Small Adventures Weekend

            The weekend after Cádiz, I was ready to just take it easy at home.  The Shannons returned to Cádiz for the day on Friday to get more NIE stuff sorted out while Charlotte and I slept in.  When they got back, we were invited to go on a night hike to the Torre del Tajo to watch an eclipse, so Charlotte, Shannon M, and I jumped at it. 

            After a bit of confusion as to where we were metting our group, we finally found our companions.  It was a group of 6 españoles and one adorable dog.  The group was 4 teachers from a different school in Barbate and two of their friends.  It was really cool to chat with them as they are from all different parts of Spain, and of course hiking at night was a totally different experience than hiking during the day. 

            When we reached the top I tried to take some pictures but night photography is hard, and they all came out fuzzy or streaky.  Just look at the pictures from my last post and pretend they're at night.  That shoud do the trick!

            The “eclipse” we were promised ended up not being what we all had envisioned, but rather something called a penumbral lunar eclipse.  Pretty much the only thing you could see that clued you in that something out of the ordinary was going on was that there was a reddish ring around the full moon.  Admittedly, it was pretty cool, but we were all exhausted and it was almost 3am and we were taking the long way back into town.  All of which added up to not-so-happy language assistants.  When we finally got back into town we were pretty much asleep instantly.

            The next morning (well…maybe we slept in and this didn’t actually happen until the afternoon), Charlotte, Shannon C (two Shannons, this could get confusing, so bear with me) and I headed to the nearby town of Vejer de la Frontera.  Vejer is a pueblo blanco, or white town.  They are pretty common in Andalucía and are just gorgeous.  They are usually up on a hill and all the buildings are made of white stone, so they are incredibly picturesque. 

View of Barbate and the ocean from Vejer!

How pretty is that?

That church is the only building in town that's not white.

            We were moseying around the town, just taking it all in, when all of a sudden and old man approaches us.  When he gets close enough, we see that he is holding a tiny chameleon!  It was so adorable, but we were slightly concerned because he was squeezing it pretty hard.  We got the feeling this was not the first time this man had caught an unawares chameleon. 

Just a leetle guy.

            After a few hours of exploring, we headed back into Barbate.  We had just enough time to shower and change before heading to Claire and Dave’s for an AMAZING dinner.  Before doing the auxiliares program, Claire and Dave worked as chefs in Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL, and let me tell you, they are very good at what they do. 

            It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.

            The selection of appetizers included brie-stuffed, bacon-wrapped, maple syrup-drizzled dates and my personal favorite, a little tostada topped with tomato jam, caramelized onions, and goat cheese.  Perfection. 

            The main course was, of course, paella.  It had all kinds of veggies in it, as well as some chorizo and quail eggs.  So fancy and delicious.  There were also tuna-stuffed peppers, braised chicken, and an arugula salad.  It was a big NOM all around. 

Charlotte was so excited to nom.

            We had such a great time getting to know each other better and enjoying some AWESOME food! Thanks Claire and Dave!!!

Torre del Tajo

            For those of you who don’t know (which I’m guessing is almost anyone who reads this blog), the area along the coast between Barbate and the nearby town of Caños de Meca is part of el Parque Natural La Breña y Marismas del Barbate, and is basically the Spanish equivalent of a National Park and Wildlife Refuge.  Every month they offer various activities such as guided hikes, chameleon watching, and astronomy introductions.  The day after we got back from Cádiz, we decided to take advantage of a guided hike to el Torre del Tajo. 

            This was especially well timed because it was the first time the six of us Barbate/Zahara auxiliares were all together.  The day started at el punto de información, or visitor’s center, where we met our guide, a spunky and very short Spanish lady named Chari.  Before we could head out, though, she gave us a very thorough introduction to the park, including telling us about the wildlife you can see, plants that grow there, and the history of the tower we would be hiking to.

            An hour after our scheduled departure time (are we Spanish or what?) we finally started our hike.  As we officially left Barbate, we passed this somewhat ominous-looking sign.

Last chance to turn back. 

This undeveloped beach, La Playa de la Hierbabuena, is on the other side of the port from where I live.

            After probably just under 2 hours of hiking slash stopping every hundred meters so Chari could explain this plant or that plant, we finally reached the tower at the top of the cliff!  The tower was one of the old lookout stations that were used both to watch for pirates and enemy ships as well as to quickly communicate messages down the coast.  When we first arrived we thought you couldn’t actually go into the tower but then Chari pulled out a magical keychain and we were in!

Yeah, we're going in there.

Ascending the comically small sprial staircase.  Charlotte has no fear.  

The view from the top was GORGEOUS.  I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

The trees on the right look like something out of a Dr. Suess book.  

Oh hey, Barbate.  

Made it!

The 6 of us! Finally complete :)

            After climbing down from the tower, we walked down a little bit more to a second lookout spot.  Chari told us a story of star-crossed lovers whose families didn’t want them to be together so they threw themselves off the cliff.  Pretty dramatic.  She says that if you look hard enough you can see their faces in the rock. 

See any faces? Me neither.

            We then made our way back down the trail, back to our home sweet home of little Barbate.  And we were greeted by this much less ominous sign. 

No red slashes here.