Avila: your yemas are lame-us

I knew today would be a good day when I woke up, unable to turn off the beeping alarm, because both of my arms had fallen asleep under my comatose body.

And so began my Saturday-- with a day trip planned to Avila. We are trying to take more advantage of our free weekends to be fun and adventurous, rather than sit in cafes and drink coffee and eat pastries while wasting away our lives on the internet. So Andrea and I, along with seven other students, hopped on a bus for 10 euro and spent the day being extra touristy.

Avila is a nearby city, only an hour and a half away by bus. According to one of our Spain guide books, Avila is accurately described as follows: "In the middle of a windy plateau littered with giant boulders, Avila can look wild and sinister. Avila today is well preserved, but the mood is slightly sad, austere, and desolate." Who the heck is hired to write the commentary for these guide books? Retired romance novelists? Who describes a city as wild and sinister, I mean really?

Well. Here's the facts. Avila is known for three main things: the murallas, Saint Teresa, and yemas.

The murallas: According to the same guide book, the murallas are historic fortress walls built over 900 years ago. They were more recently restored in the early 1900s, when the town was reclaimed by the Moors. One way of experiencing the murallas is to buy a ticket to walk along the tops of them; so for about 3 bucks, we toured around the top of the walls and enjoyed a great panoramic view of the whole city. It was a cold and windy day, but the sun kept popping out and restoring our seasonal-related depression. The scattered snow was a pleasant surprise, but it was still way too bitterly cold to be outside walking around for five hours.

Saint Teresa: Santa Teresa de Avila is probably Avila's number one claim to fame. She was born in Avila in 1515 and became known for her lifetime of work within the Catholic Church-- establishing convents, caring for the poor, and for her many writings. We made it a priority to visit the Convento de Santa Teresa, and the Museo de Santa Teresa (conveniently located in the basement of the convent). Once again, no photography was allowed, but you know what that means-- flash off, hire an accomplice to watch for security guards, and take all the photos my little heart desires. Which, in this case, was not that many. The museum was little to talk about-- it mainly had paintings of the Saint, knick knacks found around her convent, and a piece of black fabric that was supposedly cut from one of her ancient habits! What a find! The convent itself was very beautiful, especially a tiny little closet of a room in which every square inch was covered in gold. However, the real gem of Saint Teresa was found in a building right next to the convent, which housed "Relics de Santa Teresa". Basically, it was the museum gift shop, but it was packing a big surprise. In the back room of the shop was a display case, which housed the greatest find of the entire afternoon. One of Saint Teresa's fingers was preserved in a glass case, wearing an emerald ring. Probably the most disgusting things I've seen since arriving in Spain.

I like to think of Saint Teresa as a sassy woman of God. Here's why. We were greeted by this painting upon entering her convent:

Translates as: This is my house.
And also, I think the finger was probably her middle finger, so she left a little attitude in the convent, flicking off all of us tourists who only come to look at her great life, rather than living our own lives in a way worthy of sainthood.

And finally, the yemas: One of the many great ways Saint Teresa left a mark on Avila was through her traditional candied egg yolk creations. Vom. Supposedly, she created them to distribute to the poor, but now they are sold in every store, cafe, pastry shop, souvenir shop, and bar as a way to hit up all the tourists. So being in Avila, we made it our goal to try the world class yemas. During the siesta, we found a cafe, where we all ordered coffee, pastries, and we went in on a box of yemas for us to all try. I would describe the texture as gritty bananas, while the flavor more reminded me of a moldy marshmallow, with an after taste of death. I mean really, what would you expect for a candy made out of egg yolk to taste like? Sugary egg. Vomit, otra vez.

After returning to Salamanca, Andrea and I, and three other Avila travelers returned to the previously mentioned Mexican restaurant. Since the excitement for Mexican has been building up in my stomach for about two weeks now, I was super pumped for this meal. We ordered a random assortment of food and shared everything, eating like scavengers. It's not that this Mexican restaurant was anything special as far as food quality goes-- it's just that I have been craving spicy food. Food flavored with something other than garlic, onion, and olive oil. We finished the night off right with a plate full of fried sugary things, covered in chocolate and raspberry sauce. It went real quick. Check out this progression, which only spans about sixty seconds of time:


I'm fairly confident that my stomach has doubled in capacity since I left the United States, and I'm okay with that.