The Ups and Downs of Ronda

Five days of school would be a lot to come back to after such a long break, so instead of regular class on Friday we had an excursion to Ronda,  a city about two hours away from Sevilla. 

Instead of my regular professor, Ana Maria, the two male professors came along on this trip with us. So, for the first time since school started I was spending time with some different professors, not to say that I do not like Ana Maria. 

We quickly discovered that Ronda, like every other city in Spain besides Sevilla, is very hilly. The city actually seems like it is on the top of a mountain because at every balcony there was a huge gorge overlooking trees, fields, and more mountains. 

When we went on one largest balcony to overlook the view, Salva, one of the professors, told us that the balcony has a nickname among the natives, but he could not tell us the actual name because it was a swear word. Instead, he told us to ask someone that lives in Ronda if we really wanted to know, so we did just that.

Before our actual tour of the city, we had time to explore so I went on a hike along with some other students. We heard that there was a waterfall that we could get close to, so went on a search for that. It did not take long to find, and after a quick walk, (quick because it was completely downhill) we arrived at the waterfall. We also found a dark cave to walk in, but it did not last long because the girls were afraid of a big spider that they soon noticed. 

The walk back up was not as easy since we were now going completely uphill, but when we finally made it we enjoyed our sandwiches before heading back for the tour. 

Ronda is divided into two parts: the old town and the new town. For the tour, we mostly walked around the old town where we saw some old houses, churches, and other buildings. 

Next, we went into an old building that used to serve as a walkway for slaves to get down to the river to collect water. The group slowly made our way down to the water, just as the slaves did, through the damp and dark passageway. When we got to the river at the bottom of the building, those of us that went on the hike for free time quickly realized that we were right across from where we had been. 

After making our way back up the stairs, we went finished our trip by entering the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain. The ring was not as pretty as the one in Sevilla, nor was it as big, but the seats were all in the shade, something that I think they should have done in Sevilla as well. Soon, a lot of students were acting like bulls, just as we have seen in all of the pictures of past students who have been here, but fun nonetheless.