Hiking in the North with Jesus

Thursday night my host mother and I went to another concert (same place as the other time) and we were out late, so Friday night I stayed at home to get some rest because we had plans to go hiking Saturday with a friend of Teresa´s since we dont have sailing the last weekend of the month.

We left early (in Spanish time) Saturday morning around 9. Our group in total was me, Teresa, Ruben, Chris, Walter (Chris´s Pa), Marisol (Teresa´s sis) and her daughter Mar, and Jesus, our tour-guide for the day. It was so nice to be able to breath the fresh, clean air of the north and see the lush green plants growing everywhere. We hiked and collected chestnuts -there are chestnut trees everywhere there and you can eat them right off the ground after peeling the shell, just watch out for worms, I was one bite away from eating one. I was so happy when it started to rain, it was very refreshing as was the cool damp air. A little later we went into town to buy some bread, cheese, ham, and pastries for lunch; then, we hiked some more to eat lunch on a lower mountain in the warmth of the sun with the view of the town below.

Saturday night I went to see my second all Spanish movie: Fantastica (I dont know the Original title, but it couldn’t be too far off). It was a little cheesy. It was a collaboration of the Disney animations with reality. An animated Disney princess ends up in the city, totally disoriented, until a man and his young daughter take her in, then she falls in love with this man and they live happily every after. Definitely cheese-tactic (that should be its title actually, ´Cheesetastica´), but entertaining nevertheless, and easy to follow.

Sunday (the 25 of NOVEMBER, mind you) we passed the day at the beach. Now I am nice and tan and you are not. : )  the end. ; )

African Canarian band, The Mariposa, and the Birthday Fiesta

Friday at school, we got out of the final hour of class to watch this African-Canarian band play for us. They were there supporting and raising awareness about world peace. The show was great, they had a handful of various drums and percussion instruments and all wore traditional African-type clothing. It was the kind of music that when you hear it, you just want to move your body to the rhythm; though I was enjoying the hell out of it, I think my classmates are a little more of a tough crowd, but eventually we had a group singing and dancing and following the lead of the head dancer. It was a good time, and it far surpassed going to History class with Zoilo the spaz.

Saturday after Sailing, we went out to get pizza instead of coming home for lunch because we were meeting a friend of Teresa´s to have a look at this ´project´ called ´The Mariposa´ (the Butterfly). The whole idea of the Mariposa is based around the fact that humans in general in their modern, busy lives are too unappreciative for the environment, the art/beauty surrounding them and have lost touch with the philosophical meaning of life. The project is a series of outdoor symbolic art pieces, ranging from ancient games to sun clocks, to designs simply for aesthetics which have been arranged by numerous artists from all over the world. The project has been going on since 1993 when this German lady decided to open up the place to raise awareness about these factors. Her philosophy is that if we don’t change the way we are living, we (human civilization) will all go down like the lost city of Atlantis. Yes, she was a bit of an ornery nutcase, but all the same, interesting and appealing. I fell in love with the place, it is way up in the mountains, so you have an incredible view of the island below, and every piece of art there had an interesting history or story behind it. I think I will take my parents and family there when they come to visit, I think they should appreciate that. Its an ironic piece of land to be found on a place the the south of Tenerife, where the general scheme of things consists of tourism and publicity.

After the Mariposa, I prepared for a night out at the discos with a new friend, Annah, whom is the daughter of a friend of my host mother. We were to meet at the guagua station at 1130, only Annah was meeting us somewhere else, so I got to hit it off with the big group of good looking boys. It was a little awkward and embarrassing for me when my host mother introduced me and described my situation, but not a bad start to the evening. Apparently it was the birthday of Annah´s friend, Nicole (a boy), whom my host mother knows as well. He is studying in a university in Madrid, but came home for the weekend to celebrate. I guess he won the Spanish championships in sailing. Not bad.

The evening started out wonderfully, because we had a huge group of kids, all of whom were super cool and like-able, so I felt very accepted, though it was the first time ever talking to all of them (except for one boy who I know from school). We drank a little on the beach as we waited for the discos to get started, and then around 1 30, when the majority of the crowd is out and about, we went to dance. It was by-far the most luck Ive had with discos yet. Finally, I was experiencing the stereotypical dance club scene where the place is so packed you can hardly breath and all of lights are flashing and dancing to the music to create a psychedelic ambiance. Oh how I love to dance in the discos. One boy from the group, Javier, could dance salsa like crazy. We danced forever. I had no attraction to him other than he was a hell of a salsa dancer and nothing is more fun than dancing salsa with someone who can lead with good moves. After working up a sweat with Javier (haha), the whole group went outside to cool off and take a break. It was only about 3am, but Annah had to be home soon, so we hung around for another 40 minutes to hang out and enjoy the entertainment of the group drunkards. Me and the other girls hitched a ride to Annah´s to spend the night. Her house is ridiculous. It is bigger than houses in America and very classy, I was impressed. The night was so much fun and I made some good fiesta buddies, I cant wait to do it again.

The Day of the Fugi?

Today I didnt have school-again (surprise, surprise!), the reason being that it was the Day of the Fugi (the reason there is a question mark in the title is because frankly, I am not sure how correct that name is). This is a special day which the teachers award the students of the school, in other words, it is not a national holiday, and it doesnt have to correspond with the Day of the Fugi of any other school, but all of the Canarian schools celebrate it anyway on one day or another; also, I am not sure that it is limited to only one day, I think (and hope) that throughout the year we will have more that one of these holidays.

To celebrate, and to occupy our free time, Chantel, a girl from class, had organized a picnic/barbecue exclusively for Group C of my grade (plus some other special tags alongs). Everyone signed up to bring something-to keep things simple, I brought plain old Coke. I was the second one to arrive at 8 30 am (a little disappointed that I couldn’t spent my day off sleeping more, but my host mother took me on her way to work). The majority of the crew showed up around 10 30, and  we passed the whole day barbecuing pork, playing cards and futbol, and dancing. At five, I left with a friend to catch the Guagua. ´Un Buen dia.´

Good news today…Remember that boy from the other blog? Yes, the cute one with the sun kissed hair. We sat together and talked the whole trip on the Guagua today. He is from Argentina, originally. Unfortunately, he is only 17, but I can make an exception just this once. ; )

 PS to My 2007 Musical Cast… I smiled to myself today when I saw a restaurant named ´Wali Hai.´ ; ) miss you guys!<3

This Weekend

Friday night Ruben had a German Fiesta of the Lanterns at his school, which he has been looking forward to, practicing songs for and talking about for quite some time now. Teresa and I went to watch the annual fest. When we got to the school, it was just like any other elementary school event, there are little kids running wildly all over the place and parents chatting about the latest news. The fiesta started later, so it was dark, because for the opening event, all the kids marched out in a single file line with their lanterns lit, as the parents and audience awaited them around a big bonfire. There was an army of kids, each class with a different lantern theme. When all the kids had made it out, and the ring around the bonfire was complete, they entertained us with several German songs, first they sang and then the older kids played recorders.

After the bonfire, we all filed inside for the reenactment of a significant event of the significant person for whom that day is granted, whose name or significant I do not recall, then heard some more singing, saw some dancing, and more of those typical kid-show acts. It was very cute. They gave readings in German (some of these kids are incredible, they can speak four languages in elementary school because their parents are from different countries, its crazy), and when all this was done, we had traditional German rolls with raisins which are meant to be shared as part of the tradition.  This about wraps up the lantern fest.

Saturday I had plans with some amigas to go eat dinner and dance for a bit in the discos. This was a bit of a flop, not everyone could make it, so we were only three in total. We met at 830, for a typical dining time, the problem was that after eating we had hours to kill until the discos even opened, so we just shopped around a bit until 1200, and the discos were still empty. We danced a bit, but its not that fun with a small group by yourselves. Finally, around one we left in taxis, because we were tired of waiting for the discos to start. At that point all the kids were just out on the beach ´pre-gameing it.´ I talked with a friend later who was at the same place, the same night only she arrived at two. She says any earlier is too early, only this is the hour that I like to return to my house. Spain is crazy with the way they use their hours.

Sunday was AWESOME! My BEST day of sailing yet! The wind was perfect and we were able to exit the school´s typical sailing grounds, the most important detail being that I went SOLO in Mara´s amaazing sunset sailed laser! I was leading the pack because I was going to fast, I have to say I was impressing myself,  I think am pretty good at sailing. Its a great feeling when you are out there alone, and you have to make all of your own decisions. Sometimes when the pack is close together, its easy to come very close to collisions, but when you stay calm and think clearly and end up having made the right move, its so great, you feel so good inside. Its like meditating almost, its relaxing, but all the same, you have to think and pay attention.

We crossed over to another beach, which I have yet to venture. The way back me and one other boy sailed together out in front, then we had to wait for Monolo, our other instructor, to hitch us rides back to the shore.  Because the direction of the wind was coming strong from the beach, It would have been nearly impossible at our level of sailing to make it back there, so what we had to to was loosen our sails, then hitch a ride back with Monolo by tying a rope from his motor boat to the sailboats. It was thus far my favorite day of sailing yet.

After class finished, I distributed American coins and candy to the kids of the my sailing school. They loved it.

´A night on the piss´ with my two favorite English Girls

Friday night, I was in the mood to go out, since I hadnt been to the discos for a while, so I called up my crazy English friends to see what they were up to tonight.  I was lucky, they were up to something. I was to meet them in Las Veronicas, a strip of discos which I had yet to visit. They were late for the appointment, so I went for a little stroll, and ran into them, sopping wet walking down the street. They had just come back from a spontaneous skinny dip in the ocean.

We started the night off with a drink called ´Sex on the beach,´ them made some friends with some random English crowds. After dancing a bit, we went to Emelia´s house for a bit, so the girls could change their clothes and toss on some makeup to prepare for a proper night in the discos. It turns out Emelia (the saner of the two) plays guitar and had good taste in music, she is such a hippie.  After a cup of tea (which was incredible, I hadnt had tea since I had arrived in Spain), around 12 30, we regressed back to Veronicas to meet their freind, whose birthday we were celebrating.

We danced a ton, and disco hopped for hours. The dicos in Veronicas are so much nicer than on Playa de Vistas, I know almost all the songs they play there, and the crowd is 95% English, the whole ambiance is the exact opposite of Playa de Vistas. Drinks are very cheap there, the girls bought about two gallons of ´beverage´ for little more than 6 € (I didnt drink very much, seeing as there should always be one sober person). But oh, what a night it was. We danced and danced all night, the rest of my gang was drunk and we were all having a great time. Finally, around 430, I thought it best to head home, seeing that I had sailing in the morning. I smiled to myself thinking about the night the rest of the weekend.

Baltic dining Experience, My first time sailing Solo and Some other updates too insignificant for their own Titles

Saturday night we had plans to meet with Chris´ parents to have dinner, so we met and went together to this desolate little pueblo to eat at a special Baltic restaurant. It was a tiny place, it only had about 7 tables and they served the menus in these little pots of sand with the dish written on a little piece of paper and stuck to the top of a thin metal pole (like the cards they give you with a pot of flowers), so that when you chose what you wanted, you would remove the pole from the sand pot and stick it to the waitress.

We each chose one appetizer dish to share so we could get a taste of everything. Our ensemble of platters consisted of: Potato Puree, this is like a light, salty, potatoe whipped served with one super-elegant potato crisp in a fancy little vase with a delicate spoon…super-yummy; raw salmon slices doused with oil and vinegar and served with peppers in oil, tremendous plain, and even better on bread; raw beef, sliced paper thin for eating plane (but not excessively) or on bread, eww, the grossest thing that has been in my mouth in a long time, gag me; croquettes (I’m not sure of the spelling), these are like little balls of deep fried cheese or creamy chicken served on a platter with the most pequliar looking side of deep fried potato puree (remember that stuff from earlier), Imagine how a funnel cake looks when you squeeze strings of the batter into oil, only the puree more resembled a big knot of very long worms, or a long string of packaging foam, this tasted good, a little overwhelmingly salty, and the fried balls were good too, but they seemed a little too ´Burger King´ compared with the other foods; last came the goat cheese lollipops, (which are totally different that what you are imagining), this one was my choice, mostly out of curiosity, they were two tiny thin crepes fried with goat cheese inside, like a teeny grilled  cheese sandwich, and then they just stuck a stick in the cheese and called them lollipops, pretty good, but also a little heavy on the oil and salt. We followed our food (and wine, hehe) with dessert, I had some delicious hazelnut chocolate ice-cream served with melted chocolate that I think was authentic from Belgium, because it was very very good, and everyone else had these white brownies with fruit and jam.

I love having meals like this, Its such a great way to socialize and I love trying the interesting dishes. I think it took us about two hours and half total or so to complete our meal, but dining in Spain is always time well spend. This is somehting America lacks a lot of. The way we eat in America is so backwards, as are other things here in Spain, however, I think I will miss  very much the Spanish dining style, and of course, the food!

Sunday morning I was lucky, there wasnt much wind. Mara, our instructor at the sailing school, promised me if there wasn’t much wind Sunday, I could go out SOLO for the first time!! And I did!!!!!!! Its like Ren and Stimpy sing in that gay cartoon, ´Happy, happy! Joy, joy!´ and this is how I felt. It was so much different to set up to sail on my little solo boat, and a little less fun to be honest. Mostly preparation consists of an array of ropes and knots,  you miss out on raising the sail and all that stereotypical stuff. However, being out there alone is so great, you are always the captain, so you can go where you want, when you feel like, you dont have to listen to the commands of the little annoying 12 year olds. I feel very comfortable sailing solo, and also my boat is soo super-fly, it is red and resembles a flat, floating torpedo; they call it The Laser.  For practice, I had to intentionally tip my boat so I know how flip it if the situation occurs accidentally. It was a great time, this weekend I am hoping for more wind, it is a lot more fun that way.

Today, which is actually Wednesday (I am playing catch up with blog entries here), I FINALLY went shopping. My friend took me to the Mango Outlet, where you can find very cheap clothes, especially for here where everything costs a fortune. I spent only 35€ on 6 items and got a pair of the best fitting jeans I have ever bought for only 10€.

Also, I think I have found my first Spanish amor <3 …his name is Gonzulo and has long sun-kissed surfer locks, green eyes and the cutest freckles. This boy is so cute. This is what I think about when I give up on trying to learn in class….

Also, some input on my host parents: 

Sometimes I wonder how adults can make the most complicated matters seem so easy…Will I be this smart someday? I hope so.

Mount Teide

Thursday, with our day free of school, my family took me to visit Mount Teide, the highest peak in all of Spain, located right here on this tiny island of mine. I want to say it is around 3,700 meters, but I am not sure if that is exactly right, I will let you do the converting. We left in the morning so we would have plenty of time to take a look around. We went at just the right time, because the week before in Geography, we were studying the different kinds of volcanic rocks on the Canaries, so I could identify a lot of the rocks we saw. The landscape in the southern half of the mountain was kind of ugly, to be honest. It really resembled the moon, in fact, it is actually named a lunar landscape. There is no color and no plants, just a bunch of big ugly, dry rocks. But it was beautiful in that way, all the same.

When we got to the Northern portion, things came to life, literally, there were plants everywhere and tons of trees, and the temperature was a lot cooler and damper. Some parts were like being on Hierro again, everything was covered in a thick blanket of fog. I prefer this climate to the dryness of the south.

We went to Santa Cruz, the capital of the Canaries, to grab some lunch. We ate in this cute German restaurant, allegidly well known for their wonderful pastries. The food was great, and the service terrible, and it was a nice time. I tried some more white wine. I think my taste buds are really maturing to wine. When you first start drinking wine, you most of the time just pretend to like in, in order to seem adult-ish, with the occasional good tasting one here and there; but now, every-time I drink wine, I like it more and more.

I bought a volcanic rock necklace in one of the shops, and we ended the day with a long scenic car ride home which, for me, meant a nap in the back seat.

Halloween and Two School-free Days

Wednesday, October 31, (Halloween!) my friends and I made plans to go out that night since we didnt have to go to school the next day, because in Spain, November 1st is a national holiday for remembering the dead. We planned to meet at the cinemas around five thirty, but of course we ended up waiting on two girls until 7 or so, so to pass the time, we debated which movie to see (girls have all votes for the fairytale, and the only two boys want to see Resident Evil 3),  window shopped a little, and tried on some crazy hats, you know. By the time the two girls arrived, it was too late to watch our fairytale, and too early to wait for the next showing, so we went with Resident Evil 3 (something I never in my life have ever had the slightest interest in-but somehow appropriate, because it was Halloween and all).

It was probably the worst movie I have ever seen. But what a cool experience! My first movie in allll Spanish! Though really, with action movies, it could have been in Chinese and you could be entertained; and since everyone pretty much knows the general idea of Resident Evil, I dont think I missed out on any great story lines. I will have to watch in in English when I return home….on second thought…….

I am skipping Thursday for right now, because it needs special attention, being that I went to Mt. Teide!

Friday, since I didnt have school (again-only this time I dont know why) my host mother and I went together to get haircuts. I was a little nervous because I didnt want to ask for the wrong thing and then have my hair look like crap, also, I am not familiar with the hairdresser or anything, so it was a little stressful for me. Things started out badly, we waited almost 45 for two men to have their hair done. I swear, these morons were slower than molasses in Antarctica. Finally, I was up, and the hairdresser walked to over to the shampoo station; this is usually my very favorite part of any visit to the hairdresser, but then again, I have never had my hair washed in ice cold water before. After the shampoo, he asked me if I wanted something unfamiliar to me, and when I asked what it was, he responded some word sounding like ´….conditioner.´ Well, sure, conditioner follows every shampoo, so naturally, I said yes. Next minute, he is spatula-ing some crap in my hair and tells me I have to wait for ten minutes under one of those head-dome things like you see in the movie salons. I was a little embarrassed because my mother and I had already been there waiting for like an hour and a half, and I didnt know what it was or how much it cost, but in the end it made my hair feel silky and soft, and only cost 6€.

Finally I was ready for my cut, and I had found a picture while waiting, so I didnt have to worry about describing anything. So, this lady pretty much just starts hacking clumps of my hair. Ive never been so paranoid while having a haircut; I considered asking her a few times what the hell  she thought she was doing. Her snips were like how elementary kids cut construction paper, you know, they never really wait for the scissors to fully close and they are already taking another snip. Also she was using the scissors of death, instead of a straight blade, they looked like the teeth of a comb, and every now and then they would get stuck in my hair, so she would kind of just rip them out, and they made this teRRible noise, like they were dull and have been needing replacement for the past ten years. She was by far the worst hairdresser I have ever experienced, but somehow my hair looks ok, but I think is just because I am lucky to have curly hair to conceal all the shitty layers, because I cant wear it straight or it looks weird. Two and a half hours later, we finally got out of the peluqueria. Anyway, hair is soo much easier short, and I am happy with my cut, but I think next time, I will have Ruben do it for me. He will probably do a better job and is free.

Excursion to El Hierro

Last weekend, I went with my class on a three day excursion to another of the western Canaries, El Hierro. Hierro is a much smaller, much more virgin, and much less inhabited island than Tenerife. The buildings are older, the streets closer together, the plants and shrubbery more natural (there aren’t palm trees lining every street). There is also quite a drastic change in the climate, since the geography is different-although Tenerife´s Mt. Teide is the highest peak in Spain, the mountains start gradually, and work their way up to this towering peak; on Hierro, the mountains just start, so if you are not on the shore, you are high in the mountains (although in the north of Tenerife, which is more mountainous, the climate is similar to Hierro. Everything is green on Hierro, and there are many more plants, and a lot less sun; there is always a cool breeze and clouds, but I much prefer this island to Tenefire. It is much more beautiful, in my opinion.

Our excursion started Early on Friday morning, we met at the school at 6 am (for some people in Spain, this is on the verge of unbearably early). I had been feeling sick several days before, and that morning, I felt like crap. Go figure the only time I am sick on the island is right before the excursion. Thank goodness for Aspirin. I was the first student there, so I was a little shy about what to do. I hate being the first kid to arrive for stuff like that. When more kids started entering the bus, I hardly recognized any of them, because thought they are in my grade, I have class with the same group every day. Finally, some friends got on then we started to the Aeropuerto del Norte. I slept most of the time to the airport.

At the airport, we had some extra time, so we played Spanish cards in this little cafe. Did you know that Spanish cards only have 40 in a deck, and that the numbers go up to 12 and they dont have suites? …I didnt either, this could make a potentially good souvenir.

We entered this tiny little airplane and got to walk up the steps like in the movies, we didnt board from a portal hallway-thingy. On the plane, I met some new friends and had a great view of the other islands. When we arrived to Hierro, we made way to our residency in which we would be sleeping, dropped off our bags, then headed out for our first hike. It was a little chilly, and everyone was freezing except for me. This weather made me so happy. The trail we walked on was beautiful, and all down hill (it is surprisingly difficulty to walk downhill on steep, downhill paths with loose stones, because you have to be very cautious with every step and it is an awkward position to keep your balance for a long period of time). We walked about 12 km, it took us about 2 hr and 45 mins. After that we went to this natural saltwater swimming pool, bacically is was just a cut out of rock on the black sand shore that resembled a pool; it isnt super special, its main purpose is just a place to bath, because you cant swim just anywhere on the black sand beaches because of the giant rocks. I skipped out on this activity because it was freezing and I didnt want to stimulate my illness, but I felt like a big party pooper.

Here is where it gets funny. I have Potential material for ´most embarrassing moment,´ so you better keep reading. After swimming, we returned to the residency to get situated and bath, etc, etc. There were two huge community, college-style bathrooms on the floor. After listening to a little announcement from Zoilo, our crazy history teacher\tour guide on the trip, my girl friend staying in the room with me and some other ambitious girls hurried to the bathrooms so we could be the first ones in and out. We rushed with all out hygiene products and filled the stalls perfectly, and with that little *yessss!* of accomplishment for being the first ones in, I started to take off my clothes for the shower. I heard someone elses shower start, then I heard talking, so I turned on mine and started to wet my hair. Not thirty seconds later do I hear Zoilo creeping around in the bathroom shouting things. Firstly, what is running through my head is that I am not that surprised that this guy was out and about in the girls locker room AFTER there were girls in the shower, not that he is a pervert or anything, but that he is an insane control freak, and he always doing crazy, impulsive things that normal people wouldnt thing to do; but mostly, I am wondering WHAT message is SOO important that you have to interrupt our shower to tell us RIGHT NOW. There is knocking on my door. Its Zoilo….rattling off my me in Spanish at 90 km per hour. ´I dont have clothes on,´ I told him in Spanish….reponse: ´….blah, blah, in spanish, ..los chicos….´   Shit. Boys locker room.

I threw my towel around my body, grabbed my things and my walked my walk of shame, hair sopping wet, down a hall of hysterical boys. I just smiled and giggled like, ´oops!, hehe, small mistake,´ which is pretty accurate to how I was feeling at the moment, I kind of thought it was funny. I think that had I let it get to me, I would have had a face full of tears, but I didnt hear much more about it for the rest of the weekend.

When I finally got to the girls room, there was a terrible line, and everyone asked me how my hair was already wet.  I ended up being one of the last ones to get a shower.

To make matters worse, It seems that I was the only one on the trip, teachers included, to follow the recommended ´poco ropa´ (little clothing) needed for this learning experience. Here I am, with my tiny backpack of two t-shirts, swishies, a sports bra and a sweatshirt, and across the hall I hear the girls running their hairdryers preparing for the fiestas tonight. I didn´t even bring a hairdryer to Spain.  In my pajamas and ready for a serious power sleep, my friends tell me to find better clothes to go out in, because you cant go to the discos in your pajamas. Im thinking, impossible, we cant just be allowed to go out, we have to hike all day tomorrow…do they even have discos on an Island this small. Nonetheless, I managed to squeeze into my roommates jeans, and soon thereafter, I am running around trying to find a girl to borrow a shirt from. With some luck, and a few squats to loosen up those jeans enough so that I can breath, I am ready for the discos.

Finally clean and ready, my roommates (one girl and three boys-ha, this would never happen with American schools, girls rooming with boys?) and I left the residency to go get some dinner. Me, the other girl, Cathy, and one boy, Pepita (his real name is Josito, but without telling a long story, I dubbed him this nickname, which somehow turned about on me, now everyone here calls me Pepita), all went to order pizza while the other two boys went to go buy alcohol. Now, I was a little nervous about this because on the paper we received before departure listing all of our necessities and our agenda, it spefically implied that there would be no drinking of alcohol or smoking of any kind on the trip, without saying the consequences. Therefore, I had already decided that I would be completely dry of any alcoholic beverage, lest I should get caught and the school would notify my family and Rotary and the  situation would be a mess.

We returned to the room with our food and ´beverage,´ and the boys drank a little. We were supposed to have a meeting at 11 30, but the professor in charge never showed up, so around 12 we all gathered as a group to go outside. I asked a professor where we are going, and he responded, ´fiesta.´ I just figured it was some kind of elaborated joke, that we were really going on some midnight walk to look at some splendid view of something, until we ended up at the bar where half the professors were already buzzed and dancing, each of them holding in their hand some kind of alcoholic beverage.  Concluding to myself that pretty much everything written on those ´take home to your mommy papers´ about the excursion was a load of bull (including the agenda, there was no way we would be on the trail by 9am), I went ahead to order my first drink ever out of a bar. I took somebody´s recommendation and got a Red Bull with Amaretto…mmm…soo delicious and does wonders for killing sleepiness. It cost me 4€, yikes. I didnt drink anything else the rest of the night except a shot of Tequila with a group of Profes (professors for short), salt, lemon and all. I wouldnt have taken it, I hate tequila, but one of the profes paid for it, and besides, how many times in your life do you get to do shots with your teachers? Little by little the students dwindled out of the bar and made way back to the residency for their own little fiestas, but I was having such a blast dancing with and hanging out with my drunken teachers and the five remaining students at the bar. The French teacher, who I had actually never met before going to Hierro, is one hell of a salsa dancing partner, and pretty much the coolest profe there, he was the only one who didnt drink. I wish I had French class now!  We danced until 4 30 in the morning, then I decided I was ready to hit the sack. The French profe and I made way back to the residency, but we arrived only to discover that everyone and their brother was locked out of the rooms, because drunken Zoilo gave the profe the wrong key. Too tired to walk back to the bar to fetch the correct one, and then turn back around, we waited and slept a little in the hallway with the rest of the waiters. I guess two rooms had been left open, and the majority of the student body had crashed together in there, a giant sleeping orgy. Finally, Zoilo and his drunken butt showed up around five and we all got some heavenly sleep.

I woke up naturally at about ten ´til nine, and laid there for about ten minutes until Zoilo came storming around to wake everyone up. ´Venga, Venga! Rapido, cinco minutos!,´ thank God I didnt wake up to that, I would have been in a pissy mood for the rest of the day. I felt good for the little sleep I had, but I still was feeling symptoms from my prior illness. We departed around ten to start the day, and we took the bus to this little pueblo where we all had one hour to buy food and eat breakfast. We all got to try this native pastry of Hierro, it called a Quesedilla, but it is not what you are thinking of. It is a faintly sweet little toasted corn muffin type thing, and very delicious.

The trail we would be spending our day on is named, El Camino del Virgin (the road of the Virgin). It is a religious tradition that the worshipers would annually walk this trail starting at one church, then basically the entire length of the island until they reached the other church in worship of God, only they woulnt just walk, they would dance the whole thing. Whoo…talk about a workout. We started closer to the middle, on the very peak of the mountains, in the center of the cloud line (is this a term?), in a place that resembled the moon and the dessert, only damper because you were basically engulfed by a tremendous dense fog-like cloud, and the wind was blowing so forcefully you could hardly stand. It was crazy cool. You could barely see 100 meters in front of you, it was like being on a different planet. We followed this trail for quite some time, but it passed quickly with good conversation and some singing. We stopped to eat lunch on the trail around 2, and soon after, we emerged into this fairytale-esque landscape with green rolling slopes and picture perfect trees and cactus, and goats running around freely and everything covered with a faint blanket of fog. It was so beautiful, I fell in love with this island about here. We followed the cobblestone trail to the little church to rest a bit before partaking in the most challenging part of the hike.

I was ready to be finished about then, my back was hurting and I was tired, but everything just kept getting more and more beautiful, the trees more dense, the leaves more green, the views more magnificent. We were now below the cloud-line, so you could look down the cliff of the mountain and see coastline decorated by houses from the pueblo below. Here the path started getting steeper, and the rocks a little looser, and the leaders (ehem¨Zoilo¨…) more ambitious, like I swear they were running, and every opportunity they had to wait for EVERYONE way back there, they would hurry and take a photo of only their little group in front, which was making me a little irritated because every time I was seconds away from being in it, but they were too arrogant to wait. With surprisingly few falls, and a ton of sore bodies, we all made it to the end safely around 6. We walked 26 kilometers, thats around 16 miles. whoo.

For dinner, we all went out together, and dinner was paid for. I was ready to pass out on my plate I was so tired. We returned to the residency and started to prepare for the fiesta. I scavenged some more clothes and makeup, and though I didnt think I was going to make it, as soon as we entered the disco, I had a second wind of adrenaline, i LOVE to dance in the discos. At 6am, we found it a good time to head back to the residency. I could have danced more, but everyone else was tired.

Sunday was sleep. And it was daylight savings (fall back), so this means we gained an hour. I ended up waking up around ten because I was starving. There is nothing worse than being the only one awake and unable to sleep. I was lucky, there was a group of Profes heading out to get breakfast, and they invited me along. I was more than overjoyed to have a mature crowd and a good meal, also my favorite French profe paid for mine, so the day started well. When we returned, my roommates had just awaken and were preparing to go get some food, so when they left I was glad to have the room to myself for some much needed solo relaxing time.

We made way to the fairy station, played some Spanish cards while waiting, then on the ride home, after being sure to see everything neat about the boat, I was out. As we pulled into the bay, I reflected on the weekend with a smile. My host mother was waiting for me at the bottom of the ramp, anxious to hear all about my time on Hierro. : )