Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't written in awhile, a lot has been happening as I'm trying to squeeze in traveling and other things before I leave Spain. So here's a quick review of what I've been doing the past few weeks...I'll try to keep it short!
NUEVA LLANES:
So even though I had hurt my foot before and just didn't have enough time/resources to train for a half marathon, I decided I still wanted to race somewhere in Spain. A couple of my friends and I decided to register for a 5k in this small town near the ocean called Nueva Llanes. It was kind of sketch because we weren't really sure where the race was, but we decided to just show up and find out! After some minor troubles getting there involving two buses and a train, we made it. And found a small little town that didn't really have much besides a few horses and ponies...No signs...No registration table...No balloons or happy pump up race music blasting...
So we asked some women we saw walking if they knew where the race was and their response was "There is no race this year. There's usually one every year, but this year it's under work!" Hmmmm. We asked them if there was anything else one could do in this little town while dressed in race clothes, but they didn't have anything for us. We ended up walking to the beach to see the Playa de Las Cuevas del Mar. In order to make our 5k training worth it, we made a rule that we had to sprint every time we saw a horse. I think we made up for missing the race!
The beach ended up being one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen!!! And the caves were so cool! It was a pretty secluded beach because I don't think anyone really knows about it (no one in my host family really knew what I was talking about), but I hope it stays that way. We splashed around in the water for a bit, climbed some rocks, saw some crabs and found a starfish. Then we hiked up the cliffs where the cows roam (cow pies everywhere!) and had the most amazing view! The rocks and cliffs were crazy and the water was so blue and the grass so green!!! We also saw some fishermen fishing off the sides of the cliffs. We hiked, laid in the grass, listened to music, and talked while enjoying the lovely scenery. After stumbling upon another smaller beach and playing in the water again, we headed back. Unfortunately when we came back, the tide had risen a ton and our previous path was under about 5 ft of water...
So we had to climb up this steep mountain, and then the really fun part, down the steep mountain. We had to go through some brushes and ended up coming out of this forest that was right in front of this little bar near the beach. People gave us some funny looks, but I guess it's not everyday a bunch of American girls come stumbling out of the woods.
It ended up being a really fun day though! Finished with some mint chocolate chip ice cream on the beach, can't get better than that. When I got home my madre was like, "You've burned yourself!!!" So maybe I'll be a bit tanner when I get home...
But as cheesy as it sounds, I really have learned that sometimes the best trips are the ones where everything goes wrong, and you do things you weren't really planning on, and make the best of it!
