June 19-20 – Cuevas del Drach & Paella with the Family

Sat. June 19th

Today, our group organized our own excursion to the Cuevas del Drach in Portocristo. We took a coach bus at 11:10 AM from Palma to Portocristo and it was about an hour and a half bus ride. We got there a little bit before 1 PM, but had to wait to go on the next tour at 2 PM. We explored around a little bit and walked along a trail that lead us to the sea. The sky was really cloudy and it looked like it was going to storm any minute. Luckily it didn’t rain but we heard a ton of thunder.

At 2 PM, we lined up to enter the caves (“cuevas” = caves by the way). There was a long ramp going through the caves and we got to see all the stalagmites and everything. When we bought our tickets, we noticed that there was a little picture of a camera with an X through it, but we weren’t sure how severely they were going to enforce not taking pictures. Turns out there were guards stationed every few feet and when they saw us with our cameras out they quickly said “No cameras por favor….No cameras please!” I only got about 3 decent pictures and then stopped but other group members were able to be pretty sneaky and snapped a few more. They promised to put them on Facebook and share with the rest of us.

After walking a little further, we found an area that had bleachers to sit on. We were told to take a seat and this is where the concert was going to be. We also learned some background/history of the caves. Las Cuevas del Drach extend for almost 2,400 m (7,900 ft) and includes internal heights of 25 m (82 ft) above the cave floor. The caves were discovered in 1896. There are also a series of lights placed inside the cave and this was carefully designed by an engineer to further enhance the beauty of the caves.

The concert was really cool: they turned off all the lights where we were sitting and then a boat with little fairy lights on the sides began to slowly glide over the lake in the middle of the caves. There were 3 boats and each boat had a rower. There was a small orchestra sitting on the boat playing classical music. It was quite an experience! After the concert, we were told that we could board a boat in order to get back to the exit of the cave. We managed to fit all 12 of our Arcadian group members on a single boat. We thought the boat ride was going to be much longer than it was, so that was a small disappointment. After exiting the caves, we quickly realized that the reason why you aren’t allowed to take pictures has nothing to do with the fragility of the cave; they simply want you to buy giant souvenir pictures and DVD videos. Ah well, I guess mental pictures will have to suffice.

After we left the caves, we walked down to the center of Portocristo where there was a beach. Two other girls and I opted to go to the beach while the rest of the group decided to explore some of the city. (My feet were still sore from the previous day of hiking 4 hours in flip flops so I was very content to sit on the beach and relax). We got some Burger King for lunch and ate it on the beach. An hour later, we met up with the rest of our group and took a bus home. Most of us were pretty exhausted and fell asleep on the way back.

Later that night, my friends and I went out to see our program director, Jaume, and his band play at a Jazz Club. It was pretty cool seeing him up on stage and he gave the “Arcadia Kids” a shout out. Afterwards, I went to a discotecca with my friends and we danced the night away! This place placed a lot of American music (Black Eyed Peas, Kei$ha, etc.) which was pretty cool since we all knew the lyrics. We had a lot of fun.


Sun. June 20th

I got the opportunity to sleep in today and slept till 11:30 AM, which was good because the last 2 days of excursions really tired me out. The family was originally planning on going to the beach for a few hours, but it was rainy and cold in the morning. I hung out around the house with my padres and Fany.

At 1:30 PM, the entire family came over for lunch. There were 12 of us in total: Loli, Jaime, Paca, me, Fany, Eva, Toni, Sira, Mame, Virginia, Jaime, and Miguel. It was definitely a full house! Loli prepared “paella” for lunch, which is a very popular Spanish dish. The paella included yellow rice, chicken, and gamba (shrimp). I opted not to have shrimp in mine which was okay because the grandkids devoured the extra shrimp. :) I actually really liked it. For dessert, we had ice cream and cake. After lunch, I got to play with the grandkids for a little while. We did puzzles, played with marbles, and played with other toys. It was really nice having the whole family together over at Loli and Jaime (and my) house.

The rest of the day I did some homework, surfed the web, and was able to start watching a new TV show online. Loli came into my room around 7:30 PM and asked me if I wanted to go to her church with her to check it out. I said, “Sure, that sounds like fun!” I wasn’t positive if I was just getting a tour of the church or actually going to services, but it turns out that we purposefully went at 8 PM right after a service had let out. Loli showed me around and explained some of the religious symbols. I asked her if they eat bread and drink wine symbolizing Jesus’ body and blood and she told me that they do. We walked up to the altar and I got to see a Virgin Mary statue and the other religious artwork and paintings. It was a pretty cool experience to see the inside of a typical Catholic church.

After dinner, Loli pulled out 3 photo albums from each of her 3 kids’ first communion. She explained that the first communion happens when you’re about 8 or 9 years old. (And I taught her about the bar/bat mitzvah service that happens in the Jewish religion at age 12 or 13). It was really fun looking at old pictures and seeing how similar her children look then and now. The other cool thing was being able to see some of the same features of the grandkids in their parents’ faces. Fany came in while we were looking at her first communion photo album and we shared the pictures with her.

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I can’t believe that I’ve already been here for 3 weeks! This month literally just flew by, which everyone promised us in the beginning it would. This upcoming week is my last full week in Mallorca and my last full week of classes. I know I’m going to be really sad when I leave because I’m leaving behind this gorgeous place and the amazing host family that has welcomed me with open arms into their home and lives. I’m so, so lucky to have been paired with Loli and Jaime’s family. Nevertheless, I’m really excited to see my boyfriend, friends, and family back home, who I’ve really missed over the past 3 weeks. I’m definitely going to make the most of my remaining 10 days here in my island paradise! ¡Adios!