The Birds

Swans are such assholes. They're all pretty and graceful but once you get within ten feet they start hissing at you. Fuckers. Ducks, on the other hand--I love ducks. They make funny noises and I like their feet and they stick their butts in the air to eat. There's not that much to do in Plasencia, the last stop on the Extremadura leg of my trip, but there is this bird park. I like animals anyway; after spending most of the past few weeks looking at buildings, I really liked them today. And except for one cage-like thing with real plants and grass and stuff, they were all free, so minimal guilt issues. There were ducks and swans and owls and hawks and cranes. And peacocks, which may be the most brightly-colored things I've ever seen. I sat and watched one for a while, displaying its (his? the pretty birds are usually male, right?) feathers to no one in particular. There was this cute little hoppy bird minding its own business and the peacock kept following it: It would get close and then kinda start stomping, taking small but really exaggerated steps and waving its feathers around. Little bird was not impressed. I, on the other hand, am apparently pretty easily impressed.

Anyway, Plasencia is nice enough, but there's just not that much to say about it. It has some typically nice architecture, some churches, museums that don't open. There's a hunting museum here; that I'd like to see, but it never opened. And what I can only imagine are some kind of mutant ninja mosquitos. You never actually see them, but I'm suddenly covered with these giant welts that itch so bad I could easily let them give me a nervous breakdown. I'm blaming the fact that I haven't met anyone here on my constantly scratching myself.

There's this street near my hotel called Calle de los Quesos (Street of the Cheeses). And at the bottom of the street sign it says Dedicada a Hernán Cortés. Kinda random.

....And that's all I got to say about Plasencia.