O MIS YEMAS

Well, I got a heck of a lot more vegetables at dinner and no meat, so I guess she understood me. She made me a bowl of salad that would probably feed four people. It had apples, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, onions, and tuna in it. Of course she snuck some ham in there, but it was exactly what I wanted.

I am getting pretty convinced that Spaniards try to sneak ham into everything. Its always present in practically every dish we eat at our Madre’s house. Also about every block there is another carniceria showcasing these giant ham legs in the window. Ham is everywhere!

We had a free weekend this weekend, so about eight of us from the group decided to take a day trip to a town called Avila about an hour and half away. The bus stops there on its way to Madrid, and round trip tickets to Avila are only 10.50 euros, so it was a good deal. Sarah’s boyfriend, Alex, who is studying abroad in Barcelona, was visiting Salamanca for the weekend, so he came along for the trip as well. We took the 11:15 bus from Salamanca and arrived in Avila around 12:45. Everyone brought backed lunches from their Madre’s house. Of course our lunch was gigantic and could have fed all eight of us. She had gotten us these pastry bocadillas from our favorite bakery across the street, Gil. Inside these massive brick like sandwiches was ham of course. One actually had ham and dates in it and it was really tasty. The other one was like meat on steroids. It was loaded with ham and sausage and so much more unidentifiable meat products. Along with the sandwiches the size of bricks she also packed us 12 pieces of fruit. I can’t believe she packed us 12 pieces of fruit, what a crazy women. We shared our lunch with everyone. There was definitely enough to go around more than once, so we saved the left overs to eat for a snack later.

Avila is one of those ancient towns that had been controlled by the Roman Empire during their reign. The city is surrounded by this giant stonewall for protection against in coming attackers. The city is also set up higher than rest of the surrounding land on a plateau. It was really cool approaching the city and looking up at the ancient wall surrounding this quaint little town. Since Avila is at a higher elevation than Salamanca, it is a bit colder. There was snow on the ground as we approached the city. and right outside the city wall on the hill Spanish children were sledding.

The first thing we did when we got off the bus was enter the city through the massive stone wall. It was very picturesque walking through the giant archway into town. Once inside the town we found that you could actually pay to walk up on the wall and the towers. So we used our international student discount and paid our 2 euros to walk up on the wall. From the wall you could see everything. You could see the all the little streets and roofs and the snowcapped mountains in the distance. It was beautiful.

After touring the wall and taking in the incredible vistas we decided to take a look at the cathedral. We walked in and saw a little bit of it, but entrance into the museum was 4 euros, so we decided to pass. Our next mission was to find the famous nun convent of Saint Teresa. Saint Teresa was born in Avila and after studying under Saint John of the Cross she decided to start her own convent that practiced stricter rules by living a simpler life. We found her convent but it was closed for siesta, so we decided we would come back for the museum when it reopened. While we waited for siesta to be over we found the cutest pastry shop to get coffee and warm up.

The pastry shop had the most delicious looking sweats. I think everyone ended up getting a dessert along with some café con leche. I split this very rich a decadent chocolate mouse type cake with someone. William, the only boy on our trip, got two massive pieces of cake and kept eyeing the table looking for anybody’s pastry crumbs he could scavenge. Avila is also famous for its yemas. Yemas are hard boiled egg yokes that been have sugared. The story goes that the nuns use to make them to feed the poor, but now it has become somewhat of a tradition to try a yema while in Avila. We all went in a on a box of yemas and we all decided that yemas were pretty gross. The first bit was not that bad, but then you realized that you were eating egg yoke and you could not help but get a little turned off on the yema.

After the café we headed back to the convent to visit the museum of Saint Teresa. The museum was filled with her famous writings and paintings of her. The tour book one the girls brought along also said that Saint Teresa’s finger had been preserved and it could be viewed at the museum. We walked around the museum trying to find this illusive finger, but we were not having any luck. We were not leaving Avila without seeing the finger of Saint Teresa! After the museum we went to the gift shop across the way. A couple of us bought some postcards, and then we saw it! The finger of Saint Teresa! It was actually really disgusting and crusting looking. Her finger was also abnormally long too. Alex wanted to ask the clerk behind the counter if he could purchase the finger, but Sarah would not let him.

We spent the rest of our afternoon walking around the streets, going in a couple streets, and trying to take candid pictures of everyone. It was a very fun day in Avila, Spain. It started snowing as we were heading back to the bus stop. At night the wall is light up around the outside, so as we were leaving Avila the wall lighted wall looked so amazing against the dark sky.