Sevilla

Ashlee and I áre growing our armpit hair out on this trip. Legs may
be stripped of their coiffure, but, on the first night, we decided to
let our underarms go wild. Thus, I have a veritable forest of dark at
each pit, while Ashlee has a few longish strands decorating her skin
like a few random accent marks. If we made a venn diagram of Ashlee
and me, this would be one fact I would be sure to include. Carrie =
harrier armpits.

We just spent four days in Lisbon, Portugual. Our original plan was
to stay just for one night... but meeting fun people, seeing cool
sights, and just generally enjoying the town kept us asking for un
noiche mais. We went to the aquarium, where the Solfish blew all of
our minds. It looks like a floating block of cement. Weighs up to 2
tons. Just kind of chills there in the current. Opens and closes its
mouth sometimes in that kind of fishy way.
There was a yellow one that looked like a puppy with these skin or
scale flaps that looked like human teeth. The effect looked like said
fish had just told a stupid joke and was waiting, with that silly look
of overeager expectation like, ¨Do you get it? Do you get it guys?¨
I hung out with a group of Spanish children for a minute. I was
watching a giant rockfish and they were watching me draw it. The four
year old showed me how she can count in English and the 18mo one tried
pulling my earrings.
There was a GIANT crab that did a cabaret style show for us, and
another fish whose fins looked like they were put on backwards. Like
whoever was assembling that one was reading the instructions upsidown.
He had these two huge vertical tail fins and nothing else except two
teeeny tiny side ones. As far as I could tell, he spends most of his
life just trying to keep himself upright.
I also visited an amazing botanical garden at the University. Plants
from all over the world. I ate m&ms for breakfast and drew pictures
and talked to the ducks. Thought for a minute maybe I should move to
Lisbon and study art and biology.
Went dancing, met a young comedian from LA, had a lovely auberge
espagnole round of Game X at a local watering hole, and learned a few
words in Portuguese.
Driving was a trip. The streets were crooked, crowded,
quick'curving'cobblestone. While we were parked, someone knocked off
our driver´s side rear view mirror, which now hangs like a miniature
broken wing.
We walked all over, up the STEEP and omnipresent hills, which we
always seemed to be going up and never going down. Twice we took a
taxi... it cost us 4 euros each way. We also really enjoyed the
prices in Portugal. There, a 1.50 espresso cost .70 cents.
Went dancing till dawn, drank some regional specialties, ate cod with
potatoes at a fancy little restaurant and talked about our future art
and business ventures... The usual.
So today we finally made it out to Sevilla, where I got lost with
Dewey every day of our 3 day stay here five years ago. Hopefully this
time we´ll be better oriented. It´s also interesting to be here in
the winter this time. Portugal and the South of Spain have been nice.
You can be comfortable in jeans and a jacket, but MADRID was
FREEEEEZING.
One and a half years in New Orleans has turned me into a Southern girl, I guess.
That´s all for now. Going to cash in my free drink coupon at the hostel bar.