Title: I don't know where to begin

Post:

A couple days ago I went on a hike in some Spanish Mountains. This was in the Grazalema Natural Park which surrounds the White Town of Grazalema. (A "White Town" is a town that is completely white. All the buildings are white washed regularly by the lady of the house. It was/is tradition for the women to take on the huge task because the men were out farming the lands. Our guide mentioned how it sets up the scene in a comical way. She describe how the women are out in there work clothes with brushes attached to very long poles that stretch to the tops of the sometimes 2-4 story buildings. She also said that it's impressive because they take on the task within a day or so.) Anyway, on this hike a few of us that happened to be close to each other started talking about writing in our journals. We all agreed that when you really want to write in your journal about something there is so much going on that you don't have time to write but when you have time to write there is not much going on and it's hard to remember what to write. And I'm pretty sure that most other people on this hike would have agreed but you could only talk to a few people that were close to you because we had to walk single file so that you wouldn't fall off the narrow path. The vertical drop some 200 feet or more would not be pleasant.

So, that's how the story goes, I had so much going on in the last five or six days that it's hard to come up with one chronological story. But I have a few highlights.

The first two are the schedule trips that I signed up for; the churches of Cadiz and the hike at Grazalema. The church tour was pretty interesting because not only did we get to see some beautiful churches we also got a quick tour of the small city. The first thing bout the city that you learn is that it is much like a hand and an arm. If you were to raise your hand in the air your hand would be the old part of Cadiz, Spain and the arm would be the new part. The old part had several cathedrals, a newly discovered Roman Theatre, the old cigarette factory, our port, the train station, and many buildings made of sea rock that was harvested from the shores of Cadiz. The rock was particularly interesting because you could see fossils and shells within these blocks that made up these amazing building. However, it is now illegal to harvest this rock so the new part of cadiz looks much more westernized with cement and metal buildings. Also, because of the destruction of Cadiz in war, the city added a wall and watch towers to protect them. So, the old part of the city and the new part of the city are separated by a grand wall at the "wrist." The other trip was the hike that I was talking about. To my surprise the hike ended up being a pretty vigorous one up a fairly steep mountain during the hottest part of the day. The temperature was near 90 degrees F. but luckily there was a strong breeze. The guides even told us that it would be tough because they usually start the hike early in the morning at about 8am considering the typical hot weather but we were starting it at about 1pm. We took a few short breaks to enjoy the views and they were amazing. Unfortunately, my camera died on the way to the hike. However, there is one picture of me looking out over the land that does exist. It will probably be one I get on facebook though. Once we had hiked about 2 1/2 miles we stopped for lunch in the shade and then hiked the same path back. It was very gratifying.

We also got a chance to eat a ton of Spanish foods. We had Tapas and Paella for the most part which were both excellent. The different atmospheres of each of the places we ate made the food that much better.

There is some more but it so hard to cover it all. However you can email me any time (scperry@semesteratsea.net) to ask me anything. I would especially like to hear from Sarah, Max, Tiffany, Kyrsten and Britni because you guys are the fourth graders that wanted to know more about Spain. Hopefully I can answer some questions for you if you have any. I will answer any emails as soon as I can but tomorrow I leave for a camel trek! So, it might take a little while to get back to you but don't be discouraged.

Here I come Morocco!