Halloween Weekend in Granada

          Happy Halloween everybody! This past weekend, we had 5 days off from school because of the coincidence of not having class last Friday, having All Saints Day on Tuesday and having this wonderful thing called Puente. Puente is if you don’t have school on either Tuesday or Thursday, they make a Puente (a bridge) to include not having school on Monday and Friday, respectively. Yup, I know, Spain is awesome. I decided to stay in Granada for this period of time and enjoy/explore the wonderful city I’m living in.

Before Halloween weekend started though, there was a Barca v. Granada game in Granada! This game was said to be the biggest game in Granada in 35 years. It was very cool to be in the atmosphere of the city getting ready for the game. Rachel, Blake, Chelsea, Tyler, Justin, Jiela, Kristen, and I decided to go to the stadium. Although we had to watch the game through a window of a bar, it was so cool to be watching what was happening on the TV but be able to hear the crowd’s reaction behind us. I was repping my Barca jersey (though, not necessarily flaunting it considering I preferred to not receive a black eye or anything of the sorts) but I was still bummed that Granada didn’t win. They put up a great game and only lost 1-0.

Granada C.F. stadium!

Where we ended up watching the game from

Friday night, Marcela, Kat, Lorelyn, Colleen, Parker, Molly, and I decided to go see a movie! We saw Con Derecho a Rosa (Friends with Benefits) at the movie theatre not too far from my house. It was weird hearing different voices than that of the actors but I kind of got used to it. I was also pleasantly surprised about the amount of the movie I understood. It’s been cool lately noticing myself have an easier time with understanding people speaking fast Spanish. Though, it is a very odd feeling!

On Saturday, we went climbing up towards La Alhambra to go to the cemetery on the top of the hill. We continued up past La Alhambra only to find a beautiful lookout of the city on our way to the cemetery. The view was unreal. I keep discovering places throughout the city where I have to pinch myself to believe that I’m actually living there.

We found the cemetery after this lookout and it was not what I was expecting at all. It was giant with all types of tombs from full, mini house looking tombs, to walls filled with squares with names, dates, and RIP/DEP (Descansa en paz) It was a very extravagant cemetery unlike anything I had ever seen or expected to see. 

The view from the lookout we found! Here is a view of the famous Catedral in Granada with beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains in the background.

One of the many walls like this in the cemetery

Another part of the cemetery with the Sierra Nevada's in the background

Another day, a few of us that had stayed in Granada went on a hike. We returned to Monachil: Los Cahorros to do more of the trail. We hiked to the waterfall and had a picnic atop of it. Then we kept going past the waterfall to go a little higher onto another part of the mountain. We finally made our way back down a different way and back to the pueblo of Monachil. 

Matt, Parker, Colleen, Lorelyn, me, and Marcela at Los Cahorros

At Los Cahorros

Halloween night was definitely different here. Not as many people dressed up but if they were dressed up, they were dressed up to be scary as opposed to in the States, where you can really be anything your little heart desires. A lot of us from our group went to a bar called Hannigan & Sons II. There was a bunch of Halloween stuff going on there including giving out free masks and hats. After that, we went to a discoteca, El Camborio, which is in the Albaicin with a great view of the Alhambra. For my costume, I dressed up as a black cat! It was much different than the Halloween at home, but an awesome time nonetheless. 

Matt and me at Hannigans on Halloween night

Senderismo

Hola todos! Okay, so since it has been quite a while since I have filled you in on my seemingly un-real life in Granada I’m going to split up these next few posts so that I don’t write you one big novel at once.

Senderismo is the Spanish word for hiking! On Sunday, September 11, Marcela (my roommate) and I decided to go on a hike. There is a huge book of laminated pages all about different hiking routes and trails in the API office and the API intern, Lydia, recommended a hike through a pueblo called Monachil. Unfortunately, I did not  grab the laminated pages detailing where we should go from the API office (which they more than welcome you to do) so, our senderismo adventure definitely deserves the title of an adventure.  

We looked online for the path to do in Monachil, called Los Cahorros. It had a beautiful picture of a suspension bridge and waterfalls. We decided to try to do this hike so we packed our bags and our bocadillos (basically, the love child of a sandwich and a hoagie) and we were on our way via the Granada public transportation system. The bus took us to the Barrio Monachil (the neighborhood of Monachil), then we walked about 1 km to the Pueblo de Monachil (the town of Monachil). We had a rocky start to our senderismo when we weren’t sure exactly where to go once we got to the pueblo. After asking around for a while, we started walking towards the direction of Los Cahorros. Walking a bit took us to an option of turning up a hill towards a sign that was about a marked hiking path or continuing down the road. All we really wanted to do was do some hiking so we decided to take the path where there was a definite marked sign instead of venturing down the street where we couldn’t see much of anything about to happen.   

The hike ended up being neither a waterfall nor a suspension bridge. The path was called El Camino de la Cuesta aka a very dry mountain. Though it was fun, none the less! Here are some pictures:

 The view from the beginning of our hike

 At the top!

 Another view from the top of a very dry mountain

Then, the next week, we decided to return to Monachil with a few more people and actually find this mysterious waterfall and suspension bridge. Much to my delight, we found them! The hike was much more successful and lots of fun. We went hiking through gorgeous mountains and found many tiny suspension bridges, rivers, and a little canal leading up to the waterfall. The waterfall was gorgeous as was the extremely long suspension bridge. Most of us decided to go swimming in the waterfall which was more like taking the most magnificent ice bath of my life. So. Cold. On our journey, we also ate wild almonds off of an almond tree we found as well as wild higos (figs) which I have discovered are my new favorite fruit.

 A view at one point during the hike

 Yours truly on top of the waterfall and in front of the suspension bridge

Me and Kat going into the waterfall!

 So, so, so, cold

 Our hiking group in front of the waterfall

Overall, my first two times doing senderismo here were loads of fun and many memories made. Since we live surrounded by mountains, there is definitely more hiking to be done. I really want to do part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at some point. API is awesome with providing information for a plethora of activities to do outside of the classroom. In the office there are thick binders full of sports, hiking, other extracurricular activites, and travel information from API and from former API students about places all throughout Europe. Our program directors here, Carmen and Curra (and the intern Lydia), are so helpful in all aspects of the imagination. Lydia went with me to Barclays with me to open up my first Spanish bank account and Curra/Carmen helped me when I needed to go to the doctor a couple days ago by giving me all the information I needed to specifically ask for in order to fill out my insurance form later. They even offered to come with me if I felt as if I needed someone there. API has been doing a great job with everything. I couldn’t be happier with my choice to study abroad with them!