La Camargue

Two weekends ago I went to an area of Provence called La Camargue.  It is essentially one big wildlife preserve in the Rhône River delta. It is famous for its flamingos, its ponies, and its bulls.  I experienced all three.

The flamingos were kind of a surprise.  I pretty much exclusively think of Florida when pondering natural flamingo habitats.  There weren't as many as usual because some of them migrate to Africa during the winter.  Again, for some reason I never really though of Africa as Flamingo-town.

On Saturday we went horse-back riding through the marshes of Camargue.  In pricinple it should have been a really fun adventure, and in retrospect it was, but while it was going on it was kind of miserable.  It was cold and windy and cloudy.  We were riding through mud and water which made the whole experience rather wet and dirty.  My friend Brittany's horse got spooked as we were leaving the ranch and it threw her in the mud.  She got up and got on a different horse and was really none the worse for wear.  Since she is an experienced rider she declared that she was thankful it had happened to her instead of someone else because she knew  how to handle it.  My horse had difficulties staying on the trail and had a tendency to walk out into the middle of the marsh, and it took a lot of coaxing to make him return to the ranks his name was Plan-plan (sp?).  Other than that, two of the other horses decided to sit down and roll over with riders on their back; one of them did so in knee-deep water.  And, I was so terrified of dropping my camera in the water that I did not take any pictures of this particular outing.  So, you will just have to imagine my atop a white pony, freezing cold and caked in mud.

Later that afternoon we went to the cathedral in the village Saintes-Maries de la Mer.  The legend of this town is that a few close friends/followers were put into a small boat with no oars and were left to float out in the Mediterranean.  The boat came ashore at the modern site of Saintes-Maries de la Mer and it is believed that Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, and perhaps some other disciples left to settle elsewhere, butMary Salomé and Mary Jacobé (sister of the Virgin) stayed there with their servant Sarah who has come to be know as Sarah la Kali or the Black Sarah and is the patron saint of the gypsies.  There is a shrine to her in the crypt of the cathedral.

That night we had soupe de poisson (a traditional proveçale dish), some delicious chicken, some sort of divine mousse/cake item and altogether too much wine...which was followed by a few more drinks at a nice local pub and a shot of whiskey in a particularly sketchy establishment.  The music was so loud we couldn't hear anything else, it had the atmosphere of a dance club/sports bar hybrid, and all of the women looked like they hated life and all of the men had glitter on their faces.
A few of us went back to the hotel via the beach and walked on the rocks and well out into the Mediterranean on a man-made water break.  It was very peaceful, and that sea has always enchanted me.

The next day we went to a ranch where taureaux are raised.  These are the bulls that are used in French bull-fighting... which is really more like bull-counting-
coup.  The bulls are released into the ring and have threads and tassels on each horn and strung between them a rosette (a small fake flower).  There are about 10-15 men in the ring who try to snag these items in order (rosette, tassels, threads) of the face of the bull without getting gored.  It was pretty exciting, especially the acrobatics that the men did to escape the charging bull.  I pretty much spent the entire two hours being tense and super stressed, which has brought me to the conclusion that if I ever had to watch a Spanish bullfight where they are actually trying to kill the bull, I might throw up...or cry...or both, really.

On that note, for lunch we had daube camarguaise.  Daube is essentially the Provence version of boeuf bourguignon (French beef stew) and the variety made in Carmargue is made with taureau instead of regular beef.  It was amazing.  The meal also included Camargue rice, paté, chèvre, apple tarte, lots of bread, and altogether too much wine.  Although, the longer I am here, the more I am coming to accept that there really is no such thing as too much wine.  Dionysus and I are pretty much besties.



I leave for Spring Break tomorrow.  I will be going to Paris to see Luther friends and then to Normandy and Amsterdam and then to Lillehammer to see Styx (!!!) and then to Brussels and back to Paris to meet up with my parents on the 15th.   I will try to blog along the way since it will be a lot to remember by the time I get back.  Wish me luck!




In other news, my mandatory medical visit for my visa is going to be on May 12th.  Which is my last day of class, and the day before I leave France.  But, if I don't go I may be denied future French visas .
Dear French bureaucracy,
I hate you.  A lot.
The end.