Life in Granada--Almost Like Home, Sort Of

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I guess this was never sent to the web. Seems a bit old now, but it is a lot on our time in Granada.

Part 4
October 26 Granada
A spectacular day--probably about as good as it gets in terms of biking and a glorious way to end the cycling part of the trip. Perfect weather, roads, terrain, and time together.
Without a cloud in the sky, it was downright chilly when we started out, dropping into the foggy valley of Guadix, then climbing in the sun to warm up through the small ceramic selling town of . Dropping down through town, we turned left towards Granada and for the next 2 hours we didn't see a car as we climbed through the rocky, red cliffs of the lower Sierra, stunning in contrast against the clear blue sky. We crossed several steep ridges, sweeping down into a valley and back up over the ridge to La Paza. Then we climbed gently beside the river, flanked by yellow aspens highlighted by the sun behind them, offering us a welcome touch of autumn colors. This was ideal climbing terrain for the tandems, and we floated along in the middle chain ring, finally reaching the pass at a stunning 1297 meters above sea level. Just a couple hundred meters below our "big" climb over the Alps, I never imagined we had climbed so much since leaving the coast a few days earlier.
From the pass, the road swooped downhill, surrounded by barren high mountains, aspens down below, and gentle curves and descents that were fast but barely asked for us to apply the brakes. Warm but not hot, clear blue skies overhead, Manya singing behind me, all I could think was "this is as good as it gets." Realizing this was both a significant accomplishment and a wonderful experience for us all, but especially the kids, I was emotionally choked up and pleased simultaneously.
By lunch, beside a bright green reservoir beneath hundred meter cliffs, we had seen a total of 10 cars, and the newly paved road seemed simply like an extra wide bike path. After lunch, it was almost all downhill for almost 20 km to Granada. A slightly wrong choice had us climb to the Alhambra before dropping back into the city center, thus missing the Welcome to Granada photo op but letting us ride the cobblestone streets and get a feel of the many neighborhoods which will be our home for the next month.
Granada has more tourists than I had anticipated, but it also has more of everything else--students, old ladies, dredlocked hippies, locals, etc.--as it is a large city with a lot of interesting buildings and plazas and old nooks and crannies to explore.
We found the language school, Carmen de los Cuevas, but as they had said, they had no apartments available until ours is open on Monday. With the help of Vive Granada, a local agency, we found a modern 2 bedroom apartment to call home for the next 5 days. We welcome the chance to be settled, and everyone is happy to have made it so far so well in all respects.

Final trip statistics:
Total Distance: 2600km
Longest Day: 95 km
Shortest Day: 45 km or so
Maximum Speed: 78 km/hr
Flat Tires: 4
Worn out tire: 1
Brake shoes replaced: 2
Other repairs: 2 lost rack bolts, retaped handlebars.
Days of headwinds: Maybe 3
Days of tailwind: Maybe 10
Days of rain when biking: 3

Oct 28 Granada
Our initial impressions of Granada, sadly, have been disappointing. Maybe, hopefully, it is partly the transition from biking, where we got so used to the pace of the day, from the waking and shopping for breakfast, being physically active and outdoors, eating out at night with new discoveries, anticipating new experiences the following day. And maybe it is just the few parts of town we have been in that seem all too typified by graffitied walls and a remarkable number of deadlocked and pierced grungy youth in small packs of seeming stagnation or larger packs of tourists who flock here to see the sights.
Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect to come to a city and instantly feel at home and part of the neighborhood. But you do, a lot of times, get a sense of a place based on intuition or chi or varied impressions that tells you this is a place you can embrace. Valencia, for example, had this feel, once we found a place to stay, with the old river park and active plazas and busy central market. Here, things started optimistically enough when our first stop in town was the venerable Cafe Futbol, where we enjoyed homemade ice cream and horchata to celebrate our arrival, and the kids found more of the elusive soccer cards that seem to fascinate them and almost all kids here.
We made our way to the school, over what at first seemed quaint cobbled roads but eventually seemed like rough biking, and were fortunate to find a nice apartment during what is apparently a big travel weekend in Spain for a big, honor the saints holiday.
Traversing a fair portion of town, however, has yet to lead us to a location where locals seem to congregate or that exudes the vibrancy of the central plazas so common elsewhere. Along with a notable lack of flat spaces, there is a notable lack of parks, and even asking specifically about where kids play soccer has turned up nothing but blank shrugs. Even the great ice cream store, Los Italianos, which is right around the corner from us, seems closed for some reason whenever we happen by (it turns out that altho it is about 75 degrees in the day, they're closed for "winter").
A lot about these first impressions may be just luck of where you first happen to enter a city or stop or eat. Come in the wrong way or go to one plaza or restaurant instead of another more welcoming one and you might think quite differently about a place. Or maybe there really is an underlying energy to certain places, some vibrant and warm, others more closed and cold. I imagine this may be one of those places that reveals itself more slowly, without the grand promenade or plazas, but with many little nooks and crannies and hopefully hidden pleasures that can be discovered over time.
It might not help that Seville is so relatively close by and we have many fond memories of staying there years ago. It is hard to identify why we decided to end up here instead of there and it is all too easy right now to recall the bike paths there, the great tapas bars, the two first division soccer teams, and the open spaces along the rivers and plains there that seem more inviting by comparison. And having hoped to spend a month living in one spot that could feel like a home, maybe it is worth trying to change our plans and move over there. But this has many complications, so probably all we can do is hope for better fortune in finding what we hope is a more inviting side to Granada.

Nov 1 Granada
We have settled in, mostly, in Granada, and are feeling more at home. There is still a seedy side to town (which we have left now and, according to our Spanish teacher, has really improved from when it was downright dangerous a decade ago). Having started Spanish classes yesterday, we have moved into our apartment in the Albaycin, which is fairly ideal with a view directly across to the Alhambra and a little garden patio outside and about 2 minutes from school. Most importantly, at least according to Koby's view, we have left the city (he asks if we are going to go back to that city at all, not really realizing it is just down the hill about 400 meters). But this does feel more like a neighborhood up here, with its windy narrow streets and paths lined with whitewashed houses and varied nooks and crannies.
I guess we have been somewhat lucky with the weather. Until yesterday, it was still downright hot and anything more than shorts and t shirts seemed too much. A small front passing through has dropped the nighttime temps to be more autumnal, but in the sun during the day it is still fine for shorts. It would be nice to get a little snow in the mountains behind town, as this is a pleasant backdrop from our windows and maybe we could get up there to have probably our only small taste of winter this year.
Spanish classes started and this seems good for everyone. Even Koby, who likes to say everything is bad (even when he clearly likes something), by the end of the day said it was good. He and Manya are in a special kids class by themselves, and Elaine and I are in different relatively beginner classes. It is good we have been in Spain a while, as they don't really get the beginner concept much. All the teaching is in Spanish, which in the long run is great, but they don't exactly slow way down for novices. It makes me wonder about how much different teaching foreign languages in the US with youth is and if we do too much teaching in English. My class is with two Germans, a Frenchman, and a Belgian, so Spanish is about as good a common language as any and it seems I can learn a lot, hopefully, in a couple weeks.
The highlight of our days down "in the city," at least for Koby, was playing soccer daily with the local kids infront of the church. There seemed much to learn from this experience, not the least of which was some excellent soccer skills. The basic set up was someone would show up pat the church with a ball, usually about 6 or 7 o'clock, but I am not sure the time mattered. Then suddenly, about 10 kids would show up out of nowhere within about 5 minutes. Except for Sunday, there were never adults around (except the churchgoers who had to dodge the ball often, but at other times got soccer players as escorts as we waited to restart play). Maybe it was a city thing, but basically these kids played all day without parental supervision or, apparently, their parents knowing where they were.
The players were only male (a small group of adolescent girls sat together nearby usually), but the age range varied from 10-15, with this size range being from much lighter than Koby (although about the same height but 2 years older) to my height for the older boys. The "field" is small--maybe 30 yds long and wide towards the road and only about 10 yds to the church gates on the other side, with stone benches serving as goals. And, of course, the surface is stone.
There are a few types of play possible. A favorite is keep away, where whoever has the ball is trying to hold on to it against all others. This was kind of hard for Koby, but it is impressive dribbling practice and he actually caught on a bit to this rampant individuality. At other times, much preferable to Koby, was regular games with two teams. This was usually about 4 a side, but the idea of equal numbers never seemed too important, nor did staying in the game throughout. Periodically, players would take a break to ride one of the few bikes that would criss cross the field, or to sit on a bench/goal for a spell, or to simply go somewhere else to chat with some friends, all as the game continued. Since the games involved a lot of dribbling (quite impressively although their passing left something to be desired), it didn't seem to matter about numbers--1 v 4 is not that different than 1 v 5 or 6.
The age range, with no accommodations for the younger ones, makes for toughness. The little kids go right up against the bigger ones, both on offense and defense, and they quickly learn the game at a higher level than simply playing with peers. This was all great for Koby's play, and it was impressive to see his improvement in just a few days.
The other fun part from our play was making some friends in town, learning some Spanish (although these kids talk so fast and with the local accent that a lot of communication was a challenge), and watching the kids emulate the antics of the professionals, with mock tirades at the ref, rehearsed dives, and post goal celebrations doing the cuccharacha on the ground wiggling like bugs. And watching kids do bicycle kicks on rock from age 10 (and playing every day for hours) makes you see how they develop some pretty skilled players.
When not waiting for soccer, we went to a dressage horse show that was far from the tourist crowd, visited some of the lavish churches that have limited appeal, even with the tombs of the long dead Ferdinand and Isabella to see, ate shwarma (there is a strong Middle East influence here), and found more football cards to keep the kids occupied (Koby now has almost the whole FC Barcelona team). But mostly, we enjoyed feeling like we had a home where we could cook our own food, watch our favorite tv shows (Quien Quieres Ser Millionairio?), and get into a more settled routine that was different from the more mobile life we will be immersed in most of this year.

Nov 6 Granada
We have settled into Granada so much that we were able to enter the "closed" market in our neighborhood this morning. As far as we can figure, there must be some rule preventing markets from opening on Sunday, but since "our" market keeps his door shut (but unlocked) and lights off, everyone seems to turn a blind eye to any violation caused by this convenience.
Although we had thought our time here would be full of "free" time, it turns out school, and the ensuing studying, takes a fair bit of time. Between before class tours from 9-10, class til 1:30 and then lunch, errands, and studying, our days are pretty full, although I am continually appreciative of how lucky we are to have this extended time with no pressing responsibilities or demands and so much time together as a family. One of my favorite times is walking to soccer with Koby--10 minutes down the hill to our old haunt with him as a wonderful conversationalist (in drastic contrast to his Spanish class when he is reportedly absolutely silent). Or sitting together at the mirador (scenic viewpoint) across from the Alhambra, listening to live flamenco music reminds us of our good fortune.
Although I think I am learning a lot in Spanish class, I think (hope) I have reached the low (high?) point of frustration with the challenges of learning a second language. I am pleasantly surprised by my oral comprehension and even my reading from the textbook (although the intricacies of newspapers continues to cause problems--how you can know so many words and still not have any clue what a huge number of words mean is annoying). But when it comes to speaking, I am almost incapable of communicating (a cruel twist of fate for me, eh?). I am so buried in vocabulary, gender of words, conjugations, tenses, and word order, I can barely sort out a complete sentence. Although the immersion format of the classes is great for pushing your comprehension, it is hard to get any specific instruction for one's preexisting holes. It is particularly difficult to understand how they cover the finer points when the jump in levels is so extreme. Elaine, in Level 1, is on the very basics (although with it all in Spanish, they go fast too). Then level 2, where I am, skips right to future and present tense, thus leaving out all these details of sentence structure and speaking and building vocabulary and all these little ques and ses and comos that get thrown into sentences seemingly at random. There is no way they get to this in level 1 and in level 2 this is more or less assumed. So I am gaining a lot, especially in terms of vocabulary and learning tenses, but I can't put it all together at all right now, but I am hopeful some miracle will occur when it all starts to click.
Given how busy our weekdays are, we decided not to go away to the mountains this weekend. Partly this was due to the sudden drop in temperatures to real autumn, and partly to take in some culture here in town such as a energetic and entertaining flamenco show on Saturday (as Koby asked, how do they move their feet so fast?) and a well earned victory for hometown Granada Atletico C.F. in a top of the table division 3 game. We were unable to go to the Fiesta de Cerveza, that Koby mistakenly heard as Fiesta de Servicio (Festival of the Toilets). Maybe next time.

Nov 8 Granada
What we are not doing in Granada: eating out every meal, looking for hotels, moving about every day, getting on long distance transport, figuring out lots of logistics, visiting lots of sights. As we planned, this is a nice break from "traveling"--and our schedule feels more like home, with some obligations (school, food shopping, cooking, checking some stuff on the internet) and then hanging around home probably a lot more than your average visitor here. Part of our home time is just a chance to be settled more than when on the road, and partly this is our natural rural life tendency, and partly this is a chance to try to get the kids to sit down and do some official school work or play with toys or read more than is possible when moving about more. We expect this month of being more settled will help later in the trip to make it feel less like we are always moving about for 9 months and more like we have distinct segments of our travels and we are more ready to deal with the logistics of travel again after this time of being more grounded.
There is one logistical hurdle we have managed to avoid til now but have just begun to confront. Contrary to our maybe over optimistic belief that sending our bikes back would be not too expensive, our first efforts have found the cheapest price so far to be over $400 per bike. Considering we paid only that for one of the bikes, this seems abit exorbitant. I think we could buy a plane ticket for someone to fly them back to the US for less, and someone would get a free flight. We could try to send them back with my parents, but then they are stuck in JFK in NY with two big bikes and not an obvious way to get them out of the airport and to any home where they can be stored until we return. We will need to explore plans B and C and more, I think, to figure this one out. I always find these challenges less than pleasing and wish this was simpler, but such is the course of travel sometimes and I wish I could better deal with the hassles of this.

Nov 11
I think I am a graduate of Espanol Nivel Dos, although I am not sure how they decide this besides where they have spaces in the next class. I did well on the "final exam," but this is due to the fact that I am a good test taker and it only involved reading and writing. Given time and words in front of me, I can follow the rules of tenses fine. But trying to keep this all straight in my head and then say something actually has become harder as I learn more (and get more overwhelmed trying to sort it out in actual use). My reading is way better and I can understand a good bit of what the teachers say (we just learned they are not allowed to speak English in class, this leading Elaine almost to tears in trying to understand everything as a beginner), but my speaking will take more than a fair bit of work.
It is hard to judge the value of this kind of immersion teaching. There are many merits to this method and you are forced to expand vocabulary quickly and work your brain, but especially for Elaine and her fellow beginning students, keeping up with all the new material and concepts, while also trying to decipher Spanish vocabulary became very tiring. We think one of her teachers was just less skilled, and he really avoided any English, even when there were concepts that could have been made more clear with just a word or two of English. For me, I can pretty much follow the flow and even most words, but incorporating it all for use still is quite elusive, although given enough time to write (and maybe a dictionary), I think I may be able to communicate somewhat.
We are back in Guadix now, at the cave hotel that Koby thinks of our "vacation home in the mountains." The kids wanted to take their grandparents back here and we wanted to return to this very welcoming, tranquil, and scenic hotel that will surely someday become a much better known resort. I managed to drive through town with stalling only about 20 times. Not having driven for a while doesn't help, but the hilly terrain and narrow roads would be a challenge for me anytime.
The weather has certainly taken a towards winter since my parents arrived. There is snow on the mountains outside town and the nighttime temperatures seem to be getting maybe in the 30's. When the sun is out in the day, it is warm, but it has become cloudy, after weeks of clear blue skies, so there is a real chill in the air much of the time. Regrettably, I thought the cloudless days would never end, and have waited to take any photos in Granada and now it seems I may have missed the best light.
It is nice for us all to have family here. We found an apartment for my parents two doors from us that is the highest in the area and has the best view of the Alhambra of anything around. The kids can wander over there any time, and from their lofty porch, they can just call down to us as an antiquated version of a telephone.
We have discovered this odd economic phenomenon of apartment rentals, where the price for a place with multiple rooms, a kitchen, a patio, and all sorts of other benefits costs less than one room in a hotel. This seems to defy the rules of real estate but we appreciate the bargain. With only a week more for us to be in Granada, we are having to switch back into logistics planning again more seriously. This means planning to meet our friends from Wyoming, with whom we will travel to Morocco for a week and then on to Barcelona, looking ahead to Israel, and, most challengingly, getting our bikes back to the US as well as all our extra clothes and bike stuff and such since after next week we will be carrying all our belongings on our backs. The bike shipping has come down to sending them with my parents since the cost of shipping would have been over $400 apiece. We are getting all sorts of answers from the airline about sending them, from the website specifying only bikes with one seat packed in boxes (and an overall 40 lb. limit per person) to the airport personnel who say just put them on without any packaging. Of course, the only real answer will be at the airport, and if they won't take them then, we are in trouble with these. If we do send them, this leaves my parents with the headaches when they get to NYC, as getting them out the airport won't be all that easy, although we hope some ambitious cab driver will take them somehow for enough of a tip. Our other stuff? I guess we will try the post office and hope the cost isn't too much.

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