Hiking

Hi everyone!!! I am so sorry for my lack of posting lately...I've been so caught up in life here it's hard to find a time to just sit down and write about what's going on! But I guess that is a good thing.

This past weekend was really fun. Saturday I had a nice, relaxing day, and then Sunday was hiking! We had to be up early, of course, to catch the bus which left at 9. We travelled about an hour and a half east of Sevilla to a town called Aracena, in the province of Huelva. Even just driving there I could tell that it was going to be a gorgeous hike. We started off at la Sierra de Aracena around 11 am. There were about 40 of us (all CIEE students) and two guides. At first, it was nothing too strenuous...the paths were pretty rocky which meant we had to look down a lot, but the hike was very doable, and the views were gorgeous!!

Here is an example of the beautiful views we saw. The pictures really do not do justice to how pretty it was, but you can get an idea. It was also a perfect day for hiking!! Hot in the sun but nice in the shade, which most of the hike was, with a little breeze. It was great. We also got to see tons of cool wildlife while hiking.

For example, this is a cork tree! Who knew what cork trees actually looked like? (Maybe Grandma B). Apparently they alternate stripping the cork from the bottom and top halves of the tree every 5 years so that it still has some protection from disease and the elements. These trees were all very cool looking!! We also saw lots of animals! I saw dogs, roosters, horses, donkeys and...

...piggies!! Someone must have thrown some food right at this gate when we were near it because all the sudden all the pigs came over for a perfect photo op. I was really annoyed though because this one girl decided to get up RIGHT in front of the gate to take better pictures, effectively ruining everyone else's opportunity to take pictures because she was in them. Just as I was thinking about how annoyed I was though, one of the giant pigs bucks its head and SNOTS on the girl's hand. It must have been a good 4 oz snot too. It was REPULSIVE, but also one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Everyone was laughing so hard at her. That's what you get when you mess with the pigs!

Anyways, we hiked for a few hours and then stopped in a tiny little town which felt very much like the Spanish countryside. The coolest part was that since they don't have washing machines, they still do their laundry in a communal washing basin in the town center!!

Crazy. As you can see though, they have cars...so they're not THAT far behind the times haha. We walked through that town and stopped at the Plaza de Toros (most towns in Andalucía have a plaza de toros...bull fighting ring!) to eat something before the rest of our hike. My señora had packed me a HUGE lunch (a ham sandwich, a huge veal and chicken sandwich, pasta salad, and three clementines!), so I ate some of it then. After our break, we set off on the second half of the hike, which proved to be a lot more difficult than the first! This part was mostly uphill...which got a little tiring but at least it was good exercise! We hiked until about 3:45, when we reached the highest point of a little town called Alájar. From here, the view was absolutely beautiful.

They say that if you walk through this stone arch with someone, the next time you return to it, you two will be married!! But obviously since you can't marry two people, Franny, Chrisy and I felt safe taking a picture together in it haha. I'm on the left, Franny is in the middle, and Chrisy is on the right. So pretty!

Here is a picture of me alone in the arch. I felt like a pretty big tool taking it, but wanted to have pictures to show you all!!

We got back on the bus at about 4:15, and got home 6. I slept a lot of the way home, I was exhausted!! That night I took a great shower and just relaxed. I guess since it is Thursday now I should update for this week too, but since I have to go shower before Tita Charo comes back home for lunch, I have to go! I will do an update on my week tomorrow though.

Love and miss everyone!!
Jess