Regurgitate (arrrgh! piratas!)

Quick, let me write a post before I forget all the cool stuff I just learned!

Visited the Archivo de Indias, (Archive of the Indias-which coincidently is the Archive of Central/South America, as when it was first encountered by the Spaniards they believe they'd found India). I didn't know what to expect other than old documents, but I thought I was very cool. They had a pirate exhibit!! Some cool facts:

• The French became jealous of the Spanish when the Spanish began to acquire all of "its" riches from the Americas. It therefore declared itself an enemy. Many pirates attacking Spanish ships were French.
• The French pirates posed a major threat pirating ships both as they arrived back in Spain and as they left the Americas. Also, not only did they attack the ships but also the cities/towns themselves. Many times when pirating the towns they would sneak in during the early hours of the morning (2/3am) and first take the campana-the bell. That way the alarm could not be raised. Pretty smart for a bunch of riftraft!
• In order to defend against the pirates, a king (I think Ferdinand something or other, I'll have to check) decided to change the way ships left for voyages. Instead of it being random, he decided to have one date in the summer and one in the winter in which the ships could both leave Spain and the Americas. No ships were to travel at any other time. In this way, the pirates could not live off waiting for ships. Also, the Spanish ships traveled together, and in doing so could afford to pay for a military guard. Safety in numbers!
• I'm currently eating my favorite lunch ever-stuffed eggplant. It's fantastic and utterly distracting. You should be jealous.
• Piercing of the cartilage began in European culture with the pirates. Every time a pirate would round Cape Horn, the tip of South America, he would get a piercing. Pirates with the most earrings in their cartilages earned the most respect.
• This one the translation is a little rough: When coming back into the channel entering Spain, a Dutch ship blocked the passage. The convoy of Spanish ships, confused as Holland was not declared an enemy, paused and turned around. However, because they were laden with so much gold and silver when they turned they touched the bottom and were stranded. The Dutch, in smaller, lighter boats, came in circled and took the precious metals and went straight back to Holland. Funny part? Most Spanish have never heard this story-the Spanish captain was incarcerated for five years then decapitated. The Dutch however, have many songs of the tale and to this day children sing them in school and adults in bars. It's the country's version of David and Goliath!

We learned a lot more about the history involved; I found it very interesting. The Archivo de Indias contains nearly all of the original letters, correspondences, documents throughout its history. It's an incredible collection. The documents involving piracy were only the beginning. I saw letters today that were written in the 1400s. 1400s-thats more than five hundred years old! Dang. The ink is turned a brownish red and has faded a lot, but it's still cool to think about seeing someone's actual handwriting and their thoughts from the late fifteenth century.

REFLECTIONS:

I find it very interesting how my brain functions here in Spain. First of all, as I translate in my head less and less Spanglish is becoming increasing common. I think it's because I'm speaking without thinking. Therefore, on filler words or at the middle/end of sentences I'll randomly switch to the opposite language without noticing.

Even weirder is how I remember things. Everything enters in Spanish, and I understand it now without conscientiously translating it. However, when I look back on an event, it's all in English. Sometimes a word will stick out in Spanish, either because it's something that doesn't translate vocabulary or is connecting with an idea I don't have a word for in English or because it was a word that I didn't understand immediately.

For example, hearing the lecture today I realized I can semi zone-out and still capture all of the information in Spanish-no need to focus intently to understand, just like English!! Yet when I sat down to write this, everything spilled out in English. Random words stuck out, such as campana (which I already knew but don't hear often) or the part I had to intently focus on to understand-this I remember in Spanish.

Our brains are so cool--they work in mysterious ways!