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Published: December 19th 2019
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"It's hard not to stand in awe and enchantment with the beauty in which nature expresses herself" - Steve Maraboli
This was my third day in Spain. By now I'd had two bike tours, one each in Madrid and Seville. They were both guided bike tours which meant that not only did I have some good exercise, but I also learnt a lot about the history of both cities.
After the bike tour in Seville, I walked up to the bus station. With my limited Spanish speaking and comprehending capabilities, I was able to locate the bus and buy my ticket to a place called Puerto Serrano. The owner of the house where I was going to stay, Laura, had said that she would come down to the bus station and drive me to her house at Algodonales.
Once the bus left the city of Seville, I could notice a change in the topography. The buildings were replaced by mountains and trees, the roads were replaced by highways and the traffic was light.
I got to Puerto Serrano after a couple of hours. The bus station was in the middle of nowhere. There
were no shops or taxi stands around. I saw a lady in a car and asked her if this was the one and only bus station in town - and yes, it was. So I decided to wait there.
Ten minutes later, Laura arrived. I hopped into her car and off we went. She was very nice and friendly; she spoke in broken English and fluent Spanish and I spoke in broken Spanish and fluent English, all along the way.
I reached the house, rested for a while and stepped out in the evening to check out the town. This was the real Spain. The streets were small and all the houses were close to each other, so much, that you could hear your neighbours talk.
Walking down the street, I got the feeling that everyone knew everyone. I went to a store to buy some fruits and then visited a restaurant later to have some of the most wonderful tapas and some nice local beer. After hearing me speak in Spanish, many people were interested in knowing where I was from.
The next day, in the afternoon,
I walked to the parahawking base site. It was warm and sunny and by the time I reached the site, I had sweated a lot. I met the owner, Scott and also got to see the birds - Balderick and Edwin, both beautiful American Black vultures. We drove to the staging area where I met my pilot, David, who happened to be Laura's brother.
The wind was acting a little unpredictable, so parahawking seemed to be uncertain. But I was still hopeful - this was the main reason behind me visiting this country; I just had to do this.
We drove further up the mountains to the landing area. By now the wind was blowing in the direction that we wanted and the speed was also manageable. It was safe and Scott gave the green light.
I was given instructions and got harnessed. There was a strong gush of wind that hit me suddenly. The parachute got inflated half way, I tripped and fell and hit my head. Luckily I had my helmet on and wasn't hurt.
I got up and started running with my pilot. The parachute inflated and
we were airborne. David maneuvered the parachute and took us to a greater level of elevation. We were now around a kilometre above ground level. A couple of minutes later, I took out a piece of meat, kept it in my left hand and covered it with my right. These birds are very watchful with an extremely sharp eyesight. So you don't want to be in a situation where you have food in your hand and the birds comes to get it, while you're not ready. There was a device attached to us, for checking the elevation - it made a sound each time the elevation increased or decreased.
David blew the whistle and I held out my left hand. One of the birds, Balderick came by and nicely sat on my hand. It ate the meat, hung around for a few seconds and then flew away. I did that several times. When Edwin would come and eat the meat, he would stay on for several extra seconds and keep nibbling around, all over my fingers. I had a thick glove on, but it still pricked. I had to open my hand and show him that I
wasn't carrying any more food to let him know that it was okay to fly away. There was one time that Edwin acted lazy, decided to stay on even after eating the meat, sitting on my hand, even scratching me a bit; he was flying with me, as if saying 'Let's enjoy this beautiful view together'. I had to drop my hand letting him fly away. I was told that Balderick was better trained than Edwin - which was interesting - animals too, like humans, have different skill levels and personalities.
I could see parts of the Sierra de Grazalema National Park at a fair distance. There were no high rise buildings. Just mountains and trees all over, with some solar panels set up at some places on the mountains. And Balderick and Edwin were not the only birds up in the air - there were several other wild hawks and vultures up there, flying around, enjoying the air. It just showed how it is possible for people to coexist with nature. So many of us are a part of a fast paced life that sometimes we forget to take it easy and appreciate the beautiful things
that life has to offer - things that nature has to offer, things that are free.
I was out of meat in the end but just for fun, we still ended up calling the birds. The ride lasted for around half an hour. We got down to the ground and were treated to some local persimmons.
The next day I took the bus to Malaga. A day later I went to La Linea de la Concepcion and crossed the border into Gibraltar after going through passport control (the area is a British territory). I climbed all fourteen hundred feet of the rock of Gibraltar and also interacted with many locals - mostly about their relationship with the UK and what they thought about Brexit.
The next day I visited Gibraltar again in the morning and then took the train back to Madrid in the afternoon. It was raining in the evening and I took a local bus to get to my hotel. The next morning, I boarded my flight back to New York city and started to think of my next adventure.
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Aditya
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Kudos... keep 'em coming
The blog clearly indicates not just your passion but also how meticulously plan to achieve those goals... we live those moments with you those these blogs... kudos Aajay...!!!