I keep forgetting what month it is and how much time has passed since I've been here. The weather is getting a little warmer and today I noticed that all of the oranges are getting picked off the trees. They're being put in huge sacks and sent off to be made into marmalade. Everything still feels very surreal when I'm out walking around, especially when I'm exploring by myself, which is what I like to do best (not at night, of course, Mama Jackie :p).
After school one day I wandered into the park adjacent to the University and found a new entrance into the Santa Cruz neighborhood, which is a laberinto (maze) of narrow streets. The streets were built extremely narrowly to provide shade from the sun during the sweltering Sevillan summers. I'm pretty certain I was walking in circles for most of the time I was exploring, but there's so much to see I didn't care. I had to do several double takes while walking down seemingly unimposing alleyways. I would pass a window and behind the wall would be the most beautiful courtyard I had ever seen. Ornately tiled patios, fountains, exotic flowers all behind a bland wall. And the same goes for the numerous plazas scattered throughout the maze of streets. I would be walking on a street which I thought could not possibly get any smaller and then all of a sudden it would it would open up into a sun-filled plaza. I'd stop a moment to enjoy it and promise myself that I would come back.
As I was trying to find a path out of the maze I stumbled upon a church (which is not hard to do in Sevilla) and decided to go in. Bare and quaint-looking on the outside, I expected the same for the interior. The doors squeaked as I walked into the dead silent church, and I was immediately overwhelmed by the large and ornate interior. A woman was sitting on one of the pews facing the left chapel, and looked like she had been sitting there praying for hours. I immediately felt bad for the squeaking I made and the backpack I was carrying, being a tourist in her place of worship. But I took a moment to sit down and take it all in. It was a beautiful church, the altar a massive piece of artwork and the chapels on each side equally overwhelming. After some researching, I'm pretty sure it was the Iglesia San Bartolomé, originally a synagogue, and then converted into a church in the 18th century. But I'm still not entirely sure.
On a completely different note, I'm going to Cádiz for Carnaval this weekend! The city is about an hour and a half south of Sevilla, on the ocean. It's supposedly one of the biggest celebrations of Carnival in the world, right after Rio de Janeiro and Trinidad. I went out costume shopping today with Lisa and Andrea and got some feathers, beads, and flowers. I plan on just throwing together something completely wacky and then pouring glitter on myself. I can't wait! I'll be sure to add lots of pictures after I get back.
