La isla de Lobos
The Canary Islands are always a surprise... all proceeding from volcanic eruptions, the terrain is rocky, dark, hilly, flat and sandy all at the same time. The islands are always invaded with sun-crisped English tourists (sun-burnt doesn't begin to cover the degree of skin damage acquired here by the funny-accented whiteys)... but with a five minute drive outside of the resort and karaoke bar strip you discover paradise that can only be described as volcano-licious.
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Familia!
And then I was lucky enough to have my parents and my aunties visit for a little over a week. Before I begin to hammer out what was our week of sight-seeing, I have to explain the meaning and importance of our family version of "the good book." On all of our family trips that add up to more than two people, someone from the fam goes to the highly useful public library (do you sometimes also forget that public libraries exist?) and lends/borrows (yes I'm an English teacher but still don't remember the different between these two words) the up and coming Rick Steve's book. On our trips, we follow this book as if we were jesus freaks following the bible. We walk, sit, eat, drink and enjoy things wherever the book tells us we have to. Why? Rick Steve is witty. Aaand somehow, he and his crew or writers find extremely interesting things about the city that the whole family can enjoy. Do I sound like a commercial? Yes. But why is this so important? When you travel in big groups the hardest thing is making a damn decision. If you just follow the good book, the trip ends up being enjoyable... but most importantly thought and fight-free.
"This is a reading by Charlie from the good book..."
During their time here, we I drove over 1,000 miles and sight-saw the shit outta Northern Spain. In the past we've always ended up with fun-sized European clown cars and suffered through our long drives... but lessons were learned and this time around the car was actually big enough for five people and five pieces of luggage. We also didn't go anywhere without a handy GPS, which was un-handily only in Spanish. So, not only did I spend the week translating in restaurants, shops, and any public place imaginable... I also spent the week saying "take a right, take a left, go through the rotunda and..."
Aaaalmost pouring cider
Their first days in Asturias were spent drinking cider in Gijon, over-eating in Oviedo and fighting the rain in Aviles. After a full evening of attempting to follow the GPS, we arrived in cloudy Santiago de Compostela and stayed put for a couple of days. Rainy mornings brought sunny afternoons and lots of photo taking with my dad's new camera.
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago is a unique place that attracts people from all over the world, not just simply for being a mysterious, ancient town, but for the famous Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James (obviously housed in this rockin' church). For more than 1,000 years, pilgrims have been walking to Santiago from wherever in Europe for whatever reason. They used to arrive smelly and sick, but now arrive with modern backpacks, cameras, and many new friends. No longer just a religious tradition, people will do the walk just to do it and say it was done! En fin, enchanted by pilgrim's tales, the cathedral's history, and our 3-star hotel for the price of a 2... we all fell in love with this city.
(Just last night I met an Asturian guy who swears that this Catholic pilgrimage was originally not a religious tradition at all, but in fact a pre-Catholic, Roman tradition as a walk to the "end of the world." Before the continent of America was found by Columbus, Spain and Portugal were nicknamed as the end of the world. Europeans believed that if they kept sailing past the Iberian Peninsula, they'd simply fall off the end of the world. Lets shout a HOORAY to the catholic church for, over and over again, changing history to suit them!)
Next on our tour of the green coast was a night in Ribadeo, a town bordering the states of Galicia and Asturias. A morning trip to the market to buy home-made cheese, ham, chorizo and freshly baked bread worked out perfectly for our rocky beach side picnic later in the day.
Our last stop while touring the green coast was in breathtaking Cudillero. I had never heard anyone speak of Cudillero before, it was a random stop chosen from my free "Asturias" tourism book that ended up being one of the best of the whole trip. A teeny, tiny little pueblo literally built into a hill, Cudillero was a stronghold back in the middle ages, when it spent quite a while fighting off invaders from the sea. Now a tourist trap kinda place in summer, a walk around this town drops your jaw and stays stuck in your memory forever.
The fam checking out the Foreign Languages department
To wrap up our Northern tour, we had lunch at my school. My family got the chance to meet my (shhh) favorite group of students- they were working as waiters that day- and my students had the chance to do their jobs in English. We had some good laughs, as my dad screwed up the pronunciation of a dish we were eating... instead of saying "I love the pisto" he said "I love the pito" which is a slang word for penis. That served as a great lesson Monday morning with my students= Making mistakes is the best way to learn! And, the most embarrassing mistakes are the most important ones, because you'll never forget!
Our last moments as a group were spent wandering the streets in Madrid, eating over-priced food, and getting ripped off by numerous bartenders. The only disappointing thing about this trip was the negative treatment we received by Spanish employees in the tourist industry- whether restaurants, museums, hotels or simply walking down the street, we got kicked over and over again by the rude, ignorant people who treated us like walking money just for wearing tennis shoes and being American. It's quite unfortunate to say that in this sense, Spain lost a couple big points this trip.
The enchanting, tourist-infested city of Toledo was the very last stop for Auntie Chris, Cathy and I. We enjoyed our last rounds with "the good book" and walked around like zombies... completely exhausted from a week of walking, driving, eating and drinking, we enjoyed the city via a the typical double-decker, bright red tourist bus that is now available for your use in most major tourist cities across the world. But what can I say is, sometimes you have to give into your aching feet and simply enjoy the view.
And last but not least, a happy 60th to my auntie Cathy,
who came all the way to Spain to celebrate!
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Three years ago, when I was experiencing my very first months living abroad in Barcelona, I traveled to Scotland with my dear friend Andrew. On our Isle of Skye bus tour we met a sweet German girl named Maggie and ever since kept in touch via postcards and emails. This last December I met up with her in Berlin and in early April she came to see me in Asturias. She was only here for a few days but got to see the beach, mountains and sider (of course!). The more people I meet traveling and wandering around the world, the more I realize how crazy hard it is to keep in touch and to actually get to see those people again... It's a pretty sweet feeling when you actually manage to keep in touch with someone who lives half way across the world!
...hasta luego!!
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