As some of you know, I was visited by three beautiful ladies this month. First, my mother (who really is a language genius- she picked up basic conversational Spanish within days of arriving!) flew in for a few days of hanging out and sampling various tapas. We also had An Adventure.
We decided to rent a car and drive through la Alpujarra (the mountain villages in the Sierra Nevada). This was a slightly terrifying and treacherous task because
1. These quaint mountain roads are very small, and usually without a guardrail between the edge of the cliff and death.
2. With all of the recent rain there have been massive rockslides in the mountains and there was a lot of damage and blockage on the tiny mountain roads.
3. I haven’t driven a car in over a year. I haven’t driven a manual since 2007. And when I did it was on US roads (much wider and less steep than those of the Sierra Nevada.)
4. The rental car was a vomit-yellow Chevrolet.
Despite all of these obstacles, we set off early on a sunny Friday morning (middayish). We bought a road map of Andalucia and started on up, our ears popping with the altitude changes.
We made the rounds of some of the more well-known pueblos- Lanjarón, Órgiva, Bubión, Capileira, Pampaneira, Trevélez, etc. We layerd up and got out of the car for various explorative quests- including a lunch in Capileira, a sampling of jamón in Trevélez, a few random stops for leg-stretching, sheep/goat chasing, behind-tree-piddling (I don’t like public restrooms) and view admiring.
It really is a beautiful part of Andalucía and I was so excited to share it with mom! After Trevélez we continued going east which was new and exciting for me as I got to see many pueblos for the first time. (Some of them with very fun names like Mecina Bombarón and Yegen). Unfortunately, right about the time it began to get dark a huge fog settled in, making the already superb driving conditions even superber (yes mom, I know that’s not a word). We held out for a while but finally concluded that the best option for staying alive would be to stop driving and find somewhere to stay for the night. However the extraordinary fog and dark dark darkness made seeing anything outside of about a 5 foot radius almost impossible. As we were inching along we finally caught sight of a small wooden sign that had been painted with the word ‘HOTEL’ and an arrow pointing off to the right. We were ecstatic and happily followed the direction of the arrow into what we discovered to be a tiny little town situated vertically on the side of the mountain. As we continued down that steep steep road we noticed that it was becoming increasingly narrow until we had to pull in the side-view mirrors to squeeze between the white-washed buildings. Even then there was maybe a half-inch margin on either side of the car. With absolutely zero side streets, we finally arrived to a dead-end- the street was punctuated by someone’s home, the window to their kitchen or living-room less than a foot from our headlights. As previously mentioned, we were also still at about a 45 degree angle. This was almost the point where panic set in. To make a long story short, despite 100% good intentions and reasonable ability we ended up with a GIGANTIC scratch (I feel the word ‘scratch’ doesn’t even do it justice, maybe ‘disaster’ is more appropriate) stretching the length of the right side of the car, the smell of burning clutch and a head protruding from every window in the village (except, oddly enough, the one in danger) all yelling to each other and pointing. Finally a very nice man came and saved the day, taking over the impossible reversing and manuvering back all the way up the hill. Turns out the hotel was NOT on that street, nor was it even open. Awesome.
We drove around in circles asking pedestrians for directions to any other available hotel in every pueblo that we came to, and after being turned away from one with beyond zero vacancies and having 70% resolved ourselves to sleeping in the freezing car we gave one more pueblo a shot- Válor (pictured). We were rewarded with the discovery of a darling little mom-and-pop hostel, who provided us with a darling little room and a very nice little dinner of jamón, cheese and wine. And dessert.
The next day we were up early and determined to cross over the top of the mountains in the direction of Guadix. It turns out that there is a lot of snow, ice and wind and the top of a mountain, which is always fun. We even drove through what we think was a ski run, there were people skiing right past the car as the snow was falling pretty heavily. An hour later we were back in reasonable temperatures and back within the reach of the fiesta radio station. From there it was just a matter of time before we arrived in Cordoba where the sun was shining and we checked into a beautiful luxury hotel. (In the last available room, a tiny oven with one bed under the stairs and next to the kitchen.)
None of this dampened our adventurous spirits and we still managed to squeeze in a full day’s worth of exploration in Cordoba. Sight-seeing, a visit to the Mezquita (seriously one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen), some aimless street-wandering and window shopping, topped off with a DELICIOUS meal at El Churrasco, a wonderful restaurant known for it’s meat.
Once we returned to Granada we were joined by Sarah and Christy and the four of us logged some time tapeando-ing and enjoying the city. On Wednesday (St. Patty’s Day) the three of them went to the Alhambra with a very nice gentleman that they had met in a bar and who actually grew up within the perimeters of the Alhambra.
After I finished working we all dolled up and set off for Sacromente (the Gitano and Flamenco barrio with all of the caves) for a night of flamenco with some wonderful artists.
The visit also included a failed skiing adventure for Sarah and Christy, more tapas and a great night out with wine, dancing, cocktails, and even a sighting of the Spanish twin of Pauly D from the Jersey shore
(I think he lives in my neighborhood because I’ve seen him again on the street and even without any booze he looks just like him. Sadly, he does not respond to someone yelling “Oye, Paulio De!”)
Since all of my girls have left, my apartment has seemed very quiet. The only other news worth reporting is a moment of weakness when I went out with Angel for wine and dancing. Damn you, heart. It was fun. As always. It didn’t help when he and my mom both insisted on meeting each other (ummm… that’s not what broken up people do, am I the only one who gets that?!) and both apparently hit it off and had a blast, despite language barriers. Thanks, ya’ll.
At least I keep busy enough I don’t have time to dwell. I am to my limit of classes (I am having to turn people away!) and I even agreed to teach a class on Saturday mornings in a moment of stupidity. I have several exciting new students and one surprise-
I agreed to teach a class on short notice without much information at all; I was just given an address of where to go. I showed up and the building turned out to be part of the University of Granada. I am used to teaching no more than 6 (grown-ups) at a time (all who are motivated and WANT to be there) in small, cozy settings so you can imagine my anxiety as I walked into a giant lecture hall and realized I was teaching an official university course. Also worth noting: all of my students are males. 18-21 years old. It is incredibly scary. They have discovered that I get a little flustered and uncomfortable when they give me examples of verb tenses like ‘last night I dreamt of Sarah’. AH!!!!!! Not ok. Actually they’re not so bad now that we’re kind of establishing a routine.
My other classes remain maravillosas- I had a nice little awkward moment in my financial/banking English class when we were talking about phrasal verbs with the word ‘come’ and one of my students told a DIRTY joke and then asked me what it meant. I turned soooo red and could only respond with ‘um… it’s kind of having to do with something along the lines of sexual things. Google it later.’ My goodness that class keeps me on my toes. But I really like them. There’s a woman in the same class that always says exceedingly random and interesting things. Example: “My favorite thing about Easter is making little dough animals to deep fry and then eat”. Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. She was so serious.
I love my life.
SABES QUE... (Hoy sé mucho...)
Texas, with 268,601 square miles, is larger than Spain--a country comprising 194,897 square miles--by 73,704 square miles.
The first of the ‘6 flags over Texas’ belonged to Spain, which ruled most of Texas from 1519 to 1685 and from 1690 to 1821. There were two versions of the Spanish flag used during this period. Both designs incorporate the "castle and lion" emblems of the Crown of Castile. The Spanish flag used in the reverse of the Texas state seal, which was also adopted by the Texas State Historical Commission, is the flag adopted by King Charles III, containing horizontal stripes of red-gold-red and the simple arms of Castile and Leon. This flag was used by Spain from 1793 to 1931, and from 1936 till today again with a different coat of arms.
The roots of the University of Granada go back to 1349, but the official University was founded in 1531. (
more here). In the city of Granada there are 270,000 inhabitants, of which over 80,000 are university students.
After I finished working we all dolled up and set off for Sacromente (the Gitano and Flamenco barrio with all of the caves) for a night of flamenco with some wonderful artists. 
(I think he lives in my neighborhood because I’ve seen him again on the street and even without any booze he looks just like him. Sadly, he does not respond to someone yelling “Oye, Paulio De!”)
