Home » Spain » I've picked out the tattoos I want . . .

Well this past weekend was a busy one for me. Friday, I went on the SPU trip to Peñíscola, a beach town an hour and a half away from Valencia, then the next morning I headed with my jiu jitsu teammates to Madrid for the Campeonato de Grappling de España.<br /><br /><br />In Peñíscola there's the beach and the castle and that's about it, so if it happens to be a rainy day like it was, the beach time is not as great. I did not know it would be a beach trip though, so I neglected to bring my bathing suit. The group leaders (male group leaders) told me not to worry, it's Spain I could just go in my underwear, now that would have made for some interesting Travel Blog Photos. We made the best of the wind and rain and ate our bagged lunches (bocadillos) on the sand then threw the football around for a while. Hike up to the top of the castle was worth it for the view.<br />

I've picked out the tattoos I want . . .

Lisa Damico
2006-02-27 17:59:35

Displayed times (last time: )

a machine according to Chiqui, I was entered in the guy's division), I was the fifth fight. As everyone had been asking who the "tia" was that was going to be fighting, everyone there was circled around to watch and I ended up with 10 or more coaches shouting advice to me, in Spanish of course.

Here comes the technical part . . . despite my attempts to sprawl I got thrown in a double leg pickup so I put him in the guard and he tried to escape by putting one arm behind him so I went for the triangle (as you can see in one of the photos), but he grabbed the ankle of my leg across his back and in my attempts to free my ankle it suddenly went pop - I think both his and my eyes about popped out, but it didn't hurt so we continued fighting. Stood back up, got thrown again, went to the open guard, tried to sweep him but instead he took my back and a few seconds later I was tapping from the rear naked choke. . I was really disappointed, but as I walked off the mat (I didn't hear this) but my teammates said everyone clapped louder for me than anyone else.

There was a very good paramedic there that popped my ankle I guess "back into place" which hurt more than anything else, it was nothing bad just a minor sprain, taped it up and then I was good to go. As I thought it was going to be warm, I had
only brought flipflps with me so Kim eagerly volunteered her socks and shoes to keep my foot warm . . you know you've found a good friend when they'll give you the socks and shoes off their feet.

We then watched the rest of the tournament and cheered on my other teammate Kiko as he won two matches to come in third place. I have to add, that had I won my fight, I would have been paired up with my buddy "Tintin" a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and member of the Brazilian Top Team, whose fightingwear-of-choice is just a pair of board shorts so that you can see the two hand guns he has tattooed on his back as if he were a cowboy (among many other tattoos) - so overall I had no chance.

Despite the disappointment of losing, I really had a great time and who else can say they competed in the Spanish Grappling Championship. Overall I realized one of my favorite parts of Valencia was going to jiu jitsu practice every night and I now leave with a pretty complete Spanish jiu jitsu vocabulary along with abs that are that much stronger from all the sessions of "abdominales" we had to do every day.

With less than 2 weeks left here for me, I'm already getting sad to leave. I've grown very close with my Spanish family, Marga even taught me how to make an authentic Tortilla Espanola de Patatas, which the family ate for dinner the other night. So now I have studying for exams and paper writing to look forward to. Light at the end of that tunnel is that I'll be spending two weeks in Italy, a good part of it with the Italian relatives in Milan, Sestre Levante, Cinque Terre and Venice and they are so excited for my visit they even sent me a spreadsheet of our itinerary and alternative activities if I so choose.

That pretty much wraps things up for me; next entry should be from the end of the program activities or Italy. Hope all is well with everyone; it will be good to see you all in less than a month! Keep in touch and take care!

Besos ~ Lisa