KETCHUP!

Oh hey, world! It's been a while! Nice to see you. How're the wife and kids? Glad to hear it. 

ANYWAYZZZZ... I EXPLORED. SOME MORE. So here's the photographic evidence and accompanying stories!

PS That's why the name of this one is what it is- we gotta play catch up. I considered naming it Heinz but I couldn't justify that in my mind.

So the pic to the right is just pretty. It means nothing. It was the view I had while we were walking to El Escorial. El Esorial is a monastery turned palace turned tourist sight. If you ever wanna keep something safe, leave it with a monk. That's what that trip taught me. 

 El Escorial... well, half of it.

 More of El Escorial.

 The view from El Escorial + Rebekah = KAY-UTE

 YAY A NEW STORY! Mkay, you see that cross? Yeah, it's actually huge. At first, I thought, "HOW COOL!" EXCEPT then I was told what this place is and what it means to the people of Spain. This place is called El Valle de los Callos (The valley of the fallen). The good part of this thing: it has tributes to the fallen soldiers during one of Spain's wars. The bad part: This structure was commissioned by Franco, a dictator. Seriously, Franco was awful. He used strict Catholicism to control people and now this country, which has a really rich history in faith, has become complacent.

View from the perspective of Franco's monument.

 Ominous, right?

 YAY A HAPPY STORY!!! Mkay, we got to take a class trip to Toledo which is known as the city of 3 religions/ cultures. Toledo was once home to Muslims, Jews and Christians. What's the big deal? Well they lived together... IN PEACE. Crazy, I know. Don't ask me how they did it. Anyways, this picture is of La Catedral de Toledo. This cathedral is supes impressive. The funny thing is, you can tell that the 3 cultures lived together just by looking at the buildings. This is a Catholic/ Christian cathedral. But do you see the horse-shoe arch in the bottom right corner? Mudejar. AKA Muslim. Boom.

 Ceiling of the "disrobing chamber." The "disrobing chamber" is where the Priest puts on and takes off his robe. Imma get me a disrobing chamber one day.

 The Gospel in picture form. Ya know, for those illiterate moments (no, but actually).

 More proof of the 3 cultures mixing. Arabic symbol in the middle, Hebrew scripture on the outside.

MY NEW FAVORITE THING: Toledo's river.

 The cutest no matter where we go.

 BYE, TOLEDOOOOO!!!!

PS the phrase, "Holy Toledo"... yeah.

 As you may or may not know, the Philippines were a Spanish colony! So there are some Filipino things around the city. I went with the 3 Filipinos on the tour to see the proof. (There were actually 4 Filipinos but 2 of them were half). This is Dominic, one of the halfies.

 See the man on the left? Man of my dreams. I am only half joking. I went to this thing called Fitur which is SO. COOL. Imagine every country in the whole world all under one roof. That's Fitur. This picture is of Panama. After seeing them dance, I wanted to dance RULL BAD. So I asked the guy on the left to dance with me. He agreed. We're getting married in 2 weeks. (The last sentence was a lie. Don't worry, Mom.)

 The rest of the pictures are of Fitur and different things I saw while there. I didn't have very much time so I stayed in the Spanish speaking nation section.

 Colombians drink nasty coffee and party harder than anyone. Be careful with these ones.

For Onyx.

And just like that, you're all caught up! As you can see, I have been having a ball. God has been so gracious with me. I am so grateful. To those of you who have been praying for me, Thank you so much. I know God hears you. He is taking good care of me.