Swimming, Soccer, and Seville

I'll take a break from the history lessons today. This is beach close to Seville, where I ended swimming in the Ocean. When I saw the itinerary for Azahar I noticed we would be stopping at a beach in Spain. Being from the Northeast the chance to swim in the Ocean in January is always enticing. I figured the water couldn't be that cold. I told my buddies Carlos, Manny, Darryn, and Oz that I was going to take a dip in the Ocean. So I got ready, here is a sequence of my dash into the other side of the Atlantic.
The water really wasn't that cold. I don't want to sound all macho, but it was actually pretty pleasant. I was expecting to get in and start screaming and run out all shivering, but I got in and I swam around a little bit. For people who know, it was about as cold as the water at Sand Beach in Maine in July.

After the dip we "americanized" the beach in Spain by getting a quick batting practice with a makeshift stick and shells.


After the day at the beach we all went to the disco where Carlos, Manny, Oz, and Darryn got me drinks to celebrate. This is us, I look pretty happy.
After the sweet day at the beach, I was pretty convinced that things couldn't get any better in Spain, but there was soccer games to see. I received word from there was to be a game in Seville so I headed off to the stadium with my friends Zach and Clark. Seville is one of top ranked teams in Spain so we were pumped. However, it soon became apparent we were not nearly pumped enough.



As you can see these guys were a little more pumped. They were the rival fans and were seated right behind us. They were cheering and singing the whole game, the only time they stopped is when a miny riot erupted in the stands (right behind us). It was nuts, cops in full riot gear were just going to town crushing skulls and tossing people down the bleachers people like Schilling throwing pitches at Fenway . After the riot stopped, the fans were surrounded by police and had to stay in a specific area. This did not stop the fans from chanting "Policia Asesina" which basically translates into Cops are Murderers.


Seville won the game 3-1. The soccer was so much better than the MLS in America. One thing I didn't like was during injury time, every time the opposing team touched the ball the entire stadium would start this high pitch whistle. It sounded as if the stadium were filled with banshees and it hurt my skull.

It was a great city. Tomorrow I'll post some Salamanca stuff and then begin the regular updates about life in Madrid.