Calpe

Okay, after a week of hard exams (and I mean the hardest ones of my life) I am back!

Last Saturday most of us went to Calpe with the school. No one really new where it was or what we were doing. All we really new was that we needed to meet at the bus at 1 and that we would return around 12 AM. There were also a few signs posted at the school saying we needed to ask for a bocadillo, wear shoes for “trekking” and bring a jacket in case it gets cold. Most of us had no idea what trekking meant but we interpreted it as walking lots and lots so we needed comfortable shoes.

So we met at the bus and headed to Calpe… and keep in mind it was about 90 degrees but we were certain oh it would cool off I mean it is the end of October. Most of the girls were dressed in sundresses with flip-flops on and the boys in jeans or shorts. I had on jeans, my rainbows (flip-flops) and a button down long sleeve shirt. I know this is irrelevant, but it will become really important.

After we boarded the bus, the 2 people from our school told us it was about a 2 hour bus ride and that when we got there we would have several hours of free time and then we will all meet up again and go to the festival or parade of the moors and Christians.

So they handed us this information packet and there was some sort of mountain we had the option of climbing. It looked nice in the pictures and we all were like oh ok this will be a pretty view. Oh but we had absolutely NO idea what we were getting into.

Upon arrival we all saw the mountain that we were going to climb and it looked more like Mt. Everest. We saw that there was grass until the middle so we thought oh we will just be going to where the grass ends, there’s no way you can climb up to the top of that thing. After walking 30 minutes we arrived at the base of the mountain and our teachers from school said have fun and be safe and if you need anything we have our cell phones.

The Mountain we climbed

Well, we started climbing and at first there were nice paths, we were just climbing straight up. I definitely wasn’t prepared for this but it wasn’t too bad… after about 30 minutes of walking up the path, we came across a cave where we had to continue climbing. However, you couldn’t see anything and it was slippery. Luckily they had rope to hold onto on the side.

Jess and I at the bottom of the mountain

The hardcore tunnel

So after that we had NO idea what we were about to encounter… as soon as we finished the tunnel, there were no more nice paths, no instead you had to find your way up, climbing the rocks! Thank goodness I took climbing at Greystone so I knew a little bit. But please picture us in our flip-flops, dresses caring our humongous purses up this mountain. It was comical but also the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. Spain has definitely gotten me out of my comfort zone in many ways and this is something I would have never done before.

A view from the halfway point

After climbing for an hour and a half we made it to the top and the view was surreal! The pictures don’t even do justice. I don’t think I have ever seen something so beautiful in my life.

Jess and I made it to the top

Notice the rocks and landscape... not easy to climb in flip-flops

After enjoying the view for 30 minutes we realized we had to make it back down for the parade. My friend Jess and I set a goal for our selves and that we would be down in an hour because it had taken us the longest time to get up. We were not appropriately dressed for the occasion. Climbing down was harder than up because you have to climb down all the rocks. But somehow we made it without falling or anything. We did slide down lots of the rocks since that was easier to do than try and climb down.

We made it down in less than an hour and were still in awe that WE climbed THAT!! I still can’t believe it! It was definitely an experience and I don’t think I will ever do it again but I am so glad I did! This is one of the reasons I love Spain, because something like that in the US would have been illegal or too dangerous, but they are so much more relaxed here about anything. They use the phrase “no pasa nada” all the time, which means don’t worry about anything, and that really is how they live day to day. They are so relaxed and I love it!

Okay so after hiking up Mt. Everest, we went to the parade. Everything in Spain also lasts forever, so this parade was long, but it was so fun to see all the costumes. There was three parts of the parade: one with moors, one with pirates and one with Christians. These three groups of people are very important to Spain’s history and so they were celebrating all three groups on this day. It was definitely interesting to see the costumes and what people wore during those years.

So that is Calpe… It was awesome and I am so glad I went. Hope you enjoyed!

-Mo