http://picasaweb.google.com/remierice/20100413SpainLoRes#.)
Nothing too exciting happened on the way through rural Spain on our way to Casa La Xerra. A couple of observations:
* The countryside looked healthy. From the airplane on the way into A Coruna, the organic look of the agriculture -- small fields interspersed by equally large forests -- looked nothing like typical agricultural land in the US. On the drive we saw a lot of that up close. Also, as I noticed when I was in Switzerland in 1998, the cows there just look fatter and healthier.
* The freeway construction there in northern Spain is pretty intense. They're shooting for US-style gigantic roadways. Evidently, some Spaniards are not too happy about it.
Having plugged our destination into my trusty (ahem..) iPhone, we navigated our way into the hills north of the Picos de Europa. Having left the main paved roads now, we wound up some gravel roads, taking various turns according to the Phone. The gravel roads became dirt roads, and we began wondering if we were making a mistake. After driving through a flock of sheep (like you sometimes have to drive through buffalo in Yellowstone), we reached a dead end -- exactly the location marked on the Phone. Great. This was certainly not it. It was some kind of obscure picnic area. It was 8 pm by this time. The situation could be salvaged. Looked up directions on the Casa La Xerra website. Translated the Spanish and had some rough idea how to get there. Drove as directed. Still couldn't find it. Began asking random roadside Spaniards. My Spanish sucks. Their English sucks worse. Finally broke down and showed a guy the website on the Phone. He had a eureka moment -- "Oh!! Casa La Sierra!" I had been pronouncing it Casa La ex-erra .. not sierra. One of his friends was good with ad lib sign language and explained how to get there. Finally we made it!
By this time I was starting to feel like a mute. I couldn't talk to anybody (except of course Anita). Usually I joke around with people I encounter and I couldn't do that... I figured communicating with the owner of La Xerra would be like that. Ana met us and was happy to see us. She had a little dog, Milo, following her around. He was a non-barking, big personality, little dog. We talked in broken Spanish and English for a few minutes, then she revealed that she speaks French! Boy, was I excited. I could finally talk to a stranger. It was surprising how voluble I could be in French when it was the only way to communicate. Ana and I talked about hiking the nearby Picos. She showed me a map and pointed out some ideas. We dropped our stuff off in the room which was gorgeous.
Here is a view from the window (which doesn't show the room).She told us about her favorite restaurant down the hill. We headed there and were greeted by 15 suspicious stares when we walked in the door. These were a bunch of locals. Playing cards. Smoking. Oh well, we were hungry so sat down. They took their time serving us. Finally did and I took a sip of my beer. Tasted .. ok, but something seemed weird. I read the label -- "cerveza sin alcohol." My spanish is poor. But "sin", I was pretty sure, meant "without." Funny they seemed to be playing tricks on me. I took the beer to the counter and got one with alcohol... Food was not too bad. Then we got out of there.
Day 3 -- Friday April 16
The next day, our hiking expedition was fun. The drive was winding, and Anita felt a little queasy by the time we got to the top, weaving along a narrow road with sheer dropoffs. Scenery near the bottom of the hike involved green rolling hills and sheep/cattleherders structures.
Scenery in the Picos
Our high point was near this hiker's cabin.
There was a nice dog to greet us there.Clouds moved in and a bit of rain started falling, so we retreated. On our way down, we stopped in a little tourist spot that revolves around a shrine to the Virgin Mary established in 722. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Covadonga
Had my search for the truth ended? Here was a holy place where they worship a virgin mother! Impressive. However, judging by the tourist riff-raff around the place, this was not the truth.
That evening, I took a few photos around Casa La Xerra.
(I love this one.)Ana made dinner for us that night. It was like Thanksgiving. She brought out one dish after another. A preposterous amount of food. Fish soup. Squid in its own ink. I forget all the dishes. Then fruit salad for desert. Most of this stuff from her own garden. She raises squid in a pool out back. Kidding. Breakfasts were decadent too. Bread, cheese. Honey from her beehives. Ana was an interesting lady. Had spent 20 years in Geneva, Switz. doing "natural medicine". Was raised just up the road from La Xerra. Dairy farmering family. New EU rules have made it tough to be a smalltime dairy farmer apparently. I think it has to do with the Common Agricultural Policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy
Day 4 -- Saturday April 17
The next morning, we shipped out. Our first stop would be a cave with prehistoric artwork. Ana had recommended it and arranged for us to be in a tour. This sounded goood, but I seem to have forgotten about our lack of Spanish... To be continued...
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