Experiencing The South Of Spain

After Felix and I flew back to Scotland for a couple of days our ways parted. He went to France to visit some of his friends and I decided to go to Granada, Spain to visit Csilla, a good friend of mine. She had to go to school so left to my own devices I went around and met some pretty awesome people. Among which I met two women, mother and daughter, that were travelling around Spain in their van for a little bit. We got on quite well and at some point they invited me to join them on a little trip down to Almeria, a little town by the mediterranean sea that is particularly famous for it's moorish castle. Anyway, we headed off one morning and started driving, slowly, very slowly in their big and heavy van up the mountains in the Sierra Nevada. After an hours trip we happen to run into some of their friends which were just driving in the other direction. We stopped at a beautiful viewpoint with a large lake in between mountains and hills drawing the scenery before our eyes. After a long conversation in spanish (which by the way, I am not yet the master of) during which I mainly enjoyed the view and the happy people greeting each other we got back into the van and continued our journey.

"So what happened exactly?" I asked Christina, as I took some pictures of the large rock formations ahead.

"Well, it looks like there might be a plan change if you want. We can go to Sierra Nevada ski village, the friends we just met live and work there. And tonight there will be a party so it would be nice no?" She said with a stark spanish accent.

"Ok great, I am up for anything really - where are we going now then before going to the ski village? I am guessing we have time until the evening to do what we want?" I answer, a little uncertain of how planned this trip really was.

"Cool, you'll like it. Now we can go somewhere else. Mom said that we can go walking near-by after having lunch. There is a beautiful place called Los Cahorros which she walked when she was younger." She replied after a brief talk in spanish with her mother.

We continue driving through the quite barren and stony landscape that is lit up every now and then by great green fields dotted with almond trees in their full pinkish bloom until we arrive at a small parking place. Following a lovely fish lunch cooked on the vans stove we head out and follow the small paths down the hills and cliffs to the river at the bottom of this large and magical creek. We wade through the cold and clear water and then continue our walk, this time along the river which ran through caves and large valleys that were just starting to wake up from their winters sleep and bloom into spring. So after this little trek - which I would recommend to anyone, google Los Cahorros and go there - evening was coming closer so we start driving up the mountains. As we get higher and higher the temperatures get lower and lower until we reach the snow packed ski village. I had planned to go to the beach in Almeria so saying that I had under packed would be quite the understatement. The thickest piece of clothing I had was a thin green jumper that didn't keep me quite warm enough. With the support of Christina and her mother I managed to squeeze into one of their (tiny) winter coats which meant I could happily join them on the party.

The following noon we wake up in a cold van with dizzy minds and start travelling down the mountains as quick as possible. Driving downhill was actually possible and quite enjoyable in this big van - we were nearly as fast as some of the other cars. None the less we managed to get to Orgiva, a small village in the Alpujarra mountains in which we stopped and rested for the night.

We woke up very refreshed and, to my bliss, warm and cosy in the big van. For today we had planned a little walk down to an alternative community called El Morreon and spend some time along the river having a picnic. I had to get back to Granada at this point so instead of staying with them and continuing down to Almeria I decided to take the bus back to meet Csilla. I told her about the trip and it turned out that she actually grew up in El Morreon and that we she had been planning a little trip to go there with me.