This weekend was beyond words.  Pretty sure I dreamt it up, but there's pictures.

Saturday we headed to Jerez to meet up with our Spanish friends that we met two weeks ago at the Plaza de San Fernando.  Silva was waiting at the train station with his tiny Ford Focus to take us to Sanlúcar, where Pablo was born and raised.  Sanlúcar is absolute paradise.  It's famous for it's wild horses, wine, and strangely enough it has more scooters per habitant than any other european city.  The strange things our spanish friends teach us.  It's a very strange city at the same time because one second you are in the centro where expensive and ornate architecture surrounds you, and the next second your in a wide open beautiful area spattered with strange villas, and horse grazing grounds.  

We were all looking forward to going to Pablo's house because his father was a bullfighter back in his prime.  He was once very famous but had to end his career early because a bull stabbed him in the balls. Yes. The testes. Pablo, miracle baby, was actually born after, so, no worries, everything is working fine down there.  We met the famous bull fighter and also saw the massive heads of three of the biggest bulls he's matado. 

New career? Probs.

Pablo showing us his father's matador jacket.

Afterward we headed to Pablo's favorite place to eat, a place where he's gone since he was a niño but sadly it was closed.  It was a place right on the beach-- oh yeah.  Sanlúcar has a beach too.  I told you it was paradise. Instead we went to another incredible place on the beach with the most amazing view. We ate for what seemed like hours, Pablo ordering us new things to try like calamari and the miniature whole squid baby things. I couldn't handle those because I accidentally took a bite and then looked inside  the dead fried baby squid thing. Bad idea.  Sends shivers down my spine now just thinking about it. 

Anyway, we had the most amazing lunch, the whole time I just kept muttering to myself that I was in paradise.  The locals were adorable as well, I caught a few pictures.  Yes, I'm a creep. I've been getting crap all the time for taking pictures without people knowing-- but I can't help it! I love taking pictures of the locals so I'm going to creep away. 

A common feast of Andalucía.  On the left is a type of shark, and on the right is huevos fritos-- fried eggs and fried potatoes with onions.  So freaking good.  And no. I did not eat that all myself.  My 6'5'' friend Chris and I split it. 

We walked right out to the beach afterword.  Funny thing about Sanlúcar is most españoles say that the beaches aren't very good because the Guadalquivir Río that goes through Sevilla ends in the beaches of Sanlúcar.  At the beach we were at there was a boat far off in the distance that was tipped on its side, completely stuck.  Pablo told us that that boat has been there for over 30 years.  What happens is it gets stuck in shallow areas that have formed because of the river. It was surreal to see this massive boat stuck forever sideways in the ocean. 

Silva always modeling.

After an incredible lunch we went back to Pablo's house for a swim in the pool and a siesta.  His house and pool are perfectly landscaped like a condo on some tropical island.  We then walked to a different beach right by his house.  This one had a little shack playing loud bluesy music and serving drink to barefoot spaniards. It was completely local, and I loved it. We were all lying there in the soft sand, drinking beer and people watching.  Life couldn't get any better than those moments. 

Later we met up with our friend Rafa en el centro to get some helado at an amazing gelato place.  My ice cream tasted exactly like tiramisu and donuts. What more could one want? We sat at the fountain for a while, and then Pablo decided it was time for us to go to his favorite place.  We started following him to the largest hotel around where he took us to the very top where there was a relaxing bar overlooking the entire city of Sanlúcar.  We watched the puesto del sol while the bar played a epic music, the soundtrack to our perfect evening. 

Best day ever. Sunday I went hiking, and I won't bore you with pictures of trees, although I do have a few cliff pictures that are pretty awesome :) The nature here is incredible.

Hasta la proxima vez!