Suzanne of La Mancha

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave to not go

I've known the music of Man of la Mancha and the story of Don Quijotefor many years without truly knowing what La Mancha was. This weekend I rectified that by passing a few days exploring the Spanish countryside that is La Mancha. First let me tell you that the Spanish countryside is beautiful! This weekend was so relaxing and nice because we ventured off the "tourist path" for a bit. Nowhere we visited was crowded and the only tourists we saw were groups of Spainards. It was delightful. Our first stop in our La Mancha was the famous "molinos." Yes, we visited the old windmills that Don Quijote battled (thinking they were giants). The windmills have been preserved, we were told, because they were made famous by the novel. Otherwise, they probably would not have been there. We toured a windmill and saw how it worked. Interesting tidbit: If you look up at the picture of the windmill you will see a long arm extending from the roof to the ground. That is the arm they use to TURN the ROOF! I had no idea that that was how windmills worked! The windmill operator will go out and durn the blades to catch the wind everyday by turning the windmills entire roof with that pole. Impressive, I know! We also saw a preserved cave (more like an underground house) where the people who worked the windmills lived.

After that, our next stop was a Manchego cheese farm. This is a famous kind of Spanish cheese made from sheep's milk. I had already had Manchego cheese in my home and it is very yummy. At the farm we got to see the whole process of making the cheese: from sheep, to sheep milking machines, to big silver vats that separated the milk, to pressurized racks and cheese freezers where the cheese ages. Then, at the end of our tour we got to do some tasting - which I love! We sampled three variations of manchego: fresh, mild and strong. Basically, the only difference was the amount of time they were aged. I liked all of them ... but I kinda love cheese so, no surprise there. The strong one was even good ... but I think I could only have about 2-3 pieces at a time. Also, while driving around our bus driver stopped and picked us some grapes to sample. The countryside we were driving around was particularly beautiful because it was mainly vineyards (La Mancha is one of Spain's main wine regions). The skin of the grapes was a little thicker - the driver told us - because they were wine grapes. It was fun eating them straight from the field.

Our next (and final) stop for the day was the town of Almagro. This is a smaller town with an economy based on agriculture. It exists because, during the 16th and 17th centuries, it lay on the well-traveled route from Madrid to Granada. Families with money lived there and build pretty country houses. One of these old houses - was our hotel!! It was awesome. The hotel's owner actually inherited this family house
and it is where generations of her family have lived. It was really neat. The rooms are all arranged in a square (two stories) surrounding a central courtyard. It was so beautiful. Because of the building's age, it is protected as a historical site - so the hotel owner has preserved it in a state close to the original. We checked in and then took a walking tour of the town. We visited the looked at the many examples of original 16th century architecture on buildings and houses.

We also toured the national theatre museum which recounts the history of Spanish theatre. We saw the house in which Pedro Almodovar (famous director) filmed Volver (famous move that I need to see because it keeps getting mentioned!). We also visited the Corral de Comedias (an original theatre from the 16th century) and saw a little historical production there. It was neat to be sitting where watching a production where people sat over 400 years ago watching productions! But
this time it was nearing dinner time (about 8) but Isabel presented us with two options. Either we could go on our own after the production and
eat dinner ... or we could go back to the hotel and play dress up! Let me explain. The

owner of the hotel and her sister and both very crafty and one of their hobbies is to make these dresses inspired by period piece films or historical periods. And they offered the possibility of returning to the hotel that night to try on dresses and take pictures ... I love dressing up so I jumped at the chance! Five of the other girls came too and it was a blast! We twirled, strolled and took many, many pictures. Finally, after about an hour, our group struck out to find dinner. Lindsay, Marie and I settled on Cafe Gil (a recommendation of the hotel owner) and
ordered four dished that Isabel recommended: Migas (a rich meaty paste that is so much better than that description makes it sound), gauchas (bread fried in olive oil and mixed with ground meat), cieva (deer) and berbenjenas (pickled eggplant). I actually liked everything we ate! To top it off, we shared a bottle of local wine that complimented the meal nicely and made us feel very classy to boot! All in all, a really full day - and I enjoyed every minute of it!

The following morning we arose and ate a breakfast, that had been freshly prepared by the hotel owner and her sister (no prepackaged cereal or bruised bananas there!) I had a really yummy sweet treat called a florecita, which is a thin crisp pastery covered in cinnamon sugar. It was beautiful and it kinda tasted like cinnamon toast crunch :) After breakfast we again got our bus and rode out to Lagunas de Ribera. (Our bus ride included a spontaneous sing-a-long scession which I thoroughly enjoyed. Highlights included a rendition of Bohemian Raphsody, Isabel sining A Dios le Pido by Juanes and the expected forray into a selection of Disney songs).

Lagunas de Ribera is a magnificant sight! This national park is located a very dry region of Spain yet the park is a water paradise. There are fifteen blue, blue lakes on the property with some of the clearest water I´ve ever seen. Also, the lakes are posiciones on land that declined in elevation - so inbetween each lake there are waterfalls that flow into the next lake. The visit was absolutely stunning. Our visit included a guide who explained aboute the park as we drove around in our bus and told us where to stop and get out. She also told us about the geography of the region and how the lakes were formed (a buildup of limestone from the water) which was interesting. Mainly, I spent this visit ogling the lakes and resisting the urge to jump in fully clothed. Beau-i-ful! ... So after the lakes, we drove through another town and stopped to see the prison where Cervantes began writing Don Quijote. This was a nifty stop (the English major inside me loves seeing places like this) but only took about 15 minutes of our day and the we were off again. We stopped for lunch at a nice place where we had traditional dishes (I tried garlic soup - yum!). Also, Isabel surprised Lauren and I with birthday cakes (chocolate & coconut and creme brule). They were good and it was a fun treat ... and I got to have another "birthday" which is always fun. This meal concluded our weekend of activities and we drove home to Madrid - exhausted but well traveled.

I had lots of homework to do when I got back :/ But it was an awesome weekend!