La Alpujarra

This past weekend the UNH group had a few group activities. On Friday, we went to a concert, "El Barrio", which is a popular flamenco rock/pop group. The ticket said it started at 10:00, but a lot of us assumed it'd start later like most concerts. My host mother told me at 8 o'clock that I wasn't going to get a seat because people would be waiting for hours before the doors opened. Well, I didn't take heed of her advice so me and a few others showed up to the venue ten or fifteen minutes after ten. We had no idea that all of the tickets were general admission tickets, so needless to say we sat in the very last row. The crowd was very outgoing and I don't think I stopped clapping for two hours.
Sunday morning we left for our trip to La Alpujarra which is a mountain area that stretches south from the Sierra Nevadas. It was about a two hour drive from Granada. On the way we stopped at two small towns before reaching our destination. In the first town (I forget the name) were lots of fountains that had natural potable water springing out of them. Our guide, also one of my professors, told us elderly people used to come and drink the water because legend says it has healing powers and would heal and strengthen their organs. Some fountains had poems on them going along with the healing power legend, but they were all over the place, and I couldn't stop thinking that it would be a great place to run since fresh flowing water is everywhere.
While waiting for the bus to pick us up we went to a cafe to get coffee and use the bathrooms. Before walking in, an elderly man outside the cafe smiled and managed to say "good morning" to all of us through the 5 teeth he had. However, soon enough he was in the cafe striking up a conversation with me and a friend. He was telling us how he learned English and French growing up but only really remembered French because they emphasized it during the war. The only English he said he remembers is "Good morning! Hello, how are you? You are very nice. Will you be my wife?" and I told him those are the most important things to know in case he finds a nice Englishwoman he wants to marry. I thought he would leave after but then he was talking to all the other girls in the group, and when we took pictures he just said "my wifes". It was hysterical. He waved to the bus as we drove away.
The next stop we had was in yet another town i forget the name of. The main reason we stopped was to stretch our legs and give all the nauseated people a break. The road leading to our destination was very steep, very windy and narrow, and two feet away from a cliff. My professor told us to yell for a plastic bag if we needed it and she would sprint it back to us on the bus. I don't believe anyone needed it in the end, but if someone had it would've been a chain reaction and the definition of a struggle bus. The town is a traditional looking town from La Alpujarra, white, flat roofed, and narrow streets.
Our final destination was the town at the highest altitude in the E.U. until 2005. Before lunch, my professor explained to us for half an hour the differences in ham between black, pink/red, and white pigs, since ham is the most popular meat in Spain. Two of the pigs' meat is cholesterol free, but I forget which colors because I was slightly dozing off. The lunch consisted of a soup, sausage, fried egg, ham, sliced potatoes, and a pepper- a typical meal from La Alpujarra. I managed to spill not only my soup everywhere but the wine as well. After we ate, we went for a hike on a trial from the town. After maybe 25 minutes of hiking, the guide/my professor refused to go past a certain point because she said it was very dangerous and urged us not to go. During the winter, its very common for the rocks on the mountainside to break, fall off, then tumble down the mountain, which can leave huge gouges in the land. One guide died last year from getting hit by a rock, so she refused to go. All the people from the UNH group continued with our professor, Marco, because we wanted to see the river and better views. The area of where the rocks were was about 20 meters long and we all survived. Most of us were not prepared for this small hike. I thought we were only doing a street excursion in the town so I wore jeans, a peacoat, and a sweatshirt (both of which ended up around my waist). Even though we were at such a high altitude it was still very warm. I know for a fact it was very warm outside because it was the first time I didn't hear someone in my host family mention how cold it was that day.