Estamos Perdidos

Sorry too all of you worried about the fires; the ones near my house have been clear for the past couple days. We didn't have to evacuate, although it certainly came close to that! I've been sick for the past couple of days, hence the lack of a blog.

On Saturday, Salvador and I woke up early (8 o'clock) to go on a hike with two of his friends. We drove for about an hour to a pueblo called Juzcar, which is famous for it's bright blue buildings. In a promotion for the Smurf movie that came out a year or so ago, an entire Spanish pueblo (typically famous for their whitewash buildings) was painted Smurf blue. From what I had gathered about Salvador and his friends, they were experienced hikers who enjoyed hiking along ancient paths. For this hike, which they had never attempted before, Salvador and his friends were using a book written by their friend which describes (with words, not pictures) some of the ancient pictures. As we left Juzcar, I was excited to get some exercise and to see more of Spain; part of that excitement quickly dissipated, however, when, still on the roads out of Juzcar, Salvador and his friends were arguing, passing the book around, trying to decide whether we should take the right path or the left path. We were barely five minutes into our hike and already had no idea where we were going. Finally, they decided on left, and we were on our way. The trees and plants we passed were so similar to home, oak trees, grapes, fig trees, blackberry bushes -- I could have sworn we were hiking through California! We crossed a beautiful river that, at the moment, had very little water; apparently the water level raises so much during the winter that it can be a dangerous river to cross! About ten minutes after we passed the river, there was a disagreement about the direction again. Salvador kept looking at me and saying "We are lost" -- not exactly the most comforting thing to say to a girl out in the wilderness with men she has just met. After a bit of discussion, I was told to sit down with on of the men while Salvador went walking in one direction and his friend went the other. They both returned after about 10 minutes, and they discussed whose path was correct. Eventually, we continued on. We were "lost" with the same process about five or six times in the entire hike, sometimes turning back on ourselves, bushwhacking, or splitting up.  The hike itself was relatively easy, but by the time we made it to our destination (another pueblo) it had taken us three and a half hours to do an hour and a half hike! I was exhausted! After eating some lunch at a local cafe, Salvador and I wandered the pueblo while his two friends hiked all the way back (this time not getting lost) and then drove the car to pick us up. At that point, I was starting to show signs of a fever - chills, exhaustion, paleness, etc.

That night I was very sick -- hot and cold spells and a terrible fever. I won't go into the details, but I was sick for a good two days, barely able to eat anything, sleeping most of the day, and just feeling poorly. By Monday evening, I was starting to feel better, although I still didn't want to eat anything my host parents put in front of me -- it was all fish lathered in butter and oil. Comfort food to them, but not so much for me. On Tuesday, I went to spend the day with my Rotary counsellor, who is from Denmark and speaks fluent English. She helped me to understand that I was most likely sick because my body was rejecting all the different food, especially because I come from a home where we eat many vegetables and everything is fresh but here most things are really rich and/or fried, with very few vegetables. Not to mention they they buy milk that doesn't have to be refrigerated and will last more than a year (!!! yikes!). My counsellor, however, believes in organic and fresh foods; for lunch we went out to a New York style restaurant famed for it's use of organic and local food, and for dinner she and I cooked a wonderful meal: rosemary chicken in foil in the oven, spinach, potatoes, and salad.

When she took me home, my counsellor explained to Ana that I might need to eat some simpler foods for a little while; she emphasized less fish/seafood and more vegetables.

Today I spent the day with my host aunts (my host father's two sisters). They were incredibly nice; only one spoke some English, but she only used it when necessary -- we had most of our conversations in Spanish! Together, we walked around Puerto Banus, which is well-known around here as a place that the wealthy park their yachts. There are many expensive designer stores on the waterfront and expensive cars clutter the streets. Eventually we made our way to lunch, where my host cousin joined us for lunch; I had a caesar salad (trying to stick to "normal" foods until I'm feeling 100%) and they shared different types of tapas - fried and breaded white fish and fried pork, both with fries. After lunch, we went to "la Canada," the biggest shopping center in Marbella, to window shop. On our way back home, my host aunt popped into a bakery and bought some pastries to share with Ana and Salvador.

It's been a long couple of days, but I'm finally started to feel better! Hopefully I remembered all the important things about my weekend -- if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!!

I miss home!
Love from Marbella,
Shona