I did this really scary thing that my mom didn't want me to do. Or at least I thought it was going to be really scary.
El Caminito del Rey is El Chorro's (a small Andalusian town) claim to fame. Actually there is a hydroelectric power plant and the path was built to help workers cross the gorge. The town became famous when King Alfanso VIII visited the town and crossed the path. So I guess the real claim to fame is hydroelectric power. Yay for renewable energy sources! (Because I believe in citing my sources...and it's illegal not to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey) Jill and I set out from one of our "local" train stations in Pedrera to El Chorro. During the train ride, we just about pooped out pants (or at least I did) as we caught our first glimpse of the path we were supposedly going to walk on. It's this little boardwalk that literally hangs from the side of a cliff. I mean, I know that's what we were going to do. I had seen pictures. But it is so much scarier seeing it from the train. We took the bus to the top of the path (I know, kind of ironic that you take a bus to do a hike...but that's another debate for another day). We strapped on our little "Caminito del Rey" hard hats given to us by the staff. Before the safety talk, they asked everyone to split into two groups: Spanish speakers and English speakers. Only one couple went to the English speaking staff. Jill and I stayed with the Spanish speaking group. I think that decision was a combination of being a little too proud to admit that we might want to hear the safety talk in English, and the fact that there were only two other definite "tourist" doing this hike. With enough snacks to last us several days in our bags and our hard hats snugly on our heads, we were off! And it wasn't that bad! After a bunch of people died on the path and simply shutting it down wasn't keeping people away, the government stepped in and constructed a much safer walkway than what was previously used. You can still see remnants of the old walkway underneath the new one. Side note: I asked Jesús, the outdoorsy music teacher, if he had done the Caminito before. He responded saying he has done it loads of times but he liked it more back when it was more "authentic." If you want know what "authentic" means to him, you might want to check out this youtube video. It also helps that you get eased into the scarier stuff. You start off on dirt. Then you move to the boardwalk sections. And the grand final is the suspension bridge connecting two cliff-faces with a nice big "Carge Máxima" sign limiting no more than 10 people on it at the same time. While I wasn't a huge fan of the bridge swaying slightly back and forth as I walked across, the views were incredible! The hike/walk/whatever you want to call it was probably my favorite thing I've done in Spain so far. 10/10 would do it again.
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As a teacher there's some weeks where I think the students are so great and curious and want to learn, and then there's other weeks where I want to bite their heads off. This week I experienced a little more of the latter sentiment than the former. And on top of it all, let me tell you about what happened yesterday... My class schedule rotates, so every other Thursday I finish before recreo , a.k.a. recess/snack time. I come home from work, and I go on a run because I don't know how long the lunch will last and want to get my scheduled run in...trying my best to stick that that training plan! I come home after my run all nice and sweaty, get completely undressed in the bathroom, turn on the faucet, and nothing... There's no water. Not just no hot water, but no water. Period. I text Alejandro asking if he has water. Is this all over town? Is it just my street? Is it just my apartment? I now have 30 minutes to shower, look presentable, and get my butt back to the school to carpool to Christmas lunch with all of the teachers from my school. I text my landlord. She tells me that the plumber must be there. THE PLUMBER?!?! She calls him. He'll be un rato. He needs more time to fix some hole in the roof. We have a hole in our roof?? Why is a plumber of all people fixing a hole in our roof? Am I understanding her correctly? Why do you need to turn off the water for that? Best question: WHY DIDN'T SHE TELL ME?!?!?! She says she didn't know. She didn't know?? How is that possible? Oh well. Time to problem solve. I text Alejandro that I'm going to be a few minutes late to the school. On the verge of tears, I wipe myself down with some baby wipes, put on a pair of jeans, a v-neck t-shirt, and keds, run a comb through my hair and almost run up to the school. When I arrive at school, Alejandro had texted me back saying that I could shower at Alicia's house. Alicia had called not knowing if Alejandro was joking when he told her I was going to shower at her place or not. She said I was welcome to, but she was headed out to drop her son off on a play date so she could go to the Christmas lunch. (Side note: I got all of these messages after walking to school because I text using WhatsApp which I can only use with WiFi or when my data is turned on. I tend to keep my data turned off.) Meanwhile, I see all of the teacher's dressed to the nines. The men are looking snazzy in their button down shirts. The women are perfecting their make-up. All I could think about was how I was wearing ratty, stained keds, and they were wearing heels. And I could physically feel the sweat still in my hair and all over my body. Let me clarify something: I don't like running. I like the feeling you have after you are all cuddled in your bed, showered and clean after a really hard workout feeling like you deserve to be there. Not during the run. Not after the run when you feel hot and sweaty, but then suddenly cold. Alejandro texts saying he's outside the school gates. We hop in his car, drive to his apartment, and he gives me a towel and tells me to shower. Oh. My. Goodness. I want to cry with how nice he's being and for how oddly stressed I'm feeling. He says we have to wait for Alicia to get back from dropping off her son anyways and not to worry. I get out of the shower but have to put on the same clothes that I picked up from off of my bedroom floor not 15 minutes prior. I ask him if I can run down to my place to change into something nicer. Not only does he say sure, but he drives me down. Alicia and I arrive at my front door at the same time. She looks amazing. She tells me not to stress as she heads to the car. It's like she can read my mind. I run upstairs and give myself a full 20 second to let tears escape my eyes. I change into a skirt and dress shirt. I put on a pair of black leggings as I silently thank myself for bringing them to Spain in the first place, partially for the warmth but mostly because I have not shaved in a LONG time. I run back downstairs and hop into the car. On the ride over, it's like they know. They know not to try to speak Spanish. Alicia and Alejandro have both spent their fair share of time abroad speaking their second language. They understand the value of being surrounded by a language you are trying to learn. But they also understand how much culture shock sucks. When things aren't going well in your home country, it sucks. But they know how it sucks about 50 times worse when things aren't going well in your second language. They just know. I want to cry, but I also feel really lucky to have them there with me. If they were mad at me for making them late, they hid it well. We enter into the dining room at the restaurant and all the teachers applaud. We were the last ones to arrive. Sorry, folks! I find my seat, and Jesús, the music teacher, immediately comes over to check on me. Speaking in English, he asks me what is wrong at my apartment. He explains that he is good with fixing things and can probably help. Like what?!?! How lucky am I?!?!?! Jesús is one of those people who just knows a little bit about everything. He teaches music, but he could probably teach history, science, and P.E. as well. I tell him that everything is fine and there is a plumber at my apartment fixing a problem I didn't know I had. All of the teachers from the school made me feel welcome and cared for, which also made me want to cry... It's like all of your emotions are amplified when you live abroad. Culture shock sucks; the valleys are the lowest of low. But man, the view from the top of the mountain is incredible! I sit relatively silently, just listening to Spanish and not participating in a lot of conversation as I recover from my crazy day (and week, for that matter). Javi (my coordinator) and Karen (one of the English teachers at the school) make me feel especially included in the dinner conversation, switching often between English and Spanish to help me keep up. And of course my trusty amigo Pedro from Physics & Chem class sits next to me the whole dinner just in case I want someone to talk to. I have a few conversations with a lot more English than I'd like to admit. I interpret it as their way of saying, "we know you're having a rough time. It's ok. We got your back." And boy do I appreciate that. As the lunch progresses and more and more alcohol is consumed, the dancing began. Amalia, who I like to think is the real party animal, gets everyone to stand up and participate. We move from the dining room to the bar area so Jesús could hook up his computer to the bar's sound system. Yeah. The waiters hate us. But it is totally worth it. We dance and sing our hearts out. Some of the teachers retire to a bar in town, but I am too pooped to continue. I just can't hang anymore, I guess. What can I say, I'm a grandma.
By the end of the night, I had forgotten all about the valley and was definitely standing on top of my culture shock mountain. While I did have my fair share of drinks, I like to think it was more the wonderful teachers at my school than the alcohol's doing.
Wednesday was Constitution Day here in Spain and Friday was a religious holiday, so the town decided that we wouldn't have school Thursday either to make it a long weekend. For this puente, Jill and I found some cheap plane tickets to Mallorca, an island that is part of the Balearic Islands between Spain and Italy. Tuesday after work, one of my coworkers drove me and Jill to the Malaga airport...did I mention how kind everyone is here?! We enjoyed (more than we would like to admit) walking around the airport waiting to board our plane. When we arrive in Palma de Mallorca, Jill came across a popcorn machine in the airport. Popcorn is probably her favorite food on this planet. She was very upset when she found out it wasn't working. Then we had some issues checking into our airbnb, so we bought some beers and wine to pass the time until everything was worked out. Wednesday, we started out day off right but stopping in a quaint cafe for some tea. We snapped some obligatory Christmas photos with the creepy Santa Claus mannequin in the chair next to us. Then we were off exploring the city. A lot of store were closed because of Constitution Day, but we were still just absorbing the city life during our short escape from our normal pueblo life. We saw the cathedral and walked along the beach. Thursday, we went to the Eastern part of the island to a town called Porto Cristo. There we saw las Cuevas del Drach. It was a fun experience, but definitely a tourist trap. There were TONS of people and 15 euros was too much to enter in the caves. When we got to the bottom of the caves, there was a quasi-auditorium. We all sat down as we listened to a short concert. The musicians sat in boats that paddled around the lake (apparently the largest underground salt water cave) while playing music. Weird but cool. After the caves, we headed to the town of Porto Cristo. Jill bought a pearl ring and we walked around the beach and town. When we got back Palma, we walked to Bellver Castle. Unfortunately, we couldn't enter because we got there too late. The walk was a bit longer than expected from the bus station. We still got some beautiful views and got our exercise in. On the way back from the castle, we ran across a street festival and got some mojitos to enjoy as we admired the Christmas lights. Jill and I parted ways on Friday. While Jill went to see the castle while it was open and explore the city more, I took a bus to a nearby town called Valldemossa to do a hike called El Camino del Archiduque. I went to the tourist center in town to get a map and was on my way. After not more than an hour, I wasn't lost per say...but I definitely was unsure about where I was going. I asked 3 people if I was headed in the correct direction, and I ended up crashing their party. We spent the rest of the day hiking together. They were originally from the island and were doing the hike for the day. The group consisted of a married couple and their friend. They were SOOO NICE!! They let me crash their hiking trip and even drove me back to Palma afterwards so I wouldn't have to take the bus. I exchanged emailed with Pilar just in case we ever cross paths in the future. I felt really proud because I understood everything the three of them said to me. But I could only understand about 50% of what they were saying to each other. It took me a solid 2 hours before I realized they were speaking Marroquí (the dialect of Catalán spoken in Mallorca). Saturday, Jill and I caught our flight back to Malaga, spent some time wandering around the city. We went to Taste of America, a store that sells a bunch of food from the US, to buy bagels. I know, I know...there are only 2 weeks left until we return to the US for Christmas, but we just couldn't help it.
The music teacher at my school, Jesus, is quite the outdoors-man. He planned a hiking route for some of the teachers along with me and Jill to do. El Torcal is a karsty rocky (I know that's probably redundant) area near Antequera. Erosion has worn away parts of the rocks leaving really cool and weird looking formations. It used to be underseas, and it most definitely looks like it. After El Torcal, we went to Antequera to Arte de Tapas for food. We were joined by Alicia's incredibly kind parents while Alejandro made us all laugh at the table. Very good company all around.
Then Alejandro, Ana (a new teacher at school), Jill, and I headed to Estepa to see Murder on the Orient Express. Bad movie. Would not recommend. But would definitely recommend popcorn. Then we went to an Irish pub for a quick drink for Ana and Alejandro because Friday night. (Jill and I passed on the alcohol only because I don't think we would've stayed awake another minute if we had). Fun day with fun people to say the least! |
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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