On Sunday, my Fulbright friends and I went on a hike. Friend A found it and suggested that we go (she had always wanted to try it), and I'm always down for a hike. The funny thing about hikes in Spain, though, is that difficulty is rather relative.
The ad for the hike claimed that it was going to be of medium-high difficulty, but we all figured that that was a lie. Or rather, that it would be of medium-high difficulty for city-Spaniards who don't really hike all that much, but that it wouldn't actually be that hard.
(Sidenote: a friend of mine always loved to tell a story of hiking with Spaniards outside of San Francisco. They had partied all night, and woke up late and hung-over. About 10 minutes into their hike, they saw a bar on the side of the road and decided to stop for a drink. 2 hours later, their friend who was going to pick them up at the end of the hike drove by wondering where they were.
They hadn't made it past the bar.
This is the story I think of when I think of hiking with Spaniards, so I was anticipating a not-very-difficult hike).
And the first 4 kilometers were not very difficult. We had a nice, wide path; it was relatively flat; we walked by a lovely dam. It was delightful!
And then we started going up.
And up.
And up.
4 km later, we hit the top and had a lovely view.
We were also so exhausted that the entire group started heading the wrong way down the trail.
Just kidding! We headed over to a chestnut grove to take a group picture, and then we headed toward Guadalupe. (But I seriously thought that the entire group was going the wrong way there for a bit. And then they all started collecting chestnuts and I still have some in my backpack...It was a bit of a mess there, but it all got sorted out in the end).
I took a tumble about 2km from the end (not long after taking this picture!).
But I survived to see Guadalupe on the horizon.
And to enter Guadalupe with all of the Spaniards, and A and C, and see los Reyes Católicos (or rather, bit actors dressed up as Isabel and Ferdinand) greet us by horseback and lead us into the main plaza, where they spoke about how important Guadalupe was to them (to Isabel in particular), and where we got to shake their hands.
We thought we were going to get a certificate after the hike, but that didn't happen, so I made one in Word. After 9 miles, we deserved it!!
(Sidenote: a friend of mine always loved to tell a story of hiking with Spaniards outside of San Francisco. They had partied all night, and woke up late and hung-over. About 10 minutes into their hike, they saw a bar on the side of the road and decided to stop for a drink. 2 hours later, their friend who was going to pick them up at the end of the hike drove by wondering where they were.
They hadn't made it past the bar.
This is the story I think of when I think of hiking with Spaniards, so I was anticipating a not-very-difficult hike).
And the first 4 kilometers were not very difficult. We had a nice, wide path; it was relatively flat; we walked by a lovely dam. It was delightful!
And then we started going up.
And up.
And up.
4 km later, we hit the top and had a lovely view.
We were also so exhausted that the entire group started heading the wrong way down the trail.
Just kidding! We headed over to a chestnut grove to take a group picture, and then we headed toward Guadalupe. (But I seriously thought that the entire group was going the wrong way there for a bit. And then they all started collecting chestnuts and I still have some in my backpack...It was a bit of a mess there, but it all got sorted out in the end).
I took a tumble about 2km from the end (not long after taking this picture!).
But I survived to see Guadalupe on the horizon.
And to enter Guadalupe with all of the Spaniards, and A and C, and see los Reyes Católicos (or rather, bit actors dressed up as Isabel and Ferdinand) greet us by horseback and lead us into the main plaza, where they spoke about how important Guadalupe was to them (to Isabel in particular), and where we got to shake their hands.
We thought we were going to get a certificate after the hike, but that didn't happen, so I made one in Word. After 9 miles, we deserved it!!
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