Barcelona, Girona, Cadaques

When you just can´t go climbing

I just got back from an extra long weekend. I left Thursday morning as there was no school and I drove to Barcelona. Everyone had kind of bailed out on the trip, but I had decided to go anyway. I have been talking about going to Barcelona ever since early last year and I finally made it. I parked in the Olympic park and walked down to La Rambla, the Passeig de Gracia (where you find a couple of Gaudi houses) and then over to the Sagrada Familia. Then, worn out, I took the subway back and hit the road again. That night, I slept in my van in some beach town up the coast a little ways.

Friday I headed to a town called Tossa de Mar, after breakfast on the beach of course. While I was leaving the beach Valentina called to see where I was because her retreat for the weekend had been cancelled. So we decided to meet up in Girona. Tossa de Mar was indeed a very nice beach town with an interesting medieval quarter. Then I headed up the coast on a section of road that is a cyclist´s dream and had an excellent menú del día in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Everywhere you go in Cataluña you hear Catalan and road signs are also in Catalan, but everyone also speaks Spanish. I arrived in Girona just in time to get some good photos before it got dark. Girona is now one of my favorite Spanish cities. It´s about 81,000 inhabitants with the river running through it and a really beautiful old part of town. Valentina arrived later that night. The van sleeps two very comfortably and I think if Daniel had come we might have even tried to sleep three. It is a great way to travel. I didn´t really do much cooking with all the city touring but it was a relief not to have to spend money on lodging.

Saturday we explored Girona a little more and then headed for Figueres to see the Dalí museum. Then to Cadaques catching the sea town with the last hours of light. Next it was to Empuriés in the dark to be poised to see the Greek and Roman ruins and head back south to church in Vilassar de Mar (closer to Barcelona) Sunday morning. Empuriés is a really little medieval town all by itself right on the beach. The church http://www.eevilassar.org/ is pastored by a couple of Westminister grads but is not affiliated with any congregation. We arrived quite late Sunday morning but it was good to hear some solid preaching and partake of the Lord´s Supper. After the service we headed back into Barcelona, I took a wrong turn or two and ended up driving through the heart of the city (no problem, I have these Spanish roads under control). Repeated La Rambla and explored the Gothic neighborhood a bit. Next Valentina wanted to go to a mass, so I said I wouldn´t mind getting inside the Sagrada Familia (without paying) so we went to the 8:15 mass there. I didn´t see much of the cathedral, but I did enjoy the contemporary, guitar accompanied songs of the mass in the setting with heat lamps and scaffolding. The highpoint for me was the Padre Nuestro to the tune of Simon and Garfunkle´s the Sounds of Silence. Then down to Tarragona, and today (Monday) back to good old Alcañiz which I noticed has quite a writeup itself in the guidebook (for all you would be visitors).

Finally, the furgoneta

I have finally bought a vehicle. It is a ´92 Citroen C-15, diesel. In Spain this type of vehicle is called a furgoneta, I guess you can call it a van? I felt like I was 16 again driving it around yesterday, just getting familiar with the new car and the European streets. Yesterday I went to the junkyard (between classes) and found a window latch because one of them was broken. I also found an old mapbook of Spain and a C-15 owner´s manual. Also a piece of weatherstripping that the rear door was missing. All for 3 Euros, you gotta love the junkyard... Next up is mounting a bed in the back.

In other news Spain has been having a lot of rainy or windy weather so climbing has been difficult. Luckily here in Alcañiz we have lots of options. One weekend Mason and I climbed a fun multipitch route (and got soaking wet walking down afterwards). Another day I went to Margalef for the day. We have also been bouldering a lot, it is not uncommon on the weekends to see a group of 20 people bouldering somewhere in Alcañiz, with worse weather elsewhere the climbers from Zaragoza have been coming to try out Alcañiz´s boulder problems.

For My Cute Brother ;)

Here´s a blog entry dedicated to my oldest bro who´s pretty cool. So I was mistaken and do have a pic of him from Christmas time. He´s going to go rock climbing with me some day. . . we just won´t tell Kiara ;) Love you guys and you´re in my prayers

Amy

(and if Andy doesn´t want to try, I´m sure Lucas will. He´s already practiced clipping in :)

January Highlights-- by Amy

Well, as most of you know I went home for Christmas which was great. I got to go climbing with my bro in Woodson,

and play with all my cute nephews and nieces,

before I headed back to Valdepeñas. The day I arrived (Jan 1st) I headed to the country house of a friend . . .

Where we had lunch Spanish style: barbque chorizo, morcilla, bacon, and chicken and here we are making gauchas

Oso Hermoso was also there, enjoying the country too and trying to steal some of our meat.. .

Then the festivities continued a few days later when our group of climbers from the nave had the annual dinner together at a local resturant. Actually it was lunch this year and though we may not look like it here, Gabriel and I are stuffed! We just finished a four course meal. Gonzalo and Diana are playing with the wine glasses. . . and jumping ahead to this past weekend, here I am on a hike to look a some rock crags close to Castilla de Calatrava I have been much more busy at work this year having more kids and now meeting with 6 adult students too. When I´m not working and the weather is good I have been going climbing. . . so not much has changed with me :)

Fires in Spain

La Hoguera de Castelseras

The children in the window! Oh, they´re fine...

The owners put metal around the doors and windows

After it burned down a little

So these are the festivals of San Sebastian in Castelseras, a neighboring pueblo to Alcañiz. Alcañiz had a bonfire for a different saint on Saturday night, but it was out in the open. Castelseras is impressive because they do their bonfire in a small plaza. The plaza is filled with logs and branches and a tall cottonwood tree is put in a hole in the middle. Traditional music and dancing arrives with the torches to light the pile. Soon the crowd is pushing back up the side streets and sheilding their faces from the heat of the huge bonfire. Flames reach above the height of the buildings but there is not a firetruck to be seen, later I saw a fire hose laid out in the street, but no worries. Apparently everyone soon retreats to the bars and the festivities continue. When the fire burns down eventually people roast meat over it and the cottonwood tree either falls or is chopped down (and falls against the houses?). We didn´t stay too late as this was Monday night.

Which reminds me I´ve been back in Spain for a week now. It was a long journey back after the flight and the bus ride but I was rockclimbing Tuesday already and it is going well.

Buddy the Elf, what´s your favorite color?!

hey all!! well, once again I have lagged a little in the blog entries. My roommate came back from her month visit with the fam in Argentina so I don´t really have access to the computer in my piso anymore since she is usually on it. I have also been more busy than usual at work making it harder to write entries when there either.

Anyways, I good news is that my boss, after having asked her two times before, changed her mind and told me the beginning of December that I could go home for Christmas. Very exciting!! I am going home the 22nd until the 31st and am looking forward to celebrating Christmas with all my family!

Update on the weather here: it´s been cold, hitting freezing during the nights and not being too much warmer during the days. Well, this past Sunday it snowed! It was only for a few hours and most of it melted away the next day but it was kind a cool to see the snow. It´s nice that it´s gone though.

Well, that´s all for now. Hope to see some of you soon!! with love,

Amy