For the Columbus Day puente I traveled to La Rioja with three friends from school. We were with a Spanish hiking tour group. This was... interesting. But in the end I rather enjoyed it. It was a little hard to take some of the disorganization and the rain was surprisingly wet, but all in all it was very refreshing to get out into nature.
The first day we hiked through vineyards from bodega to bodega. I'd never exersized and drank alcohol at the same time before--wow. Everything was so much harder than it should have been! But nothing beats eating fresh grapes and drinking wine from my favorite region in Spain.
Sigh.
We ate grapes from the vine in crisp fall air with a beautiful sky.... Lovely.
Dios mio, I love fall colors!
I believe this strange sculpture was meant to be a scarecrow.
I unknowingly ordered pigs' ears. They tasted like earwax. What can I say? They looked like they were slathered in barbeque sauce and I couldn't help myself. I consoled my guiri self with a ,70 centimos glass of wine... or three.
We did get to visit one winery. It smelled wine-y.
Nothing says "Five Stars" like condoms in your hotel kit. And I learned a new word: prophylactic. We had a good time at breakfast trying to guess which people on our trip had actually used their complimentary rubbers.
The second day we went for a much harder hike, sans vino. It was wet and cold--though not intolerable. The scenery and plants were hauntingly similar to Washington. The rain was that typical lazy drizzle we're so used to having in the foggy days of fall back home. Our fellow hikers worried about us getting wet and cold as we hadn't packed rain gear--but I only ever felt cold when we stopped for lunch. It was sweet of them to offer their ponchos and umbrellas.
We walked through pastures of sheep and horses. It was a mystery to me how the guides knew where to go, it seemed as though we were aimlessly traipsing through other people's land. In actuality, this land was a national park. Spain continues to confound me.
Wow. That thing was huge. It had friends too.
Yakshi, Kim, and Jen: a little wet but still smiling.
This was a very romantic and beautiful part of the trail. I could have daydreamed in this beautiful forest for hours.
The spooky part of the trail. At this point there was a cliff at the other side so socked in with fog that all we could see was white. I felt like I was about to walk into the fire swamp in The Princess Bride.
The last bit of our longest hike was incredibly slippery with mud and leaves. It was tedious and exhausting, but still beautiful.
On the night of the second day there was a barbeque in the backyard of someone's house in a small pueblo. The food was incredible, the company boring, and I definitely had too much to drink out of boredom. New realization: drinking more alcohol rarely makes the bar or party more fun but usually ends up with me making a fool of myself. I climbed atop a tractor, tried to break into an old church, and made friends with a stray dog--which in retrospect was the best part of the night.
On the third day we started our walk in the town of Vitoria. We rambled and wandered until we began the somewhat tedious trail to the Sideria in Lasarte. By that time I was missing home, thinking too much about the problems in my life and in the world, and I was hungover to boot. But I saved up my crankiness for when they played the music too loud on the way back to Madrid--nothing gets between me and my iPod!!
Like the rest of Europe, Pais Vasco is full of art--ancient and modern. And we all know my love of murals.
Graphitti can be hard to understand. Are they meaning "puta madre" or the real meaning of "puta"?
This was a covered escalator going up a hilly street. It rains a lot in Pais Vasco. Just like home.
Men are different here. Trust me. I struggle to understand, but do my best to appreciate.
I am fascinated by protests, political graphitti, and the ETA.
Kim is comforting me during my hangover. What a gal. Nothing like walking 10 km while regretting the whiskey from the night before.
This relief is from a church that is probably six or seven hundred years old.
Ponies!! They were so excited to see us. At that point I was too excited about the Sideria coming up in the next town to give them much attention.
Jen is a loyal, adventurous friend who loves meeting new people. Every outing with her is an adventure. Thanks Jen for suggesting this crazy trip!
Our intrepid "frat boy" guides neglected to let the Sideria know that 100 pushy Madrileños would be decending en masse. They ran out of just about everything. We flirted our way to three bottles of basque cider (while other hikers didn't get a solitary bottle) and snacked on various delicacies including cider roasted chorizo. Sometimes it pays to be polite, pretty, and female.
Basque country is beautiful and quiet, Spanish and yet a little foreign. I loved the drama and mistique of the fog and rain coupled with the brilliant fall colors. It was like walking around Lake Louise in October or hiking the trails of Mt Rainier or Mt Baker. A little taste of home.
