Flip Flops and a Walking Stick

Yesterday we decided to walk to Cardona. We were guessing that it was between 20-25 kilometers from Solsona - I say guessing because we weren't going by the main road, or como vuela la corneja (the actual translation for "as the crow flies" into Spanish is just "in a straight line" so I like my version better - more colorful). We were taking a dirt path that follows el rio negre from Solsona all the way to Cardona - or so we had been told. The river doesn't actually show up on any map that we looked at, but there is no doubting its existence, as we were soon to find out. This walk was the first of our training walks to prepare us for the Camino de Santiago, so we weren't messing around. We packed our backpacks as if we were really going - to practice with weight and stamina - and set off for the day. We left at 10am for what ended up being 8 hours of walking. It was really nice out, cool, but nice, and we had some adventures thrown in there by crossing back and forth over the river we were following. Most of the time we crossed we waded in with our pants rolled up, using our walking sticks to keep us upright as we stepped on rocks while we crossed through the current. I had brought my flip flops along, since I was packed for real, and we took turns crossing using these. Kristian first, since we trusted his arm more than mine to send the flip flops back across the river. Before we resigned ourselves to wading across, we had some fun searching up and down the bank looking for a better spot to cross and lugging fallen trees to the bank in attempts to make a bridge. Highly amusing - but in the end the only way was straight on through. We never did make it to Cardona, which was further away than we anticipated. After walking for 5 hours we came out to a main road and found a sign saying 8 kilometers to Cardona and 8 kilometers to Solsona. We decided to walk the last 3 hours in the direction of home and save Cardona for another day. Today we're feeling good, not really any leg soreness, just getting used to wearing the packs for an entire day. So it is looking good for the Camino!

La Mona and I don't mean The Monkey

There is a special cake made and eaten at Easter time here in Catalonia and it is called La Mona - which literally means monkey... but this cake has little to do with monkeys, except in as far as the children scamper around like little monkeys trying to get another piece of cake.

The Friday before vacation was dedicated to Easter activities. In the morning each class decorated its own mona. They made paper chef hats and went to town. All the cakes were put on display in the main hall and when the parents came to pick up their kids for the midday meal, there was lots of ooing and ahing. In the afternoon, the entire school trooped outside and each grade level had its turn to sing an easter song, called caramelles, and the upper level performed some Catalan dances in traditional dress. Afterwards, the cakes were brought out to the playground and each class devoured their own cake. They made short work of the cakes, so I didn't get a piece, but in the real life, the day of the Mona is Easter Sunday. So I'll get to try some then!

These are the sweetest two girls, both from Argentina, in 5th grade. The one on the left is gluten-intolerant so her mother made her a special cake so that she didn't have to feel left out while the others chowed down. She was so cute with her own little mona!

This is traditional Catalan dress for males.

Another Exciting Discovery at the Castle

The temperatures climbed to 18 or 19 degrees today and a warm breeze wafted through the plaza. We opened up all the Spanish doors in our apartment and let the springtime in! 

Later, we made a picnic and hiked up to the castle to spend a few hours in the sunshine. The trees are blooming and spring is really here.

On the walk up we saw the most curious thing. A line of caterpillars walking up the road - in  fact there were many lines of them, though most had been smooshed by passing cars. It was so odd and interesting, the way they stayed together as they moved, that we googled it as soon as we got home.

This is what we read: An innocent line of caterpillars on the move in the area of pine trees may not appear dangerous. Be aware, however, that these harmless looking creatures can present a serious threat to humans, and most especially, to dogs and cats. The caterpillars should be avoided at all costs but if humans or animals come into contact with them, emergency treatment should be sought immediately.

Each caterpillar has approximately 60,000 pointed defensive urticating (barbed) white hairs containing a toxin. They have been known to cause a severe itchy rash on humans that can last up to three weeks and can even cause temporary blindness and/or respiratory problems. A doctor should be consulted.

Kinda makes you want to just stay at home. Happy Spring!

Amazing Animals!

In 5th grade English class, the children are learning about animals. Domestic animals vs. wild animals. Pets. What they look like, what they eat, where they live, etc. It is very interesting for them, as they all seem to love animals and are having fun learning the vocabulary in English. Yesterday we were doing a unit on amazing animals, talking about tree frogs, which eat their own kind, vampire bats that drink blood, and tarantula spiders that can eat small birds. Rosa, the English teacher, began an exercise asking the children "what is an amazing fact about ________?" and they had to come up with the answer. Some examples from this exchange are: What is an amazing fact about an ostrich? It has wings but it can't fly. What is an amazing fact about an eagle? It has powerful sight. What is an amazing fact about a kangaroo? It has a pouch where it carries its baby. What is an amazing fact about a dog? It has a strong sense of smell. What is an amazing fact about a gecko? It can walk on walls upside-down. You get the idea. So we're going along like this and then Rosa asks, what is an amazing fact about a pig? A few students make some attempts. It is pink. It is dirty. It has a flat nose. Yes maybe, Rosa says, but that is not what is amazing about it. I look at her, wondering what she is going to say, thinking it may be something about their intelligence. "The amazing thing about pigs is, when they are dead, we eat everything." Y me quedé boquiabierta. What has that got to do with the amazing-ness of pigs???!! I guess I should have expected as much here in the Pork Capital of the World. Poor little piggies.

"Estamos Perdidos en el Bosque"

Those are probably the last words you want to hear when you are at the mercy of informal guides, in the middle of the Catalan countryside, blanketed in snow. Yesterday we got up early and set off to meet up with a small group, with the intention of walking to a nearby town called Riner. As it had been described to us, Riner is located about 8km south of Solsona (which is 5 miles in English - Daily Show anyone?) and we were going to walk there, have a little snack and walk back in time for comida. Sounds harmless enough, right? It was a lovely day, the sun was shining, and we set off, a group of six - Kristian and I, Roser (the director of the school I work at) and a man and two women that we just met. It wasn't long, maybe 10 minutes into the walk, that the road we were on turned into a dirt road, or I should say, a mud road. With the crazy snowstorm we had last weekend, and the sunshine and rising temperature, the path we were on was a muddy, slippery disaster. We walked on beside a small river for a few minutes more and then came to a fork in the road - one path continued alongside the river and the other cut off to the left uphill and was a little more wild-looking. There was a short discussion and then we chose the path that led up. There were a few comments and some joking about how we were on an adventure and how we might get lost... but they seemed confident and unconcerned and we plunged ahead. The lack of sure-footing, due to the mud and snow, made the walk more difficult and challenging - but it was only 5 miles... Keep in mind that on Saturday, the day before, I had run 15 miles and was sporting a blister the size of my big toe, on my big toe, and was slightly favoring my right leg due to what felt like a pulled groin. I thought the walk would be a nice way to stretch my legs though - I didn't know it was going to be an arduous mountain trek. After walking for about an hour or so, it began to be clear that we took the wrong road. As the debate about which way to go or whether we were actually lost was being discussed in Catalan, it was a little unclear what was actually being said -- if we just took a slight detour and they knew how to correct it or if we were really lost. It became clear when we left the dirt road we were on, cut across a big snowy field, entered into the underbrush on the far side, walked for another 5 minutes and came back out to the same field in a different location and crossed it again. ¡Por el amor de dios! We finally reached a summit of sorts, and at the edge we paused and the truth came out. We were lost. All around us were snowy hills and valleys. A debate began about which direction was which and if we should retrace our steps or continue wandering in a new direction. They kept exclaiming, "que aventura!" and in reality it was an adventure or "a forced death march", depending on your perspective. The "leaders" decided we would keep going forward, which meant going down - but also up again since from our perch we could see nothing at the bottom but the deserted hillside rising up on the other side. So down we went. At the bottom we again deserted the path we were on to duck under a thankfully non-functioning electric fence, and began to scale the hillside, passing the most enormous frozen piles of caca I have ever seen. I said a silent prayer that they were made by cows and that we weren't about to come upon a surprised and disgruntled bull. Thankfully we encountered neither, but the prolific dung piles just added to the general unease we were already feeling. I was reaching a certain level of fatigue, and my right leg was aching something fierce, and passing through the muddy fields made each step a struggle as the mud clung to our shoes in big clumps and made our feet weigh double. At the top of that hillside we encountered a chain of power lines that led off into the distance, so we set off to follow them. Electricity must lead to civilization, ¿no? And eventually it did. We came upon a road that was an actual road, and several cars even went by. Saved! Almost three hours had passed, but they recognized the road we had found, and said we were just about there. Phew! We struggled out of the underbrush and descended onto the road, where we stopped for a water break, and the "leader" took out his map to show us how lost we had been. WAIT! WHAT???!!! He had a map THE WHOLE TIME???!!! Holy crap, I think both of our heads almost exploded in that moment. Roser called me over "mira, Deborah, es muy fácil llegar a Riner si sigues el rio..." but we walked a little crazy today. A little, eh?

Walking on the road was much easier and we set off again to reach our destination... because we were just about there according to them. The road went downhill and wound back and forth down the hillside. At one point we could see the road lead way out ahead of us and below us was the same road that had wound back on itself. Our fearless leader decided it would be easier to just scale the hillside down to meet up with the road again, instead of walking all the way out and following all its twists and turns. So the six of us scaled a rocky, steep hillside, covered with every imaginable kind of pricker bush - a grande shortcut. When we picked up the road again there was a road sign that said Riner 1.7km. Sheesh. I thought we were almost there! But we did finally make it. Riner, as it turns out, is not a town, but a small stone church and a crumbling tower sitting above the river valley. Yesterday was St. Sebastian's day and it is the one day of the year that the church is opened and a mass is held there. So naturally, there was a collection of people there milling around, waiting for the mass to end. In the meantime we climbed to the top of the tower to check out the view and then descended to receive our loaf of blessed bread that they handed out to every person at the end of the mass. It was delicious.

Thankfully, we didn't have to walk back. A phone call was made, and Roser's husband came to collect us. ¡Que aventura!

Nevadas Fuertes: Solsona 2010

It's Going to get Colder Before it gets Warmer

Rounding out the first week of March with another cold spell. Last week was lovely and mild but we're about to dip down into the low single digits or negatives again. And tonight and tomorrow they are predicting "nevadas fuertes". Eek. I'll keep you posted, no pun intended.

This weekend is the Fira del Trumfo i Las Tófonas - which means we're celebrating potatoes and truffles. All throughout the Plaza Mayor and spreading out through the narrow streets of the old city into the Plaza del Catedral there are booths set up and local vendors selling artisan cheeses and cured meats and of course, potatoes and truffles. There is a lot of life down there and yesterday they held a potato peeling contest.

 

I wandered around down there for a bit yesterday and sampled some cheeses - there was even one made with pesto. It was green! I bought a bar of delicious dark chocolate with coffee, made in a little province about 50km from here. Then I spent an hour or so sitting in the sunshine, reading my book. Today is Sunday, a bit colder, and we've already had breakfast and gone for a 6 mile run. We're off to a good start. The run felt good, especially considering I did a 13 miler just two days ago, so that is a confidence booster for the marathon. I registered on Friday for the race, no backing out now! Only 6 more weeks of training to go.

An Old Dog and the Sun

This past weekend was nice and relaxing. We didn't have anywhere to be, so we just chilled in Solsona. A good night's sleep has been hard to come by since Carnaval and we've been fighting lingering colds and lethargy, so relaxing was just what the doctor ordered. I just finished reading Orgullo y Prejuicio (Pride and Prejudice) and its charm and humor come through just as well in Spanish as they do in English. In need of another book to read, I spent a little time on Friday afternoon perusing the shelves of the local, one-room library for my next literary adventure. I settled on La Mujer del Viajero en el Tiempo (aka The Time-Traveler's Wife). While I may not have chosen to read this in English, it is proving to be a good choice for Spanish practice. It is about a man who travels back and forth in time and often encounters himself at various ages. It is a good exercise in recognizing Spanish tenses and pronouns. So a good part of the weekend was spent cozily on the couch, reading. On Saturday we ventured out to a cafe to get some work done and treat ourselves to a chocolate overdose. I think I've mentioned that when you order a hot chocolate here, what you get is a cup of what is essentially hot pudding. It is thick and rich and oh! so delicious. To go with this, as if this cup of goodness wasn't enough, we each had a croissant whose ends were dipped in chocolate. Little did we know that they were also filled with chocolate on the inside. Nothing like a little weekend overindulgence.

On Sunday, so as not to fall behind in my training (and to atone for Saturday's chocolate binge) but not wanting to exacerbate my nagging cold, I just ran 6 miles, with positive results. This weekend I'm shooting for another long one - closer to 13 or 14 miles.

An unrelated anectode: there is an old dog that lives somewhere in the plaza. We see him often, sitting outside a bar that his owner must frequent, or around town. The way the old city is built, the sun doesn't reach the interior very often, but there are a few spots in the middle of the plaza where some rays make it to the ground in the morning. Every morning this old dog is let out and every morning he predictably makes his slow old way right over to the sunlit area of the plaza and flops down to bask in the warmth. Isn't he cute?!