Mi encanta Grenada!

Grenada has revived me!

Grenada has to be my favourite place I have visited in Spain so far.

The minute I stepped off the train (leaving my computer behind accidentaly) I decided to re embrace all of my vulnerabilties and exhaustion.

Instantly,  I fell in love with Grenada. I really love Barcelona,  but Grenada is quieter, less of a party place and just so special and interesting.

I wandered up to my hostel along a cobble upward path through a middle eastern district full of inscence, arabic food and markets. Through a tight maze of cobble paths, hidden away, was my hostel, with a happy cat there to greet me in the sun. The man down the street told me proudly that it was his cat when he saw me giving it a cuddle.

The arabic restaraunts and stalls in the street of our hostel.

I wandered in to the hostel and had a gorgeous Finnish woman greet me. The hostel was so homely and quiet and within 5 minutes, I made friends with some beautiful travellers and we all signed up to go to the hot springs that night.

For my first time travelling this trip in shared accomodation,  I had a dorm where no one snored, we all connected immidiately and all went to bed at the same time each night.

For some reason men seem to snore and be a bit more grotty as travellers I have found. Sorry for the gross gender generalisation!

The hot springs in Greniville, a town about half an hour away from Grenada were amazing. We were taken in by this fantastic Spanish guy called Victor, who is a true hippy. Victor again told us how bad the job situation is in Spain, and that the government is not aware of the tours that he is running.

Victor took us in van on a very bumpy journey through the bush. Everyone was telling Victor that his van perhaps will not wether well on these wild roads, but Victor said that he has been doing these trips for 6 years in these kinds of vans.

 

The hot springs were about 30 degrees, we could not see anything but mist, the stars, the outline of trees and a rave over the hill that had been going for 3 days. Victor said ' I smoke bongs, but not when I am working' and so we drank wine instead. Victor is studying archeology, he says that he will probably not get much money from this, but it makes him happy. Victor told us about his alternative theories about the world and physics.

The next day, we went on the most amazing hike in the Albazyn, all day through the mountains, waterfalls and by the river. It was the greatest.  I really know now, that it is being outside, amongst the natural beauties of the world, that is where my heart is traveling. I have really tried to be more cultured and learn more about the history of a place, as I know it is important and I do not want to be ignorant, and I usually take a few interesting facts away. But being amongst nature and amongst people is where I want to be.

On our hike, we had some local pet doggies come and join us from nearby farms, and they walked with us over suspension bridges and the entire hike for 12km which made me so happy. Apparently on Trip Advisor, many travellers wrote about the one dog, that took part in every hike, religiously, twice a week for 2 and a half years. The dog would wait at the meeting point for every hike. Our guide, a Polish guy who has been living in Spain for 5 years, names the dogs as he chooses.

The views were amazing and the hike was fantasticly challenging. We all paid 15 Euros and signed no paperwork. We ended up rockclimbing around rivers and crawling through tight spaces full of thistles.

We all got a bit sunburnt as it was so sunny. It has been a while since I have had to think about wearing sunscreen! We ate lunch together and our guide 'Mihau' passed around a joint while others drank beer.

We came across some beautiful cows and I gave some mountain goats a cuddle.

It was the perfect day. And as always, along the way, I learned the stories of so many interesting people, and learned again that my worries, my journey and experiences, are in sync with many other people. As travellers, we all help each other to gain new perspectives, to empathise with each other in hardship, learn new things and celebrate the joy in each others lives, through stories or experiences right there and then, like on the hike.

We giggled about being smelly travellers, about how we are scared and excited to where life is taking us, about how it is fulfiling but hard to sleep in dorm rooms, and about tricky relationships at home.

I told an Englishman, Cameron, about my computer being left on the train. I told him that it was a heavy object though,  and was not working very well anyway, so maybe it was better to have been left on the train. Cam told me that after the 3rd time being robbed in Buenos Aires, he was like 'ah well'.

My friend Koralina from Austria, came with me to the police station to make a report about my computer, and the whole experience was so funny and fulfing. Each policeman told us that we needed to do something different to make a report (very Spanish). We managed to make the report in Spanish! The policeman who was helping us was in bit of a bad mood. A little like the bus drivers in Lithuania, he said 'I have to work, so things are bad.' But with  having 2 blonde foreigners constantly smiling, giggling, asking him hoe he was, expressing sincere thanks and shaking his hand, by the end of the conversation, he could not be cranky anymore.

On my way to the police station, admiring the view of the Alahamra fotress and palace.

That evening we all had tapas together and had a falafel at a nearby shop. The woman preparing the falafel was using her bare hands to prepare all of the food, but I am not sick now and it was a great experience.  The woman cooking our foood looked very happy to have us in our shop too.

Amazingly, there was a Lithuanian girl 'Sofija' working at the hostel kitchen (the breakfast is amazing). Sofija told me that there is another Lithuanian guy working on reception, I could not believe it. The Lithuanian guy 'Vytas' (kaip mano brolis) was even more surprised,  when at 7am, I approach him and start talking to him in Lithuanian. Vytas said that he had never heard an Austalian speak Lithuanian before. I could not believe that I was sitting in a kitchen in Grenada, listening to two Lithuanians talk about the best way to make eggs for breakfast.

We all exchanged details and talked about how hard it is to meet such amazing people and then have to part ways again. But as always, I say, until we meet again, not goodbye.

I am deliriously tired but delierously in love with life, as I am looking at the countryside outside my train window, with the sun shining on my pink tinted face.

Hastaluego Grenada y Hola Cordoba.

Xo,

Rasa