En Las Montañas

(I actually wrote this at the beginning of November but didn't put pictures and everything in until now. Trying to catch up!)

The week following my trip to Ireland was probably one of my most difficult this semester. I was very homesick and everyone in my program kind of seemed to be at a stale, frustrated half-way point (hard to believe we are that far into the program, though!). Thankfully, our week was cut short by a really unique and perfectly timed experience: a weekend stay in a pueblo in the mountains.

After winding our way through the hills in a bus for a few hours, we arrived in Sorvilán, population ~200, and walked through the pueblo toward our hosts' home. Since I have visited my own host family's pueblo a few times, I was accustomed to the rustic, white-washed buildings and animals roaming the streets, but something about this one was different- I think that it was set in the mountains, and that you could really feel that you were breathing in fresher air than in the city.

Once we arrived at our house for the weekend, I realized what else contributed to the atmosphere of the pueblo- we could see the Mediterranean Sea through the hills from the beautiful open terrace between our bedrooms! That first night we pretty much walked around the pueblo and just outside it to enjoy the view, and then ate our first fantastic meal cooked by our wonderful hosts, Domingo and Enrique.

the terrace

The very relaxed first night must have been to prepare us for the next day, however, because we spent a good part of it hiking through the mountains [The Alpujarra is technically one mountain between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but there are so so many hills where we were and people call them Las Alpujarras (plural)]. Although it was taxing on the uphill parts, the hike was awesome. I have camped and hiked many times before, but I haven't really had the experience of eating fresh fruit off a tree that you just come across while walking, and obviously this landscape was new to me. It's really beautiful and just very different from mountains in the U.S.

grapes

the most delicious pomegranate I've ever had

see the giant thing next to me?
It's a barrel to hold wine.

After a much needed picnic and siesta, we were ready for our next, somewhat mysterious event: a visit to a bodega. We walked through the village with our host to this empty, dark, barn-like place. As we walked in I saw that there was a big barrel and some stools at the end of the room, and some contraptions behind it that I later learned were used to make wine. A bodega is essentially a private/local winery, where the owner uses the local grapes to make all kinds of wines without preservatives or artificial ingredients. The owner of this bodega explained the process of making wines and then allowed us try them- so good! We had a great time there, and then finished our night by hanging out on our terrace looking at the stars over the Mediterranean Sea (I even saw a shooting star!).

learning how to make wine

Our final day in Sorvilán was mostly spent on another hike (this time all downhill for a few hours, which is more difficult than I anticipated. I think I need to work out outside of a gym more), but our destination was the BEACH. The water was absolutely freezing, but it was such a beautiful, peaceful way to end the weekend and start refreshed for the week ahead.

walking down the mountain to the water

it was gorgeous

an idea of the shoreline

friends!

I actually skipped over what we did Sunday morning, which was to have a "class" about the region with one of our hosts, Enrique. He talked all about the people and jobs and the invernaderos, which are gigantic plastic greenhouses that are between the mountains and the beach. The invernaderos are used to grow produce to sell to corporations, and use all kinds of preservatives and pesticides and things of that nature, are bad for the environment (not to mention ugly), and are also notorious for their terrible working conditions/pay/treatment of their mostly immigrant workers. But they make cheap food, and that is running the agriculture-dependent pueblo inhabitants nearby into the ground. They are unable to pay for their houses and land that have been in the family for generations, and their property is being bought up by richer foreign retirees. That's a pretty simplified version of the situation, but it isn't a good one for most people and is just being magnified with the current economic and job crisis (the rate of unemployment in Spain is 28%, and in Granada, where I live, it is 40%). I feel guilty talking about my fun at the beach and even throughout this semester when I'm aware of problems like this, but it certainly magnifies the scope of my blessing in having this opportunity to study abroad and travel. Even now I'm thinking of ways to use my experience in the future, and not just remember it as a fun trip I took to Europe in college (although it has been that too ;)). We'll see where it takes me!