Better Late than Never..

So it has been almost a month since my last post..my excuse will be I have been sick this past week and I don't have any excuses for the weeks prior. Well I went to Extremadura with my program. Extremadura is the western part of Spain near Portugal. The bus ride was quite beautiful. Lots of lush green pastors filled with sheep or cows or both. Our first stop was to Guadalupe where we saw the sacred statue of Guadalupe who is a saint. It was very interesting but I do not think I understood the significance of praying to her. Apparently she told Queen Isabella to hire Columbus and that he was going to discover America. Coincidence? The area is also famous for their paprika which I contemplated buying. We then drove to Merida which was once ruled by the Romans. Merida was my favorite. That night two of my friends and I walked over a roman bridge which still has the original supports! The next day we went to the coliseums. It was breath taking and makes me soo excited to my trip to Italy. We then headed to Caceres. By this time we were exhausted and had to walk another 3 hour tour I kept myself busy by playing games with my program directors small daughters which I realized can be dangerous in museums. We also bought candy from nuns, but not just ordinary nuns these nuns are not allowed to interact with regular people so the sell the candy behind this wall and you open a cubby to find the candy you have ordered. It was a bit bizarre but very intriguing. The next day in the pouring rain we headed to Trujillo. Unfortunately I could not appreciate Trujillo it was raining very hard and many of us ditched the walking tour early. I was looking forward to the wine and cheese museum but was disappointed when the man working there did not know anything about wine or cheese! I was able to sample and i had queso de cabra ( goat cheese) and vino tinto ( red wine). They both were very good. Finally we headed back to madrid. This weekend I head to the Canary Islands with VICKY. She is currently here and I am sosososo happy. There is nothing like sharing an adventure with your best friend. Unfortunately I am sick..again. I went to the spanish doctor which was a little different than american doctors. For one there are many specialist in one office also the copay was 40 euros bit pricey but my antibiotics and a cough syrup was only 13 euro total! Exactly the opposite of the US. Anyways I need to rest up for my relaxing vacation this weekend :)

Buenas Noches xoxo