Saturday, June 16, 2012

Vamos a Las Alpujarras

 Welcome to Las Alpujarras!
 
For my second official trip with CEGRÍ, half of my program had the chance to go to Las Alpujarras. Alpujarras is the name for an area in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. There are many different changes in the climate in Alpujarras. Up in the highest peaks, there is snow year-round. As you descend, the area gets very dry and desert-like. Only 45 kilometers from the tallest peak is the Mediterranean Sea. The moisture from the Sea makes the plant life completely different in the parts of the mountains that are just a few kilometers from it. A lot of people love this region because they say that you can "ski and surf" in the same weekend. It's definitely possible since the mountains are only an hour drive from the sea on Spain's southern coast.

Most of the time we were in Alpujarras, we were about 1.5 miles above sea level. We visited three villages that are part of Alpujarra Alta, or Tall/High Alpujarra. We began in the village of Pampaneira. Our hostel was located here and it was very nice. The next were Bubión and Capileira.

The funny thing about this trip is that I must have been completely sleeping when they explained the details. I was under the impression that we would be hiking and then camping out in the mountains. I was definitely up for it and had no problem with a weekend of "roughing it."

So, being the good camper that I am (thanks to the things my dad has taught me), I packed the perfect backpack. It had the bare essentials and probably weighed 4 pounds... max. After all, if I had to carry a backpack through the mountains for two whole days, who wants to bring extra stuff?

Well, it turns out that I was really wrong about a lot of it. First of all, we were staying at a hostel. Not camping out under the stars in the mountains (I was actually a little disappointed). Second, we didn't have to carry our clothes around the mountains; we could leave it at the hostel. We had dinner at a nice restaurant in Pampaneira and I had to wear my smelly, dirty gym shoes and my hiking clothes for the next day since I didn't bring anything else.

The lessons to take from this if you are going to Alpujarras:
1. Bring flip flops. Your feet will thank you.
2. Bring clothes for the restaurant. The waiters will thank you.
3. Bring a few Euros. There's a really good ice cream place called Abuela Ili and a lot of fun souvenir places.
4. Bring shampoo and body wash. They have a little in the hostel, but it's just body wash but you'll definitely want to wash your hair.

There were some things I was right about though! The hiking was not a little Girl Scout trip on a wide path around a forest preserve. This was hiking that was on narrow paths, over rivers, up steep hills, and on dirt roads that went over gorges with a straight drop down-- without any sort of guardrail.

It was awesome.

 Starting Day 1 in Pampaneira. See that white building in the center of the photo in the distance? We'd eventually get there. The third village (Capileira) is the one beyond on the left-hand side of the photo.


 Looking in the other direction as we ascended Pampaneira.


 Getting closer to the church in Bubión!


 Here!!!

 The fountain in the Plaza of Bubión. The water is so cold and fresh here. You can drink from the fountains safely because the water is all naturally purified as snow melts and runs down the mountain. As it goes through the dirt and sand, it gets purified and picks up minerals. We were also given some chocolate at this pit stop. Since it's so hot and we were walking so much, we needed the sugar for energy.


 More Bubión


 Our second 15 minute break in Capileira. They were doing some construction at the time.



 An art store in Capileira


 ¡Mujer fuerte! Climbin' mountains like it's nothing


 Taking the long way back towards Bubión and eventually ending back in Pampaneira. This picture just gives a small idea of how sinuous and steep some of the paths are.



 Stopping for lunch on a plateau. The views were incredible.


 A little fun back at the Plaza of Bubión... Elyssa splashing Alia with some of the cold fountain water.



 Our tour guide was so much fun. She spoke very clearly and slowly and explained Spanish words that she figured would be new to us. When we were ready to move on to Pampaneira, she wrote Vamos on the ground with her water bottle. Let's go!


 Our delicious dinner from the hostel restaurant in Pampaneira. Mine was swordfish! Alia tried rabbit which came as a whole rabbit (brains and all) on her plate. Brave girl!!


 Our director, Miguel Ángel, taking a big bite of sandía for dessert. He was so incredibly helpful on this trip. Not only are his multi-lingual skills amazing, he is very knowledgeable on everything about Alpujarras, the mountains, and Spain in general. He's a regular mountain climber himself and very well-known and respected by the locals in the villages.

The image below is a plate that hangs in the restaurant where we ate. It says, "Lo mejor de esta casa son los clientes." It directly translates to, "The best thing about this house is the clients." I thought it was really nice. Miguel Ángel also said it's a slightly nicer version of "The customer is always right," but sort of has the same idea.

 Our amazing hostel!





 Start of Day 2. Hola Caballos!


 Una mariposa on my friend's water bottle

 Just hanging out a little over a mile and a half high in the mountains. It's difficult to see in the photo, but there is a slightly different shade of blue over the mountains. That's the Mediterranean Sea. Just beyond that, you can see AFRICA.


 The paths were a little wider here. Alia is carrying some bread for our picnic lunch. I had the other loaves in my backpack.

A failed attempt at capturing how steep the mountains dropped right next to the path


 One of the steeper paths we encountered


The most difficult part of the climb. Elyssa and I actually ran up it and found that easier than trying to walk.


"¿Que puede más: le mente o el corazón? La respuesta es el corazón."


Friday, June 15, 2012

I Live in a Fairy Tale


I think the title of this post is pretty self-explanatory. Granada is quite simply the most beautiful place I have ever seen. These pictures are mostly from Granada but there are a few from the Alhambra and Alpujarras. They will get their own special blog soon. I just want to get more pictures out!

Also, I am purposely not captioning the pictures. I think the things in the pictures are beautiful enough that sometimes a caption can ruin it or impose some sort of bias.

Just enjoy them :]


















And you thought I was joking when I said "fairy tale..."

Observations Parte Dos: Guapos, Taxes, and Lots of Vocab

Parte Dos!! Is an intro necessary? Great. I didn't think so either. Let's just get straight to it. (And if you didn't read Parte Uno already, shame on you for trying to skip ahead. Go back and read Parte Uno! Just kidding)

... But seriously, read Part One.

1) Spaniards just LOVE to call everything guapo/a. I had learned in high school that "guapo" means attractive, handsome, or pretty. It turns out that the Spanish are incredibly generous with the use of this word and use it for everyone and everything. When I wear a dress to school, my señora is quick to tell me, "¡Ohhh! ¡Que guapa, chica! Cuidado, todos los chicos van a querer hablar contigo." Thanks señora... but you call me guapa every day so I'm not sure if "you look so pretty" means exactly what it does in the States. 

Still, it's definitely a confidence boost when everyone calls everyone guapo/a. Heck, I tried on lipstick today at the department store and the saleswoman walked over to me to inform me, "Sí, sí chica. ¡Que guapa! ¡Que linda! Te queda muy muy bien. Un color perfecto para ti." ("Oh, yes, yes! How pretty, what a beauty! It [the lipstick color] fits you so well. A perfect color for you.") Alrighty, ma'am. I appreciate the compliment, but I know you just want me to buy your lipstick. However, I have to say, the compliment made my day and I got to wear fancy lipstick around Granada all day... lookin' like a million bucks. 

So, my point is that maybe we should all compliment people each other more often. Tell them they look pretty/nice/handsome/beautiful. It makes them feel good and makes their day. It doesn't cost us anything and barely takes a second to do. Why not just tell people they're lookin' good? You just might be the person that makes their whole day.
 Corte Inglés, the department store where I tried on my lovely lipstick... and got called guapa.

Yes. It's embarrassing. I memorized the color... Miss Coquelicot by Lancôme.


2) There isn't a sales tax here. What you see on the label is what you pay. Tip is also included in the bill. So if you come to Europe DON'T calculate an additional __% and add it to the bill. You're wasting your money.

3) Credit cards so frustrating abroad. I have spent at least 2 hours in the past 3.5 weeks arguing with my credit/debit card company. Nearly all of it isn't even my card company's fault either. Some companies here (example: East Midlands Trains in the UK) do not accept credit cards that are not based out of the UK. That makes sense, right? A train company that deals with tourists that doesn't accept any foreign credit cards.



So, I know Parte Dos wasn't very long and not the most exciting, but I want to do a completely separate blog about my observations that I made while traveling last weekend. They're very interesting (in my opinion) and have definitely helped me keep the whole "traveling through Europe" idea in perspective.

Until next time, I leave you with some vocab! Study up, people. There's a quiz on this at the end of the weekend. You think I'm kidding? I'm totally not. 

(Or am I? I guess you won't know unless you keep reading mah blog...)



Vocabulario (Special Edition: Frases [Sayings])!!
  • mascota - household pet
  • el paro - unemployment (usually refers to the rate of unemployment)
  • comedor social - soup kitchen
  • "Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente." - Literally: "What the eyes do not see, the heart does not feel." Sort of translates to: "What someone does not know can't hurt them."
  • dizzy- mareado; estar mareado (to be dizzy)
  • feria- fair/festival
  • escupir- to spit
  • atento- attentive
  • guión- hyphen
  • ser/estar creído/a ≈ to be arrogant
  • descarado- brazen, impudent
  • lazo- the word for "knot," often used in a phrase to indicate "to tie the knot"
  • soso/a- dull, bland, boring
  • verbena- festival, fair
  • chupito- shot (of alcohol)
  • ligar- to flirt
  • ligón- sort of like someone who's infamous for flirting (and is usually pretty good/successful at it)
  • cotillear ; ser un/a cotilla - to snoop; to be a snoop/busybody
  • golfo- rascal
  • "Mala follá granaina" - expression to describe the "coldness" of Andalucians. (Note: I have not felt that the Andalucians are "cold" in any way. Maybe they're not as kissy-kissy-huggy-huggy as their Mediterranean neighbors, the Italians, but I definitely would never describe them as "cold.")

My Long Overdue Blog: Parte Uno


¡Hola!

I am so sorry it has been so long since my last blog. I really wish I had kept better care of this blogging responsibility, but hey. I'm only abroad once. You'd probably judge me if I was tethered to a computer blogging every moment. So yeah. There!

Instead of diligently keeping a blog of my daily activities, I have been diligently enjoying Granada and learning Español. 

My favorite post so far was probably the one about my impressions and observations of Spain... We have about two weeks worth of those in my journal to catch up on. So let's get started!!

1) The Spanish all gather in the plazas to sit and have ice cream or just chat (especially before and after dinner). I think it's great to do that instead of having "family bonding" in front of a TV.
 A shot of people relaxing in one of the many plazas near my apartment. It's about 8:00 PM in this photo and people are just hanging out before dinner. Plazas are the places to be in Granada.

2) People greet each other with a kiss on each cheek (kind of like the French do). You always start to your left. If you don't, it could end up as a really awkward situation where you kiss someone smack on the lips since you met in the center. Whoops... This greeting happens when you meet someone formally for the first time or when friends greet each other. Spaniards who are 50+ use the kiss on the cheek as a greeting a lot more often than younger people. This is also used when girls meet girls or when a guy and girl pair meet. Boys do not use the kiss on the cheek with each other. They shake hands.

3) I crashed two weddings with my señora on the first day with her. People in my program said their señoras did the same thing with them. It must be normal here.
 One of the churches where my senora and I crashed a wedding. The other was in the major cathedral in the town center.


4) Just noticed now that my blog settings are in Spanish. I didn't even change it. It just did automatically! Haha.

5) Everyone walks slower in general. I'm so American. I always walk fast and "tengo una prisa" ("am in a hurry")... And for what? Vive la vida, people. Slow down and enjoy.

6) I pick up a lot more of what people say on the streets. I think I am getting used to hearing and seeing Spanish everywhere.

7) Unlike in America, no one walks around with iPod headphones in the ears. They talk with their friends or family. What a novel concept, huh?

8) I ordered gelato/helado (ice cream) at a shop the other day. I truly think the woman had no idea that Spanish wasn't my primary language. She said everything at the same pace as she did with everyone else, and we were able to communicate perfectly. It was such a cool experience.

9) I let myself get a little lost during a walk I took back on Day 5. Looking back on it now, there was no better way to learn this new place than to be forced to find my bearings and get back... sin mapa ("without a map"). (Don't worry, Mom. I had one just in case!) I recently discovered that when I thought I was kilometers away from home, I was literally only two blocks away from my apartment. Oh well. But look what I discovered along the way:

 Call it graffiti. Call it vandalism. Call it whatever you want. I think this is art. It's everywhere here, and I think it's gorgeous.


10) People over the age of 70 don't go for a stroll unless they're dressed to the nines. And let me say, they look damn good.
 I know it's far away, but I didn't want to look like such a creep for taking a photo of random, sweet old people. Ps. They're holding hands! I love old couples that are in love. :]


11) All the prams/strollers here are so fancy looking. Lucky little babies! I saw one in a store that cost 1083€!!

12) It seems like no matter how much water I drink, I'm still always thirsty. The air is just very dry here in general. At least it's not humid!

13) It wasn't until I got here and saw small toddlers speaking rapid, perfect Spanish that I realized how amazing the human brain is to be able to pick up a language in just 2 short years. I've studied Spanish for more than 5! It's crazy to think about. 


Phew! Parte Uno is complete. Take a break, grab a drink, and then come back for Parte Dos comin' atcha in a little while. 

In the meantime, here's a little brain snack of Spanish vocabulary. Remember, this is a compilation of words I hear that I don't recognize and I look them up. Together, they seem really odd that these words come up in conversation... So it's probably just easier to not even guess what the context was. 


  • chanclas- flip flops
  • toldo- awning/shade on a balcony
  • ponerse la moda- to come into fashion/ be in style
  • marido- husband (there is no word "marida." You can't feminize "marido" to indicate wife)
  • mujer- wife
  • esposa- literally means "wife," but it is used very infrequently as it has somewhat of a condescending connotation. It has kind of a meaning like "being chained." Just to give you an idea, the word for handcuffs that police use is "las esposas." Interesting, huh?
  • carretera- highway
  • y pico- and a little bit (20 años y pico)
  • asqueroso- disgusting/gross