The last free week

This past week has been my last free week before work starts. I have to be at my school at 9 am on Wednesday to check in and figure out what im going to be doing this year and what classes im going to be working with.

Rewind.

This weekend was the first frisbee tournament with the team I'm playing for here in Madrid, Los Quijotes. It was a small tournament so the squad (Co-Ed) split into two teams. My team was balling out of control all weekend and we ended up winning all of our games and winning the gold. Not that huge of an accomplishment but definitely better than not winning. It felt great to play ultimate again but ultimate in Europe is totally different from ultimate in the states. After every game, rather than just shaking hands in a line, you have to get in a circle with the other team and the captains talk about the game and about the strengths of the other team. Then you play a game with the other team (like in womens ultimate!). plus you have to shake all the dudes hands and give all the chicks two cheek kisses and they are all sweaty and shit (sometimes this happens twice which is the worst). In the states, ultimate is way more intense and way more about winning. It will definitely take some time for me to adjust to that. The Spanish national frisbee championship is in November so get ready for me to win that too.

We finally signed the leased on our apartment. The new furniture is almost all moved in, all except for Chris' bed which makes sleeping there a problem. However, we did start moving our stuff from my grandmother's apartment because we will be sleeping in the new apartment for the first time tomorrow night. Exciting, I know. I'll take pictures once we get everything moved in.

Another update for sure once i start work.

City Life

For the past week we have been in Madrid exploring the city and trying to get settled. We have so far managed to setup bank accounts, get telephones, and find an apartment (in theory). We haven't quite signed the lease yet but it is ours for the taking.

The apartment is in the center of Madrid in an awesome district. Tons of nightlife and tons of stuff to do. There is a jazz nightclub on our block and a bar called The Speakeasy just down the street. Get psyched.

So our biggest adventure thus far has been getting cell phones. We started our search for the best plan/provider at this store call El Corte Ingles. This store is has everything you could ever need. From books, to camping equipment, to perfume, to cell phone providers. So we spent about an hour and a half talking to some lady from this company Vodafone. After deciding on a plan we tried to buy the phones we want but they didnt have any more of those models. So we went down the street to another Vodaphone store where the workers told us a totally different story about the plans. Regardless, they didnt have the phones either. So we went to another store, got the real deal scoop from some chica and got our phones. I can receive all calls for free aparently so feel free to call away. I think to call me you dial 011 (international access code) then 34 (Spain's code) then 666107297. Yes, my phone number starts with the devil's number.

We've been bumming around Madrid for the past week while staying in my Abuela's (grandmother's) apartment. Good food, not too teribly much to do, but its still nice to spend time with the family. We move into the new apartment this weekend.


We managed to get out of the house this past weekend and go out for a few drinks. Of course we managed to stumble a little to close to the district of gay bars in the area. Chris got hit on by some guy who touched his burly beard without asking. The one fun thing about going out here is that people just walk around with drinks in their hand. On the metro, out on the side walk. No big deal. So pregaming is way more fun. If that isnt reason enough to visit, I dont know what is. Also of note, I wore a hat out and I was the only person in the entire city of madrid wearing a hat. Really bizare. Nobody goes out to bars wearing a hat. Its like dinner at Ivy...

Chris and I have started "playing" for the local frisbee team but it doesnt seem that intense. There is actually a co-ed tournament this weekend outside of Madrid that we are going to. Should be good times.

Peaks and Valleys

Unfortunately, this phrase barely applied to our trip. At least it didn't seem like it while we were out there. More like peaks and more peaks. Perhaps thats why they call it the Picos de Europa. Anyways, quick recap - Chris, Jessica, and I went on a 6 day backpacking trip in the Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa.

First and foremost, the best pictures from the trip can be found on facebook here:
Days 1-3
Days 4-6

The trip started with an early bus ride from Panes to Cangas de Onis. From there we took a series of transportation options to get to the lakes of Covadonga. From the lakes we hiked in for about 4 or 5 hours to a peak known as Vega de Ario. Directly translated, this means the Fertile Plains of the Aryans. This it was not my friends. There was a group of germans, dont get me wrong, but i wouldn't call it a fertile plain. We set up camp and started to cook a nice warm dinner of garbanzo beans (chick peas). The rain clouds rolled in and we retreated to the shelter of my newly purchased tent, Terrance (the Tent). The rain came down all night, lightning, thunder, the whole works. Despite a torrential downpour for most of the night, we all remained totally dry. We set out for day 2 with new found trust in Terrance the Tent and a naive confidence about the journey ahead.

The actually horizontal distance of our second day was minimal. What I failed to fully comprehend was the extensiveness of our descent in the afternoon. At some point in time, the trail blazes stopped and a huge descent began. After about 100 meters i realized the blazes had stopped so I doubled back to check if we missed the trail somewhere. Trail here is a loose term. After searching for any possible trail, we decided to forge on, descending constantly. Over the course of a few hours and a horizontal distance of maybe 2 kilometers we descended over 1200 meters. Needless to say, it was rough on the joints and the feet with heavy packs. We eventually arrived in the town of Cain and cooked a nice meal of Fabada, a regional dish of Asturias.

Day 3 started with rain. Thankfully the morning hike was relatively flat in comparison to the rest of the trip. The rain continued until the end of lunch as we hiked through the Garganta de Cares, a trail along a gorge the goes from the town of Cain to the town of Poncebos. I would say that day 3 was pretty uneventful aside from one really sad donkey and one sweet looking salamander. Pictures on facebook.

Day 4 was the day we had all been waiting for...the day for which we had all been waiting? Anyways, the ascent from Bulnes La Villa to El Naranjo, a huge rock face (500 meters tall) at an altitude of 2100 meters. El Naranjo is a mecca for rock climbers, serving as the poster child for Spanish mountaineering for 50 years. The ascent is 1200 meters over the course of 3 hours. The climax of the day was free climbing a vertical rock face about 12 or so feet high during a storm of rain/freezing rain with a fully loaded pack. The base of El Naranjo and a Refuge that provides shelter to climbers and hikers alike were just around the corner but the weather had turned so foul that we decided to stay the rest of the day and the night in the Refuge.

We woke up on day 5 to very nice weather. Well nice for an altitude of 2100 meters. However, the first snow of the year had come over night and had coated some of the terrain in a slippery dangerous mix of snow and ice. After climbing one snow covered mountain with the help of a system of cables, we came to an outpost known as Cabana Veronica. Here, a very seasoned looking man told us that the route that we planned on taking was very dangerous. After what we had been through, we didnt think to much of it until he started telling us that neither the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) nor the park workers could rescue us from that route if we got hurt or got stuck. With this knowledge, we turned south and to lower altitudes, changing out trip plan. We ended up camping in a grazing field on the flattest ground we could find. This, however, was not flat at all and we spent the whole night at the bottom of the tent or feebly attempting to crawl back to the top. To add to the discomfort, a few packs of wolves were in the vicinity howling all night. There was one lone wolf within 100 meters of the tent for the whole night but Terrance kept us safe yet again.

Day 6 was perfect weather down at the lower altitude. We hiked the most leisurely hike of the trip along a ridge to the town of Posada de Valdeon. We also played the most frustrating game of Botticelli in which Jessica's person was Clark Kent and the information we acquired was that he was not en entertainer but was in movies and that he wasnt a human being. Priceless. From Posada de Valdeon we took various modes of transportation back to Panes where we stayed with family for the night.

The Beginning

So we left the stateside soil on September 3rd. Flying through Frankfurt, we arrived in Madrid in the middle of the afternoon the next day. The flight was relatively uneventful aside from a few honorable mentions. We all popped some Dramamine to help us sleep on the plane (works wonders, highly recommended). Jessica, however, was not a veteran abuser and made the foolish mistake of taking a second Dramamine a few hours later. Needless to say, she was out cold for the rest of the trip and could barely wake up. We eventually just left her sleeping on a bench in the Frankfurt airport while we sought out food like hunter-gatherers.

After a quick 24 hours in Madrid, we jumped in a car and headed to the north of Spain to a province called Asturias. Asturias is the region of Spain where my father was born and raised and the extended family always gathers there for vacations. There is a big house that was bought by my grandmother's brothers that is now basically a private resort for anyone in the family.

So, in Asturias we went to the wedding of one of my dad's cousins. It was pretty baller. We danced to classics such as Achey-Breaky-Heart and La Macarena. After the wedding there was a big festival in the tiny town that our family's house is in. The town is named Cimiano and the festival is called "Nuestra Senora". Some crazy outfits, dances, and traditions are involved. All of these adorable kids are dressed in the typical Asturian garb. Luckies!

After the wedding Chris, Jessica, and I embarked on a week-long journey in the Picos de Europa, a huge mountain range in northern Spain. But that is the subject of another post entirely. For the time being, I posted pictures from this part of the Inquisition on Facebook in an album entitled Asturias Patria Querida.