14N HUELGA GENERAL

14N. HUELGA GENERAL. These are the two words and the date that now cover the city via graffiti and stickers. November 14th. General Strike.

Today I was supposed to have 3 classes; all but one were cancelled because my professors are on strike. One of my professors explained to me her reasons for protesting: in Spain, your salary is distributed so you get more during Christmas time and the summer, when you are likely to spend more. The government recently cut the Christmas salary, meaning that now people can't spend as much at Christmas time, which will in turn hurt small businesses. On top of this, they now have to work more hours per week, with the same reduced salary. And while this is happening to teachers, government workers voted to continue to travel in Business class rather than switching to economy, thus deferring the budget cuts away from themselves. This is why the teachers are protesting.

As I left the school this morning, I ran into a group of 20 or so picketers, on their way to go make a racket inside our school.

Around noon today began the main demonstration--a large rally through the main street of Granada. There were many different syndicates there, all handing out flyers as to what exactly they were protesting. One flyer listed these reasons:

Unemployment levels of over 25% 
Increase in unjustified layoffs
1 in 5 Spaniards is in a situation of poverty
500 evictions per day
Cuts in public health, education, transportation, and mail

Another called for action (which I have roughly translated to English):

14 N. We call on you to participate in the Strike, to not work, to not consume, to interrupt the function of the city, to go out on the street and make of this day a day's work of optimistic, happy, and combative protest that targets the Government, the banks, the management and the Troika, sending the message that we are not capable of continuing to bear this and that we are ready to fight.





We don't work
We don't consume
We don't use public services.

Participate in the neighborhood pickets and rally, to inform and guarantee the right of the strike.

The rally itself was indeed optimistic, happy, and combative. It consisted of people of a wide range of ages (including children) and professions. Syndicates present included the CGT (General Confederation of Workers), USTEA (Union of Syndicates of Workers in Andalucía), and others. People carried banners, waved flags, and wore specially made T-shirts. A group of drummers made a lively beat. Kids played with noisemakers and vuvuzelas, parents carried their sleeping babies.  Most small shops were closed; meanwhile the large businesses stayed open (Zara, an often-protested clothing company, for example). Many of the storefronts of these buildings were tagged in protest, and the ATM screens were spraypainted black.

Today there were protests all throughout Spain, and in other EU countries as well, according to the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20320993).

Rain

I wouldn't normally dedicate an entire blog post to rain. But, seeing as how it's a pretty big deal here in Granada, it seems more than necessary.


What to do in case of rain in Granada:

1. COVER YOUR HAIR. It doesn't matter if you're a man of 70 with hardly any hair left--cover it up! It also doesn't matter what you use--if you don't have an umbrella, just stick a plastic bag on your head. Note: Even if you are at an outdoor flamenco show, whip out the umbrella/plastic bag. Covering your hair is of utmost importance; the people sitting behind you will understand. It is also acceptable to leave at the first sign of a sprinkle, even with 5 minutes left in the show.

2. Make sure you're wearing shoes with traction. The tile sidewalks of Granada aren't meant for rain, and will be quite slippery when wet. They are usually already squeaky clean, due to the high frequency of street cleaners (on the main streets), and thus you can't rely on dirt for added friction/traction.

3. Don't wear a rain jacket, unless you have one that is more fashionable than functional. Although this seems counterintuitive, a true rain jacket just screams that you are a foreigner, from a place where it actually rains more than once a year.

4. Don't fret about not having an umbrella on hand. The street vendors are psychic--they always know when it's going to rain, and they come prepared with umbrellas for sale. Either that or they look at the weather forecast. But rest assured, there will be at least ten umbrellas in any house you go into, in an umbrella stand right by the door.

5. Head on home. When it's raining, it's kind of hard to go socialize at an outdoor café. So, just head for shelter.

6. When you get home, make sure you take in any clothes that are line drying, or else, well, they'll be even more wet than when you hung them. Or, alternatively, use the plastic trick again: hang a giant sheet of plastic over your clothesline, thus allowing you to keep your clothes outside.

7. Take a moment to celebrate. It's not every day that it rains in Granada. In fact, it NEVER rains here. It's kind of like a special holiday. So make some tea, curl up in bed, and read a book as you listen to the rain fall.

Lagos, Portugal

What a weekend in Lagos, Portugal!

On Friday, upon checking into our hotel, we headed down to Praia Dona Ana, an absolutely amazing beach. This wasn't just any white sandy beach--in order to reach the beach you have to take the stairs down a cliff. The whole coastline is full of geological wonders--towering cliffs, stacks, arches, and caves/grottos galore. Immediately we began exploring along the coast, and there were even fixed ropes to help us climb up and over when necessary. We found big caves and we found tiny ones, the crashing sound of the waves producing a spooky echo within. Some caves had chimneys, big and small, allowing us to peek up at the bright blue sky.

Sun shining through an underwater opening into a cave

On Saturday we set out to sea on a sailboat, this time going further down the coast. Upon transferring to a small motor boat, we were able to explore the rocks further, riding through the arches and into caves. And let me just say, our boat driver was a pro--we would be within inches of the rocks, yet I'm pretty sure our boat never scraped once. Also, he showed us all the shapes in the rocks--a baby elephant, king kong, and Michael Jackson's face, to name a few. After some more swimming and sunbathing on the sailboat we went back to shore, and ended up on a HUGE white sandy beach where we went on a 30 minute beach run and then spent the afternoon playing beach volleyball. Oh, and did I mention the cats? I counted 12 of them, lounging in the sun on the pier. Pretty cute.

Saturday night we made a little trip to "the end of the world", as it was known in Christopher Columbus' time (it's the southwesternmost part of Europe) to watch the sunset. We sat atop towering bluffs, the waves crashing far below us, with strong winds blowing. The sky was painted with stripes of clouds, all different colors in the setting sun.

The bluffs at the end of the world

Kayaking out of a cave

Kayaking

Sunday morning we set out to explore the coast once again, yet this time in kayaks. In the kayaks we were able to squeeze through small openings into caves and coves, which turned into a brief spell of white water kayaking when the waves would crash over and around the rocks, nearly tipping the kayak on multiple accounts. The best part was, after battling to stay afloat,  the wave would then carry us out of the cave and we would shoot through the entrance back to the open water. In one cove we paused for some cliff jumping, which was awesome. Then, a bit later, we stopped to snorkel and saw tons of tiny fish. On our way back to the hotel we even paused to pick some almond off a tree, although they were pretty bitter.

We spent the afternoon exploring town before heading back home to Granada. This was definitely a weekend to remember!

Las Alpujarras

Villages of Capileira, Pampaneira, and Bubilon

"If you're at peace with yourself and the world around you, then the flies won't trouble you" --Chris Stewart, Driving Over Lemons

This is a quote that I jotted down in my journal last summer, as I read Driving Over Lemons in preparation for my trip to Spain. The book, a true story, is about a British man who leaves his life in England and buys a farm in the Alpujarras in southern Spain. Last weekend, as I hiked through the Alpujarras, I began to relive his story.

First of all, the Alpujarras are a series of small villages scattered throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada; I think the word poetic would be the best way to describe the simple, inspiring tranquility of towns. The buildings are all a pristine white with colorful flowers hanging from the windows, the cobblestone paths narrow and crooked. The white-washed walls are the design of the original inhabitants--the Moors--who knew that the white would reflect the sun and thus keep the houses cooler.

Navigating the trail

Connected by hiking trails, you can walk from one village to another, and up the other side of the gorge to get a panoramic view of all three villages. Our guidebook was very detailed and took us through every step; however, the "slightly overgrown" path that it warned us against was in reality a large thicket of thorn bushes--at one point we even had to get on our knees and crawl! Nevertheless, after making it through the thicket we were rewarded with panoramic views of the little white villages, scattered along the mountainside amidst terraces of orchards, fields of grass and green brush.

Hillside ruins

Continuing on we passed ruins of farms and flour mills--crumbling stone buildings, the wooden roofs long gone. Immediately I thought of Stewart's farm, as described in his book--it lay on the 'wrong side' of the gorge, which meant that in the springtime when the river swelled it would wash out the bridge that connected his farm to the towns across the gorge, and he would be stranded. The ruins we passed were also on the 'wrong side' or the gorge, and I imagine that they were abandoned for this reason. (When we reached the river we even found the foundation of a bridge that had been washed away long ago.) However, Stewart didn't abandon his farm; he still lives there to this day--in the Alpujarras, it's hard not to be "at peace with yourself and the world around you", and Stewart, recognizing this, didn't let the flies--or raging river--trouble him.

La Alhambra, La Mezquita, and La Sagrada Familia

In four days, I was lucky enough to visit the top three places to see in Spain, according to Rick Steves: La Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita of Córdoba, and the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Each one was truly amazing in it's own way; and all are rich in history. The Alhambra and Mezquita were both built by Muslims, and then modified after the Reconquista: in the middle of the Alhambra, King Charles V built himself a palace. In the Mezquita (a Mosque), and Catholics built a spectacular cathedral. And after over 100 years the Sagrada Familia is still in the process of being built, and the naturalistic architecture of Gaudí gives the Cathedral a completely different feel. The spires from the roof are actually enlarged stalks of wheat/grass, and the columns inside branch out at the top like trees, because a building if really just an imitation of a tree: a large object that protects you from the elements.

Here are a few pictures:

Interior of Sagrada Familia

Art in the Alhambra

Reflecting pool in the Alhambra

Part of the Cathedral in the Mezquita of Córdoba

The Mihrab in the Mezquita of Córdoba

Zermatt, Switzerland

It is hard to find words that do the town of Zermatt justice, so I will try to keep this short. For me, Zermatt was love at first sight. Before we even got there, I loved it—after 240km of a scenic train ride through the countryside, the anticipation made it all the better! The train went along Lake Geneva, and then through the countryside, and finally began winding it’s way up a valley to the base of the Matterhorn, where Zermatt (at 1620m) was tucked away.

The town is a mountaineer’s/Northwesterner’s paradise: every person we saw was wearing hiking boots and Mountain Hardware; there are hiking trails that go straight from the town up into the Alps, and—oh yeah—if you ever need inspiration just look up and you’ll see the Matterhorn right in front of you. Needless to say, it was quite refreshing after a month’s worth of 90+ degree days in Spain.

 

The next day—our one full day in Zermatt—was absolutely amazing. Perfect weather, bright blue skies with wispy white clouds, and no wind. We happened to choose the one day all week that wasn’t rainy and windy (a pair of British climbers at our hotel told us that there had been wind gusts in the 70mph range earlier that week). Departing from Zermatt, we hiked up into the mountains, to a series of mini ‘towns’ (that consisted of a mountain chalet, restaurant, and/or ski lift) and lakes. The higher we climbed, the more mountains we could see—360 degree panoramic views of the Alps. If I could have had my way, I would have kept climbing straight up the Matterhorn!

Above the treeline, the mountainside meadows and brush were painted with fall colors. We saw a few mountain goats grazing in the meadows, and the hillside was scattered with slate-roofed log cabins. We went to four lakes, each one different from the previous. One was full of tiny fish, one was a vibrant teal color, and another one had a playground next to it! We got up to about 2,334m before heading back down to Zermatt—8 hours and 25km of hiking later.

For dinner we cooked up some brats and pasta (yum) and snuggled up in the cozy common room of the hotel, sipping tea and reading mountaineering books and National Geographics from the 60’s and 70’s. I could have stayed in that hotel forever—the ‘hostel’ that we thought we had booked was in reality the top floor of a hotel/lodge, converted to a dormitory with cozy bunks that looked straight out the window at the Matterhorn. The basement consisted of a large kitchen and common room, in which we cooked our dinner and talked to other hotel guests—including a couple from Spokane, who had climbed Mt. Rainier twice last summer. What a small world.

On our way back to Granada we spent a day in Geneva as well. We saw the famous Jet d’Eau (which spews water 140m into the air), took a water taxi across Lake Geneva, and saw the Palace of Nations (the UN headquarters). I must say, the Swiss experience was pretty awesome, and I truly hope to go back one day (especially to Zermatt). Oh, and shout-out to Swiss Air for the awesome pastries and Swiss chocolate bars on the flight!

Preview of next week

Tomorrow marks the beginning of 7 full days of traveling and sightseeing! Here's what I have in store:

Sunday--tour of the Alhambra (finally!)

Monday--placement exam for my fall classes

Tuesday--Córdoba! About 2 hours out of Granada, our class is going for the day to see the city, tour the Mezquita (a Cathedral-Mosque), and bathe in the Arab baths (massage included).

Wednesday--Meg, Aspen, and I are flying to Barcelona, touring around and spending the night

Thursday--Fly to Geneva, Switzerland, and take the Swiss Rail to Zermatt (a small town in the Alps)

Friday and Saturday--Hiking in the Alps in and around Zermatt

Sunday--Spend the day touring Geneva, then fly back to Barcelona in the evening

Monday morning--return to Granada

I'm really looking forward to spending some time in the Alps, complete with green trees, mountains, snow, and hopefully a little rain! It will be a bit of a refresher from the consistent 90+ degree days these past three weeks.

More to come soon!

He andado muchos caminos

"He andado muchos caminos,
Y en todas partes he visto
gentes que danzan o juegan
y no conocen la prisa
ni aun en los días de fiesta.
Y en un día como tantos,
descansan bajo la tierra."

por Antonio Machado

          ...translation:


I have walked many paths,
And in each place I have seen
people that dance or play
and are never in a hurry,
even on days of celebration.
And one day, like the others,
they'll rest beneath the earth.


As I walk the streets of Granada, I am continuously reminded of this poem. Every day, after the siesta, the cobblestone streets and plazas of Granada begin to fill with life as families emerge from their apartments for an evening paseo. However, the crowds of people are anything but hectic--during the paseo, there is no hurry because there is no final destination; time spent walking is time spent with loved ones. Outside my apartment kids run around the courtyard, playing with toys, soccer balls, you name it, while parents and friends enjoy tapas and a drink.

There is a tranquil harmony of life here.

Even on festival days, like I saw last weekend: Saturday was the offering of flowers to la Virgen de las Angustias. Thousands of people stood in line for hours with bouquets of flowers in hand, wanting to make their offering to the Virgin. Once again, there was no sense of urgency; waiting in line was even more time to to socialize with family and friends, and to pay respect to the church. Some women wore flamenco dresses, the children wore matching outfits, a helicopter sprinkled flowers from the sky, and the church choir sang. And the end result was magnificent: a grand wall of flowers, three stories high.

Running into the Sunset

“That was the real secret of the running people: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation….Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We're all Running People.”

–Christopher McDougall, Born to Run

We are running people. So why has society become so sedentary? Every day in the United States, people wake up, drive to work, sit at their desk for eight hours a day, and then drive home. For us, that is natural. But that is not who we are. Society has turned running into a chore, a must-do if you want to loose weight. And with that, we have forgotten our love for running.

But not in Granada. Here, we are the opposite of sedentary. Every day I spend at least two hours walking, from home to class to tapas bars and back again. My 20 minute walk to school each day is nothing, whereas at home we complain about a 5 or 10 minute walk to class. There is no need to take a bus, or a taxi. Nightly paseos (walks) are a tradition here, and each night it puts a smile on my face to see so many elderly couples walking about, arm in arm.

Which brings me to another point. “You don’t stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running”. Same goes for walking, and being active in general. Maybe this is why the Spanish people look so much younger for their age—because they never stop walking.

And don’t get me started on running. In what other city can you run from the heart of downtown to the countryside trails in a matter of minutes? Take yesterday, for example. We went on our usual run along the Río del Genil, but instead of continuing along the river we took a trail up through the hills, forest, and olive orchards. After only 25 minutes of running, we found ourselves standing atop ruins of an old house, gazing across the river at a small pueblo, the buildings all painted white. If only I had a camelback and some snacks, I could have ran forever, through the countryside; up a mountain. Alas, it was getting dark, so home we went. And as we turned to run home, the sky filled with red/pink wispy clouds, and we ran into the sunset all the way home.

Graffiti

Granada is full of some pretty sweet graffiti; here are some pictures I took on the walk home today:

Ronda, Andalucía

I've been in Granada for nearly a week now, and what a week it's been! After spending the past four days getting to know the city, seeing the Alhambra for the first time, and starting a Spanish culture class, we left the city for the first time today and took a field trip to Ronda, a small town 2.5 hours southwest of Granada.

Ronda is a beautiful, historic city and we spent the first few hours exploring. Ronda got it's name because it is rodeado /redondo (surrounded) by mountains. On top of that, the city is built on 100+ meter tall cliffs, with a spectacular bridge connecting the old and new parts of town. (The old part of town was built by the Moors centuries ago, whereas the new part of town was built when the Christians took over during the reconquista, 500 years ago).

As we walked the streets, we saw many old cathedrals, and even a few weddings! Our tour guide says it is good luck to see couples getting married, because their happiness spreads to you.

For lunch we ate at a cliff-side restaurant, with a sweeping view of the farmland and mountains beyond.  Our lunch was spectacular, starting off with a salad with grilled brie, followed by chicken, and helado for dessert. Oh, and did I mention that Michelle Obama ate there when she came to visit?

After lunch, we toured the Plaza de Toros, which was preparing for a big celebration and Corrido next weekend, La Feria de Pedro Romero. The rink was spectacular; it used to be the largest one in the world. But they had to make it a few meters smaller (in diameter) in order to build an extra barrier, because it was too easy for the bulls to jump out of the ring and into the crowd. Yikes!

Plaza de Toros

Preparations for the big fiesta

Looking across the Puente Viejo (old bridge), which was built by the Moors

Puente Nuevo (notice the waterfall below!)

View from the bridge

View from the restaurant