I had booked a flight way back when I arrived in Spain for this weekend knowing that it was a long weekend. As the typical broke traveler, I simply picked the cheapest flight I could find to anywhere in Europe. Turns out that place was Asturias. After purchasing the flight, I did a little more research and discovered how beautiful it was and immediately thought it would be a great place to do a hiking vacation with my mom. Well guess what...it all worked out and my mother and I had a great time up north! OviedoWhen we were planning the trip, we thought we might do part of the famous Camino de Santiago since it is a mostly flat trail and my mom has a fear of heights. There's a route that leaves from Oviedo, but we soon discovered that we would hardly see anything in 3 days. Best save the Camino for our next hiking trip together! The route we were going to do starts in Oviedo, so we kept the city on the itinerary to see where it all starts. We walked around a park, ate lunch in front of the cathedral, and wandered about town before getting back in the car. (Side note: Props to my mom for driving us everywhere.) Soto de AguesNext stop was Soto de Agues. The town was TINY. When we found the inn where we were staying, we asked the lady if there was a grocery store in town so we could make sandwiches for our hike the next day. Turns out...no. We'd have to drive to the next down over, Rioseco, and she said it was probably closed. It was only 7pm...and I thought Casariche was bad! Luckily we had packed plenty of train mix and other snackies for the trip, so it wasn't a big loss. The owner told us about restaurants in town and said that the inn was also a restaurant if we wanted her to make us anything. We went to park the car and explored the cute town while also checking out the restaurants. We ultimately decided to eat at her place, ordering chorizo, cheese, bread, and of course, wine and Asturias' famous sidra, aka hard cider. The owner brought out a big bottle of sidra and poured me what I thought was a bit to try. When I sipped it, she immediate frowned and told me noooo, todo! So I threw it back, making my mother slightly concerned and starting a interesting conversation about taking shots. As we sat there, what appeared to be the whole town stopped by the restaurant and ordered sidra. My mom and I watched in awe as the man poured the sidra from a distance the length of his wingspan. Picture this but while he was sitting down. Impressive. The both of us took turns pouring the sidra every time I wanted a drink. But as my mom consumed more wine and I consumed more sidra, our aim worsened and the table ended up a mess. Luckily there were napkins. We headed upstairs to bed happy, not hungry, and ready for the hiking adventures to begin. The next day, we ate breakfast at the inn, packed out things in the car, and headed on our way. Luckily the owner of the inn had a bottle of water because that was the only thing we were really missing from the grocery store. (Highly recommend this inn, Hotel Rural Casa Lao...it was really nice and the owner was so sweet! Not a sponsored blogger, just highly impressed.) The route we were doing is called La Ruta del Alba, and it left right from town, so we didn't have to drive anywhere. It was gorgeous! I could go on, but I think the pics speak for themselves. P.S. No judging our selfie taking skills - I'm a failed millennial. It's fine. On second thought...I do it on purpose. So people think I'm more attractive in person. Las Arenas de CabralesWe left Soto de Agues and made our way to Las Arenas de Cabrales. My mom wasn't super happy with the drive as we left Parque Natural de Redes and headed into Los Picos de Europa, the Peaks of Europe. Like I said, she's not a fan of heights. But we made it safe and sound to Las Arenas after a pit stop for lunch. We had some trouble finding the inn, but once we were all checked in, we headed to the grocery store to make sandwiches for the next day's hiking. Then we sought a restaurant because I was getting hangry. We finally settled on a sidreria, and it was delicious! All this trip, it felt like we were playing a game of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. While I enjoyed all of the places we had visited, Oviedo was too big, Soto de Agues was too small, and finally, Las Arenas was just right. We headed to bed to rest up for more hiking! The next morning we ate breakfast at the inn, double checked the route at the tourist office, packed up the car, and headed on our way. We were originally planning on doing the famous Ruta del Cares, but after talking to some people and seeing more pictures, we decided it would be best to skip this for obvious reasons. We instead set off to do part of La Ruta de Caoru, which the tourism office lady told us would be more tame for people with fears of heights (even thought it was rated "difficult"???? Oh well! We did it anyways!!). And boy it was worth it! The path was hard to find at the beginning, but it was well worth the initial struggle. After awhile, the path turned into an old Roman road which I like to believe was used to transport lots and LOTS of cheese and sidra. We were EXHAUSTED after this hike. And we didn't even do half of the full trail. But we still felt like we were very deserving of some pastries from the bakery we spotted in town. We sat down with some sweets and then headed off to the next town. Cangas de OnísWe retraced our drive back to a town called Cangas de Onís. The original plan was to hike near the Lagos de Covadonga. But being too exhausted to hike more and not having enough time to do the hike the next morning before we made the drive back to the airport, our tired feet gladly settled on strolling around the town, shopping for cheese, eating dinner, drinking wine and sidra, and enjoying gelato while watching people dance in the plaza. Awesome trip! And so thankful my mom and I could experience Asturias together!
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My mom came to visit me in Casariche. What a doll. I made her bike to Estepa with me so we could buy sweets from the nuns who live in the monastery on the hill there. It's been on my bucket list forever. Shout out to Alicia for letting me borrow her bike! Shout out to be my mom for not wanted to kill me for making her bike up all those hills!
I've been talking about doing this since Alejandro gave me his bike, but I finally did it! I biked to Fuente de Piedra. I got SO lost going there, but it was worth it. After the whole getting lost thing, I stopped at this restaurant my parents and I had eaten at before and got some tea and cheesecake because why not. Andddddd I got this fancy olive oil which has all of these awards for being the best in the region of Málaga that my mother regretted not buying when we were here before. #bestdaughterever I asked the waitress how/where to get the olive oil and she literally stopped serving to walk me across the street. She rang this doorbell and said hello to this lady inside. She explained to her that I wanted to buy olive oil and suggested showing me metal containers instead of glass since I'd be bringing it on a flight. The olive oil was on these bookshelves in this lady's house. Strange but cool. And so. Freaking. Nice. The waitress and the olive oil lady.
I was biking back from Estepa after a weekend of rowing in Seville and there were these hugely beautiful clouds that made me nervous I was going to get stuck in a storm. But I didn't. I know. Great story. I got to go on a field trip with the kids from 1o de ESO (7th grade) to El Torcal - the rock place near Antequera that I went to with some of my friends at the beginning of the my time in Spain. The kids seemed to enjoy it, and I had a great time too!
For my birthday I invited Maria and Alicia along with her son to my apartment. We spend the first half of the birthday speaking Spanish, then Maria had to go, we switched to English. We ate SO MUCH JUNK, and it was great. We had doritos, chips, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, rice krispie treats...you name it, we had it. No real food was allowed. I made funfetti cupcakes and attempted to make a failed cake tip decorator out of a water bottle (see photos).
Unfortunately, I don't have many toys to entertain a 6-year-old. However, I do have tons of cardboard boxes. I think the inner child in me has a hard time throwing out cardboard boxes because I know how much fun I had making forts with my brother growing up. (Tangent: When I was little, my parents decided to renovate our kitchen. One of the best days of my life was when the cabinets and new fridge arrived. So. Many. Boxes. It was like heaven for me and Sean.) Anyways...Alicia's son spent the evening making not only a fort but also a very proud mom, as Alicia is an Architect by training. All in all a great evening celebrating 24 years on this Earth. Every year in April, Seville has a week long fair to celebrate...well I'm not sure to be honest. It's just for fun. The best only way I can describe it is a cross between a wedding, a beer festival, and a state fair in the US. Everyone is dressed to the nines walking around a dirt fair ground in Los Remedios drinking lots of beer in tents called casetas. Most families who live in the city have private casetas for their family and friends, but there are also public casetas for everyone (mostly foreigners like who don't know anybody well enough to get invited to a caseta) to enjoy. I went with a bunch of erasmus students studying at University of Seville to watch the portada (the gate) light up to celebrate the official beginning of feria. When you enter in a caseta, everyone is wearing Sevillana clothes and dancing las sevillanas (which looks a whole lot like Flamenco if you ask me, but apparently they are slightly different dances). Women spend hundreds and hundreds of euros on handmade dresses that they wear for a week. And God forbid you wear the same dress again! The dresses are quite incredible, even if getting a new dress every year is not very environmentally friendly. And the icing on hte cake is that many people take a horse and carriage (or on occasion, a donkey and carriage) to get there so all week you see people Málaga:I'm very fortunate that I have friends who have real jobs and can afford a plane ticket to come visit me. For Holy Week, I had three friends come visit me - Alec, Mal, and Zach. Two more friends were supposed to join us, but unfortunately a snow storm hit hard and they were unable to get a rescheduled flight to Europe, only a refund. :( The first to arrive was Alec. I met him at the train station in Malaga fresh from the airport. I spent the rest of the day and part of the following showing him around the city. We went to the fortress and castle that I went to with my parents when I first arrived. He also went in the cathedral while I sat outside on a bench, ate some nuts, and answered a survey given by a very appreciative university student. We also made a short stop at the beach to read. Just before leaving, we went to the Bull Fighting museum which was hilariously crappy, but fun nonetheless. Next we were off the Seville... Sevilla:When we arrived, it was late and raining. We rested for a hot second and then headed out to one of my favorite place in Seville: La Carbonería. We arrived super early so we got dinner and listened to some Flamenco. The next day we (or rather I) admired the rowers passing under Triana Bridge. And by admired, I mean envied. Then we went to the Seville Cathedral which I believe is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, but don't quote me on that. I've been meaning to go forever and now I finally had an excuse to go. Then we were off the Plaza de España. Alec was particularly excited because it was apparently used in the filming of a Star Wars movie. In the plaza we saw some people dancing Flamenco and rented a boat to row around. We met up with Jill and headed to the airport. Then it was goodbye Sevilla, hello Morocco! Morocco:We arrived late at night. The airport shuttle was all arranged through the hostel. I think I emailed them about 6 times reminding them of our flight number and the time arrival. Yet when we left the airport, there was no shuttle. We tried re-entering the airport to buy water but were not allowed. We finally got a hold of them and our shuttle came. We made friends with some exchange students studying abroad in Milan in the shuttle thinking we were all going to be in the same hostel. But halfway through the ride, the driver pulled over and told them all to follow this other guy to their hostel. So sad. When we got to the hostel, we asked to buy water. But they had run out. We paid for the hostel and our tours, realizing we should've taken more money out. We went to bed extremely parched but were luckily slightly distracted from the thirst because Mal and Zach were waiting for us at the hostel! Yay for reunions! We woke up early in the morning for our tour. A man came to pick us up, but not in a car. We walked for about 15 minutes to the main plaza area in Marrakech and there a van picked us up. We also found WATER!! We thought the van full of other people were the people doing the tour with us, but we should've learned from the airport shuttle. Some of us were switched to another van after driving to another part of the city. To be honest with you, we didn't really know what we were going to see. All we knew was we asked for the 2 day tour through the hostel because that's all we had time for. And we knew we were going to ride camels. Little did we know we were going to drive for about 8 hours stopping along the way arriving almost at the border of Algeria. Some pics from the drive: Like I said, we really didn't know what to expect on the tour. So we were pleasantly surprised when we stopped to tour the Kasbah in (what we later learned was a town called) Ait Benhaddou. Many famous films were filmed in the Kasbah including Gladiator and Prince of Persia. Our tour guide was quite difficult to understand but once we caught on that he was conjugating all of his verbs in the first person, everything made a little more sense. While in the Kasbah, we stopped at a store that made these fire drawings. I don't know how else to describe it, so feel free to watch this video showing the guy making a post card using the technique. On the way out of the Kasbah, we stopped to buy scarves because we were told we would need to wear a scarf or shirt for the camel ride since it would be very dusty in the desert and during the ride. Definitely a selling tactic, but I was ok with getting a souvenir from the trip. After the tour we ate lunch in the town. I ordered couscous which was different than any other couscous I'd every eaten. The veggies were really big instead of chopped up in the grain. It was ok, but I wouldn't get it again. Then we were back on the bus and still headed towards to Algeria border. It was time to get a nap in for most of us. I don't know what the name of this town is, but we were so excited to be driving through it because we hadn't seen civilization for hours and knew we were in the desert and the drive had to be over soon. The long ride finally came to end and we got what we had been waiting for...THE CAMELS!!! We tied our scarves around our heads and mouth like we were taught back in the Kasbah to protect us from the sandy air. Turns out I'm a scarf tying expert. Then we were led through the Zagora Desert on camels all tied together and led by some really young Berber boys. I was at the end of the pack, and I named my camel Kevin. He was a little slow to keep up, but Kevin and I grew quite found of each other during our short interaction together. Some quick notes about camel riding:
After a very scenic and fun camel ride naming all of our camels, we arrived at our campsite for the night and enjoyed (really strong, but luckily sweet Moroccan) tea, Moroccan bread, and some tajine. BIG fan of Moroccan food. Big fan. Then we chatted and got to know everyone, looked at the stars, listened to Berber men play the drums and dance with a bunch of us foreigners, and turned in for the night. Please enjoy my excessively crappy photography skills below. We had an early morning and had more Moroccan bread, tea (unfortunately not sweet this time), and hard boiled eggs. Then it was back to the camels and back to the van. Once we were back in the car, we were brought to what can only be described as a carpet and trinket store in which the obvious purpose was to sell us foreigners carpets and trinkets. Then we piled back in the van and made our way to Ouarzazate which is another city in which a bunch of films are made apparently. We piled back into the van (again) and eventually made it back to Marrakesh. Interesting story: We dropped one of our fellow travelers off in Ouarzazate because he was doing a 3 day tour instead of a 2 day tour. This traveler happened to be from Barcelona and it was super interesting listening to his opinions about Catalonia independence. Living in Andalusia has probably made me biased and very much pro Spanish unity (in my mind, it's like New York saying they don't want to be a part of the US because they do a lot more economically for the country than Mississippi...although that's a grossly simplified version and the issue is much deeper rooted and more complicated than that). But this guy was very much pro independence. While I agree with him in that Catalans have every right to free speech and that the Spanish government did not react well to what was happening or listen very well to the concerns of its citizens, I don't think it is a good idea for them to succeed from Spain, and he was all about Catalan secession. Fun story: We got to chat with a bilingual family which was in our tour group. The dad was from the UK and the mom from Spain. My inner linguist was freaking out at how easily the kids were switching between Spanish and English and my inner teacher was freaking out at how well the kids were behaved. Seriously. Best behaved kids I've ever encountered in my life! If I could guarantee that my kids would turn out like that, I wouldn't be as concerned about having them in the future. Anywhoooo...It's always interesting to see how bilingual families make communication work. The parents each spoke their native language while the kids switched based on which parent they were speaking to. If they were speaking to both, they'd pick. And when the parents spoke to each other, they continued speaking in their respective languages back and forth which was cool to listen to. Super sweet fam who we had the pleasure of speaking with during lunch on our way back to Marrakesh. Funny story: At one point in the car ride I had to pee sooooo badly. We finally stopped on the side of the road for the purpose of snapping some pics. I ran across the road to get away from everyone taking photos so I could pee. Unfortunately everyone thought I was headed across the road to get a different view, and they all ended up following me. When they finally all left, I yanked my pants down and strategically started to pee. Why strategically you may ask? The wind was really gusty and the side of the mountain was just a big pile of rocks. I had placed myself between two rocks, one for each butt cheek, and started to do my thing when the wind suddenly shifted directions. I quickly lifted my leg to avoid peeing on it to the best of my ability. The wind continued to shift back and forth as I lifted one leg than the other and (mostly) avoiding peeing on myself. When we arrived in Marrakesh, we explored a little bit and went to grab some dinner. falafel...yum! Here's some more crappy photos for you to enjoy. The next morning we spent exploring Marrakesh some more before our flight to Barcelona. We walked around, got henna tattoos at a place owned by this American lady who went to Morocco on vacation, never went back home, and started her own henna restaurant. Alec also got a photo with a snake charmer who wanted him to pay 200 dirham for it. He knew he'd have to pay, but didn't think it'd be that much. Cool photo, not a fun experience. Then we were back in the airport on our way to Barcelona! Barcelona:We arrived pretty late, so we only went out went out to dinner and went to bed when we got to the hostel. The next morning, we took the train to Montserrat. There we enjoyed some hiking and beautiful views of the city and surrounding mountains. The next day we decided to do one of those "free" walking tours of the city. TMI but...I pooped 3 times before leaving the hostel that morning. We took the metro the the Cathedral. While we were waiting for the tour to start, I started to feel extremely sick. The tour started and I waited for our guide to finish talking about the Cathedral and ditched the group. I headed back to the hostel and slept until mid afternoon. After my nice long nap and several diarrheas later, I decided I was doing well enough to join up with the group again. I headed back to the metro and met up with my friends on our way to Montjuic, the park where the 1992 Olympic Stadium is located. We walked around the park and saw the stadium. As we were walking back from the park, we ran across some sick street performers doing a break dancey thingy. Here, just check out the video... We headed to a market place called la Boquería where everyone (except diarrhea girl) bought empanadas. Then diarrhea girl started to feel diarrhea-y again, so she headed back to the hostel to call it a night. Sadly, our time as a big group had come to an end. The next day Mal and Zach would head for Paris, Jill for Gerona, and Alec and I to Ibiza. IbizaOn the flight over after finding my seat, I immediately grabbed the vomit bag partially as a precautionary measure and partially because there were extra seats on the plane and I wanted the people next to me to MOVE. I told Alec that the first thing we had to do when we got to Ibiza was find a hospital. I had no energy from not eating and was extremely dehydrated. Unfortunately it was siesta time when we landed and were having a hard time finding a hospital that was open that would take my insurance. We actually stumbled upon the tourist information booth and asked them where the nearest open doctor's office/clinic/hospital was. We finally found one and once I was admitted, I insisted that Alec leave as to not waste any of his vacation. But also because once I went back to see the doctor I immediately started crying. When the doctor asked why I was crying, I told him that it was because I was hungry. Now you all know what my real priorities are. They stuck me and got me some fluids. The following is quite literally the ONLY photo I have from my first day in Ibiza. While I was at the hospital, I actually saw a familiar face. I realized it was the guy who checked us in at the hostel. The next day I told him I saw him at the hospital getting his finger stitched back on. What can I say...I'm just really good at bonding with the locals. Our second day in Ibiza, Alec and I decided to rent a scooter to explore the island. We decided to rent only one to share because I didn't want to have to worry about driving in my half conscious, only-eating-dry-bread state. He soon regretted that decision as I dug my fingers into his shoulders like I was hanging on for dear life and screamed in his ear every time he went anywhere near 10 under the speed limit. But the island was BEAUTIFUL, and I hope to get the chance to explore it in the future when I'm not sickly. Alec and I said our goodbyes as I was headed back to Barcelona and he was headed to Madrid. Barcelona (again):Jill and I met back up in Barcelona to see the Sagrada Familia. Waking around the outside of it was about all I was up for, so that was our whole day. Definitely cool looking, but we didn't go in because it was expensive and you had to buy tickets ahead of time. Jill and I flew back to Málaga the next day. Then it was the train to Puente Genil and a taxi back to good ol' Casariche. Despite the diarrhea incident, the trip was a ton of fun. I feel so lucky that my dear old Penn State friends could come visit me we could all explore together. Until next time! There's one church in town, and I've wanted to see the inside of it for awhile. So my friend María has been trying to show me the inside of the church in Casariche for over a month now and our schedules either haven't lined up or we've been too tired or it's been too rainy. But today we finally went. We walked in and I was in awe! How could such a small town have such a pretty church. It's actually kind of sad if you think about it because a lot of people probably give money to that church that they can't afford to give. Before mass started, they were selling candles and during mass everyone was asked to donate again. The mass involved a lot of standing up and sitting down over and over and over and over and over again. And a lot of quiet hellos to a bunch of my students that I saw in the church. Then came time for the communion. I had flashbacks to a slightly scarring experience in which my grandmother brought me to church and I took the communion because she did, and I didn't know what I wasn't supposed to. But that's a story for another day. There was a lot of mumbled words and some singing. Because Semana Santa (aka Holy Week) starts next week, there was a big procession all around town after the service. I saw everyone I knew plus there mother either in the procession or following it all around town. Side note: Everyone was dressed to the nines and while I probably could've dressed a little nicer, I did not envy the girls walking in heels on the cobblestone streets. The procession started at the church and ended at the mini church/chapel across the street where el Santo and la Virgen will stay until the end of Semana Santa. Very cool experience. Glad it's not my culture though because I feel like not liking Semana Santa is like not liking THON at Penn State - you can be an outcast for not being all about it. Or if you don't get that comparison, just know that about 40% of males in this town are named Jesús and a solid 60% of females are named María. I snapped some photos not feeling the slightest bit guilty for standing out because everyone in town already knows I'm "the American". Normally I try to post just the nicer photos and videos that I take, but I posted them all. Feel free to look at/watch all, some, or none of them. Also, TV Casariche made a video about the procession. Two particularly fun things about going to watch the procession with María: 1. I got to show off to everyone that I have a Casaricheña friend. 2. I got the say "hi" to all of my students outside of class which some of them find particularly embarrassing for some reason - being a teenager can be rough. |
AuthorI'm Emma. I love food more than anyone will ever understand - specifically cheese, chocolate, bread and pretty much every fat & carb combo you can think of - apple cider donuts, ice cream, the list goes on. Fats and carbs just go so well together. Don't you think? Why is it when I'm tasked to describe myself, I always talk about food? I guess if you want to learn more about me, you'll have to read my posts about my year as a teacher in Spain. Archives
May 2018
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