Hiking in Cantabria

Hey all!

This past Sunday I went hiking with my Mama Christina and roomie Sarah in Cantabria for one last hoorah before school starts back up for three more weeks.

This hike turned out to be a lot more fun than the last hiking adventure I went on at the beginning of spring break. We hiked almost 20 km in six hours!!! (That's almost 12 miles if you don't want to do that math...) I was so exhausted by the end, but so happy as well! We had to leave the house at 7:30 am, and didn't return until 10 pm! That was because the trail head was two hours away driving.

The weather wasn't spectacular - it was a bit chilly and rained briefly, but Mama Christina made sure that we were fully prepared. She practically packed the whole house! She equipped both Sarah and I with fleece jackets and raincoats to keep dry. I was carrying the backpack Sarah and I shared at the time when it started raining, so I definitely looked like a turtle with it tucked under my coat! And Christina outfitted me with an impressive bucket hat, so needless to say I looked ridiculous.

All of the people were incredibly friendly towards Sarah and I during the whole hike. This is a complete 180 turn from our last hike experience. All of the people were interested to talk to us and know where we were from and how we liked Bilbao and Spain. I found that a lot of people had traveled to the US at some point, but mostly to major cities like Los Angeles and New York City. A few people knew where Kansas was, including on British woman who'd been living in Bilbao for ten years while working for the European Union! I don't know much about the Union, but Sarah had fun talking to her because she's taking a class about Spanish/European politics and the like.

Once we finally reached the end of the trail, we stopped to eat. It was about 4:30 by this time so I was definitely starving because the trail mixes we'd all passed around definitely weren't sustaining me. We ate delicious sandwiches that Christina made and then relaxed for a bit and talked to more people in the group. I told one woman about my studies back home (Anthro and Spanish) and she was impressed when I explained the company that I worked for last summer and all that it does.

Eventually we drove back home and I could finally shower after getting all muddy and sweaty from the wet trails. Christina was kind enough to promptly wash our sneakers so they'd be clean again, and then we all went straight to bed!

Now I'm back in classes again for another three weeks. It's good to be back in the rhythm again, and it gives me something to do during the days. It also helps pass the time until Bryan and my family arrive in Spain!