Here and There and Everywhere

Meet Canada's most recent astronaut!

2012-01-26T19:52:00.000+01:00

Have you heard the one about the guy who floated up into Space thanks to a helium balloon? Hard to believe? How 'bout if I told you he was only an inch or so high... believe me now? Here's the proof!

Crazy fun!!! A couple of Canadian teenagers put together a capsule with some cameras on it, a cell phone with GPS (so they could track it on landing) and that little Lego guy with his Canadian flag. They attached it to a helium balloon and then... up, up and AWAAAAAAAY! 97 minutes later, and 27 km up the balloon exploded and the contraption started falling... safely thanks to a parachute they made and were smart enough to include! :o)

I read about this on a Belgian news site, but you can find a complete article here (Canadian news channel).

How cool is that?! :D

The Crazy Awesomeness of Skeleton Sea

2012-01-19T20:59:00.001+01:00

So in my previous post (Playing with Trash) I said I was going to share some of Skeleton Sea's art with you. They had several statues/creations (I don't quite know what to call them!) on display at the entrance to the Volvo Ocean Race Village here in Alicante (plus two more in the VIP area which I didn't get to see). It's amazing at how creative these three guys are, how they can look at all this trash, and find a way to turn it into an art project! It's all a part of their passion for the ocean (all three are surfers), and you can hear it in their voices when you talk with them about previous projects and the crazy things they've found on beaches around the world... Anyhow, without further ado, I give you the Art of Skeleton Sea! (the name of each is linked to their website, where you can find more info on each project, the texts come from the panels accompanying each piece)

MSAMBWENI ARK.

by João Parrinha, Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of plastic beach sandals and mixed media (size 170x120x120 cm)

"The Msambweni Ark is rising in the sky, saving the last African wildlife from the great pollution on earth and in the water."

HIPPOCAMP.

by Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of driftwood. (200 cm)

"Once we proudly pulled Poseidon's chariot, then humans ate us due to our curativeness."

Interesting fact: Hippocamp was originally supposed to be the head for this next piece, but the proportions weren't right and they decided Cold Blooded would be more powerful if left headless...

COLD BLOODED.

by Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of driftwood (350x350x130 cm)

"An unreachable mountain, an unsurfable wave, I'm the power of the impossible."

ABYSS.

by João Parrinha

Made of beach trash, steel, wire (250x100x100 cm)

"Abyss is João's vision of the fish of the future, made of beach trash instead of flesh and bones, and surviving by eating rubbish rather than other fish - all of whom have been wiped out as a result of our own selfish existence. Natural evolution suggests this dark scenario isn't entirely improbable, and it's down to us as the earth's inhabitants to change our destructive way of life to ensure we don't end up going down that catastrophic road."

ROXY MERMAID.

by Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of mixed beach trash, mainly discarded plastic beach sandals (170x120x120 cm)

"Roxy Mermaid was created over the course of several days during the world-famous Roxy Pro surf contest in Biarritz, France. Primarily constructed using discarded beach sandals and other bits of miscellaneous beach trash, the life size Roxy mermaid sculpture rose from the rocks overlooking the waves on the Cote de Basque, attracting the attention of all who caught sight of her, each person mesmerized by her striking outer beauty. The fact Roxy Mermaid was created using pollution recovered from our oceans conveyed an important message about the dark and ugly reality of our impact on the environment."

FLIP FLOP FISH.

by Luis de Dios, Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of flip flops, steel (250x200 cm)

"After the big Flipflop search on Fuenteventura coastline and with a lot of help from friends and fellow surfers, we finally managed to gather some 250 single flipflops that had been washed onto the shore. Luis and Xandi built the fish in a non-stop 24-hour effort, right on the beach of Praia Esquinzo. For the film project, they carried the fish into the water and let him swim.. a small gesture to the world."

Speaking of the film project, here it is! I particularly enjoy seeing the fish come together at high speed about halfway through it ;o)

and last, but not least...

ALBATROSS EXHIBITIONIST.

by João Parrinha, Xandi Kreuzeder

Made of beach trash, steel, wire (155x195x60 cm)

"The Albatross Exhibitionist was constructed in Msambweni on Kenya’s South Coast. This majestic, plasticized Albatross highlights the dangers posed to seabirds by discarded plastics found in our oceans and on our beaches. Tragically, many seabirds are prone to mistaking plastics for food, and often suffer a slow and agonizing death after consuming everything from PET bottle caps, plastic bags and sandal parts to lighters, biro pens and razors."

found in an albatross's stomach

The Albatross Exhibitionist is the show piece for the "Keep The Oceans Clean" programme Skeleton Sea has organised with the Volvo Ocean Race. It will travel around the world with them and be housed in a Dome where a very powerful video about the dangers of trash to the Albatrosses on Midway Island will be shown. Lucky you, I've got the film right here! ;o)

I hope you enjoyed the Art of Skeleton Sea. It's fascinating what can be done with marine debris with a good imagination and the will to make a difference! Please remember to KEEP THE OCEANS CLEAN!!!

Playing with Trash to Keep the Oceans Clean!

2012-01-14T21:21:00.000+01:00

You remember me talking about that beach clean I helped organise here in Alicante, as a part of an environmental initiative hosted by the Volvo Ocean Race (story about the Volvo in Alicante here)? I hinted at there being another reason behind the trash collection than just cleaning up the beach... that the trash had a "higher purpose"! Well, it's time (way past it if you ask me! :p) to reveal said purpose: ART!

"Huh? ART??? In the same sentence as TRASH??? Whaaaaaaat???"

I hear you! But let me explain! There's this group of crazy artist surfer dudes who wanted to do something more for the marine environment that is pretty much their home, so they travel around the world collecting trash that the ocean has dumped back on our beaches (or directly abandoned there by man). With this trash they put together some pretty amazing sculptures (which I will share with you in another post) and show them in exhibits in the hopes of raising awareness for the problem of all that damn trash that's floating around in our oceans. Their name: Skeleton Sea. And they're collaborating with the Volvo Ocean Race this year on a project called Keep The Oceans Clean! At each race stopover port they'll organise a beach clean, then with the trash collected (and more "quality" rubbish previously collect elsewhere) they'll organise a series of workshops during which they will create a sculpture with the help of the local population. And Alicante was their first spot! It's a good thing they did bring all that extra beach rubbish with them, because although we picked up a lot of junk during our beach clean up, most of it wasn't "quality" trash, not of much use for the sculpture...

Not much you can do with cigarette butts and lollipop sticks, huh?

Here's the workshop, with plenty of space and materials ("quality" trash, paints, hammers, pincers, clippers, glue guns... you name it!) to let your imagination loose:

People of all ages came and participated, but I think the ones who had the most fun were probably the youngest...

and they got all the help they needed to bring their vision to life! :o)

Let me take you through my contribution! Since the theme for this sculpture was "flowers" we were asked to make some kind of flower to be included in a giant bouquet. I started out by cutting the bottom off a small water bottle and inserting blue "petals" I'd cut out (with great difficulty, and some welcome help from Xandi!) from some hard plastic. I then added a touch of yellow, and had to leave for a talk the artists were giving, followed by another from the owner of my dive club who had organised a scuba underwater cleanup in Santa Pola last September.

I went back the next day, determined to find inspiration in bits of plastic and other rubbish, and discovered the joys of playing with a glue gun! :p

Each time I thought I was finished there was "just one more thing" I discovered I needed to add to my flower... But the final touch was a little lady bug resting on a leaf.

How do you like my flower? :o)

I left it with the rest of the elements waiting to be incorporated into the final sculpture,

and went outside to check on the guys, i.e. Xandi, Joao and Luis, the Skeleton Sea artists who were hard at work:

Here's what the bouquet, called "Saludos del Mar" ("Greetings from the Sea") looked like last time I saw it:

Now it's got a home in a new museum dedicated to the Volvo Ocean Race, which should have opened last Fall... I can't find any precise info on it online, so I guess I'll just have to find out the old fashioned way: catch a bus downtown and walk to the building and ask around! :p When I do find it I'll be sure to post a photo the finished bouquet. ;o)

I had a lot of fun with all aspects of this project! Helping Volvo representative Jacqui Smith (great interview of her here) organise and then participating with everyone in the beach clean. Playing with the trash in the workshop and just hanging out a bit with the crazy Skeleton Sea guys!

with Xandi, Joao and Luis :o)

I'm sure they'll be having lots more fun and creating a series of fascinating sculptures made from marine debris in all the Volvo Ocean Race stopover ports! To date they've already been though Cape Town and Abu Dhabi (names linked to interesting articles), and they're on their way to Sanya in China. Here are the two sculptures they've done in those stopovers:

"Future Sea " to be displayed in the Cape Town Aquarium. Foto by Skeleton Sea (more shots at that link)

"Lulu" in Abu Dhabi. Foto by Skeleton Sea (more shots at that link)

If you'd like to participate in one of these beach cleans and workshops, check out the Volvo Ocean Race website for specific dates when they will be taking place in these cities:

Sanya - China (February 4-19, 2012)
Auckland - New Zealand (March 2012)
Itajai - Brazil (April 2012)
Miami - USA (May 2012)
Lisbon - Portugal (June 2012)
Lorient - France (June 2012)
Galway - Ireland (July 2012)

Marine Debris and Seal Entanglement

2012-01-11T21:42:00.000+01:00

Before I bring back to life series of posts like Fishy Fridays, Page vs Screen, or Come Dive With Me, I've got to finish up with a couple of posts I had prepared just before the holidays and which I didn't have time to work on because of all the Christmas blogging and holiday activities! :p

I'm hoping you remember a few posts I wrote back in October (so long ago, how time flies!) about cleaning up local beaches, particularly the one organized by the Volvo Ocean Race and Skeleton Sea which was to be linked with a workshop centered on creating art from the marine debris... The second part of that post is coming soon (playing with trash!), but first I wanted to share this video with you about how marine debris can inflict harm on Stellar Sea Lions in Alaska. I hope you have 10' to watch it. It's interesting, sadly quite informative about this problem and does offer a few simple suggestions of things we can do to help, even if we don't live on the coast! (for example cutting loops... soft drink / beer six packs anyone?)

And let me launch the first reminder: World Oceans Day is only 5 months away!!! (June 8th) ;o)

Wrapping up Christmas

2012-01-10T13:11:00.000+01:00

The lights and the stockings were unstrung with care, the decorations packed away,

and finally the figurines for both Beléns all wrapped up.

*sigh*

The holidays finally finished this weekend! I'll miss the ambiance, but not the over-eating! Last Friday I joined my parents on a little trip up north to Valencia to spend Three Kings Day (final day of Christmas) with my Grandmother and Aunts and cousins, and my Aunt asked my dad to make another turkey! Well in this case two small turkeys... aaaaaaaaah!!! :p

They were as usual delicious, but I'm glad we left those leftovers there. My parents still have a 3 kg turkey breast (about the size of an American football!) in the freezer and ditto a half of a 6 kg roast beef from the Christmas feasts. I'm sure I'll be called in a couple of times this week to help eat those! ;o)

But now it's back to fitting into a daily routine of preparing classes, teaching them, getting some kind of exercise, and trying to find the will to unpack those final boxes from the move plus looking for a regular job. Here's where my two "words" for 2012 come in: discipline (because I know what I have to do, just need to get my ass out of bed or away from the computer and DO IT), and letting go (because much of what is in those boxes are old papers and class notes that I don't really need but have always held on to out of nostalgia and a "what if" factor).

It's been fun sharing my Christmas with you guys and reading about yours on your blogs, let's do it again next year! :o) And if you still want a taste of Christmas, how about a mug of glühwein?

German mulled wine / hot spiced wine, typical from the Christmas markets up north. I wrote about collecting those mugs in the markets I've visited in Belgium, Holland and Germany on my travel blog. I'd like to go visit another market next December... is it too soon to start planning a weekend getaway? ;o)

Oh! And I never got to show myself off in the red dress on New Year's!

How do I look? I had dinner with my parents and some neighbours, then after eating my twelve grapes on the twelve strokes of midnight and drinking a bit of cava, I headed out for San Vicente (next town over) to join my friends in a night of dancing... until 6 a.m.! A pretty normal Spanish New Year's. ;o)

Ready for the Kings?

2012-01-05T23:30:00.000+01:00

I think the biggest difference between Christmas in most Northern European / American countries and Christmas in Spain / Latin America resides in one night: Twelfth Night. Tonight. La Noche de Reyes or La Vispera de Reyes. The night before the Epiphany, the night before "Kings' Day". The night before January 6th.

Tonight (Jan 5) and tomorrow (Jan 6) marks the end of the Christmas holidays. Tonight man families are having another Christmas dinner and exchanging gifts. Either tonight or tomorrow people will be eating a "Roscón de Reyes" (typical sweetbread, click on the name for more info) and whoever finds the bean in their slice will be crowned King or Queen. I can't find a photo of my own of a Roscón, but a quick Google image search turns up many candidates:

Tonight children all over Spain and Latin American will be putting out their shoes and hoping they've been good enough for the Three Kings to leave them a present instead of a lump of coal. This evening the Three Kings (or Three Wise Men, your preference!) have made a grand entry into many Spanish cities, either by boat, helicopter, camel, horse or on a parade float. They've paraded around the cities cheered on by the children watching them and they've handed out sweets and small toys and they've visited local hospitals giving presents to sick children there. I wrote a post two years ago about the Cabalgata de Reyes ("The Kings' Ride") here in Alicante. I didn't have time today to go see the parade, so I'll just have to refer you back to that post.

Even though we're past the age of wondering about the Three Kings, in my family we still keep up one "Kings" tradition that has to do with the Belén... we help them make their way to Bethlehem! Moving them just a little bit closer every day after December 25th:

And now they're there!

And since we're heading out to spend the day with my Grandmother and Aunts and Cousins in Valencia tomorrow, the Belén gets a reprieve and won't be taken down until Saturday. We got a headstart and took the tree down today though.

So now you know, you'd better watch out twice! 'Cause Santa's not the only one keeping an eye out for boys' and girls' behaviour! ;o)

FELIZ DÍA DE REYES!

Monthly Movies: Dec'11

2012-01-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

Not much time for movies in December (2 were seen in the same week)... unsurprising considering how busy it gets during that month! A period courtroom film, a holiday-themed rom-com and an action piece: quite diverse! :p

The Conspirator.

And yet another film which we got in Spain about 11 months after its release in the U.S., NOT FAIR! To be fair, I guess they didn't consider this to be subject matter that would be of any particular interest to Spaniards (trial of conspirators in President Lincoln's murder, Constitutional Rights...), I sure didn't expect it, and so was very surprised to find myself in an almost packed room! Robert Redford is a name that guarantees quality, as any decent cinephile would know. And once again he doesn't disappoint! It's basically a thrilling defence of our Constitutional Rights against their abuse during wartime (sound familiar?) disguised as a courtroom drama disguised as a period piece... brilliant!

The story starts with President Lincoln's assassination by actor John Wilkes Booth, simultaneously with the attempted murders of the Vice President and Secretary of State (now there's a piece of the history I didn't know!), the escape of the culprits and the capture of all but one. We then move into the trial of Mary Surratt (beautifully played by Robin Wright), mother of the lone escapee, who is accused of being part of the Conspiracy because these gentlemen were meeting with her son in her boarding house so of course she knew all about it and was guilty (opinion of the Secretary of Defence who's behind it all, the Prosecutor and pretty much all the generals who are the judges since they got a military court instead of a civil court, Constitutional Rights violation number 1). James McAvoy does a brilliant job as the lawyer Captain Frederick Aiken who gets strong-armed into defending her by a Senator and finds himself up against the power of the government who are determined that she be found guilty by any means necessary. Needless to say his representing one of the people "responsible" for Lincoln's death does wonders for his standing amongst his peers... :s

I found myself completely enthralled by this story, by the characters, by the drama and wasn't sure of the outcome even at the very end. I would definitely recommend it to any who are interested in either period films or stories about injustice and abuse of a person's rights by an all-too powerful government.

New Year's Eve.

Which I saw on Christmas Day! Going out for a movie after lunch on Christmas Day -my Dad and his three crazy daughters- has been a tradition we've kind of followed in my family since we moved to Spain. It started one year a James Bond film came out just before Christmas, and we've kind of kept it going unless involved in a big family reunion in Valencia. This year I was astonished to find ourselves waiting in the longest line I've seen in the cinema here since... well, last century! Fortunately we managed to get in in time for our show, in a pretty full room. The audience in general seemed to like it, in any case there were lots of laughs at the right moments, with my sister complaining at how loud mine were! :p
This will never make any "best of" list, but it was a nice fun choice. The interwoven stories (à la Love Actually) were engaging, the actors gave some pretty solid performances, loved seeing Lea Michelle outside of Glee, and it was a hoot seeing Bon Jovi on screen again! I think my favourite storyline was Hillary Swank's, with the whole organising of the Ball Drop at Times Square thing (plus her ending which I won't spoil here).

Mission: Impossible. Ghost Protocol.

So this is the one we'd originally intended to see on Christmas Day (as being the closest thing to a Bond film out there), but my cousin vetoed it. So we went the day before my sister headed back to England.
While it was much better than the 3rd Mission: Impossible, and I enjoyed the actors' performance (even Tom Cruise), in a way I found it to be a bit boring! Is it possible to be bored and entertained at the same time? Odd result for a high-thrill action flic, I know! But what can I say, it's like techno music to me: to much of the same thing (either boom-boom-boom sounds or just constant chasing scenes with explosions and stuff) bore me! I've read somewhere online that if you get a chance to go see it in the IMAX then go for it, otherwise wait for the dvd. I don't know about the IMAX (there isn't one around here), but I'll second that wait for the dvd bit!

Page vs Screen: The Dark is Rising vs. The Seeker

2012-01-02T20:54:00.000+01:00

The things I do for this Blog... like watching a movie I swore to myself I would never see again! I couldn't remember the details of why, but I did remember that I definitely did NOT like the movie version of one of my favourite young adult books: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. Well. I guess writing this post will help me remember in the future why I disliked it so much... (other than the fact that it was just, well, a bad movie!).

Thing is, I've been wanting to write another Page vs Screen post for a while, plus I wanted something in a Christmas vein, and a family member mentioned on Facebook that she was about to embark on one of her yearly traditions, reading The Dark Is Rising at Christmas. It made me realise I haven't read it in years, and it does seem the perfect time of year to read it since the story takes place between the Winter Solstice and 12th Night (night before the Epiphany or Three Kings Day). So I pulled the book off its shelf and got hold of The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (which by the way makes no mention of the significance of the dates Midwinter, Twelfth Night etc.). And here we are!

Being the devil's advocate for a moment, I can understand why they would want to modernise the story... bringing it forward to the 21st century (kids with ear buds constantly in their ears, modern language etc.) Plus making the main character Will Stanton an American and older (turns 14 instead of 11). I guess older makes his actions more believable? (It was tough believing an 11 year-old -in the book- would be out Christmas shopping on his own, but we had no problem watching Harry Potter and his friends off on their own adventures and they were only 11 in the first film) Plus it allows for a romantic interest. They'd have expected all this to help promote it and boost ticket sales in the biggest market: the U.S. But you know what I say? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!! Making him older takes away from who he is as the youngest sibling in a large family (and combining his sisters into one younger one, ugh!). Plus there's always been something magical in turning 11, the double one thing... I like the way those numbers look!

In trying to modernise things, they've actually managed to gut the story of most of its heart and soul and magic. In this film we never really connect with Will as a character, watching him throw a temper tantrum and lighting a tree on fire doesn't help me understand what he's going through with his new found status as an Old One as much as his mature conversations with his older brothers or his weighing the consequences of his actions did in the book. In fact, most of the time he's just an annoying sulky teenager. The equivalent scene in the book, lighting a tree on fire, felt truer to form: a child has just discovered he has magical powers (again, Potter anyone?) and just lets himself experience the joy, the amazement of this fact for a moment.

Then there's the whole premise: Will is the first -and last- of the Old Ones (a circle of people defending the Light and the world from the attack of the Dark, basic good vs evil stuff) to be born for 500 years and his arrival completes the Circle of the Old Ones. He starts seeing things differently the day before his birthday with animals acting aggressive around him and technology going wonky. And then he wakes up on his 11th birthday (on the magical Midwinter Day) to find himself drawn towards the great Gates through which he meets Merriman and a woman simply known as "the Lady" (who doesn't appear in the film, or is melded into Miss Greythorne) and who inform him and begin to teach him about being an Old One. (in the film they don't "bring him in" until several days later!)

Merriman and Miss Greythorne - wielding a sword?!-

His task is to find the 6 signs that were created for the light and which, when joined, will be a powerful weapon against the rising Dark. Will is the Sign Seeker (the fact that they kept calling him just the "Seeker" in the film kept reminding me of the TV series Legend of the Seeker, lol!). It is a task that must be completed in his own time (and in 2 weeks, not 6 days), no hopping in and out of time like in the movie (except to read the book of Gramarye), even less so taking family members with him! Each of the Signs is earned after having surmounted a challenge, whereas in the film he just spots spiral patterns (the film does get brownie points for the mention of fractals and making physics sound cool!) that tell him where the signs are, no real merit. There's also no mention of what the Signs are made of (wood, bronze, iron, water, fire, stone), which is closely related to how and where they are found.

I took a whole bunch of notes while watching the film, but if I went into all the details of how the book and film are different we'd still be here tomorrow! I've already mentioned his age, and the fact they combined his two older sisters (who picked on him) into one younger one who kind of adores him. He doesn't seem to be as close to his brother James as in the book, and the twins don't feel right. Figures Stephen would be in the US Navy instead of the Royal Navy, and Hawaii would be an equivalent tropical stop to Jamaica, but that means we miss out on the all important Carnaval mask!!! But since they've decided to skip the story of Herne the Hunter I guess the gift of the belt makes sense... More: the Dad's a physicist instead of a jeweller, so the Rider can't come in as a collegue, instead he appears as a doctor. Speaking of the Rider... when I read that it was Christopher Eccleston I thought "cool!", but no way! Totally unconvincing, didn't seem threatening to me at all and his dialogue seemed very forced (and where's his cool BLACK horse?).

a totally unthreatening Rider

Oh, and don't get me started on Tom! SERIOUSLY?!?!?! They expect us to believe the family would accept his just showing up in England after having disappeared in the States?! Plus this whole twin business... I can get his parents' not talking about it, but most of the older siblings would have known and remembered Tom so there's no way the topic wouldn't have been mentioned to Will before! Makes much more sense in the book to have Tom be the eldest son who died shortly after birth so no one else knew him! In the same eye-rolling vein I find the whole idea of the 6th Sign being carried in the essence of a human soul... pffffffft!

I think I'm going to stop now... I can't really say anything good about the film which annoyed me to no end because I had high hopes for it! (and apparently I'm in agreement with most reviewers, it's considered "rotten" with only 14% approval at Rotten Tomatoes) These five novels form a wonderful series, and done properly could make a great film series! *sigh* Now I think I just might have to go and re-read the other four books. I love the Drew siblings and Bran is great too! Anything that ties in to King Arthur usually tickles my fancy. ;o)

Plus, I really missed this:

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.

Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning, stone out of song;
Fire in the candle-ring, water from the thaw;
Six Signs the circle, and the grail gone before.

Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold
Played to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old;
Power from the greenwitch, lost beneath the sea;
All shall find the light at last, silver on the tree.

500 Wishes for the New Year

2011-12-31T18:59:00.000+01:00

Ha! I'll bet you thought with that title I was going to spring this massive list of wishes/hopes/desires for the New Year on you, right? Don't worry, I may be one for overly long posts (sorry!), but I wouldn't put you through that! ;o)

Nope... it's just that as I was pondering on what to write now that we're on the cusp of a new year, I happened to notice that this is my 500th post! Woah! Major blogging landmark! Sure, a lot of those posts were mostly filler (like the Photo a Day I tried to do during the first half of 2011), but I think I've gotten some pretty decent stuff out there. Looking back I think I'm most proud of the Oceanic Blog-A-Thon which I hosted for World Oceans Day for the past 3 years (and will again in 2012! you've got 6 months to think on that). I'm also really happy with my Fishy Friday posts which I am determined to start up again! I need to think a bit more on their format though... should I continue telling fishy tales from the aquaria I've visited? Or should I go for a more scientific format? What do you think? Related to that, I started sharing some of my Diving adventures with you this year, as a result of my finally being able to take my own photos underwater (and you all know how much I LOVE photography!). Sadly I think I only got a couple of posts out because the Hiking posts all of the sudden demanded my attention! I have to teach these two favourite hobbies of mine to play nice with each other... and get back to the diving posts as they will remind me of the summer as we move into the coldest part of the year. Then there's been the fun of sharing some of the typical Spanish madness (like the Hogueras in Alicante) with readers from around the world! It's also been a hoot taking a trip down Christmas memory lane with you this month! It might not be over, since Christmas for me (and Spain!) doesn't end until January 6th! But the continuation of those posts will depend upon my being able to find more photos! My mom kind of lapsed in her photo album duties for a few years in the early '90s, so we have to go digging through photos in envelopes to find them! oops! :p

Hmmm... I'd better watch out or my musings on my blog's past will take over this post!

I wanted to take some time and look back on 2011, ponder my life... but my life just wouldn't give me the time to do it! These holidays have been so busy with all the celebrations and family visiting, I've barely had any time to even prepare the few classes I had to teach! Woops! So much for reflection! Even now I've just got 2h to get my overnight bag packed, get a shower and get dressed etc. before I head out to my parents' for a low-key New Year's Eve dinner with some neighbours. After the clock in the Plaza del Sol in Madrid strikes the twelve gongs of midnight and we eat our twelve grapes (for good luck in the new year), I'll be heading out to the next town over to meet up with my friends for a night of FIESTA!!! Which will end with me snoozing on a friend's couch so I don't have to worry about driving home in the wee morning with all the other people who shouldn't be driving either... All this has been put together in a bit of a last-minute rush... none of us had any plans other than family dinners... but a few days ago someone proposed meeting up tonight and we all just woke up and said YES!!! I'm doubly happy because it gave me an excuse to get myself a Christmas gift from my grandmother (she always gives her grandkids some money to spend on themselves), a lovely dress I've been eyeing for the past month. Each time I went into the Corte Inglés looking for a Christmas present for someone else that dress would just call to me, and I was like "no! I'm not going out this year, I don't have an excuse to buy a new dress!". Well, now I do! And I did! :o) (to be fair on myself, I only buy a nice dress like this once every 2-3 years. The previous one has done one New Year's Eve and 2-3 weddings). Want a glimpse?

Still can't believe this redhead is going to wear RED tonight! :p

So, no thinking or contemplating or reflection for me tonight... except when I lose myself in the music. Which I love doing and haven't in months!

One thing I did read today has caught my attention... Kim at Snug Harbor mentioned being inspired by a friend to think of a word for the New Year, instead of a list of Resolutions. The idea is to let that word guide you throughout the new year (I found another post online explaining it very clearly here, very interesting!). I've been pondering two candidates which just seemed to cry out to me: discipline and letting go. The first as in self-discipline, I know what I have to do to get my life back on track, both personally and professionally, but I seem to be lacking the self-discipline to actually do anything about it... But I also need to learn to let go of the clutter in my life (both physical and emotional baggage). This is something that is very hard for me to do. But I did knock one thing to the side of the road this year and I felt so much lighter after and I haven't regretted it once! I'll think on both some more. Not now, I now only have 90' left to get ready! oops! :p

As for the world ending in 2012... I share this:

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :o)

Christmas Feasting and Playing

2011-12-28T23:00:00.000+01:00

December 28th... a day for hearing really weird things on the news... things that you should double (and triple!) check before you believe them! For example: Iker Casillas - star goalkeeper and captain of the Real Madrid and Spain's World and European Champion National Football team - announced that he was retiring from football. YIKES!!! I heard it on the radio, he announced it on his Facebook profile, it must be true! Regular news broadcast on TV at lunch time... and the sports section starts with the presentation of Spain's new Davis Cup (tennis) Captain: Alex Corretja (yay!). Not a word about football? In this country? Impossible! So what about that massive news flash I heard on the radio?! FOOLED YOU!!!

December 28th is the Día de los Santos Inocentes in Spain. Traditionally it's the Day of the Holy Innocents in the Catholic Church, in honour of the children massacred in Bethlehem by Herod's order (with Mary, Joseph and Jesus just barely escaping to Egypt). But in Spanish an "inocente" is also what you call someone who is naive, easy to fool or trick. So this day has become the equivalent of "April Fool's Day" in Spain and Latin America! Not so much tricks as fake funny news and jokes. Or sticking a white paper doll on someone's back. In any case, don't believe anything you hear until you've verified it! :p

Today was also the 4th Day of Christmas, and in my family the 3rd day of leftovers! Or is it 4th meal? I've lost count! My Dad totally overdid it this year with the feasts... I think he's loosing his sense of proportion... Not that I'm complaining, Christmas leftovers are the best kind!

It all started on Christmas Eve with the crazy 15 kg (33lb) turkey my Dad had ordered (to be fair he asked for "at least 10kg", just got more than expected)... for 6 people! (the 2 year old doesn't eat enough to count) I think it was even bigger than my niece! But at least it gave my Dad a chance to show off his fancy new oven he's been smiling about for the past 6 months! :p

Come dinner time the Little Princess (as my cousin, her mom, calls her) was the first to the table, asking for Pavo! Pavo! Pavo! (turkey).

But she had to wait a bit 'cause we started off with turkey broth... from the Thanksgiving turkey!

Doesn't this plate look appetising? Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes under the gravy. Cranberry sauce (my sis brought the berries from England, can't get them here!). Corn. Asparagus. Sweet potatoes. YUM!!! And almost impossible to finish!

In the middle of the meal we got a call on FaceTime: the missing sister checking in from New Zealand! We had her call back half an hour later. With the 12h time difference we were sitting down to chat after our Christmas Eve dinner and her Christmas Day breakfast!

We had a fun half hour goofing off online and opening the presents she'd gotten us and we'd sent to her.

My underwater photos (of which I've barely shown you any yikes!) will come out even better now!

Then we decided to let dessert wait a bit and just continued with our gift exchange (which my family has always done on Christmas Eve, my Mom's Spanish influence! I don't know why though, since people in Spain traditionally exchange gifts on 12th Night, Jan 5th the evening before the Epiphany. In any case we always had our presents on Christmas Eve and the ones from Santa on Christmas morning. I seem to remember my Mom mentioning once she wanted us to distinguish between what we gave each other and what Santa brought). Speaking of my Mom, doesn't she look fabulous in this new red jacket my Dad gave her?

I love this picture of the two of them with the Princess, admiring the calendars my sisters and I gave them (24 months full of photos of the lot of us, my Kiwi sis designed it with iPhoto):

a Princess with her Grand-aunt/uncle (they're starting to nag us about another kind of "grand")

When all the presents were unwrapped, and our arms and backs were tired from all the hugging, we let the Princess keep playing, while we poppped the cork in a bottle of cava (Spanish champagne) and dug into our dessert: homemade pumpkin and cherry pies! yummmmmm...

discovering the magic of Legos

Moving on to Christmas Day... with the too much food starting on Christmas morning since my Dad made pancakes to accompany our stockings!

The Princess opened hers before breakfast though... would have been too messy at the table! And she was all excited to discover the magic of "Papá Noel"!

We've never abandoned the tradition of the Christmas stockings in my family, even once we were all grown up. Just the content changed, from exciting toys to more funny knick-knacks and thingamabobs, getting weirder and weirder each year as Santa seems to have acquired a variety of helpers to fill them! :p

That big a breakfast required some activity to burn it off, so I took my cousins to a park on the other side of the Bay I've been wanting to explore, full of palm trees and fountains! Of course what the little one was most interested in were all the playground sets!

Didn't care if some were "too big" for her, she had to go down every slide over and over again!

And she tired me out jumping on this little trampoline! :p

Of course when we got home she got to nap while the rest of us helped my Dad put together a lunch of leftovers: basically everything from the Christmas Eve dinner, with the difference being that the turkey was in a sandwich! :D She stayed napping with her dad and my Mom, while my Dad took my sister, my cousin and me out for our traditional Christmas movie session. Was the first time in years I've seen the movie theatre so packed! Massive lines... thank heavens for machines to pick up the tickets! We went to see New Year's Eve, a light rom-com in the tradition of Love Actually. Not amazing, but not bad either. Was entertaining and had some really good actors in it that were fun to hang out with for a while.

After that it was back home to finish off Christmas with some Carols.

As for Boxing Day, or St Stephen's, not typically a holiday for us, but my cousins tell me in Mallorca it still is and they call it "Segundo Día de Navidad" (or Second Day of Christmas) and traditionally you go eat with another family member (so you might do Christmas Eve with one set of parents -if you're in a couple-, Christmas Day with another, Second Christmas Day with an aunt/uncle/sibling...). We took advantage of the beautiful day and headed out to explore an animal park in Benidorm.

in Terra Natura

Had fun showing the Princess all the animals (she loves them!), but the best part was when we happened upon the bird of prey show and got to participate in an unexpected way! :D

FUN!

I would have been perfectly happy to go home and eat more turkey sandwich and soup, but my Dad had made other plans... plans he had initially intented to do on Christmas Day but was too tired (and too stuffed still!): a huge roast (6 kg!!!) and Yorkshire Pudding (this is the first time I remember having this)

Was delicious... but of course there was no way we were going to eat 1kg of roast apiece... so now we're spending the rest of the week alternating between turkey sandwiches and roast beef sandwiches! :D

Just thinking of all that food makes me want to join my sister and our niece in this little nap:

And that was an apperçu of my Christmas! Lots of Love and way too much food! We loved having my cousin and her companion and their daughter join us, helped us not feel the emptiness of my Kiwi sister not being here as much. Christmas just seems so much more magical with a 2 year-old running around! I hope you all had an equally wonderful Christmas! :o)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-24T23:30:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a ¡¡¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! from sunny Alicante. I hope it's filled with joy and you're surrounded by your loved ones. Best wishes!

Christmas Trip Down Memory Lane: the mid '80s

2011-12-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

I've been trying to divide up these Memory Lane posts thematically... the "just me" years, the "Saudi years", but I've found so few photos from the 4 year period in the mid-'80s (specially Xmas 86 and 87, there have to be more photos somewhere!) that it seemed a bit silly to split them up!

We start with Christmas 1984, our first back in the U.S., when we were living in Potomac, Maryland (my dad worked in D.C.), only an hour and a half away from my Grandmother in Purcelville, VA and my Uncle, Aunt and cousins in Leesburg, VA. So that means big family Christmas at last! Well, for Christmas Day -American style-, since we still had our big meal just us on Christmas Eve -Spanish style-. I think it's the first year I went carolling -around our neighbourhood, with my dad playing the guitar-

And it's definitely the first year we set up a Belén at home! When hunting around for these photos I just thought it was the first year my mom had photographed the Belén, but upon asking her she told me that we had never set one up in Saudi Arabia because any religious manifestations were highly discouraged! I wrote a post yesterday about the Spanish tradition of the Belén which you can read here.

It's probably also the year I discovered candy canes! I don't eat many sweets any more, but when Christmas comes around I sure miss those! You can't find them in Spain! Peppermint candy isn't common here.

A year later and I'm quite a bit taller!

Check me out chatting with Santa Claus!

This is the first picture I've found with my youngest sister smiling at Santa (another picture shows the middle one hiding in my dad's arms and wanting nothing to do with Santa!).

Need proof it's the '80s? LEGWARMERS!!! Found on Christmas morning in our stockings from Santa! (Along with those critters that I have no memory of. My sister thinks they were from Rainbow Bright which she adored)

We only spent two years Stateside before heading out, this time "south of the border" to Mexico! Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas (south, Guatemalan border) to be precise. So once again warm Christmases! The house was huge, so this tree looks really small!

We had an open staircase to the second floor and my dad got this shot of us decorating the tree from up there.

I couldn't find many pictures from that Christmas. Here's one of the three of us with three Mexican bears or dogs (dunno!). I'm surprised to see my sister wearing the same dress as two years before! I guess we did grow in spurts... (plus it's a Spanish dress, so very good quality for children's clothing):

The next Christmas I was 11 years old and it's the first time I don't recognise myself in a photo... I look so weird and gangly in all the shots! Starting to grow into adolescence I guess...

This huge house also allowed for really big Beléns! And no problem find all sorts of construction material locally.

Here's my sister as the Virgin Mary in a Mexican Christmas tradition: La Posada. It follows along the words of a song which tells the tale of Joseph and Mary arriving in Bethlehem and looking for shelter for the night on which Jesus was born. You have a group of people singing the parts of Joseph and Mary, another that of the people of Bethlehem turning them away at every door until someone welcomes them and offers them a stable for the night (the song becomes very joyful then).

It's Christmas Eve tonight! We're having a big turkey dinner at my parents' place. My sister (the youngest) flew in from England, but sadly the other redhead couldn't make it from New Zealand. But we do have my cousin from Mallorca and her companion and their adorable 2 year-old! So looking forward to an evening of loving family, and we'll catch Gabs in New Zealand via Facetime or Skype while we're eating our turkey and she's having her Christmas breakfast. 12h time difference is long, but at least it makes it easy to remember what time it is in the other country! :p

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas surrounded by the people you love!!!

The Belén, a big Spanish Christmas tradition

2011-12-23T21:25:00.001+01:00

Kim from Snug Harbor Bay asked me a while back about difference between Christmas in Spain and the US. Well that's a question for another post (I'm still trying to figure it out!), but decoration-wise I'd say the biggest difference lies in the holiday centrepiece in one's home: the Christmas Tree (in Anglo-Saxon/Celtic tradition), or the Belén (for the Latin community i.e. Spain, all of Latin America and I think Italy as well). You'd call it the Nativity Scene or Crèche, but that word is too small for us! Belén is the Spanish name for Bethlehem. We don't just recreate the Nativity in the Stable, we go for the whole town!!! When space allows it of course. ;o)

My mother shares memories of setting up the Belén with her Grandmother in Altea (small town up the coast). She remembers that for a long time before Christmas kids would save the silvery wrapping paper from chocolates and candies to use as part of the construction material for the Belén. And they would get bits of coal from the train tracks... Now most everything needed for the "construction" is bought in the supermarket.

When we lived in Mexico we had lots and LOTS of space to set up the Belén, now in a somewhat overstuffed apartment it can be hard to find just the right spot. This year I set it up (over at my parents') on a table under a window on the balcony, close to the tree (for extra effect with the twinkle lights!).

That table seems a bit "blah"... let's put in a background!

caught in action!

Added bonus with the tree there: perfect for "hanging" the star! :o)

Now it's time to add in the little people (and considering the size of our old Beléns, I've got a lot of material to choose from!)... and voilà!

A few details (you can click them bigger):

the Crèche

I always prefer these things at night with the twinkle lights on!

As you can see those Three Kings are posted by King Herod's castle, ready to start their journey towards Bethlehem. Every day (after Dec. 25th) we'll nudge them a few steps forward on their path. When they reach the stable on the night of Jan 5th to the 6th, we'll swap them out for these versions:

My cousin arrived the other day with her little 2 year old angel, and she LOVED the Belén! I spent at least an hour sitting next to it with her as she moved the figures around and talked about them. She was determined to save the fish and hide them from the fisherman! And when it was to go she said they all had to "go to sleep" so we left them all lying down! (it took me a while the next morning to straighten it all up again!).

Her favourite figurine was a rather unique little guy who is typical in Cataluña: the "caganet" a.k.a. the "pooping guy"! I had him discreetly hidden away where he could do his business in peace, but she pulled him out and set him on the bridge! And then we spent easily half an hour playing at being shocked because "He pooped on the bridge! Oh no! He pooped on the bridge! It stinks!" :D

My family also sets up another set, just the traditional figures from the Crèche. We used to have a wooden house we set them up in under the tree, but it didn't survive the last move across the Atlantic. My mom still hadn't found a place for them when I took their picture:

They're made of clay with cloth clothes. My Spanish grandmother got them for my mom (except for the 3 Kings which my mom got later in '95) the year we spent Christmas here in Spain (in Granada and Sierra Nevada). I think they're gorgeous!

And that's the Belén! I'll try to find time to go walk around town and take a few pictures of Alicante's "official" Belén set up in one of the Plazas, and to go the Palacio de la Diputación where there's an exhibit of more Beléns. There's actually a Belén museum in Alicante! Set up and maintained by the "Asociación de Belenistas de Alicante" which is a group of people who set up the "official" Beléns around town, and set up huge Beléns in their own houses (there's a yearly contest which some friends of my mom have won a couple of times). A museum I have yet to visit... oops!

Mission: possible? Hiking up the Puig Campana!

2011-12-18T22:27:00.000+01:00

So last Sunday was THE hike, the one I've been kind of worried about all season since I saw it on the Centro Excursionista's calendar of activities: hiking up the Puig Campana, Alicante's second highest peak (1410m above sea level, ~ 4625 ft). Possibly the toughest hike you can do in this province (at least that's what I'm told). Anybody who's visited the northern coast of Alicante (or driven down the AP-7 on their way north or south) has seen this mountain, it's very recognisable. For starters it's big. Kind of dominates the highway and the view back behind Benidorm. Then there's that big cube-shaped hole in it. Seriously! See for yourselves:

Puig Campana behind Benidorm, seen from the island

I won't go into the various and sundry legends as to how that happened (a kick from a giant, Roland slicing it with his sword...), I'll just tell you that they all end up with the missing mountain chunk flying through the air and ending up in the bay just in front of Benidorm (and geologists say the shape and type and age of the rocks are a good fit).

In any case, it's a mountain that I've been conscious of since my earliest visits to Alicante in childhood, and one that I rarely gave any thought of hiking up because I've always been told it's very gruelling and difficult.

still not convinced I want to do this in my present physical condition (or lack thereof)

Here's a map of the route so you can kind of have a visual in your mind of where we are as we go around. Basically we circled the mountain clockwise along the PRV-289, starting at the southern tip just above point 1. At point 4 we left the main track for the mountain peak track, and then returned down it to continuing the base circuit. All in all about 16 km (~ 10 miles) and a climb of about 1250 m (~ 4100 ft). I apologise in advance for the large number of photos, after several days of weeding through them I just couldn't bring myself to delete any more and still tell a full story! :p

So about 40 adventurous souls started out bright and early and a bit wary of the path ahead, which didn't start out easy at all! I guess it's not that surprising considering we had to climb 600m in just 5km (so ~ 2000 ft in 3 mi). Fortunately the effort kept us warm, 'cause it was quite cool in the shade of the mountain! But the views (looking north and west) were fabulous! Gorgeous light and just enough clouds to make the sky interesting:

More worrisome was the cloud that had been sitting on the mountain-top ever since we arrived! It slowly started to move away, but would it be gone by the time we made it up? Here you can just make out the back side of that cubic hole:

After an hour or so of steady climbing (with stops for water and to strip layers when the sun came out. T-shirts in December? Check!), we made it to our mid-morning snack stop: a small shelter built once upon a time by some of the "oldies" in the Centre (you should hear one guy's war stories about lugging the construction material up there!). Upon arrival we actually woke up a group of hikers who had spent the night there! :p

After the break we had another half hour of steady climbing to the Coll del Pouet (point 4 on that map), the spot where we'd either head up to the top or wait around for those who did. Everyone decided to try the climb. Check me out! My face is a perfect match to this girl's pants! lol!

As one guy said "Hemos hecho lo duro, ahora viene lo peor" (transl: "we've done the hard part, now comes the worse part!"). We were going to have to climb 350m in under 2km (1150ft in 1.2mi) to reach the Bancal del Moro, the cleft you can see in the centre of this next shot:

Fortunately the path has been worked on by local hiking groups over the years, so most of it was in nice zig-zags like these:

Were it not for their hard work we'd have to be dealing with climbing up stuff like this:

Up, up and up... One. Step. At. A. Time. BREATHE!!! And then another step. As we climbed the views kept getting better and better, and the clouds just came and went changing the scenery every couple of minutes. Sometimes it felt like I could reach out and touch them!

I spent most of the climb keeping an eye on our youngest member who was an amazing trouper and didn't complain once in that climb! Here she almost at the top, she'd stop every once in a while to show me the "elf holes" she found in the ground (which she'd made with my walking stick):

An hour of climb, climb, climb... to finally rest a bit in the sunshine up on the Bancal del Moro. Is it any wonder my face is really red? :D

But a breather's all you get... there's still about 100m left to climb to reach the summit!

So on we go, into the cloud that has decided to settle itself on the peak. Don't get lost!

VICTORY!!!!

On the summit of the Puig Campana, 1410m above sea level

Gazing back south along the ridge of the Puig Campana:

and the amazing views of the Aitana and other mountains to the west:

But where's the sea?! Looking this way we should see these fabulous views of Benidorm, Altea, the Peñón d'Ifach, even Alicante or as far off as Ibiza!!! Damn cloud...

Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back up another time, huh? ;o)

This was kind of a Christmas hike (you'll see why in a sec), and our fearless leader had brought up a bottle of Cava (Spanish champagne) with him!!! Congratulations to making it up here, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pol and I enjoyed our well-deserved drink! ;o)

And here's the Christmas element: the objective of this hike was to put a crèche or Nativity Scene up on the mountain top!

Someone will be back in March to pick it up (if it's still there). Had the weather allowed, the plan was to have lunch up there and sing Christmas carols etc... but it's cold and windy in that cloud! So back down to the more protected Bancal del Moro to eat our sandwiches.

But wouldn't you know... the moment you start down is when the clouds start to clear!!! Here's a glimpse of Benidorm that I could just begin to make out through the clouds:

After lunch it was time to get back on our tired legs and hope they'd hold steady on the trek down. Yup, the problem with hiking is that everything that goes up must come down! And this down was much more dangerous than the up! This shot will give you a much better idea than any of the "going up" ones did about how steep this path was:

And all those little rocks made it very difficult to get a solid footing! There were quite a few slips, but fortunately nothing serious.

Back down in the forest and those damn clouds decided to grant us the gift of a little rain! Argh!!! Oh well, I've finally found a use for my rain jacket! :p

Once everyone had made it down, we continued clockwise along the trek around the mountain, continuing through what used to be a pine forest (sadly burnt to a crips in a massive forest fire several years ago).

At the beginning we stuck close to the wall of the mountain, looking up and seeing only rock, like at the Font de la Solsida here:

A little spring that some volunteers fixed up so there would be a spot with water accumulation so animals could drink.

As we walked on, I got to thinking that if it weren't for the pine cones I could almost imagine these were de-leaved winter trees and not burnt pines...

They made for a poignant landscape... out of which Benidorm suddenly appeared!

flat sea... perfect day for scuba diving! ;o)

And the Sierra Helada, the hardest hike I'd done here in Alicante, until now:

We may have left the hard climb behind us, but this circuit had its tough spots as well where you had to watch where you put your feet and not loose sight of the markers:

And once we'd gotten over that ridge, a new challenge! Walking with the sun in your eyes!

Some people preferred the mountain views on the other side, I was just as fascinated by the changing dynamic of the rolling mountainside with the various towns and the Mediterranean behind it! And noticing the difference in vegetation (no trees!) on this sunnier side.

Aha! Finally a decent look at this mountain! First time we get a good view of that cubic hole!

I still couldn't quite believe I'd made it up there...

We moved into the trees, and I kept looking up to spot that cube...

What's this? A cave-house? La Cova del Cremat, "the Burnt Cave"?. Looks like someone built a corral in front of a cave.

Quite cosy inside!

Finally rounding the southern tip and facing west again as the sun slowly starts setting, giving us more gorgeous views.

I usually dislike finding myself on a paved road, but when we hit this spot I rejoiced because it meant we were almost back at the cars and could finally REST! ;o)

Was an AMAZING hike and I'm so glad I did it! I definitely wasn't in good enough shape yet to do it comfortably, but one step at a time and easy does it gets you to the top! And I wasn't even the last one up there, so YES! :o)

Christmas Trip Down Memory Lane: the early '80s

2011-12-13T14:46:00.000+01:00

The early '80s were the "Saudi Years"... celebrating the season half a world away from family, in a place where Christmas isn't even a holiday! They were also the years during which our family kept growing, giving me two younger sisters to tease and torment (and take care of) for the rest of our lives. ;o)

So we start with Christmas 1980 in Riyadh, when I discovered that Christmas trees came out of a box and had to be assembled!

You remember that "intruder alert" I mentioned in the previous Christmas post? Well here's the result of that big "bump", another bright little redhead (who to this day still sighs whenever she sees pictures of her "Dumbo" ears!):

Opening presents on Christmas Eve (the Spanish present-opening tradition won out in our family thanks to my mom, yay!):

the joy of unwrapping!

helping my baby sis' with hers ;o)

rocking horse, huge success!

A year later and we're still "building" the Christmas tree, I guess they don't grow that well in the desert. ;o)

But now Gabs is old enough to help my mom and me with the decorating.

Check out this cutie with Santa Claus... I'm rocking the same dress as the year before!!!

That shot had me really confused when I was organising the pix by dates on my computer because I shot the photos out of chronological order (just the order in which I dug the albums out) and so I was really confused between 1980 and 1981! Until I noticed that the dress is quite a bit shorter in the '81photos. :p

Christmas morning with the family's three redheads (my dad is having a blast on Facebook right now remembering his once abundant hair!):

1982, the year two became three:

three little angels... whatever happened to them? ;o)

And as the Spanish side of the family likes to say "Finally the Spanish genes decided to show up!" ;o)

Christmas Eve with nighties from my Grandma who joined us in Saudi Arabia that year (I think she was there for several months!)

pink?! I'm wearing pink?!

And the fun of digging into the stockings on Christmas morning:

check out Kat rocking that horse! (how did she not fall off???)

As for our final year in Saudi Arabia... we escaped to Spain that Christmas! My mom organised this big trip for Christmas (Granada and Sierra Nevada) and New Year's (Madrid) and a whole bunch of people went from amongst the international community in Riyadh. Looking through the photos I've discovered I've actually been to two cities I always thought I hadn't set foot in! Cordoba and Sevilla. For some reason I only remembered Granada (the Alhambra!) and Christmas in Sierra Nevada, I wonder why... It was also the first Christmas we spent with my Spanish grandparents as they came down to Granada to join us. :o)

hanging out on the slopes of Sierra Nevada

Could my discovering a love of skiing have something to do with it? :p

afraid of nothing!

three little snow bunnies!

Check it out! Santa came and found us on Christmas Eve in the hotel's disco! (my parents saw him the next day cruising the slopes! lol!)

waiting for Santa

Christmas Eve dinner con los Abuelitos :o)

And thus ended the "Saudi" Christmases. 6 months later we moved to Maryland. But that's a tale for another day. I'm having so much fun digging through these old albums, and so is my family! I've been putting them all (and more!) up on Facebook and we're all having a blast reliving it all and with the comments from friends and family. :o)

A sunny hike around the Sierra de Olta

2011-12-08T22:45:00.000+01:00

Well this Sunday was the complete opposite of the previous one weather-wise! Gorgeous sunshine and temperatures near 20ºC (68F) in the middle of the day! A perfect day to hit the trails! :o)

This time I joined up with a new hiking group, one I'd found mention of online last Spring, but could never manage to get hold of! Finally someone in another group helped me locate them and after a couple of weeks I finally joined one of their hikes! They're called "El Trenet Senderista" (the hiking train) because originally they would take people up the on Alicante's small coastal "narrow-rail" train and then start the hikes at the train stations. Now they go by bus. Not as "romantic" but much more practical (plus it allows them to pick up people at several points along the route)! The downside of this group is the fee, 15€ each time I want to join a hike? Once in a while ok, but if I went every week with them, ouch!

Sierra de Oltà, seen as we approach from the North on the bus

This weeks hike was around the Sierra de Oltà, an very interesting round/flat-topped hill (I can't find it in me to call it a mountain, only 587m -1925ft- above sea level) that's between the Sierra de Bernia, where I hiked the week before in that big ugly cloud, and the sea.

Gorgeous day, isn't it? So this group (like the previous week's) isn't interested in making things "too difficult", i.e. no intense climbing! But at least they do plan on relatively long hikes... so although we probably totalled only 200m (656ft) in climbing (no summit, sniff!), we did walk about 15km (9.32 miles). I found this map online (at a great hiking page Apatita) which pretty much follows the green line of the PR-CV 340 which is what we hiked (minus the climb to the summit in the centre). Only difference is instead of completing the loop we went down into town after the Ermita (we started at the campsite):

map by Santiago Gonzalez from Apatita.com

Actually we started a bit below the campsite (the bus dropped us off on the side of the road) and we had to follow a local trail through the woods for about an hour to reach it.

trail markings

We ran into some interesting obstacles:

spooky!

And got a chance to admire the mushrooms hidden amongst the vegetation:

un-interesting (gastronomically) Amanita ovoidea

try one on for size?

Up at the campsite we had a fabulous view of that flat-top summit, made for a great backdrop for our mid-morning snack!

Funny thing happened during that break... a woman comes up to me and says "You're Cristina, Miguel and Pablo's friend, right?" woah!!! Turns out she's the Aunt of one of my best friends! Small world! :o)

Short break and then up through the woods again, this time following the PR-CV 340 counter-clockwise around the summit.

It was mostly easy going (albeit constant climbing), but a few spots were a bit trickier than others (thank you hiking sticks!!!)...

hikers of all ages!

At one point I looked back and caught my first glimpse of the Peñón d'Ifach and Calpe:

Continuing up, up, up...

and then LOOK UP!

Only way up there from here would be with mountain climbing gear. Man that thing's impressive! We're at the Pas de La Canal, at 402m above sea level.

Walking just a little bit further along the path, I was greeted by this sight:

The Sierra de Bernia in all its crested glory! Where were that sunshine and blue skies last week, huh???

As we continued our way around the summit, on the Southern Face now,

We finally get to see the sea!

With the sun in our eyes the photos are mostly silhouettes. Could you make out the old watchtower on that rock? They dot the ridges all along this region!

Here's the path up to the summit, I'll have to come back and do it on my own! (unless I can brainwash a friend to join me)

The big botanical discovery for me on this hike was this tree, the madroño or Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo, much more info in Spanish):

or more precisely its fruit:

Luscious, isn't it? Pop one in your mouth and it's sweet juicy goodness! But trust me, you don't want to eat too many of those! They're known for the high possibility of fermentation (both on the tree or in your gut) so you could get drunk off them! The guide told us a really fun tale about tipsy cows he had seen around there! :p

Here, let me pick one for you!

Sorry, mine!!! ;o)

I can't help but notice the very different vegetation on the much sunnier Southern face of this "mountain"... rarely any trees, mostly shrubs and grasses...

As we get closer to the coast we can see a bit further south "round the corner" of the tip of the Sierra de Bernia, and I can clearly see the Sierra Helada (crazy hike!) and even make out the high rises of Benidorm!

Oops! Time for another madroño stop! No wonder we lost sight of the rest of the group...

Aha! Finally a decent view of the amazing Peñón d'Ifach!!!

Impressive, right? But it's really just this teeny-tiny thing! See:

;o)

Damn thing's even more awesome when you're down in the water at its base! Which reminds me, I still have a snorkelling post to write from there!

We finally made it to the Ermita Vella's picnic area for our lunch.

Had this great view while I was eating:

Lunch was a very leisurely time... no hurry whatsoever. Some people had even brought maps to take a siesta in the sun! Welcome to Spain! But after a while it was time to hit the trail again and start downhill.

Which gave us a much better view of Calpe, the Peñón d'Ifach behind it, and its Salina (lagoon) which used to be connected to the sea until some 'genius' built up the area and now they get flooded from time to time!

Out of the forest and into an neighbourhood of chalets...

Then finished by meeting our bus at the train station, where we had a chance to stop in the café for a cup of coffee, and more importantly catch up with the decisive match of the Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina!

Rafa Nadal vs Del Potro, in the 4th set... very stressful! We saw about half the set then had to leave on the bus, so I called my dad up and had him give us a point by point on the rest of it! The bus cheered each of Rafa's points, and even louder when Spain's victory (5th in the Davis Cup) was announced! :o)

Thus ends another fabulous hike! Great group of people, I think I made some new friends! Will definitely join them for future hikes in the New Year. :o)

Christmas Trip Down Memory Lane: the '70s

2011-12-07T21:38:00.001+01:00

Care to join me as I latch on to the Ghost of Christmas past and visit my past Christmases while I prepare for the jolly season?

Let's start at the very beginning (after all, it's a very good place to start!):

Yeah, I know... you can't see me anywhere in there, right? Well look again! But with an ultrasound this time! (it seems they were already "in the know" having recently gone to the doctor to check up on a little "constipation" problem...) ;o) They fled north to spend the holidays with the family in Virginia, apparently fed up of the "fake Christmas trees" on the grass in Panama... :p

On to my first full Christmas experience... rocking the bell-bottoms in Virginia (visiting from Minneapolis)!

Hmmm... the time machine seems to refuse stopping by 1977! What's with that??? I have my top scientist (a.k.a. "mom") looking into the matter as we speak (i.e. digging through old photo albums).

Update: problem solved! Here's Christmas #2, in an image that doesn't bode well for my future phone bills...

In Minneapolis, decorating the tree for Christmas #3, getting musical and opening presents with my Grandma:

never too early to start with the music!

It's been 16 1/2 years since she died, but I still miss her so much!

So on to the end of 1979 (still MN) with an "intruder alert"! My sister was kind of getting in the way of me helping my mom decorate the tree!

coming soon to a family near you... a sister!

Oh, and my first photo with Santa is from that year:

aren't I the cutest thing ever? ;o)

Coming soon (i.e. when I have time to dig through my sister's baby albums and other old family albums): the early '80s in Saudi Arabia!

Happy Saint Nicolas!

2011-12-06T21:27:00.001+01:00

Look what I got in the mail yesterday from a wonderful friend:

merci Kyt!!!

Yummy Belgian chocolate!!! Just in time to celebrate Saint Nicolas today! :o)

What's that? You didn't know today was Saint Nick's day? The original guy behind Santa Claus? Well, I did! You can't have lived in Belgium and NOT know it! Saint Nicolas is a very big deal for kids in Belgium, northern France, Luxemburg, the Netherlands... He comes to their house (and their grandparents' and other family members' houses) and leaves them candy and cakes and toys. It's a good thing the kids never stopped to ask why he doesn't always show up on his day (Dec. 6th, not an official holiday) but conveniently drops off his packages on the closest weekend... ;o)

When I lived in Liège I lucked out a few years as Saint Nicolas often left a little something for me at a friend's house!

merci Val!!!

So for me the Christmas period really starts today, with Saint Nicolas. And ends on January 6th, the Epiphany or Three Kings' Day (big deal in Spain). One month of holiday cheer, yay! :D

Oh, in Liège the University students celebrate their own crazy Saint Nicolas holiday (he's the patron saint of students as well as children), and I just wrote a post about it on my travel blog here. Enjoy! Hope you aren't too shocked! ;o)

Why did the salmon cross the road?

2011-12-05T22:02:00.001+01:00

Apparently because it was confused by the flooding in Washington State last week! Click on it to go to the YouTube page for more info.

Definitely WEIRD!!!

Monthly Movies: Fall 2011

2011-12-03T23:12:00.000+01:00

Hmmm... for some reason I haven't been able to keep up my Monthly Movies this year! I keep playing catch-up by writing about several months at a time like I did with the Summer Movies. Not good... I need to get into the habit of signing in and writing a quick something about each movie when I get home right after having seen it, 'cause otherwise when it comes time to write the post I don't always remember what I wanted to say! This Fall it hasn't helped that I haven't been too inspired by what I saw on-screen, and those I did really enjoy I told you about in Movie Magic or Madness posts. Anyhow, in an attempt to get things back on track, here's a brisk run down of the movies I've seen this Fall. They include some spy tales, romance, drama, fantasy, period drama... Let me know if you've seen them and what you thought of them!

The Debt: With the always fabulous Helen Mirren, turns out we got this movie a year after the rest of the world! A remake of a 2007 Israeli film, it's the tale of a Mossad squad responsible for capturing/assassinating a Nazi war criminal who avoided trial. We see the original mission via flashbacks as two of the surviving team members deal with the death of the third over 30 years later. I remember it being quite thrilling, but otherwise don't remember much else about my original impression 3 months later! :p

Larry Crowne: A sweet and inspiring turn with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, which has probably done wonders for the sale of Vespas! I enjoyed it a lot and thought both leads did a pretty good job with their roles. Funny detail: the company in charge of publicity for the film got fined by the Spanish government for "promoting dangerous driving habits" because of the promotional posters in which the protagonists are shown riding around without helmets! :p

The Three Musketeers: I'm still lamenting what they did to one of my all-time favourite novels. I went on and on about this steam-punk version of Dumas' masterpiece here.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2: Second viewing of the final installment of Harry's adventures, enjoying the chance to see it in English since it was one of the rare films that has showed up in our "one un-dubbed movie per week" movie theatre. I enjoyed it just as much the second time around and am looking forward to popping the dvd in as soon as I get it so I can write the "Page vs Screen" post I started drafting back in July! :p

Abduction (Sin Salida in Spanish): I laughed a bit inside when my dad suggested watching this one... he clearly didn't know he was going "Team Jacob" by choosing this! ;o) He just felt like watching an action flic and there wasn't anything else playing so... I guess it wasn't that bad, but it was very predictable.

The Adventures of Tintin: I've been looking forward to this Spielberg-Jackson team effort for a couple of years now, and they did not disappoint! Those of you in the States should be getting it on your screens in a couple of weeks. My initial take on it is here, and I can't wait for the next installment! :o)

The Help: my choice for a Thanksgiving cinematic outing, and 10 days later I'm still really happy with it! Here's my initial reaction.

Breaking Dawn part 1: Little cinematic outing my sister and I granted ourselves on Thanksgiving weekend, living in different countries we don't get to hang out much, so really enjoyed this chance for a little sisterly bonding over a cinematic guilty pleasure. ;o) Initially I wasn't happy to hear they'd decided to go the Harry Potter route with this book and divide in two movies (back when they announced it), but now that I've seen it I'd say it was a pretty good call! It feels more like a complete movie than the first HP: Deathly Hallows did, and that final image is both perfect to end it and to launch the final instalment due to come out sometime next year. As to the quality of the film itself, well I think it was very well done (the pregnancy was particularly successful), but definitely one for fans of the books!

I think that's it for this Fall... I'm starting up the draft for December's Monthly Movies and based on what's available in the cinema right now, I'm going to suffer from an excess of riches! There are already 5 films on screen that look really good, plus whatever else comes out... no way I'm going to be able to see all those I want! :p

Sharing some music

2011-12-03T14:33:00.001+01:00

I just want to say thanks to one of the blogs I follow - e-clecticism - for bringing a fabulous little music video to my attention! It's a brief history of the world (from the Big Bang to the Space Age and beyond) in stop-motion animation, and it's the music video for the song "Thick as Thieves" by Canadian Kalle Mattson, a group I've never heard of before... but I'm listening to the album this song is from right now (Anchors) and I'm loving it! Added bonus to a new (for me) musical discovery? Well they've got the album available for free download right now on their website! :o)

So here's the video, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! ;o)

And here's an interview I found with the group's lead singer-songwriter Kalle Wainio.

La Fábrica de Sueños - Lotería de Navidad!

2011-12-02T21:26:00.000+01:00

You know Christmas is on the way in Spain when the advertisement for the special Christmas lottery finally airs! I've seen it twice in the movie theatre so far, and it's lovely! It's a short film that metaphorically tells the tale of the Lotería de Navidad. They say the Lotería de Navidad is a "Fábrica de los Sueños" or "Dream Factory" whose doors open so that the dream-hunting children can go out and reach every city and town in Spain (or further afield since Spaniards living outside of Spain frequently have their family members send them a "décimo"). The children collect the dreams and bring them back saying that our dreams are what bring the lottery to life, a lottery which will fulfill many peoples' dreams.

I wrote in detail about Spain's famous Christmas lottery (celebrated yearly since 1812!) two years ago, if you missed it or want a refresher on an major piece of Spanish culture then you can find it here (plus Wikipedia has a great entry here). This year's film is as moving as always, with a haunting melody, but I kind of miss the bald guy from years gone by! Whenever I spotted an Observer on Fringe they always reminded me of him. ;o)

If I buy a ticket (or two) this year it will be from some non-profit association which tags on a couple of extra euros to the sales price to help with their fundraising (traditional here, we - the Biology students association - did it in University to help raise funds for our trips), like that of an animal shelter where a friend of mine volunteers or my hiking group.

December's finally here!

2011-12-01T19:50:00.001+01:00

I smell Christmas in the air! :o)

Well, ok, maybe not really... but I want to! I want to do something to help me start feeling festive, and it's not as easy here in Alicante as it was in Belgium with all the decorations in the streets and the music and most specially the Christmas markets!!! I miss the smells, the sounds, and yes, even the chill in the morning! All signs that Christmas is fast approaching.

The signs can be found here as well, but only in the TV-ads or in the supermarkets. Those have decked out their special holiday sweets, with tables overflowing with various kinds of turrón and polvorones and mazapanes... a sugary heaven! ;o)

Turrón anyone? (read more here)

The poinsettas are also out en masse. Both in the supermarkets, street markets and plant shops... Maybe I should try and keep one alive this year? ;o)

Nochebuena - Flor de Pascua - Poinsetta - Rose de Noël... however you want to call it!

I didn't do anything Christmassy here on the Blog last year. Too busy wrapping up my classes (and playing in the snow) before leaving Belgium to spend the Holidays with my sister in New Zealand. Two years ago (so Christmas 2009) I had a "12 Days of Christmas" series up which was a lot of fun! Then in 2008 I did a series of posts on Christmas traditions that I didn't quite finish (only managed to talk about Spain's Christmas lottery, the Christmas feasts, and New Year's resolutions), so maybe I'll work a bit more on those this year? Dunno yet... I'll think of something!

I've also got to clean up / organise this apartment and pull out the Christmas decorations! And start shopping for gifts! I'm always running late on those...

How do you plan on preparing for Christmas?

Hiking in a Cloud atop the Sierra de Bernia

2011-11-30T21:54:00.000+01:00

Well that was different! I was wondering when Alicante would catch up with the rest of the world season-wise, and it turned out to be now! I can't say I mind much having to put on a few extra layers... I actually prefer the weather to be cooler when I'm out hiking rather than warmer (within reason). In this case instead of just my merino t-shirt, I also had on my merino long-sleeve shirt and a fleece-lined wind-stopper vest as well as a merino beanie on my head. I even pulled out the gloves at one point, but just for a little while! ;o)

It was particularly hard getting up at 7h30 this past Sunday for the hike, my whole body was begging me to stay in bed and continue recuperating from Saturday's Thanksgiving extravaganza! Yes, yes I know, the big turkey day was supposed to be Thursday, but what else can you do when you live in a country where it isn't a holiday? When my mom gets home from work she just wants to eat and rest (not necessarily in that order), so no way were we go to submit her to the crazyness that is a Thanksgiving feast! Then there's the fact that we've never celebrated Thanksgiving with "just" the family, it's always been a friends and family deal, probably because we only lived close enough to our American family to celebrate with them for a couple of years and so made up for it with dear friends who are like family to us! And of course, we're back to Thursday being a work day! ;o)

So, up bright and early for a hike, still stuffed like a turkey. Wait! Did I say "bright" and early? Hmmm... let's make that dark and cloudy and kind of scary! As the bus we were on got closer and closer to our chosen mountain, the Sierra de Bernia, part of me was going "gulp! get ready to get wet!" (plus thinking I finally had a reason to be lugging around my rain jacket in my backpack).

southern face of the Sierra de Bernia

Nice cloud huh? Just sitting there. Right on top of our mountain. >:(

That's actually the side we climbed down. We drove around it and up the coast so the bus could drop us off on the northern face, but the view didn't look much better from there. Ah well! Clouds and mist and fog it is then! Variety is the spice of life, right? ;o)

northern face of the Sierra de Bernia

I actually have a map of our route this time! We started off at the mark on the upper right-hand corner, then climbed up for about 200m (it was a "light" hike for me, only 10km) up to where that number 5 is, and then down, down, down for about 600m until the Algar River at number 1. The circular trail around the summit is very well marked and now I know I could do it on my own some day... preferably with sunshine. :p

This hike was organised by the Diputación de Alicante (i.e. representation of the central government here in Alicante). Apparently they've been organising a hike every Sunday this Fall, and I only just found out! I knew they did it in the Spring, I tried to sign up twice but missed out (only 50 spots available, enough to fill a bus), and I also missed out on getting a spot for their final hike of the season next Sunday. snif! Anyhow, government involvement means well organised with several guides and first aid kits:

All wrapped up we headed across the fields and towards that big cloud sitting on the mountain-top.

Working our way through and around all the mud on the trails (it's finally been raining in Alicante!)

Occasionally something interesting would pop out at us in a break in the fog, like this fascinating rock formation:

Or we'd just be able to distinguish critters like these hidden in the mist:

Mooooo! Just beware of the friendly gifts they leave behind:

cowpie anyone? ;o)

It's a good thing the trail was fairly easy to follow, because if you got a bit distracted and fell behind it was nearly impossible to see the people further ahead on the path to see which way they went! (fortunately there was also a guide at the tail end of the group making sure no one got lost)

We reached the first rise

to discover not much of a view!

but as the cloud lifted a bit we could get a feel for the incredible rock formations and the lovely valley below:

As we continued our way on up,

This lonely tree caught my attention:

How is it just sitting there? At such an angle?

What was also amazing was how fast the mist moved in and out! Check out these two photos taken 10 seconds apart!

Now you see me, now you don't! ;o)

Just over that ridge was our highest point, about 800m above sea level. You're supposed to have this absolutely stunning view of the coast from here... the whole bay of Altea, the Sierra Gelada, Benidorm, the Puig Campana... See for yourself (click it bigger):

Uh-huh... So much for the view! When the clouds lifted briefly, I could just make out Altea and the mouth of the River Algar (for once with plenty of water!).

Altea and the Algar River seen from the Sierra de Bernia

Will definitely have to come back. Anyhow, I was just happy to be up on a mountain! ;o)

We stopped for our mid-morning snack at an old abandoned fort nearby, the Fuerte de Bernia built in the late 16th century to help protect the coast from pirates (and abandoned in the early 17th century, wasn't used for long! The king had it dismantled so it couldn't be used by bandits).

Fuerte de Bernia 16th century

As you can see, not much left!

But enough covered spaces to protect us from the elements while we ate our sandwiches, and while some people passed around a bota. Wine anyone?

The cold and clouds made it a very short break and soon we were heading down the mountain.

I had already been admiring the brezo (Mediterranean heather - Erica multiflora) on the way up, it was much more abundant than on the previous hike at the Sierra del Cid.

But this hike also gave me more thyme (Thymus vulgaris) than I'd ever seen before! Combined with the rosemary this hike had a gorgeous smell!

And new for me, these lovely little blue flowers called Gitanilla (little gypsy girl), which try as I might I can't seem to find the scientific name for it online! I've got a few candidates but the photos don't quite match up. Anyhow, pretty!

Of course, you know that the moment you start heading down those clouds are going to clear up, right? Right. Well, not completely, but enough so that the views started getting better and much clearer. Here's the bay of Altea with the Sierra Gelada/Helada limiting it to the south (on its other side would be Benidorm):

I told you about the Sierra Gelada/Helada few weeks ago, it was my second hike of the season, and quite a killer for the legs! :p

Once we left the fields for a bit of forest,

these things started appearing! I hadn't seen any since Belgium last year! :o)

This shot's for DJan (can you guess why?):

We also came across more abandoned constructions, like this old shepherd's hut and corral for the winter months:

Bancal Roig (4 on the map)

This one was even harder to spot, can you make out the walls in all that vegetation?

Cova del Bardalet (3 on the map)

If you climb down into the bowl (and try not to get too scratched by the brambles) the you can see this little cave:

The rest of the hike was all rather gently down hill, in sunshine! We made our down to the river Algar, surrounded by net-covered fruit tree groves.

There's our mountain, seen from the other side of the (bloated!) river. Another time I need to make it to the top!

Sierra de Bernia with the Algar River below

It wasn't a difficult hike, I don't know how much it will help me train for the "big" hike in 2 weeks, but better that nothing! And it was quite fun. :o)

Movie Magic on Thanksgiving: The Help

2011-11-24T23:00:00.000+01:00

My Thanksgiving has been un-food related so far, unless you count the grocery shopping for Saturday's feast when my family will be celebrating our own version of Thanksgiving (which as usual involves having lots of friends over). It's hard to do a full-blown turkey dinner when it's not a holiday and you have to consider people's work schedules and general fatigue. So while we're outside of the US, Saturday it is!

My sister flew in from England this morning to join us for the holiday, and after lunch we kidnapped our dad for our own father-daughter holiday tradition (any holiday will do): going to the movies! The selection was a bit limited, but I managed to twist their arms a bit and get them to agree to seeing "Criadas y Señoras" a.k.a. The Help. I felt that at the very least, it being an American holiday and all, we could go see a movie depicting life in the US in the not-so-distant past. I think the fact that it was an earlier show than our other option probably weighed more in my favour... but they were glad in the end!

All three of us (my sister, my dad and myself) really enjoyed this movie, although my dad did say that in a way it was a bit depressing. I found it to be disturbing... the society it depicted, the people's mentality, their ignorance... Although intellectually I know about all this (racism, social differences, sexism, education etc.) having studied it in school, observed it in other films, emotionally it still feels like a punch in the gut. How could people seriously think and behave like this? And I'm not just talking about the treatment of the black servants, but those suburban women so disconnected from reality were just as scary to me! Separate restrooms because of disease transmission? Seriously???

For any who haven't seen it (came out in the US in August, should be out there on dvd soon), it's the story of Skeeter, a young white woman who comes home from college back to Jackson Mississippi with dreams of becoming a writer (while all her mother wants for her is a husband and kids) and who wakes up to the realisation of how people in her social circle treat "the help", particularly the black maids who raise their children (and raised them as well!). She decides to write a book about these maids' lives from their own point of view and manages to convince two of them to share their war stories with her, in spite of their fear of possible repercussions. We're in the early 1960s, beginning of the Civil Rights movement, and those involved are terrified of what could happen to them (at the hands of the KKK and others) if they were known to be participating in this project. It's both a horrifying, moving, poignant and at times funny tale with some wonderful women brought to life by some amazing actresses, particularly Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer who play Aibileen and Minny. And any scene Minny is in is unforgettable!

On this Thanksgiving Day I am very grateful that society has changed so much, that the world depicted in this film feels so alien to me that I barely recognise it, and that there were men and women brave enough to stand up and help bring about an end to this discrimination.

I hope all of you who are celebrating the holiday have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones! :o)

Hiking up the Sierra del Cid

2011-11-15T23:15:00.000+01:00

These hikes are definitely getting harder! Which makes me wish for the umpteenth time that I could do them more frequently (this group, the Centro Excursionista de Alicante, does one a month) so as to train my legs and have those climbs be a bit less painful! Fortunately I've gotten a few more clues as to options for that so fingers crossed! ;o)

Last Sunday we climbed the Sierra del Cid, so named after the heroic exploits in the region Spain's most famous medieval hero: Ruiz Diaz de Vivar, el Cid (you might have seen him under the guise of Charlton Heston). Here's the mountain with such an epic name:

Sierra del Cid seen from La Rabosa

Hmmm... I just realised that when zooming in on the photo I can trace most of our trial! In the centre of the flank you can make out like a beige snake... it's a cemented path (v. steep!) that we followed part of the way up, before cutting across to the left through the trees and the up along the flank until we reached the pass (Paso del Contador) between the smaller peak to the left and the main body. There were quite a few very steep climbs to get up there, particularly the last one up to the peak!

As you can see it was a beautiful day, didn't feel at all like November! And we all started out with smiles on our faces.

Check out the variety in the vegetation:

That was our only dose of "Fall colours" *sigh*.

Why is that to go up you sometimes need to go down first? The whole first part kilometre or two of the hike was mostly making our way down into a dry riverbed (a rambla), having to be very careful with the descent in some spots.

But the advantage of dry riverbeds in areas like this is that they're protected from the dominant winds, even though you can't see it there's frequently water somewhere... and the result is some rather luscious vegetation!

As we climbed back out of there we came across this rather interesting little cave:

For most of this part of the hike the air was delightfully laced with the smell of rosemary that grows wild all over the place in our province:

Even prettier to look at though were the bushes of brezo or Mediterranean Heather (Erica multiflora, really interesting post on it here).

Hmmm... problem with going down at the start of the hike? The mountain seems so much taller than when you started! :p

Once we started climbing, we didn't really stop until we reached the top! Fortunately the gradients varied so we could rest the legs somewhat. The first part was on a forest road:

No speed-walking allowed! :p

The cemented section later was much steeper and not that much fun to climb!

Stopping to gasp for air (and water)

No, that is not a red light! Just my face... :D

did allow to look back and take in the magnificent view...

Luis bringing up the rear to make sure no one gets left behind.

Enough of that hard surface, into the trees please!

Once we hit the trees we veered left towards the smaller peak, hiking along a trail that zig-zagged its way up staying close to the vertical wall.

Until we finally reached the "Paso del Contador" (translates as the "counter's pass"):

Paso del Contador

Why that name? Because in this narrow stretch sheep could only go through one at a time so shepherds could count them and make sure they hadn't left any behind!

Oh my! The climb up from the Pass? Not fun!

Once up there though I got a good look of the other flank of the mountain, felt a bit like a bucket. With plenty of re-planted trees (must have been a forest fire there in days gone by).

The summit of the Cid beckons ahead:

Do I look ready to drag myself up there?

THANK YOU dear life-saving walking sticks!

Ummm... do I have a choice? :p

Well, I MADE IT!!! Bright red and out of breath but I'm up!!!

And the view makes it all worthwhile! (this one definitely needs clicking bigger)

Yikes! Looking down is dizzying!

Via Ferrata del Cid

You can actually climb up that way! It's a "Via Ferrata", cables and safety elements are set in the wall for climbers.

Ok, couldn't miss out on my summit photo! Here I am at 1152 metres (3780 ft) above sea level, after having climbed up about 600m:

And here's the whole group:

Hmmm... is lack of oxygen a problem already when you're a kilometer up? I wouldn't think so... but it might explain this:

Goofyness aside, once mid-morning snack is done, it's time to head back down! We have to be extra careful because not only is it steep, the ground is anything but solid! Lots of loose rocks and slippery little pebbles.

It was quite cloudy while we were up at the top... wouldn't you know that as soon as we head down the sun came out? Figures! But at least it made for a beautiful farewell shot of the summit! ;o)

It's funny seeing everyone stretched out along the path leaving the Paso del Contador... they all look so tiny next to the mountain (click bigger)!

Our guide told us to enjoy the views in both directions as they didn't really look the same going up and down, and he was right! I noticed things I hadn't before.

looking across towards the Maigmó

Remember me mentioning how we zig-zagged our way up the mountain? That path makes for an interesting shot on the way down!

Also more fun going down: that blasted cemented road! Well, more fun for the kids who decided this was a more expedient way down the mountain:

there's more than one way to go down a mountain

So almost 5h after starting out, we're back at the Rabosa... And wishing we hadn't started the trek by going down, down and down because it meant that the end of the hike was going up, up and up again! With tired legs and starving! But once again, everything looked quite different on the way back so it made it all more enjoyable.

Who painted the land climbing up to the Rabosa such pretty colours?

I don't have an exact profile of the hike to show you, but basically we followed most of the PR-CV.29, so starting at point 6 (Rabosa) then climbing down into the riverbed (8), up to the Paso del Contador (10) and then the final climb to the peak of El Cid (11). And then the same thing in the opposite direction to a grand total of 14 km and a 625m climb.

Profile for the PR-CV.29 from the Xorret de Catí to the Sierra del Cid

I've definitely got to get out at least two of the next three weekends or it's going to be really difficult for me to make it up the next peak on Dec. 11th... Alicante's second tallest, the Puig Campana. It's the mountain with a hole in it that towers above Benidorm. And the hike is pretty much a kilometre climb up to the summit at 1406m above sea level. And I fully intend to do it! :o)

Puig Campana seen from Benidorm Island

Volvo Ocean Race sets off from Alicante

2011-11-12T23:00:00.000+01:00

So last Saturday the magnificent sailboats participating in the Volvo Ocean Race set sail from Alicante. Their nine month trip around the world started out on a gloriously warm autumn day with magnificent winds, deep blue waters and a very scary sky. Watching them zipping over the waves in Alicante Bay was mesmerising, and something of an adrenaline rush!

I've been meaning to write about the Volvo Ocean Race for a month now... but October was an incredibly busy month what with extra work hours and helping out with the Volvo's environmental education project (remember that beach clean I told you about?). Damn! I hate being late to the party! But this was a big deal in Alicante and I'm not going to let it disappear in the haze of post drafts waiting to happen. Better late than never, right?


Volvo Ocean Race trophy, winners inscribed on the bars

First things first! What is the Volvo Ocean Race? For those not involved in the world of sailing and regattas (which would be me! Never heard about this until it started in Alicante), it's a round-the-world yacht race (used to be called the Whitbread Round the World Race) that takes place every three years, typically departing in from Europe in the Fall (Oct-Nov) and then heading round the globe with about 8-9 stopovers until the final destination about nine months later. The 11-member crew spend up to 3 weeks on-board between each stopover, working round-the-clock in 4h shifts. Talk about intense! I got to see inside one of the sailboats (was asked not to post pictures of the interior, sorry!) and there really isn't much space to do anything down there other than sleep (in hanging cots that can be tilted closer to the hull if the boat is leaning too far to one side), work the navigation post or prepare a feeze-dried meal. Even the toilet is just there for show, typically they just use the bow of the boat, as in the sailing days gone by of the 19th century... More on the history of the race on Wikipedia, or the official Volvo website.

Volvo Ocean Race Village in Alicante

This is the second (of three) year the race has started in Alicante. In fact the area where the Race Village is held was dubbed the "Zona Volvo" three years ago once it had been fixed up for the race. The Race Village is a collection of buildings, tents, attractions etc. that house the offices of the Volvo Race organisers, of the different participating teams, of all the sponsors (who set up stores and games related to sailing for the public). All located around the pier where the sailboats are docked.

Volvo Ocean Race Village with the sailboats moored in front

It's a hub of constant activity, with contests and games and concerts and shows going on all at once. Including a certain plastic bubble that one gets into and tries to walk on water... remember me laughing with you about that? ;o) There was also a small sailing school for kids:

and free paddleboard lessons on the beach! (I missed out! tried to go twice but just my luck: poring down rain in a city where it almost never rains!)

Almost every day for a month the boats were out in the Bay for a training session, and there was an in-port race (which I missed, having gone to Madrid that weekend) a week before the big send-off.

Start of "Leg 0", a training race to Mallorca and back

Let me introduce you to the participants.

Team Telefonica (I had to start with the Spaniards! w/ a Spanish skipper and Sp, Aus, Bras, GBR crew)):

on board the Telefonica

I almost look like I know what I'm doing! :p

Team Camper (Spanish/Kiwi ship with an Aussie skipper w/ crew from Sp, NZ and South Africa)

Spain + New Zealand? Great team! :o)

Team Abu Dhabi - the Azzam! (British skipper, very international crew!)

Team Groupama (French skipper and mostly French team) and Team Puma - Mar Mostro (US Skipper, international team):

Team Sanya (China's first entry! Kiwi skipper, mostly kiwi team + 1 China, 1 BEL):

Here are a few shots from the start of Leg 1 as they cris-cross the Bay of Alicante.

They're taken either from the beach we usually swim at, just in front of the final buoy (#3) as the boats swept around, or from the window of my parents' apartment.

Here they are zipping across the bay:

the rounding the corner coming closer to us:

Team Camper was the first around buoy 3, damn impressive speeds!

Then they headed back across the bay towards the harbour,

and finally up along the opposite coast until the passed between the Cabo de Santa Pola and Tabarca and then continued down south towards Gibraltar and the Atlantic.

Here are a few shots taken from the beach:

Goregous, aren't they? :o)

Currently only 4 of the 6 boats are out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (near the Cape Verde Islands), the Sanya and Abu Dhabi had to retire from this leg due to technical difficulties on the first day (Abu Dhabi broke a mast and the Sanya suffered hull damage, they're currently hoping the boats will get down to Cape Town -by freighter- in time to do the repairs and test everything before the start of Leg 2)

You really need to see these guys in action... I don't have video from the race day, but I did take this on a "training race" day (Leg 0) from a walkway overlooking the bay:

Movie Magic: Tintin comes to life!

2011-11-11T21:02:00.000+01:00

Can I take a moment to gloat that we got this film 2 months before the US?

Ok, moment taken. It's such a rare occasion, particularly in a big-name film like this one, I just had to enjoy it! ;o)

It took me a bit of convincing (read emotional blackmail) to get my regular movie-going partner in crime to agree to this one because a) animated films haven't been his cup of tea in years, and b) in his words "Tintin isn't part of my culture, it's very much a European thing". Well sorry Dad, Tintin may be primarily a European cultural reference, but Hergé's famous reporter has blazed his way across the globe with his comics having been translated into more than 80 languages (and more than 350 million copies sold - thx Wikipedia). Sure, I may have read through the whole collection -several times- in high school (any French Lycée worth its salt has a decent BDthèque -comic-book library-, and Tintin wouldn't be missing from it!), but someone got me copies in English as well... who might that have been? For the record, he says it was my mom, which would explain the ones in Spanish as well... I have an odd multi-lingual comics collection. Back to the non-Gringo thing... I do have several friends in the US who were very familiar with Tintin, including one who was something of a Tintinophile. He went so far as to have someone translate the dialogues in the comics that were in Arabic, Chinese and Russian just to verify that they fit in with the story and weren't random gibberish made to look like another language! And hey, even Bart Simpson is a Tintin fan! Although being very much a part of European culture I guess would explain why the movie got released 2 months ahead on this side of the pond...

For those unfamiliar with the wonderful world of Tintin, perhaps I should give you a brief intro (you can go much more in-depth with Wikipedia or the official US Tintin website). Tintin is one of Belgium's proudest exports, created by artist Georges Rémi (nom de plume Hergé), with a life-span of 24 comic books written and drawn over the course of the mid-twentieth century. Our hero is Tintin, an intrepid young reporter who seems to go out of his way for a story and always ends up involved in some wild adventures across the globe! He's been in the Congo, in the US, dealt with the Incas in Peru, been to Tibet, China, Russia... you name it! He's even been to the moon! Always with him is his faithful pal Milou (Snowy in English), a very intelligent dog who gets is own lines of dialogue, usually expressing frustration with his master for something or other.

Another partner in crime is Capitaine Haddock, an old sea wolf who drinks whiskey like water and curses like... well like a sailor! He's got some grand old curses stored up, although his favourite is "mille millions de sabords!" which has nothing to do with the English version "blistering barnacles!". Check out the crazy list on Wikipedia! Even better, this guy collected the lot of them!
Next time you want to lash out verbally you could go with any of these: "Filibusters! Carpet-sellers! Technocrat! Pickled Herring! Fancy dress freebooters!" Although personally I prefer those of a more scientific nature: "Belemnite! Hydrocarbon! Macrocephalic baboon! Duck-billed platypus! Logarithm! Troglodytes! Artichokes!" and so on and so forth... Too many to choose from? Just try Captain Haddock's insult generator here (there should totally be an ap for that!). ;o)

Then there's the very absent minded Professeur Tournesol - Prof Calculus (who doesn't make an appearance in this film) and the nutty identical-looking detectives Dupont et Dupond (Thompson and Thomson in English). The stories are all fabulous adventures, loads of fun, and for those who want to read between the lines frequently a social/political/cultural commentary or satire.

The first volumes are a bit thick with the racial stereotypes (Tintin au Congo, Tintin en Amérique), but it was the colonialist mentality of the 1920s after all... in later comics he changed his attitude and showed quite a bit of growth breaking away from stereotypical representations.

Back to the movie!

It's principally based on The Secret of the Unicorn (in which Tintin and Haddock try to find and unite three parchments hidden in model ships which will allow them to solve the riddle of where Haddock's ancestor hid a pirate treasure), with elements from The Crab with the Golden Claws (in which Tintin first meets Captain Haddock while investigating a smuggling ring that uses crab tins -seen in the movie- to smuggle opium. In the film we only get Haddock and his ship the Karaboudjan and his traitorous first mate Alan as well as the crazy trek through the Sahara) and Red Rackham's Treasure (which tells the story of the actual treasure hunt). This last one should have given us Prof Calculus (and his crazy shark submarine which I always loved!), but sadly they managed without him.

Less comics more movie? In the film Tintin buys a beautiful old model of a 17th century sailing ship, the Unicorn, which is soon after stolen from him, but not before revealing an interesting secret... Tintin goes on the hunt for the perpetrators and finds himself on the Karaboudjan where he meets the imprisoned Captain Haddock. The two make a run for it and try to get to the third model ship (the villains have the second) before the bad guys do. But the bad guys have a (fabulous) secret weapon and things really heat up! The actual treasure hunt part is just a teensy bit from the end of Red Rackham's Treasure (which disappointed me a bit, but I guess the whole search would have made things way too long).

Hmm... all this and I haven't even given you my opinion on the movie yet! Well for starters let me say I think this motion capture thing was the perfect way to bring Tintin to life! There's no way we would have got the vibrancy of Hergé's world in a live action film (and just thinking of what would have been done with Snowy makes me shudder!). And the motion capture makes the acting and movement of the characters more realistic than with traditional animation. Add the 3-D to that... and WOW!!! I thought it was marvellously put together and I was totally immersed in the film and the characters. My favourite was without a doubt Andy Serkis' (of Gollum fame) Captain Haddock. I felt like he'd sprung to life from the pages of the comic books! :o)

Jamie Bell (Tintin) and Andy Serkis (Haddock) all wired up for their motion capture performance

Kudos to Spielberg and Jackson for paying so much attention to details. I loved looking for all the little Easter eggs ref the comic sprinkled throughout the movie! Can't remember all of them, but an example near the end: the crate of cans with a crab stamped on them. Even the credit sequence at the beginning was beautifully crafted! Was kind of like a glimpse into Hergés world, a preview of various of Tintin's adventures! The Sceptre of Ottokar, the Incas, the Blue Lotus... and the silhouettes chasing one another...

To sum it up: it's a grand adventure with pirates and motorcycle chases and camel treks through the desert and a mystery to solve... lots of fun! GO SEE IT! And it's worth the 3-D. ;o)

Then report back here (if you remember in 2 months) and let me know what you thought about it! :D

For more info: the movie's official website, the imdb page and Wikipedia.

PS: none of the above photos are mine (except for my collection of Tintin comics), found them around the web with a Google search...

Edited on Dec 14th: I want to add a link to a VERY interesting article on i09 with Tintinologist Michael Farr about Hergé and the world of Tintin. Go read it, it's fascinating! :o)

Technicolour Sunset

2011-11-06T21:27:00.000+01:00

Fall has only just really hit us this past week. Temperatures have finally dropped to below 20ºC during the daytime, a storm has been going on and off for several days giving us high winds and quite a bit of rain but most specially: clouds!

What's the big deal with clouds? Well Alicante summers are very hot and hazy with nary a cloud in the sky (must be why all those tourists flock to our beaches) which can be rather boring if you like a little texture on your horizon! Fall means the return of storms and storms bring clouds. Lovely fluffy clouds, more dense stormy ones... you name it, we got it! And there's nothing better than a cloudy sky for a beautiful technicolour sunset!

Alicante's castle glowing in the light of the setting sun

20' later from the other end of the bay

These are our Fall colour! Our trees don't go all gold and bronze. They stay green and either lose their leaves or don't. So we depend on the sky to bring some bright colours into our lives. :o)

Hiking the cliffs of insanity in the Serra Gelada

2011-11-04T23:00:00.000+01:00

Ok, well maybe not quite the Cliffs of Insanity, but it sure felt like that when I was pulling myself up them a few weeks ago! :p

So this was my second hike of the season. I got invited by a friend to join in with the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia's hiking group as they made an incursion into the province of Alicante (their other hikes are a bit too far for me to go). They planned on hiking through a park that I've been meaning to visit for years, the mountain/cliffs that separate the bays of Benidorm and Altea: the Serra Gelada / Sierra Helada Natural Park. 4900 of the 5600 acres of this parc are marine environment, so some day I've got to find a dive club that will take me exploring beneath the surface.

Benidorm, the Island and the cliffs of the Serra Gelada seen from the sky

I waited for the rest of the group at the Toll booths just outside of Benidorm, then we made our way into the town and up to the cliffs looking over the Playa de Levante. We parked the cars in a dirt lot and then hit the trail... starting straight away with a pretty steep climb that had me out of breath pretty fast! I fact I was so worried about being able to keep up with the others that I didn't actually take any pictures until we made it to our first rest point at a lookout overlooking the bay!

Fabulous view, isn't it? You can click it bigger, and here are a few close-up shots, the first of Benidorm Island, one of my favourite diving spots on our coast (I've got posts about what's on and under the island if you're interested):

And that mountain looking over Benidorm is the Puig Campana. It's easily recognisable because it's got a big cube-shaped chunk missing out of it! Legend has it the island fits perfectly into that slot... ;o)

I'll be hiking up there with another group in mid-December. Can't wait!

Check out these lovely ladies!

Was a nice group of people to walk with, and was very relieved to discover that one of these girls had as much trouble as I did later on keeping up with the group! :p Anyhow, enough dawdling, it's time to get to those cliffs! Onwards and upwards, right?

Stiff climb, but a spectacularly rewarding view from up top!

The lighting was so perfect that day for photos... the way the sun made the rocks glow and the Mediterranean was that deep blue... fabulous! At the far end of that photo you can just make out our destination (the antennas), but there was a lot of climbing up and down and up before getting there! On this next stretch I was extremely thankful for my parents' walking sticks, and actually had to use my hands to scramble up in a couple of points!

As you can see there, quite a few people were far ahead of me, they waited at that tree at the very top. Here's the view from up there:

At that point I was very happy to have just made it up that climb (the steepest one we'd face, and the only one we didn't do going back down on the return leg), and wondering how on earth I'd survive the rest of the trek if there were more like it...

But each time I'd finished a climb, got to the top and just gazed at the view... it was like I forgot about the worst part and knew it was all worth it! Here, these should help understand what I mean:

This is the friend who got me to join the group (which is based out of Valencia, 200km north of me) on that hike. He was one of my English students at the University in Liège last year, and I introduced him to the hiking group up there so now he tries to help me find hikes around here!

Want to take a peek over the edge? Of course you do!!!

Yikes! Long way down! And there appears to be some kind of stream coming out of the mountain side...

Here's our destination... I didn't make it! ;o(

The head of the group made it, waited for a couple of stragglers (but not all), and then headed back and picked us up just short of reaching it! Grrrr... was NOT happy about that! The guy guiding this hike has done it at least 5 times, and apparently he likes to put the turbo on on all his hikes... not my style at all! Oh well...

We walked back the way we came for about a half hour then stopped for lunch for about half an hour and then continued backtracking on south.

Was a bit faster going back, although I had to be careful going down those steep climbs we had done! Was very relieved when we got here:

Benidorm seen from the Serra Gelada

and took our group photo:

After that it was just follow an easy path down the slope, through a little ravine and onto the road which would lead us back to our cars.

It was an absolutely exhausting hike, but well worth it for the views and the sense of achievement! Didn't know my legs/knees could take that much punishment (they were complaining for several days afterwards) very proud to have survived it! But I probably should have paid more attention when they sent me the file on the hike, including the profile:

I just noticed that we were doing an 11km hike (no problem), and that out maximum altitude would be 437 metres above sea level (with a minimum of 230m) so it didn't seem too bad. I figured all those jagged lines were exaggerated for effect, and the fact that we would climb a total of 950m (between going down and up and up and down and down and up... both going and coming!) didn't quite click with me. Oops! I've learnt my lesson! But since I managed to pull this off, I don't think much else will scare me this year, since my legs are improving with each hike. ;o)

Keep the Oceans Clean! starting with Alicante's Postiguet Beach

2011-10-27T22:30:00.000+02:00

For the past month or so I've been helping out as a local contact to organise a beach clean here on Alicante's main beach, the Postiguet, and yesterday was the big day! The event was part of an initiative called Keep The Oceans Clean!, a global environmental campaign organised by the Volvo Ocean Race and a group of artists (who happen to be surfers) called Skeleton Sea. The purpose of this programme is to raise awareness of the problems posed by the long-life trash floating around in our oceans, piling up on our beaches... A beach clean will be organised in each of the 10 stop-overs of this incredible round-the-world race, hoping to get as much local participation as possible, starting here in Alicante!

Playa del Postiguet

useful tools

Because of bureaucratic problems (it took forever to get the permit for the event!), we weren't able to really promote the beach clean properly 'till the day before. That added to the fact that it was a weekday means we didn't get as many people as we would have liked. But those that came (people from the Volvo, members of a local surf club, volunteers from the Red Cross, divers...) were all very willing and very active! We even had a special guest:

putting on Wisdom's feet

Wisdom! The Volvo's mascot who is apparently a big hit with the kids:

We started off with a short briefing:

and Xandi Kreuzeder, one of the Skeleton Sea artists, showing us what can be done with trash:

flower anyone?

And so everyone donned a pair of gloves, grabbed a bag, and off we went!

mini-cleaners! (photo by B.Ballesta of Alicante Surf Club)

I ended up heading out in the opposite direction from almost everyone else, got "lost" in these rocks, pulling out pieces of glass and broken bottles:

photo by B.Ballesta of the Alicante Surf Club

It was a lovely afternoon to spend on the beach, with a couple of the huge Volvo sailboats cruising around practising for Saturday's regatta...

lol! Here's Xandi "diving" into his work!

We ended up with quite a bit of trash:

photo by the Alicante Surf Club

but most of it was of the cigarette stubs and lollipop stick variety, not really "quality" trash for what we need...

I missed out on the group shot (still lost in the rocks), but at least I got a couple of great shots with Jacqui (the organiser) and Wisdom before he left:

That albatross is so cuddly! I wish I could have just birdnapped him... but he was a bit to heavy to run away with! :p

So if we did a great job of cleaning up the beach, why am I complaining about not getting "quality" trash? Well that's a story for another day... but here's a preview:

Skeleton Sea will be creating a sculpture in each of the stopovers with the trash collected in the beach cleans! I'll share more of their work with you another day. Here's the official news post on the day's event.

Join me in a few laughs...

2011-10-25T23:00:00.000+02:00

... at my own expense! ;o)

We all need a few laughs from time to time, so I thought I'd provide a few for my blogging friends. I don't know anyone (including myself) who hasn't laughed while watching this:

Trust me: NOT easy staying up in that thing! And the more time goes by the more tired you are and the harder it gets! But it's so much FUN!!! I was laughing my a$$ off, and breathing heavily, when I got out of there! Oh, and the chuckling you hear in the background of the video? My dad making fun of me!

Colourful hiking in the Font Roja

2011-10-24T23:00:00.000+02:00

I had to get up at a shockingly early 6h30 yesterday morning, for my third hike of the season. What's that? THIRD hike? I only remember you telling us about ONE (Cumbre Reconco), did you invent the second? Nope. Second was a stunning hike along cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean, but have been too busy to write! I wanted to start with this one while it's fresh in my mind and will take a step back in time for hike #2 soon. ;o)

So, back to business. 8 a.m. rendez-vous with the Centro Excursionista de Alicante at the bull ring, wait around for people (including myself, oops!), and then pile in the 12 cars (yikes!) and head inland to the Parque Natural del Carrascal de la Font Roja. About an hour north (inland) from the city of Alicante, it's one of the province's hidden treasures, which doesn't get as much attention as the beaches do. Covering about 2500 acres (of which 1300 are private property), it's got one of the best preserved Mediterranean forests in the region (albeit a relatively young one since a forest fire destroyed most of it in 1840), dominated by the eponimous Carrasca (a.k.a. Quercus rotundifolia), accompanied by other members of the oak family. Its Northeast-Southwest alignment (along a mountain ridge) results in distinct climates on the Northern (shady, quite a bit of rain, rich forest vegetation) and Southern (more sun, much drier, vegetation dominated y shrubs/bushes) slopes.

We got to the park around 9 a.m., and found it to be a very chilly 14ºC! Thank heavens for layers! But the early hour, the chilly air and the threatening rain clouds from the night before all combined to give us some gorgeous skies as we started our hike down below the Sanctuary:

We continued down along the Barranc de l'Infer track amidst the shady forest:

There were so many of us (at least twice as many as first outing), and the path so narrow at the beginning that it resulted in quite a few "traffic jam" stops!

But after a bit people began to outdistance each other a bit depending on their level of fitness. Going down that gentle gradient was easy, getting back out of the dip not so much! An easy slope became quite steep and we had to huff and puff our way up to the first break point. But all that climbing was worth it when we reached the Mirador de Pilatos (lookout):

and got to admire the view:

Even more interesting, happening upon this "little" (~10cm) critter:

I'm told he's either a "chicharra" (cicada) or an ephippiger. Whatever he is, he's definitely cool! :o)

Couldn't linger long on the view since we had to make it up there:

But seeing as how the path had become a dirt road,

it was much easier to walk on, and gave us a chance to admire the Fall foliage, a rare sight for most of us in this province!

We stopped for our almuerzo (mid-morning snack) by an old abandoned 19th century farmhouse (masía Tetuan),

and got a group shot in front of a gorgeous 350+ year-old yew tree (Taxus baccata, tejo in Spanish):

We didn't linger much on our snack break, as the wind had picked up (sweaters were back on), clouds were beginning to look quite menacing and a few rain drops were felt...

So up we went,

just stopping briefly when we came upon the Cava Coloma, a ruined "nevero" i.e. a structure that was used to pile snow (2200 m3 capacity) in order to have ice throughout the year:

Originally it would have had a domed roof, and two access doors at different heights, along with a window to shovel snow in. Sadly it doesn't snow enough any more to be of use... plus we now have freezers at home! ;o)

Once we reached the top our destination was in sight! But still looked a ways off...

From a bit closer we could see the final climb to the top of the Menejador:

Great views from up there! Including a look back path on the final stretch of our path:

and on the other side our starting point down by the Sanctuary:

But turns out we still had to make our way through the bush to reach the real summit!

Check me out, I made it up!

1356m above sea level (+ the column)

The view was stunning, click to make this panoramic shot bigger:

The colourful forest at my feet enthralled me,

and I was mesmerized the by mountain range heading north...

Here, get a feel for the 360º view I got on video:

On a clear day you should see Tabarca (in the bay of Alicante), not today.

My, everyone looks so small down there! ;o)

The path back down was much quicker, a series of forest paths that allowed us to enjoy the Fall colours some more...

We just had to be careful the trees didn't distract us from where we put our feet because the descent was both a bit steep and slippery with those damp leaves on the ground!

But we all made it back in one piece and enjoyed our picnic lunch,

before taking a look at the Sanctuary and Visitor's Centre.

All in all a fabulous hike! Not as tiring as the first hike with this group 4 weeks ago since the climb up was more gradual (until the final push that is). We actually combined two tracks (red+yellow) for a total of about 10km which we did in roughly 4h (quite a few stops).

I wished they'd tell us the total height climbed... the Visitor's Centre is at 1050m and the lowest point of the Barranc d l'Ifer at 950m so that's 100m down, then up 400m to reach the summit of the Menejador at 1357m. So a 400m climb. Not bad for my poor knee. ;o)