Friday, 15 November 2013

Return to Seville

As was inevitable and now routine, on arrival to Seville after leaving Sally, just like when I arrived in Lisbon the first time I left, I was depressed. I hated travelling, meeting new people, being alone and all I wanted was to go home. After venting and spamming Ethan, Zoe and Mum with depressed messages I tucked into bed and watched movies refusing to even try and meet new people. Who needs friends anyway? 

I woke the next morning feeling stupid for my repeated outburst and joined the morning walking tour to see the sights of Seville with some background information and history, unlike our guesswork the previous weekend here. The tour guide Felippo had a very dry sense of humour but was very good and in two and a half hours I saw more of Seville than I had the entire weekend with the boys, and noticed a gluten free restaurant on the way which I turned back to at the conclusion of the tour for a feed! Rather pricey at 14 euro for a pizza, but a gluten free life isn't a cheap one. I had to accept that fact a long time ago so I ordered it anyway and it turned out to be huge and lasted me two meals so 7 euros per meal was more acceptable to my budget. There was another tour that evening of the Jewish quarter which I decided to go to as well, and in the meantime I walked back to the hostel and read my book in the hammock on the rooftop terrace. The guide for tour number two was Medi, a Moroccan man, who was without a doubt the most enthusiastic tour guide I had ever had and this energy didn't drop for a moment of the three hour tour. 

Most nights I would go out and socialise and chat for sangria hour and linger for a while afterwards before retreating to my room for movies and sleep. To be honest I'm just sick of partying and drinking and meeting new people. I've made wonderful friends on this trip but I have enough now, and I'm happy with the ones I have which is not the best attitude to have when travelling but clearly I've been gone too long. My body is a disgrace and drinking constantly, often just to go to bed afterwards isn't an appealing option anymore so I was a bit boring in Seville. On the other hand, I fixed my sleep pattern which was something like bed at 4am wake up at 11am in Salamanca to a more reasonable, 12.30- 9.30 schedule. I bought a pile of vegetables, chickpeas, tuna and brown rice and attempted to reintroduce healthy food and nutrients into my life, and I managed to catch to on some of my blog and see Seville solo, but the way I wanted to. It may sound boring but there were still interesting moments. A creepy polish guy coming up and chatting to me for 25 minutes when I had both headphones in and was clearly writing a blog which I told him, he was oblivious to hints and in the end I very awkwardly had to ask him to leave. Another night I was sitting chatting to a Belgian girl in the common room when a guy picked up a guitar and started playing, before I knew it another guy had come over and pulls out his flute.. Who brings a flute travelling?? But he was absolutely incredible and the two of them started to jam and he played a flute like I have never heard before. It was so cool!! We all watched an intense match of soccer with everyone squished on the couches, yelling and cheering and a local Barcelona man and local Malaga man get extremely aggressive towards the TV and thankfully not each other.

The big event of Seville however was skydiving and as the day approached nearer and nearer I started to finally get nervous. I got a taxi to the airfield to alleviate as much stress as possible before the big jump. My tandem jumper was Steve an old English guy whose typical English humour immediately made me feel at home and safe which was positive. We rang through the briefing and it seemed like a lot to remember and this was honestly the point I panicked the most. I was fitted out with a suit, harness and super attractive cap and goggles. Next I met my cameraman who was a funny Romanian guy so the pair of them kept me laughing and positive and the nerves which I was sure would set in on the flight really didn't! The moment when it finally hit was when the others in our plane started to jump out in groups leaving us to last. We shuffled slowly down to the end of the bench, stood up in sync and waddled over to the edge of the plane. I lifted my knees behind me rested my head on Steves shoulder so I wasn't looking down (which was probably why I wasn't as scared) and suddenly I was falling. My whole world was spinning and I was in complete sensory overload, it took close to a full ten seconds for us to stop spinning or at least until my brain came back into focus. The wind was incredibly fast and chopping against my face and I felt the furthest thing from scared. I was soaring through the air invincible and when my cameraman came over I was all smiles and laughing my head off like a lunatic, what a feeling! We high fived, I tried to poke out my tongue but it fought me at that speed and only just made it out of my face, I couldn't stop smiling and he made me scream which strangely I hadn't done at all yet. Suddenly I felt a sharp yank and I had obviously been so carried away in my elation during freefall i had missed the cue for the shoot being pulled. It was like someone had put the world into slow motion and Steve told me to relax and for the first time I became aware I was so tense, bracing during the 245mile per hour speed of free fall. For me the fun was over but I tried to enjoy the feeling of sailing down through the sky observing the southern half of Spain from 5,000 ft in the air after already descending 10,000 feet. 

It was exhilarating. I was on top of the world, my mouth felt really weird, this was it, I jumped out of plane almost 5kms in the air and now I was flying! The feeling is indescribable and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I touched down and landed on my feet like I had just jumped off a ledge, in perfect motorbike position (gymnastics training saved the day). Nothing could wipe the smile off my face, and the adrenaline was still pumping through my veins when I arrived back at the hostel. I watched the DVD a few times, treated myself to a GF brownie at Starbucks and then it was time to set off for my next stop, Granada! 

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