Monday, September 12, 2016

Today, my family and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6:40.  HAHA!!  I love that any time before 7am seems ridiculously early in September, because for the last four years of my life, 6am was the norm.  Man, although I sometimes miss school (yes, I really do; I honestly enjoy learning and getting assignments done), I do NOT miss being forced to wake up so early.  Plus, this early hour was for something more enjoyable than math class at 7:25am--we were going hiking.  We went up the mountain overlooking Casas Bajas and the nearby town, Casas Altas, gaping at the fantastic views and listening to the church bells toll the hour.  Funnily enough, we heard the bells of three towns, and every town was separated by two minutes.  Weird, huh?  It was a beautiful symphony, both to the ear and eye: the bells singing, the sunrise staining the sky, and the towns slowly turning from the blue of shade to the gold of sunshine.  During the hike, Olivia and I, of course, saw many birds: the Blue Tit (yes, tit, now stop giggling, you immature people.  British people chose to call various species of birds, similar to our Carolina Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse, tits.), Great Tit, Blackbirds, Black Redstart (lifer!), Stonechat, Dartford Warbler (lifer!), Sardinian Warbler, Rock Bunting, and Crested Tit.  During our almost-three-hour hike, we also stopped to pick some almonds fresh off of almond trees and took pictures of a really cool hut near the top of the mountain. 

By the time we got back to the house, we were famished.  Other than a few delicious figs we had picked directly off of a tree, we had not eaten breakfast.  We went to a store and bought breakfast foodstuffs, than went to make our meal.  Right outside of the house, I saw another lifer: the Nuthatch!!!  In the States, my favorite bird is the Brown-Headed Nuthatch, and I had never before seen its European counterpart.  I quickly got Olivia, and we got a great look at the inquisitive bird before going inside and wolfing down our breakfast.  Breakfast was decadent: a cheese sandwich with tomato rubbed on the bread, bread with nocilla, and kiwis, figs, and paraguayos (a sweet, juicy fruit that I lament has yet to make it to the US).

Since we were leaving Casas Bajas today, we had to furiously shower and pack to get out of the house (which was made in the 1800s, by the way, with gorgeous beams and quirky doors) before going for a walk around town.  When we were hungry, we got lunch at a bar/restaurant (every restaurant here is known as a bar/restaurant, because every one of them serves alcohol).  My family and I ate at a table next to a group of old men, who, during a Monday afternoon, were playing cards, betting, cursing, and drinking beer.  Olivia and I each got sandwiches for lunch.  These were no usual sandwiches: the cooks had cut an entire loaf of bread in half, with each of us getting a half; rubbed tomato on it, covered it with slabs of mouth-watering jamón serrano, and drizzled each with rich olive oil and spices.  I also had manchego on my sandwich.  Needless to say, we had some left for the car ride.

On the road to Málaga.  Though the trip was supposed to take seven hours, it took us nine.  Have I mentioned the trouble we had with directions and driving in Spain?  The entire time, I read The Orphan Train.  Oh my god, unless you're reading Harry Potter, read that book right now.  It is stunning, showing the ugly and beautiful mirrors of humanity.  I finished it at 1:00am the next morning, and felt like crying when I was done.  No, the crying part was not a spoiler, I was just overjoyed to have experienced such a powerful book and heartbroken to be done with it.  Finally, I went to sleep.