiance détendue.

Finalement, comme conclusion d’un contest qui a eu lieu le 6 Avril, nous pourrons assister à la finale de la bataille des bandes de l’Urban-o-rama, où les 4 groupes sélectionnés le 6 Avril se disputeront la victoire.

Chez Alchimia, nous sommes ravis de pouvoir vous annoncer que nous participerons à la Growmed 2013, en compagnie de la banque de graines Philosopher Seeds et de la fondation Alchimia Solidaria. vous pourrez nous retrouver sur le stand C4, près de l’entrée, à côté de la banque de graines Ripper Seeds et de Medical seeds.

Venez nous voir, faites vous photographier avec nous avec un T-Shirt Alchimia et repartez avec! toutes les photos prises seront publiées sur la page Facebook Alchimia, pour que tous vos amis puissent les voir, en visitant simplement cette page.

Nous espérons tous y passer un bon moment, et pouvoir offrir de nombreux T-Shirts, en plus d’informations et de quelques cadeaux supplémentaires: graines, grinders…

On se voit à la Growmed 2013! L’équipe Alchimia.

Voir article source

Teenagers hanging out, as you do, at the portada of the Feria.

Makes a change from sloping around the shopping centre. These young people have arranged a rendez-vous at the Feria entrance gate, the portada, a popular meeting point. They say that many people meet their media naranja – other half – at the Feria de Sevilla (I know a few who did) – so who knows if some of these chavales and chavallas will end up together? The girls all look stunning, while the boys are less impressive. Overawed by the bright beauties; hovering like moths around a flame.

I love how this woman’s bright orange dress happens to co-ordinate perfectly with the farolillos (paper lanterns) behind.

Women in frilly dresses riding side-saddle behind men in their traje cortos (short jacket, high-waisted trousers and Cordobes hat) are one of my favourite Feria sights. This lady was beaming and delighted to have her photo taken – complete with admirer gazing up at her adoringly from down below. Who knows what the story with these three was.

Double-dating at the Feria.

Riding around the Feria with your media naranja, and perhaps another couple, stopping off at your friends’ casetas for a glass of fino, is a key part of the experience for jinetes and their gitanas. If you don’t have your own horse, you can hire one for the day. Horses must, naturally, look their best too – groomed to within an inch of their lives, with gleaming coats, and exquisitely-coiffured, with expertly plaited mane and tail.

Riding around the Feria in a carriage – every little girl’s dream.

Most little girls are obsessed with princesses, palaces and castles, so wearing a frilly dress and sitting in a magnificent carriage being pulled by a horse has to be high up there on most niñas’ wishlists. Cinderella, anyone? (My four-year-old daughter would combust with delight at the chance to do this.)

Some quality time with the family, listening to another of Tio Pepe’s yarns.

But riding in a carriage around the Feria, where such transports are allowed until 8pm, is also a good chance for a family get-together, accompanied by some classic Sevillano tall-story telling. Everything is exaggerated when someone here recounts an incident – details will be overblown for dramatic or comic effect. Add some sunshine and sherry, and you’ve got the makings of a very entertaining afternoon.

Dancing to a guitar – no dance floor here, just joyous singing and clapping.

This caseta is always full of good cheer – like most casetas it is private, but when I stop here to take photos, they never fail to invite me in, offer me a glass of sherry and treat me like a friend. Warm, delightful women who aren’t here to posture and show off how rich they are and how many friends they have. They just want to dance, sing and celebrate life. Salt of the earth.

Dancing Sevillanas outside a caseta.

Dancing in the street – most Sevillanas are danced inside casetas, the small, striped tents, but this year temperatures were so high that the tents were steamingly hot and stuffy; many people took their baile outside where the air was less stifling.

Nothing like a group of girls in flamenca dresses. The little girl on the right of the picture doesn’t look too impressed, does she?

Young girls get dressed up in their flamenca dresses from an early age, going to friends’ and family’s casetas in groups. Friendships are cemented over Feria experiences – first kisses, first boyfriends – it’s all part of growing up in Seville.

This year’s Feria finished last Sunday; next year’s is on 29 April – 4 May 2014. Horse and/or carriage optional; frilly dress strongly advised.

©Sin titulo, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 25 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

©Sin titulo, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 24 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

Thursday night I went to go see Los Amantes Pasajeros, directed by the very famous Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar. Almodovar is known for his bizarre movies that tend to push the limits. This movie did not disappoint. I do not see an Oscar in its future but it was definitely an enjoyable movie! It was my first time going to a movie theater in Spain and on top of that, seeing a popular Spanish movie that I wouldn’t have been able to see in America. I have learned that it is not as popular here to see a movie in the theaters, people prefer to see them in their own houses.

Friday, I had to register for classes, a very stressful thing to do from abroad by the way. I stayed home all day to relax, catch up on TV, SLEEP, and I got the classes I wanted!

On Saturday I went to Sevilla!!

Sevilla is a beautiful city in Spain. It is almost like a time warp because all the buildings and streets look like they are from another century!

To get to Sevilla, we took the AVE train, which goes like 200 km/hr. It only took 2 ½ hours to get there! The train was more comfortable than any plane we had taken. They played a great movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, an appropriate study abroad movie because it is about a trip to India.

We arrived at around 11 and basically had all day to explore and enjoy the city! We had lunch at this really cute place. I had some delicious paella and sangria, a perfect Spanish meal. We then went to check into our hostel, it was my first time ever staying in a hostel so it was an interesting experience. I felt that I needed to stay in one because most people who study abroad only stay in hostels so I wanted to see what it was like. Some of our friend’s had recommended this one to us and I could tell why. It had a very young and fun environment, everyone there was a student and there were a lot of cool things to do! There was a roof top terrace and a TV room! It seemed like a great place to meet some fellow travelers, but Brooke and I basically kept to ourselves haha.

As we were walking, we realized how hot it was! We had been used to cold Madrid weather but the month of April has finally brought some great weather! We were wearing jeans and could not bear the heat anymore! Granted this “heat” was only like 83 degrees..I am going to die when I go back to Texas! Well we spotted a cheap store, tried some dresses on, and ended up each buying a dress for 10 euros and walked out of the store wearing it! Felt like we were in a scence of a movie or something!

We were lucky in the fact that the weekend we were in Sevilla was also during La Fiera, a famous traditional festival where hundreds of people dress in traditional flamenco attire and basically eat and drink all day. It was certainly a cite to see! Horse carriages and beautiful decorations everywhere! I loved seeing all the little boys and girls dressed as flamenco dancers. We were fairly confused when we first arrived because we did not know what to do. Turns out all there is to do is people watch and eat. It was an elite festival to say the least. There were hundreds of “casitas” that had bodyguards and you could only enter if you knew the family or people hosting it. Inside there was unlimited food, drink, and dancing! Since we were not “elite” and certainly not wearing Flamenco dresses, we went to a public casita and just had a drink and watched all the people, it was a lot of fun!

Later we went to a Free walking tour that our hostel told us about. The guide took us to a lot of different plazas and beautiful parts of Sevilla. She also told us countless legends that the city held. The tour ended up lasting almost 3 hours! We ended at a bridge and got to see the beautiful sunset!

Sleeping a hostel was not the easiest thing, we had a shared room, which was weird, but it was only one night and I’m glad I can say that I finally stayed in a hostel! People were starting to really question me on why I hadn’t stayed in one before haha.

On Sunday we got up pretty early and headed to the Alcazar, an old palace with Muslim influence. It was very similar to the Alhambra in Granada! We walked around the gardens and sat on a bench for a good hour and just enjoyed the weather. We then went to the Sevilla Cathedral, 3^rd largest in the world behind St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul’s in London, I have seen both of those. If there is anything I can say I have seen a lot of while in Europe, it is art and cathedrals. Inside the Cathedral was Christopher Columbus’s tomb! The Dominican Republican also claims to have his tomb but Sevilla has more evidence. We spent a lot of time in that cathedral just talking about different religions and what not.

Sevilla was my last trip! Next trip— HOME! I come home in less than 3 weeks so I want to spend the rest of time enjoying Madrid.

I was really surprised by how familiar Valencia felt to me. A lot of the time, I felt like I was in New York City as I was walking down the streets. The blossoming trees creating canopies over the roads and the wraught iron work on the balconies of the buildings really reminded me of American cities. Regardless, Valencia is a beautiful place.

Our goal was to have a really relaxing weekend on the beach. First of all, the Valencia beaches are unlike any beach that I’ve been to in my life. The main beach is absolutely massive. It probably takes ten full minutes to walk from the side walk lining the beach to the edge of the water. The sand is so soft and white and the water is a gorgeous color blue. However, our experience getting to the beach did not go smoothly. We stayed in a hostel called Red Nest on Calle de Paz, very close to the city center. The woman at the front desk of the hostel told us that walking to the beach would take about 45 minutes if we walked through the park. Wanting to see the city and being in no particular rush to get to the beach, we decided to walk. Neither of us realized how huge Valencia really is, and this walk turned into more of a marathon. Two hours and 5.3 miles later, we arrived at the beach exhausted. Despite this hike, it was a great day and it gave us the opportunity to see why the city is called el “Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencias.” We got to see all of the modern buildings and got a great tour of Turia Park, a dry river bed which runs through the middle of the city and has been reclaimed as a place for people to exercise, sunbathe, etc.

Despite the long walk to the beach, I am really happy that we stayed at a hostel close to the city center. Many times throughout the weekend, mostly when searching for restaurants, we ventured outside of the city center to try to find a different place to eat. We discovered that the majority of the city outside city center is really residential and does not have a huge amount to interest tourists. Despite that, we still found a lot of great activities and restaurants in the main area. Central Market is a big market (much like the Boqueria) with everything you could ever want; we actually bought bread, avocados, tomatoes, and fruit to take to the beach with us on the first day, which made a really fun meal. Around Central Market are a ton of street venders, especially on Sundays. There is a big flea market on Sundays there with people selling everything from fake designer underwear to musical instruments. Although these people did not try to hastle you, I have to say – Valencia has the worst hastling of any city that I have ever been to. So many people walk around trying to sell you things; they even come up to you when you are eating meals in restaurants. A little bit of that is ok for me, but every single meal that we went to, we had multiple people come up to us trying to sell sunglasses, massages, tattoos, and even an apartment (I know…what?). I found this to be the only really negative thing that stuck out to me about Valencia.

We had most of Sunday to spend in Valencia, as well. Not wanting to make the trek to the beach again, we laid in Turia Park for the afternoon. They had a great little festival happening to celebrate Feria, too, which was cute and fun. There were actually a ton of festivals and markets open this weekend; I’m not sure if we just picked a great weekend or if everything was happening because of Feria. Overall, it was a really relaxing weekend in Valencia. Even though it was my last full weekend to spend in Barcelona, it was nice to see another Spanish city. One thing that really amazes me about Spain is how unique every single city is from the last. Madrid, Barcelona, Costa Brava, and Valencia all boast completely different feels, which I think makes Spain extremely interesting and diverse.

©Sin titulo, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 23 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

©Acorralados, de la serie: “Instantes en la feria” 22 de Abril de 2013, Campeche, Camp; México

Casetas: tents decorated the function as bars and dance platforms, in Seville 90% of these tents are private and you needs tickets ir order to enter

Trajes de Flamenco/Gitana: Flamenco dresses worn during Feria to dance Sevillana, the typical dance of Feria

Coches de Caballos: Horse and carriage hired to tour around the Feria grounds, start at 50 euro (yikes!)

Rebujito: White wine mixed with 7Up, a drink only consumed during Feria

Cacharritos: Carnival rides for the children attending Feria

Puestos: Stands where you can literally buy anything at a very cheap price

Entrance to Feria

Flamenco dresses

Carnival rides

Casetas

Caballos

Casetas

Inside a Caseta

Paul, Jaime, and Stacie

Caballo

Entrance

Thanks for reading!

Peace. XOXOX. Alaina

Oh, wait. This isn’t just another week. This is my last week. I leave Buenos Aires in four days. I can’t believe it. Today just feels like another day in the life of a wannabe-porteña. But it’s not. Those days have come and gone. Now it’s time to get serious. I have to pack up, say goodbye to this crazy city / country I have come to call home, and return to the real world. I finished up at the clinic last week, which leaves me this whole week to take care of things, such as buying souvenirs and hanging out with the few friends I have left.

As I write this, I’m trying to suppress the tears. I hate goodbyes. I hate endings.

Okay, so back to describing my past week. Like I said, I don’t have many friends left, so I did my best considering the circumstances. Monday evening, after unpacking from Iguazú, I met up with Stella for a little bit. I went with her to walk her dog, Piny. Piny reminds me so much of my baby girl, Mabel, who I miss so much. They’re both small, pudgy, white terriers. Piny is better behaved, but just as goofy! The three of us hung out at the park and chatted with each other, as well as some of Stella’s fellow dog-owner friends.

Tuesday was a pretty mellow day. I spent all afternoon in a French café eating pastries, drinking coffee, and editing photos. I stayed until my laptop battery died and then went grocery shopping. In the evening, Charisse came over and we baked chocolate-chip cookies together. It was such a girl activity, but we had fun :) It was a little bit of a challenge because apparently Argentine ovens can’t be bothered with thermometers, so we had to guess the temperature based on the ever-vague readings of “high,” “medium,” and “low.” The cookies turned out a little harder and drier than we would have liked, but they were good enough!

Wednesday was my second-to-last day at the clinic. I brought in the homemade chocolate-chip cookies to say thank you and goodbye to everyone. At the end of the shift, I said my final goodbyes to Claudia and Gustavo, two of the doctors that I’ve worked with primarily, because they don’t work Thursdays. I spent the rest of the day editing and uploading photos to flickr (it’s a pain in the butt to begin with, but with a mediocre connection, it’s 10x worse). I also spent a lot of time Wednesday feeling sad and lonely. I hate wasting time feeling that way, but sometimes it’s inevitable. I consider myself to be a pretty independent and positive person, but lack of social contact can be detrimental. I’ve been away from my family for four months. I don’t have any really close friends here. The friends that I do have (who are lovely, by the way) are busy and I don’t get to see them very much. Being alone all the time gets to me and makes me feel really down. As much as I don’t want to leave Argentina, I do look forward to being around my family again and being surrounded by classmates and roommates at school next semester.

Thursday was my final day at the clinic. I worked with Melina, the other doctor with whom I’ve spent the majority of my time here. We saw well children for a few hours and then it was time for me to go. I said goodbye to her as well as all of the other doctors, nurses, and staff that I’d gotten to know throughout my time at the clinic. It was sad but quick. I exchanged my hugs and goodbyes and before I knew it, I was back on the 37 bus—the same one that took me to the clinic on my first day and the same one I used to commute home every day since. Only this time, when I got on the bus, I would be leaving Barracas for the very last time.

In the afternoon, I met up with my friend, Edgar, who I met through Lucy. We went to the Japanese gardens for lunch and a stroll. It was my first time at the Japanese gardens. I had heard of them, but I had no idea how nice they were! There were all sorts of plants and trees, as well as bridges, ponds, and, of course, giant koi fish! We wandered, listened to music, and took photos. In the evening, Ashley and Charisse came over. We sat on the terrace and ate “picadas” (the best translation would be hors d’oeuvres, which, ironically, isn’t even an English word!) We had salami, cheese, olives, bread, oil & vinegar, fruit, and wine. We stayed up late talking. It was the last time the three of us would be together, in this country at least.

Friday I slept too late. Then I spent the afternoon shopping for souvenirs. In the evening, I went to Charisse’s house. Her boyfriend, Tato, cooked us a delicious meal. We hung out there for a while. Eventually we parted ways. Little did we know that would be the last time we’d see each other for now. She’s left on a trip with her dad and I leave before she gets back. She’s American. In fact, she’s from Charleston. I’m hoping we can see each other again before she leaves for another international adventure.

Saturday I went to Recoleta to visit the Feria (open-air market) at Plaza Francia. There were hundreds of stands set up and I bought lots of beautiful souvenirs for friends and family (and myself…oops!). Later in the afternoon I randomly met some American guys and we spent the rest of the day together and got dinner together in the evening.

Sunday I went to the Feria de Mataderos. It’s a huge, beautiful, weekly folkloric festival with music, dancing, music, and artisans. It was so nice! I ate some artisan ice cream, saw some dancing, and bought some goods. I’m sad I only discovered it my last weekend here. Had I known of it earlier, I definitely would have gone more than once. In the evening, I met up with Stella for tea and coffee. We caught up for a long time.

Today has been mellow. I picked up my disaster of a room for a little bit and then took my laptop to my favorite neighborhood (around Plaza Serrano) to eat lunch and write at a local café. I’ve been here a few hours. I’ve started crying a few times throughout the process of writing this. I’m sure the waitresses think I’m a mental case. If only they knew.

Now I’m off to try to make the best of my last four days here. Wish me luck.

Here are my weekly photos:

Me and Charisse baking cookies

With Doctors Claudia and Gustavo at the Clinic

The doctors giving a weekly nutrition workshop at the clinic

The Japanese Botanical Gardens

Koi!!

Wine & picadas on Thursday evening

I got a leather accessory custom-designed for Mabel. Shh! Don’t tell her, it’s a surprise!

Look at the visitor that mysteriously made her way onto my terrace Sunday morning!

Music and dancing at Feria los Mataderos

Me and Stella on Sunday evening