Camargue Excursion

Last weekend, CEA sponsored an overnight excursion to the Camargue, or French cowboy country. It's the Rhone River delta, an area of marshland about an hour away. On Saturday morning, we went to a museum about the Camargue, where we learned about the area's history and agricultural products. After checking in to our hotel and eating lunch, we had the opportunity to go horseback riding! I hadn't ridden a horse since a girl scout field trip in elementary school, so I was pretty excited {and nervous}. We all got saddled up and set out on a ride through the marsh, stopping to see some flamingos!

When we got to a particularly muddy spot, my horse decided that he needed to take a mud bath. He proceeded to lie down and start rolling around in the mud! I slid off and immediately started freaking out, for several reasons:

1. I thought my horse was injured and I'd have to walk through the mud back to the stables.

2. I stupidly didn't bring a clean pair of shoes or jeans, so I'd have to wear my mud-encrusted clothes again the next day.

3. I was having a severe allergic reaction to hay. My eyes were starting to swell so badly that I could barely see. 

While I was freaking out, my horse got up and wandered away. Our riding instructor caught up with him, but instead of bringing the horse over to me, he motioned for me to walk over there. So, I began trekking through two feet of mud and reeds. Adam saw that I was getting pretty upset, so he jumped off his horse and carried me the rest of the way. What a gentleman! 

I got back on my horse and the rest of the ride went by without any more problems. Back at the hotel, I tried to clean myself up and reduce some of the hay-induced swelling. That night, we had a three-course dinner at a local restaurant. Our favorite course was a delicious fish soup, served with cheesy garlic bread. We ended the evening by playing Mafia with some other CEA students.  

I woke up the next morning to discover that my eyes were still horribly puffy! Here's a little demonstration of just funny I looked on Sunday morning:

After breakfast, we walked down to the beach and through the little town. We stayed in Sainte-Maries-de-Mer. It's named after three Marys {one of them being Mary Magdalene} who were rumored to settle in the village after leaving Jerusalem. With all that history, of course the town had a beautiful church built in the 11th century.

The Camargue is famous for the bulls that are raised in the area. The CEA director arranged for us to visit a working bull farm on Sunday morning. We took a hay ride to through their pastures to see the bulls up close. Since I was still recovering from my last encounter with hay, Adam sweetly arranged for me to ride on the tractor instead.

The owners of the bull farm served us a delicious three-course lunch. The main course was bull stew! Our final activity was going to a typical French bull fight. They're a lot different from Spanish bull fights because the bulls aren't killed at the end. Instead, a group of bull fighters run around the stadium, chasing and antagonizing the bull, while trying to grab several tassels off the bull's horns. It was really crazy to see the bull fighters jumping out of the arena when the bull got too close!
 

We had a great time on the Camargue Excursion. Seeing cowboys and going to a bull fight {which was almost like a rodeo} reminded us of good ole' Texas!