Em325

After visiting the Erro homestead, Paulina, Javier and I took off to head to France. Yes, we are that close! From Ureta we drove through the colorful hills that were blossoming with fall colors. There were horses in the fields (the big, worker horses that are thick and full of muscle!), cows every which way, including in the roads! No joke, as we were driving, a herd of cows without any person leading them, came trotting down the road. We were forced to stop the car because these huge animals were coming straight on! It was definitely an experience...And the cows here are "real" cows. They are big and not living in small confined places, no, no, they are eating the grass and being jolly. We arrived to the top of a mountain and Paulina said ... read more

Javier and I hopped off the train in the Pamplona station to be greeted by sweet, sweet Paulina. This woman has never met me in my life and knew I was a very distant relative, yet she greeted me with the warmest hug I could have asked for! Right away she linked arms with me and began asking me a question a minute about the train ride, my family, California, Granada, ect. (all in Spanish, mind you!) We walked outside to find adorable Paco waiting in the car with his cute plaid golfer hat. Paulina is my great, great grandmother’s cousin and Paco is her husband. I felt at home sitting in the backseat with Paulina. She is such a sweetheart! It seemed as if I was riding with my grandparents, or at least relatives a ... read more

Rain, rain, rain. Ready to leave the city of Tangier and explore more of Morocco that is off the beaten path of tourists, the group headed to Chefchaouen. As we left our hotel we found Tangier completely and utterly flooded. It looked as if water pipes had suddenly busted throughout the city, but the locals went on with normal life in ankle-deep rain water (even in their soft leather shoes). The narrow streets had turned into canals and even the stairs were now waterfalls. Without a rain jacket, I threw on the only hooded attire I brought which was a cotton sweatshirt. I was soaking wet and freezing cold in approximately six minutes. It was a long three and a half bus ride to Chefchaouen, but at the back of the bus I was surrounded by ... read more

A month into it and I have yet to write about my travels? This is proof of how crazy life has been in Granada. It is a beautiful city, with beautiful people, beautiful landscapes and a beautiful castle. I began living in an apartment in what we like to call the "ghetto" of Granada where there is graffiti on the buildings and bars over windows. My roommate Lindsay and I insisted on moving out of our Camino de Rhonda apartment after we found 3 cockroaches, had no internet, stove stopped working, the water stopped working and ever day walking to school we would be whistled at by construction workers working outside our window. We are now living in a residencia, and at first it seemed like heaven...There are about 7 senoras and one senor who do ... read more

Almuñécar is a small fishing town about an hour bus ride from Granada. It is on the beautiful Mediterrian coast in an area called the Tropical Coast (Costa Tropical) for good reason. The valley we rode our bus through is covered with lush trees and more greenary than anywhere I've seen before in Spain. It felt like we were riding through Costa Rica! My roommate Lindsay and I decided to take this little weekend get-away at the beginning of September. We were meeting two of our other friends Ashley and Shannon (they go to school with Lindsay in Delaware) and looked forward to a fabulous weekend. Origionally, Lindsay and I thought we were going to Nerja--another beach town on the coast. We hopped on the bus heading to Nerja. We got off at the first stop ... read more