Paella!

As some of you may know, Spain is famous for many things but especially their paella. Something I did not know about paella is there are different types, mainly veggie, meat, or seafood. Over the weekend, we took a small fisherman boat for an hour long ride to a small town on the water where I tried the famous paella.
The water was murky but apparently on a few meters down. It's crazy to think that the fish they catch on these boats are the same ones I buy at the open market near my apartment. The idea that this is what these people do, everyday, for a living was so cool to me, especially the fact they were willing to share it with a few American travelers.

The open waters seemed endless and had tiny islands in the distance, occasionally. Sometimes the channels we went through were so tiny that plants were reaching into both sides of the boat, then all of sudden it would give way to plant-free open water.

Yes, the scenery got a little repetitive but I still found it beautiful. The water was constantly calm and still. There was an insane amount of ducks everywhere, swimming in the "boba" as the locals called it (the dead shrubs you see on the side).

After an hour on the boat (first time I've ever felt seasick), we arrived in the tiny village. No one was out when we got there and it kind of seemed like a quiet ghost town but upon a closer look, all the locals were set up in cafe's and various other restaurants. 

Overall, I wasn't impressed with paella. I had the meat paella and it was good, don't get me wrong. Everything was fresh and tasted fine but there was little flavor. My roommates and I have found that the Spanish are not big on spicy foods and this dish could have for sure used something to make it tasty. Carson (another student on the trip) told me the seafood paella was the best one and had more flavor so I'm planning on trying that too. The paella had chicken and rabbit and hey you've got to try everything at least once so in the end: it's just a more gamey chicken flavor. Still a charming little trip with some good memories.

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