Today on our way to Cordoba we made an amazing pit stop in Consuegra to see the famous windmills from Cervantes´ book Don Quixote. The windmills were just as cool as the awesome view of the Spanish countryside.

When we arrived in Cordoba our bus driver did not know where our hostal was so he stopped the bus in the middle of traffic and started walking around looking. Very entertaining. We eventually found it and got our mission from the coaches to go explore the city in groups of two and arrive at the Vista Alegre gym on our own. Maggie and I went to the Mezquita and took in the orange trees, palm trees, and the red and white striped arches of the Cathedral. We then found some shopping and managed to eat ice cream without being approached by too many gypsies.

We made it to the gym in spite of the many winding small roads in the older part of Cordoba and practiced with the team in the evening. Then two American Bring It USA players (Cayley Thurlby from Hawaii and Ashley Michaels from Kansas) took us out to a great dinner in the city center and we ate out in the courtyard. We made our way to an Irish pub, go figure - the only places I’ve gone out here are Irish, and enjoyed the American music they played.

On the long walk back to our hostal we figured out a much more efficient way to go that didn’t involve hitting dead ends of streets. The next day we were on our own so I enjoyed some really good food and shopping. Later in the day I went back to the cathedral square to do some reading and relaxing because that is the thing to do here!

Later on, we went to the gym for our match against the Cordoba team. They have a really nice gym and it’s in a great location. Unfortunately the match did not go as well as we planned so we moved on to the bar across the street to eat a tapas dinner with some of the players from the Cordoba team.

(Editor’s Note: CajaSur Cordoba is #3 in Liga FEV, just one spot behind Bargas Toledo, and both of the teams will be moving up to SuperLiga B next year after successful seasons this year.)

On the way back we found a flamenco dance show inside a little garden in the small buildings. I’ve never seen guys wear such tight pants or move their feet so quickly. Everyone yelled Bravo at the end. Cordoba has been my favorite city so far and I met a lot of friendly locals who offered to go out if anyone from the team ends up back here. Hopefully we will have as much fun in Cartagena...