Vive Espana,
So I am here in Spain camping on top of some beautiful limestone cliffs, where the nearest village, Siurana, tallies a grand total of 27 inhabitants. Time escapes me here...I wake, eat, climb, eat, sleep, repeat. I´ve managed to get some reading in on the rainy downtime, which has been relaxing as well. My 45 degree sleeping bag has been a little chilly at night, but I make up the warmth by wearing every layer I packed at night. It´s not the weather I imagined for Spain, but I imagine that will be true for every country I visit...this whole adventure is beyond imagination, and every destination possesses its own charm, mystery, and wonder with it.
To recap a little, we arrived in Madrid jetlagged, but our intial excitement of the adventure fueled our curiousity to roam the streets as soon as we were settled into our first hostel. The people of Spain are friendly, open, but most of all restless...as a wise man once said, ¨the partys still jumping till 6 in the morning¨ Needless to say the nightlife in Madrid wasn´t the jetlag cure that I needed, but was a perfect kickoff to our world adventure.
We´ve been travelling by train, plane, and automobile. Our next destination took us to Valencia for the Las Fallas festival, a Spanish celebration of the coming of Spring. Their idea of Spring cleaning is burning 20-30 ft. beautifully crafted caricature statues at every street corner. A 3 million crowd fillled the streets for afternoon firecrackers loud enough to make the roar of an airplane engine seem quiet (as if Jake´s hearing wasn´t hard enough), daily cervezas and tapas (shared appetizers), nightly fireworks, and street dancing until the sun rises.
Most notably we were fortunate enough to be treated by a Spanish family to room, board, and our own personal city guides for the entire festival. I must give a proper shout out to Gustavo, Ana, Katti, Miguel, and family for the open-hearted hospitality and honored friendship. These people embodied to me the generousity of the people of Spain as they treated us to their new apartment for lodging, their family´s dinner table (which has been the most amazing cuisine of the trip and is quite a step up from the noodles and eggs campfood that I have been subsisting on for the last week here), and provided us friendly conversation as to the local lifestyle of Spainards (as they were patient enough to let us practice our 3-yr. old Spanish vocabulary with). I found a powerful lesson leaving Valencia, that sometimes even short friendships can leave a strong imprint on our hearts, as I was sad to leave our newfound friends.
And now I find myself in Siurana. We knew we were in for an adventure when the local local bus operators gave us funny looks when we purchased our tickets here...even the locals 20 km away hadn´t heard of the small village here. But this land is magical. We camp atop a moutain looking over giant limestone cliffs, bordered by green pine forest below. The valley extends for miles. The community of climbers here encompass every European country, and we´ve shared many a great travel conversation at a small log cabin bar here over a coffee, tea, beer, or red wine (which is quite potent in Spain). Our next destinations are Barcelona, then off to Swizzy to meet one of Jake´s friends. We are finding we love getting off the beaten path of the major European cities...it allows a more intimate portrait of local lifestyle when you are living in small villages and travelling through the beautiful countryside. I love this country, and already have a mutli-stop checklist for my next visit. Salud!
Justin
