Las Alpujarras

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On the weekend of Nov. 11th through the 13th I traveled to the mountains just south of Granada to explore the many terraced pueblos built along the mountainsides. After the Moores lost the Alhambra to the Christians they migrated south to the mountains of Alpujarras, which provided ideal growing conditions and great natural protection from enemies. From the top we could see the Mediteranean sea and on clear days, which is wasn´t, you are able to see Africa. There are currently a few groups of people living in some of the many old Islamic pueblos. Our guide was one of those people. He lives in one of the high pueblos with four generations of his family. We got to stop by and say hello to his wife and two daughters. He is a lucky man.

If the skiing was better I would love to live here. The only means of transportation to and from the villiages is either by foot or by mule. It looked like such a simple and rewarding lifestyle.

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Photos

El Grupo
This is the group that made the trek. Our guide in the front had his own mountaineering company ¨Navadensis¨ and he is also the recorder of all the snow and rain for the region.

Rio
Que Bonita, ¿no?

Rio Yerno
Iron River.
The river rusted becuase of the large deposites of iron in the mountain. This is also the reason why the water here is thought to have healing powers.

Laundromat Pueblo-style
This is where everyone would wash their clothes back-in-the-day.

Pretty Pueblo
This shot was perfect. With the waterfall and the little pueblo on top. So amazing!

Pueblito
This little pueblo was our final destination.

Cascada
There were artificial waterfalls all over the place. After hiking around the second day Robert and Katy and I went exploring for a while and found a bunch of waterfalls.

Niebla
On the second day it hailed on us and snowed a little bit. This is the group pushing their way through the fog.

Katy and I
Everyone meet our new friend from DU Katy.

Three Amigos
This is Katy, Robert and I when it was ¨snowing¨

Nice drainage!
In the last pueblo we saw, there were gutters in the middle of the streets for the water to run through.

El Mar
The gold shiny stuff in the distance is the Mediteranean Sea.

Nubes por la Mañana
The clouds the first morning were amazing.

¡¡¡¡Nieve!!!!
Finally some snow. During the night the high mountains got about an inch of snow. I was excited.

Comments

[Jeff Starosta]

Snow?
As you wait there for snow, so do I. It has been a long fall here in Bishop and the mountains are needing snow. Mammoth Mtn has opened only with a few runs? I'm not motivated to go yet, need powder. Sooo, I'll continue to escalar las montanas. Adios

[Ginny Lanz]

Thanks, Phil, Phildo, Felippe
Phil: I have really enjoyed your pictures. Don and Betty are faithful in sending the blogs to me.It is finally turning to winter in Texas. We even had some ice which prevented driving last week. Of course, it didn't last 24 hours! Love you, ginny