Hiking in the Sierra Nevada!

Friday, January 28^th

Greatest accomplishment so far= Surviving my first ever hiking experience…and it was in the Sierra Nevada Mountains!  A group of us started our day at 9 a.m. by flagging down our bus to Monachil.  2.40 Euro round trip. When we got up to Monachil (near the mountains) it was now raining, or better said, it was pouring. Guess who forgot her umbrella at home? This girl. Jeanette graciously shared hers with me until the rain calmed down.  We had to navigate our own way to the hiking path, but with our great navigator, Sarah, we found our way. We stopped at a beautiful point in our walk to eat our bocadillos (sandwiches) that our senoras had made. I unfortunately had last nights dinner (cabbage and raisins) in between Italian bread.  It actually was better than I had originally thought.  I also had saved some of my chocolate bar from my previous adventure at Corte Ingles (grocery), que bueno!

After some debate and confusion as to where the path was, we followed our instincts (or should I say we followed our tour guide, Hercules the dog) to the beginning of our hiking trail.  We thought the mountain would be covered in goats and bulls...no...it was overpopulated with dogs. We saw some roosters, a donkey, un gato, and basically herds of dogs (and lots of caca). 

Our first initial view was breathtaking.  I didn’t know what I thought this hike would entail, but my god was it beautiful. We crossed a wobbly bridge (reminiscent to Indiana Jones), shimmied along the sides of caves, and raced to the top. 

Hercules!

                                                      Beautiful view in the Sierra Nevadas!

                                                      The Indiana Jones Bridge. Conquered.

On our back into Monachil, we had some spare time, so we stopped at a local bar. I tried Cruzcampo cerveza for the first time, pretty good Andalucia!  It came with a small cup of gumbo soup. There was some green tasting chicken like substance in it, which Jeanette called gizzard. MMmmmmm.   Not sure what it was, but I liked it!  We hopped on our return bus and I got home around 4. I was chilled to the bone from our rainy adventure and I couldn't get in the shower fast enough!  

The day was definitely an adventure that deserves another (or multiple) visits. Next week quizas??  The next morning I woke up with super sore hips and legs. Worth it!