Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas. Santa made a visit to our house last night and left some real treasures for Emily: a dress-up chest to keep all her tutús and fancy clothes in, a PlayMobile doll house, a basket for her bicycle, some yellow (her favorite color!) tights and a few other treasures.  She's been playing all morning.  The gilttery shirt/dress was something my mom brought over here for her, but didn't get a chance to give...so Santa took advantage to "give" a little something extra in her dress-up box. ;)

Christmas has been really nice this year.  Last night, Christmas Eve, my mother-in-law was the only one to come over and eat with us.  She arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon, just right after Emily had gone down for her nap and so ended up sweeping my whole patio looking for things to keep herself busy (bless her, she cannot hold still!) until her granddaughter woke up.

When Emily did wake up, they headed out to the park and then abuelita and Emily entertained themselves in the living room for the remainder of the evening while I got dinner ready and whished a Merry Christmas to several friends on the phone.  I was even able to chat with my dear Miriam for about an hour and a half.  It was wonderful to be able to get things ready with no rush and without Emily getting her hands into everything.  I was so inspired, I even decided to whip up some brownies for dessert...at that point Emily came into the kitchen and when she saw the bowl of batter, there was no way she'd go back to the living room with abuelita! ;)

Angelines came home for dinner around 10 o'clock and then stayed home.  In past years, you may remember that she has a shower and heads back to open for the night...but Christmas eve night is not such a big bar night as New Year's Eve and for the past few years she's been saying that it's not worth it to open and "next" year she'll close. This was finally the year.  I set the table with our good china and we had a lovely salmon dinner with mashed potatoes and veggies accompanied by the customary jamón and cheese.  There were brownies and whipped cream for dessert.  Delicious.

This morning was especially fun since Angelines had been able to get to bed "early" and so wasn't totally exhausted.  She was really able to enjoy the magic of discovering gifts under the tree and in stockings with Emily. :)  We played for a while then had breakfast and headed to the bar to clean up before making our way to Tita Toñi's house for Christmas day lunch--another seasonal tradition.

Now I'm getting a few chores done around the house and will probably do a bit of work for my Montessori classes.  I am a bit behind and I need to use these days of vacation to get caught up and so must do a little bit every day or you know what will happen...!  I also want to make gingerbread, but maybe that's not in the cards for today.  We'll see.

It's so wonderful to be on vacation!  I feel like I've needed this break more than I've ever needed a break from work before!  I am basking in this moment of looking ahead to two whole weeks stretching out before me full of possibility... I know that inevitably the time will speed by and I'll be back to work all too soon and probably without having done even half of what I'd like to have done, but for now I am content to sit and contemplate all the many possibilities...and if I feel like just sitting and blogging, that's a perfectly wonderful way to spend an afternoon as well!

Memories...

Some of you will remember this video.  Bela was just a year old here... We cried when we took that snowman out of the Christmas box this year.

A Prayer for Bela-Rooskie

For three weeks I've had writer's block... but not for lack of things to share.  November 30th our dog, our first baby, Bela, died.  I haven't been able to write about it; but writing about anything else seemed like ignoring the elephant in the room and a disservice to her importance in our home.

She's left a huge hole in our hearts and home.  I tear up when I throw away the cheese rinds I would normally have given to her, my schedule still feels strange without two daily walks; and when I do get out to the campo I swear I can see her running through the trees just ahead of me--I expect her to come panting up to me with her pink tongue hanging out, her Dobby ears pulled back in little half moons on either side of her head and her lips curled up almost into a smile.

I cannot push the button to open the garage door without remembering how she'd wriggle out before it was even a foot open to come bounding out and greet the car.  I expect to see her spread out in the sunny spots of the lawn on nice days and when I get up at night for a drink, I still automatically look to her corner by the fire hoping to see her curled into a sleeping ball.

We are very slowly beginning to heal.  She was hit by a train.  I am comforted slightly knowing that it was very quick and I'm sure she didn't suffer at all.  Angelines and I burried her by the tracks, something for which I am also very grateful because we have a place near home to be able to visit and mourn.  She was such an extraordinary dog that even other people have taken flowers to her grave.

This has been Emily's first introduction to death and it's been very interesting to watch her go through the mourning process.  We told her right away that Bela had died.  I am not a fan of those who hide death from kids with euphemisms or avoid the subject altogether.  She spent the first days saying that she missed Bela and asking where she was and why she wasn't in her house.  Then she started calling herself "heaven" and many of her animals die and are burried under blankets.  She happily declares that they're dead and then says she's visiting the grave and taking flowers...  She still gets sad, like we all do.

I am amazed by how deep her feelings are and how well she expresses herself.  The day after Bela died, we took Emily to put flowers on her grave and say "good bye".  She didn't want to say good bye, of course and I think was a little confused by the pile of rocks we were calling Bela; but before we left she bent down and gently stroked one of the larger stones saying, "Goodnight, Bela. Goodnight".  And then as we held hands on the way home she stopped and said, "I don't like missing Bela."  "Neither do I," was all I could answer.

Today I was going back through old blog posts and looking at videos and pictures from when Bela was a puppy.  I don't like missing her, but it feels good to remember all the wonderful times we had together and the pure joy and energy she brought to the home.

We love you Bela.  I will always remember you like this:

Emily was "painting" Bela's "fingernails" with chalk!

My girls: ready for adventure

Last year in the snow...

At Home

So as you've seen, our exchange student's stay has been a great excuse to get out and about sight seeing, but there have also been some changes on the home front.  Most notably, the addition of a new car to the family!  Yes, we now have two vehicles.  For some time now we have been considering the convenience of being a two-car family, but living in such a small town it seemed excessive to my mind.  Plus you have to think of expenses like maintenence and insurance, etc. 

Anyway, we had been holding out; but as winter draws nearer (short days and the posibility of a little rain) having another car for when one of us is at work really began to feel like a necessity.  Angelines especially wanted another car to be able to ferry her mother to and from the house--she has a very bad knee and shouldn't walk so much, but is a help in the afternoons when Emily and Angelines are home alone.  It will also be really nice for me on weekends because this way Em and I can go exploring without inconveniencing Mamá (in the past she'd have to ride her bike home at 3 or 4 in the morning!).   

We are pleased with the purchase: a four-door, five-seat, 2001, Citroen Xara.  It's bigger than we were originally looking for and the price was slightly over what we wanted to pay, but it's in very good condition with only 150.000 km.  Angelines knows several people who have the same car and are constantly singing its praises, so it is also supposedly bomb-proof.  So far, so good. ;)

Aside from the big purchase of our second car, we've been stocking up on and stacking firewood.  Every year we get caught mid-winter with no wood for the fireplace and so have to buy green wood from this year's olive trimming...yuck.  The green wood doesn't burn well, as you know, and also really gunks up the fireplace.  So we've bought three cartloads of wood this year plus what was leftover from last year's mid-season purchase.  We have A LOT of wood.  Being the good little mountain girl that I am, I set to stacking it neatly...no small task when you're talking about uneven, usually round olive branches/trunks as opposed to neatly split pine or fir!  I was so pleased with my work that I decided to take a picture, because I knew that my dad especially would approve.  So here it is:

 

Emily saw the camera and jumped in the pic. ;)  Yes, she's wearing a tutu on her head. 

Now the question is, "Winter, where are you??"  The nights are getting chilly and we've got frost a few times, but day time temps are still quite often reaching the low 80's!  ...And we have yet to have a good rain. :(  But Spanish homes are extremely unequipped for cold and so even when it's warm outside, the house remains cold.  We have been lighting the fireplace nearly every night for a little over a week now.  I'm sure we won't regret having stocked up on firewood.

Granada

I'm a bit behind with posting (surprise, surprise...), but here I am diligently back-blogging and playing catch up as it seems I am with every other area of my life at the moment.  Work has been crazy, perhaps I'll get to that in another post.  For now, however, I would just like to focus on the wonderful, beautiful day we had in Granada two weeks ago.

Our cousin Montse came along, too!

The day after Emily's birthday we had booked tickets to see the Alhambra, it's become such an attraction that even in the low tourist season you must book several weeks in advance because there's just no way to get day-of tickets unless you're in line at 6am (out of the question in our situation).  This was actually Natalie's second trip to Granada since we went once in October naievely believing that we'd be able to get into the Nazari Palaces arriving at the ticket booth around 12am.  That day we ended up just enjoying the city, getting ice cream in the center, tea at a typical tea house, and souvenir shopping in the medina next to the cathedral.  It wasn't a wasted day by any means and in fact it meant that this second visit was less rushed (to an extent).

Saturday night had been unexpectedly crazy at the bar and Anglienes got to bed around 6am!  We woke up early and even Natalie came to clean with us, but it was so filthy that we took much longer than expected.  Angelines, having fallen asleep so late/early, also over-slept some and so by the time we got out of the house we were about 40min behind schedule. 

View of the Alhambra from the Albayzín.

Our plan was to mean up with my host family from Granada.  Their American student was away for the weekend and so they had no obligations at home.  I had hoped to have tapas and wander around a bit with them before heading to the Alhambra for our scheduled entrance to the palaces at 5:00.  However, my plan was thrown off course somewhat, when I decided to check in at the ticket booth to get our tickets printed (the ones I'd printed online had got water spilled on them in the car!).  The woman informed me that the entire Alhambra closes at 6 and so we needed to be there sooner if we wanted to see the gardens of the Generalife and the Alcazaba. :(  That mean we had precious little time to eat and be with my family because we didn't end up meeting up with them until around 1 o'clock.

Our lunch was a little rushed and in the end we had to go quite quickly through the Generalife and skip the Alcazaba altogether, but every minute with the family was 100% worth it for me, and I think Natalie wasn't too disappointed to miss the Alcazaba (it's the least impressive in my opinion--just some great views of Granada).  I hadn't seen Isa, Baldo or either of the boys since last March!  "Little" Isa is home now from a year living and working in Czech Republic and we met up with her on our first visit to Granada in October.  This time she brought along her boyfriend. :)  They were all duely impressed with our little Emily, and she in turn was very impressed with Fernando's ponytail and Antonio's long dreds.  That evening back at home she began calling herself "Princess Fernando".

As I mentioned, our table talk over lunch was cut short and I was sorry to say goodbye so soon.  I think though that little Isa is planning a surprise for her mother now that she has a driver's licence and is going to just put her in the car one day without telling her where they're going then show up here in La Roda.  I think it's a fantastic idea!  We hugged and kissed and said (as always) that we really must see each other more often.  Then we hit the narrow cobbled streets of the Albayzín heading downhill to the center to catch a bus back up to the Alhambra (you can only walk so much with the whole family in tow).  On our way down the hill I realized I hadn't taken a single picture with my family!

Emily and Montse LOVED the fountains.

With the time change the sun goes down so much sooner.  The wind was picking up as we waited in line for the palaces and we were thankful we'd brought our coats.  This was the first time I'd been back into the Alhambra since my exchange.  I think I went around ten times that one year, but I haven't been back since--it was as amazing as I remembered it and more.  They've, of course, continued to do so much restoration on the plaster work, painting and wood work.  The Patio de los Leones was running and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case on my exchange, in fact, I think on one of my visits the lions were "fakes" as the real ones were being restored. 

 

I had a great time pointing our the shapes and colors to Emily, showing her the intricate tile and woodwork and marvelling at the architecture.  She was most impressed by the Generalife gardens since she loves to smell flowers.  We walked into the Patio de la Acequia and she just took a deep breath through her nose and sighed. :)  Indeed, the moors planted their patios with all kinds of aromatic herbs and flowers to make them a sanctuary for the senses.  Once again, visiting with Emily was a whole new experience.

All of us, especially Angelines were worn out by the end of the day, but poor mama came home and had to go to work at the bar.  The rest of us climed into our PJ's grubbed up some dinner and went to bed early.

Typical Islamic geometric decorations...the center of the star has been replaced by Emperor Carlos V emblem "Plus Ultra"

The time of day made for amazing shadows through the celosías (decorative window shutters).

I don't remember so much painting.  They've been restoring this little by little--amazingly intricate.

 

Is it any wonder this city stole my heart?

An Extra Hour

Last weekend was daylight savings here in Spain and never before have I been more grateful for a 25-hour day!  So many times you hear the complaint that there aren't enough hours in the day for everything that needs to get done...well it turns out that with just a mere 60 minutes more in the day, you can accomplish quite a lot. ;)

The nave adjacent to the main altar--stark contrast

Sunday we got up "early" (around nine o'clock old time), walked Bela, had breakfast, cleaned up at the bar and then hit the road for Córdoba.  Natalie is leaving on the 25th of this month and so the pressure is on to see as much as we can over the few weekends we have left.  Córdoba is an amazing city.  The center is a labyrinth of stone-paved streets and white facades bearing potted flowers and painted plates.  The cathedral/mosque is absolutely amazing, in my opinion.  I know I've written about it before on here, but just as with the Alhambra, I never get tired of visiting it.  This time I was particularly struck by the beauty of the Islamic geometric decorations and the beautiful contrast between the upward, luminous gothic architecture of the Christian cathedral, and the dim, mysterious, more personal and less grandiose, which isn't to say less beautiful, Islamic mosque.

Any of you reading this out of context are wondering what on Earth I'm talking about.  As is the case with many (if not all) cathedrals in Andalusia, the Córdoba cathedral was built at the site of the old Islamic mosque. However, unlike other cases across the state where the mosques were completely razed and then built over by the Christians, in Córdoba nearly all of the original mosque is preserved.  The main altar was built in the middle of the mosque so the sudden high ceilings and gothic arches contrast, rather than hamonize, with the typical horse-shoe Islamic arches. 

A forest of columns and red and white double arches

Rose window floods the mosque with rainbow light.

 Although it is a functioning Catholic sanctuary today, the cathedral is referred to as "La Mezquita" (The Mosque) and it is the finest remaining example of Omeyan architecture in the West.  The Omeyans in al-Andalus were descendants of the Caliph in Damascus, Siria.  Córdoba became the capital of the Omeyan Caliphate in the year 929 and the mosque had to be enlarged three times in its history due to population growth in the caliphate city.

Emily and Natalie at Madinat al-Zahara

Our tour of Córdoba began at the ancient city ruins of Madinat al-Zahara (The Shining City).  Unfortunately the interpretive video wasn't being shown, I guess the projector was broken so Natalie didn't get the full tour.  We did wander through the museum though and that was helpful in appreciating the ruins.  It was boiling hot...even on October 29, so we didn't dally among the shadeless ruins.

After lunch in the city center, we visited La Mezquita and then wandered down to the roman bridge across the river Genil for a photo op.  In our wandering around after lunch and before the cathedral, we found a turrón (Spanish nougat) shop and Natalie was shopping for some things to take home for family.  They had samples out and I saw some little chocolate balls which I took to be chocolate covered rasins.  I grabbed two and gave one to Emily, which she promptly began to eat, and then bit into my own.  It took me about 2 seconds to realize that I was eating a chocolate covered peanut--remember Emily is allergic!  I screamed at her to spit it out, which she did, and gave her some water to clean her mouth...but the damage had been done. 

As we were waiting in line to buy our tickets to the cathedral she began to cry complaining that her stomach was cramping. :(  She hung in there and I thought she was going to be fine without throwing up, but just after our stroll out over the bridge she threw up as she was skipping along the street holding Natalie's hand.  Poor baby.  Thankfully, we had extra clothes and since I knew this wasn't the stomach flu, we got an ice cream to get the flavor out of her mouth, which of course made her forget all about being sick.

I was exhausted by the time 8pm rolled around, but we certainly fit a lot into our day.

Emily is obsessed with smells, and LOVED this tea display on the street!

Three years

Three years ago today at around five in the evening, I set off on a long walk with my mom, my dog and a belly that added around 20 lbs to my own weight.  We walked around 4 miles, I think, and that night I went into labour.  At just before 3pm the following day, November 4th, our Emily Alejandra joined us in this world.

I can hardly believe that three years have gone by.  The time seems both long and short all at once.  I can confidently say that motherhood is the best thing that's ever happened to me.  Watching my little girl grow and discover, explore and learn as the days go by is a gift I am thankful for daily; although it is true that parenting does not come free of frustration and challenges. ;)  Still, the balance at the end of the day is positive and it seems that more and more I am in awe of this wonderful little person who calls me mommy.

Wednesday we celebrated her birthday early because the 1st is a holiday and so it was easy for guests to come to the party.  Unlike other years, this year we celebrated at the bar and in general it was so much better.  There was all-in-all less prep and clean up than when we've celebrated at home; but on the down-side, Angelines sort of automatically went into work mode and spent the whole evening behind the bar (!).  She really wasn't able to enjoy the company or play with Emily or even really be a part of much of anything. :(

You may remember that last year I was adamant about not handing out the typical candy bags or having lots of junk candy around for the kids.  Last year we had a craft prepared, but this year I decided to make up a game that I'd seen on a Peppa Pig episode: Pass the Parcel (it's an English programme ;)).  You wrap up a gift then wrap another one over that and just keep layering gifts. Then the kids pass the parcel around a circle to music.  When the music stops the child who's holding the package opens a layer and takes the gift. :)  It looked like a lot of fun and so I ordered a bunch of little bubble blowers as party favours and started wrapping.  It was a huge hit with all...except Emily!  She began to cry because she wanted to open a "green one" (I had wrapped each layer in a different color).  Oh well, as the song says, "It was her party..."

I had also prepared Pin the Tail on the Donkey to play, but when the time came, I couldn't find where we'd put all the twenty tails I'd drawn and cut out!  Of course cleaning up we came across the bag, but I was so disappointed in the moment because my donkey, which I'd drawn on the chalk board, had come out so nice, and I know the kids would have had a lot of fun playing.  In the end though they were satisfied with bubble blowing, face painting, races and a little bit of hide-and-seek. ;)

I was even quite pleased with the gifts Emily got.  Those of you who have been reading for some time know how I feel about junk gifts and/or sexist gifts.  She got several puzzles, some clothes (which weren't too prissy), crayons, an animal encyclopedia, a care bear and a back pack.  Then there was the princess dress and a little pricess doll...but what can you do??  Anglines and I gave her a "real" bike (electric blue and black).  It's a little big for her still, but she's beginning to get the hang of peddaling after just a few trips around the cul de sac at the end of our street.  She'll be flying soon, I'm sure.

Tomorrow on her actual birthday we don't have anything special planned but Sunday is our scheduled visit to the Alhambra and her mama decided to join us too!  So the whole family (minus Bela) will be going on an outing Sunday and I think that's probably the best gift ever.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures:

She calls this little fireman puppet "Pappa" ;)

Madrid Madness

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record starting every post with an appology for now blogging more often...so I'll stop now.

My days race by in a blur of work, cooking, cleaning, walking Bela, keeping up with Emily and squeezing in some studying when Emily goes down for her nap.  Sometimes it doesn't seem as though I've necessarily done anything all day, yet I haven't had a free moment to sit down and gather my thoughts.  So I am constantly composing posts in my mind, but they never manifest themselves in writing.

We met up with Francisco for lunch.  This is his university.

Among the many things that I have been wanting to post about, our recent weekend in Madrid is top on my list.  That's right, we made an excursion to the capital to show Natalie a bit more of Spain, and of course Madrid is a must in an of itself (shhhh! I still have never taken my parents!).  So we took advantage of the long weekend in honor of El día de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day for you), and headed north on the high speed train early Thursday morning from Seville after a full day Wednesday of sight-seeing in the Andalusian capital.

We stayed in a great little apartment in central Madrid for the three nights we were there.  Finding lodging for our stay was quite an ordeal and really deserving of its own post.  Suffice it to say that we didn't have assured accomodations until around 2am the Tuesday prior to our Thursday departure...and it wasn't 100% confirmed until mid-day Wednesday!  We were hotel/apartment hunting right up to the very last minute and places were literally being booked out from under us.  It was madness.  In then end we had to spend more than we'd originally planned to spend, but it was all very much worth it.

Breakfast on the train: a downside/upside to our last min. booking was the "economy" seats were all full on the train!  In "first" class you get fed! :)

Natalie outside the Prado Museum.

As it turns out, we were the first guests to be staying in the apartment as it was newly aquired by the agency the does the vacation rentals.  It was small, as it to be expected and the glass doors on the bedroom and bathroom were more appropriate for a couple than a family, but it was very clean and very cool and quiet.  We even had a little patio and I was very grateful that it ended up being on the ground floor, although the building did have an elevator.
 
Our itenerary was pretty packed, but we did a very good job, I thought, of maintaining a balance between sight-seeing and relaxing. We visited the Prado Museum, the wax museum, the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, the Buen Retiro Park and wandered our way through several markets and fun neighborhoods; but we also had some down time every day and even were able to nap a little one day.  Natalie even found a little theater that did "micro" performances (15 min plays) and we went to one of their performances for children, which ended up being lots of fun and a great experience for Emily.

Emily dancing in the apartment. :)

Unfortunately the pre-trip stress of looking for a place to stay manifested itself as a nasty cold, and so I was feeling a little achy for most of our visit and Saturday I even lost my voice!  But I am my mother's daughter and so was determined to make the most of my weekend regardless of my body's rebellion.  I loaded up with kleenex, asprin and vitamins walked my way all over the city (carrying Emily for much of the time since I absolutely HATE strollers and refused to bring one).  Needless to say, I am still recovering.  Teaching all week just above a whisper hasn't really helped my vocal cords.  I am still quite horse...but I'm a bit more caught up on sleep and don't feel sick anymore at least.

The highlights for Emily were chasing pidgeons in the Retiro Park and running into Peppa Pig in Plaza Mayor!  She was SOOOO excited about that!  It was all I could do to get her to come with me when it was time to continue looking for a place to eat, and all through dinner she insisted that Peppa was "outside waiting for" us. :)

Emily was a real little trooper through it all.  The wax museum was understandably low on her list...the statues were a little creepy looking.  They had figures from Spanish and world history as well as celebrities from more recent history and present day.  She insisted that I carry her through the whole museum and would only agree to one picture with some of the players on the Spanish National Football (soccer) team--silly Spaniard!

Velazquez painting his famous "Las Meninas" at the wax museum.

Can you tell Emily's a little freaked out?

Visiting the Prado was a whole other experience with Emily, too.  We looked for animals in the different paintings, pointed out colors and admired the flowers in the Dutch paintings.  Emily was duely impressed with Velazquez and Goya.  She especially liked the princess paintings since she has recently become obsessed with princesses.  This was a good introduction to Spanish culture for her as well as Natalie, though I'm sure Natalie got a lot more from the visit than Em, although we did not opt for the audio guides.  I don't think Emily would probably have let us really listen to them.

I suppose travelling with a nearly three-year-old really marked our pace, but both Natalie and my sick self were happy to have breaks from the heat and being on our feet so much.  Saturday we had a picnic lunch in the park after our morning theater performance and it was fantastic just to sit in the shade on the grass and enjoy weather.

Sunday we said goodbye to our cozy apartment, caught the one o'clock train home and that was it. 

I'll leave you with some more pictures:

"Sisters" exploring the capital.

The view at sunset just a block from our apartment over the puente de segovia.

La Catedral de la Almudena--five minutes from the apt.

Outside the Royal Palace. In Plaza de Oriente.

PEPPA PIG!!!

Heading into the Royal Palace.

At the Retiro Park.

Picnic time

Metro at Gran Vía and my explorers.

La Niña, La Pinta y La Santa María

Remember learing those names in school?  La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa María: Colombus's ships.  All of you know that Columbus set sail for the "Indies" from Spain, but you may not know that specifically he left from Palos de la Frontera, a small inland port at the confluence of the Tinto and Odiel rivers in Huelva, Andalucía. Last week we made the journey west from La Roda to visit the replicas of his three ships and explore the beaches of Huelva.

These replicas are moored in a little lagoon created just for that purpose on the shore of the Tinto river.  They were built in 1992 to commemorate the 500th year anniversary of the "discovery" of the Americas, and are as historically accurate as possible with the information available about Columbus's voyage.  Personally, I was surprised by how small they were!  The Santa María was the biggest, and carried about 52 men aboard, but it was still quite little.  I guess I had always imagined frigates like the ones you see in films like Pirates of the Caribean.

Aboard the Pinta

We boarded each ship and explored above and below deck.  I was surprised, too by the curve of their decks.  I suppose that's to keep water from pooling (maybe?), but I can't imagine trying to keep my footing during a storm on that slippery, convex surface.  They had displays onboard of the kitchens and capitan's quarters.  Let it be known that hardtack was for the Brits, these men were loaded with jamones and salt cod.  A pretty gourmet menu, if you ask me (scurvy aside). ;)  There were also some manequins set up on the ships "doing" different tasks: in the kitchen, on the masts, etc.  Emily didn't like them much.  Angelines told her one was named "Manolito" and she still keeps reminding me that she "no like Manolito". ;)

The man himself taking measurements.

There was an interesting video about the ships and their voyage in the small interpretive center.  It was slightly corny; but still, when they described how after days of seeing sticks, reeds and other floatsam indicating land was near, Rodrigo de Trinana finally bellowed "TIERRA!" from the crow's nest, my hair stood on end.  It is always fun to visit these kinds of historic places to get a feel for what it must have really been like.

Home sweet home

This adventure was another camping trip for us. :)  We found a great campground in Punta Umbría just about 200 meters from the beach.  It was beautiful and perfectly located, the only serious drawback was that our campsite was in the sand.  It was impossible to stay even remotely clean after a shower and our tent inevitably filled with sand, too.  Still, there was plenty of welcome shade from the costal pines and the beauty of the virgin beach so near made up for the inconvenience of permanent sand between our toes.

We spent the afternoons at the beach playing in the waves and sand.  The water of the Atlantic was surprisingly warm--like a bathtub, honestly!  Emily and Natalie are already best friends and had a wonderful time building sandcastles and running in the surf.  This time of year is the best time to visit Huelva, or perhaps even a bit later in the season would be ideal.  The yellow sand beaches of the Costa de Luz are famous throughout Spain, but in summer I think you'd be hard pressed to find a square inch of it that wasn't covered by a beach towel!  Come

We introduced Natalie to drip castles :)

September, however, the crowds have ceased and we were virtually alone; it was fantastic.

Our last evening, we opted to eat out in Punta Umbría and headed out after our evening shower for a seafood dinner.  We were not disappointed.  And Natalie was delighted by the coquinas, a kind of little clam.  We wined and dined and chatted until nearly midnight, when we had to hurry back to the campground because they didn't allow vehicles to circulate past 12am.

It was a quick trip.  We stayed only two nights and so only really were able to explore one day.  The weather was hotter than I'd expected, too and so our exploring was minimal and left for the late afternoon hours on the beach.  There are many beautiful pine forests with paths and trails to explore, but sadly we were never up early enough to do any of that, and going out mid-day was out of the question with the heat.  Still, it was a fun visit and certainly good to know that there is so much to do and see in and around Huelva.  I am sure that in the future we'll make more visits that way...just perhaps at cooler times of the year.

La Niña on board La Niña