Pueblos blancos tiene muchas casas blancos. Los pueblos es moy bonita y normalmente pequeno. Rhonda es no pueblo pequeno ahora. Es una ciudad pequeno.
This morning we got up, ate breakfast, and got ourselves packed. I was the first one done and I went around the house getting things together. It wasn't long before we were on the road (after we'd dropped off our three remotes and the key). This time I didn't get to write. It would've been foolish to write after we'd gotten off the highway.
After we got off the highway we went up and up into the mountains on a windy, curvy road (I was thankful it wasn't a skinny road). This was the last I would see of the Mediterranean (at least for a long time) and of Gibraltar. From the road in the mountains we had a clear view of the sea, of the rock of Gibraltar, of the many many many resorts that were along the beach (actually we passed through one in the mountains), and of the city of Marbella. As we drove away and into the green mountains I looked back and was amazed to see how the sea seemed to blend in with the sky. The only indicator that your eyes had reached the beach was that a small boat was floating just above the line of the rooftops. The sea was so grey it matched the cloudy sky perfectly. Was pretty neat to see.
Along the drive we continued to go up and around curves. I had to focus on what was in front of us after a while because I started feeling only slightly carsick. I was able to enjoy the pine-covered mountains though which changed as we got higher up into an area that seemed to be composed mostly of rough rock. From a distance it appeared we were entering a land similar to the moon. There was barely any vegetation and there was very little life, that is, until we started heading downhill. Before we got all the way down the mountainside and into the valley we stopped at a restaurant that was alongside the road. There we sat down at the bar, drank coffee to warm ourselves (it was windy and chilly out), and watched Balto- a movie that I've only seen twice in my life but still felt wonderful to watch because it was something I recognized.
Later we stopped to grab a bite to eat in Rhonda. Rhonda is famous for it's bullfighting arena, and for it's geographical landscape. The two sections of town rest on two hills separated by a gorge that is hundreds of meters below. The ponte nuevo (the new bridge) connects the two sections of town and enables cars and pedestrians to travel between the two areas. We enjoyed wandering after we crossed this bridge and we also enjoyed a tiny bit of shopping before we stopped in a local cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Many other tourists stopped in in this cafeteria, among them was a German couple who we thoroughly enjoyed talking to (even if it was partially in Spanish and partially in English). What really delighted me was when they asked us if we were from the area. We're beginning to look European to the Europeans!! Wow!
We also talked about the weather, which was consistently deteriorating in value as we sat there. At first we argued that we were seeing rain (I thought it looked awefully small to be rain and it feel very slowly). Later we were all absolutely certain we were seeing ice. At that point we all headed out of the cafeteria to walk back over the bridge, through the giftshop of the bullring, and back to our car.
This second period in the car we passed through many different landscapes. First we saw the mountains with the occasional field of goats, sheep, and a select few horses. Then we passed out of the mountains and into farmland that had orange soil and had tilled rolling hills with a Pueblo Blanco here and there. As we passed through this landscape we came closer and closer to Arcos, one of the Pueblos Blancos that we had picked to stay the night in. When we reached Arcos we had a fun time getting to a parking place and then making our way up to find a hotel that Rick Steves had suggested (El Convento- aka: the Convent). Before setting out I said that it looked like an awfully long walk and that we might be better off staying close to our car. I then pointed out a hotel just down the street from us. We went on up anyway. Since I was extremely tired (I hadn't slept well the night before and three cups of coffee did nothing) and my fuse has recently been scarily short my mood continued to go downhill as we climbed uphill in search of this hotel. When we didn't find it we went through alleys to a square where we found a closed information office, a great view of the valley below and to the west, and a 4 star hotel that had a menu that had soup for 11 euros (or something close). My mood wasn't the best one. I was slowly getting more and more angry and frustrated that we didn't go with the hotel that was at hand, and at the same time I was getting even more tired from the hiking. In short even when we found a hotel I was acting very very poorly, later Ahmee described it as "downright sulking". Sleepiness and anger don't work well together. Tore Soto was the name of the hotel we found. It's interior was gorgeous and the man at the desk was more than ready to show us the room (he practically ran when he showed it to us). It was wonderful and it was in a great spot, right on top of the hill near the old section. What I didn't look forward to one bit was bringing the luggage up the hill. Luckily the man at the desk suggested a cab, otherwise Poppy and I would've been carrying the luggage up the hill and I'm certain I might've exploded. I told Ahmee I was tired and she told me to go up to the room and rest while they grabbed the luggage. This I did. I thought about how nasty I was acting, how I needed to calm down, and how I needed to explain myself to Ahmee and Poppy as soon as they got back and apologize for it.
When they got back with the luggage I told them that I was tired and I'd gotten frustrated, not with the wifi, but with them not taking the suggestion for the hotel. I said that I'd pretty much gotten a moment similar to the one that Ahmee had when we were entering Florence. I also apologized for acting so ugly (even if I didn't blow up I didn't contain my discontent very well), and we were fine. Ahmee and Poppy understood, and they said it was ok. After that we got back out into the streets of Arcos. We went back to the information center, which was then open. There we got a map of Arcos that told us where all of the important buildings were. We had an excellent time walking around the extremely thin streets of Arcos, looking at the white walls, checking out the gardens, reading about the Church of St. Peter, looking at the art museum, and generally just checking out what appeared to be the oldest section of town (people had to carry their groceries because their cars were too big). One of the highlights of the walk was the terrace view we found on the south side of town. This was right near what I thought was a school, had plenty of graffiti on the walls, and had a view that was absolutely stunning. From there we could see the lake and the mountains to the East, the farmland to the West, the town directly south and below us, and plenty of rooftop gardens. Since it was windy out most of these potted gardens had plants that had been knocked over. Something that was surprising to find was the many houses that had pools. These were to the West, and right on the edge of the road and the farmland. It would've made me chuckle to find out that these homes were the homes of farmers who had made plenty of money selling their crops. This is something that you can find in the United States too. Farmers driving around in mustangs, but then you can also find people who've borrowed far too much and who are driving those (these are the people who can't really afford them).
On the walk back to the hotel we stopped in one shop to look at the Flamenco Aprons and to grab a few postcards (none of which we're going to send because we'll be getting home before they will). Then once back at the hotel we went upstairs, used the bathroom, read about the Andaluzian Horses (beautiful white horses that are extremely agile, cunning, etc.), and then went downstairs to grab drinks and some food for Happy Hour. Ahmee and Poppy had wine while I sipped my Coca cola and ate olives. Ahmee asked me to describe some of the people in my show choir. Those of you in my showchoir I was talking about you for over three hours. Something I don't enjoy doing and try not to do often is gossiping about people and causing drama. Thing is though I only tell a few people what I see in others and how I regard their actions. I've talked to my Momma, my Emma, my Sara, my Iain, my Ahmee, and my Poppy about the people in show choir now. The conversation was very fun, for Ahmee and for me at least.
After dinner we went up to our room where I finished up my summaries/discriptions as we got ready for bed. When we climbed under the covers it was 11 o clock at night. Ahmee and Poppy both told me as they turned off their lights, "Night Rachel! Make sure you speak loudly and clearly for us tonight!"
I disappointed them. I didn't say a word that night, because I hardly slept at all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment