Take a Hike

76 degrees, sunny, no clouds, and a cool breeze.  Most perfect weather for a hike.  So a friend and I signed up to go with a group on a hike in La Pedriza, a national park just an hour north of Madrid.  We met up with a group of about 25 people; 14 of us were students on the BU program, and the other 11 were American students, Spaniards, or international students.  Our leader, Bo, is from the U.S. and is getting his masters in Spanish in Madrid.  Before the hike began, he managed to plug his book that he wrote about hiking, which describes his adventures and explains how to navigate certain mountains. He said the mountain we were climbing was particularly poorly marked and each year people get lost and die up there, so he brought his book along to help guide us.

The hike started off easy. We walked through a little town and then on a well defined path for about an hour.  Just as we were all wondering if the hike would be this easy, we were faced with unmarked paths and incredibly steep inclines.  Soon enough, it went from a "medium hike" (as we were told) to a pretty difficult one.  Oh, and Bo, our guide and author of the book we were relying on, got us lost several times, and we had to backtrack to find the right path.  Not the best way to promote his book.

Needless to say, it was an absolutely beautiful hike.  We walked through pine forests, rocky areas, across little streams, and through some brush.  Even though it was difficult, everyone was having a great time and I met some really interesting people. One German boy I spoke with was getting his PhD in Madrid and eventually wants to do research at Stanford.  He loves jazz and loves to cook Italian food (and he asked my friend Danielle out on a date, so they're going to a jazz club tonight haha!!) Another guy from Madrid was a computer programmer, and another kid went to Penn and is now teaching English in Madrid before he goes to med school. And then there was Chandra, the most annoying person in the world and basically not fun to have on a hike.  He was abrasive and loud and constantly made rude, unnecessary comments.  I guess he has been on a couple hikes with Bo before, and when Chandra got lost (I feel like it's always the annoying kid who gets lost in these types of situations) Bo took the opportunity to express to the group how much he couldn't stand him. Haha! So I just kept my distance from Chandra and tried to ignore it when he would take pictures of me and Danielle with his personal camera.

After a 4 hour ascent up the mountain, we stopped for lunch (amazing PB&J sandwiches) at the "peak" with the "amazing view."  Bo had actually led us to the wrong peak (the book failed us again), and the view was blocked by a giant rock.  So even though that was a little disappointing, we saw some unbelievable sights on the way up:

 There were a couple houses on the mountain that we saw in the first hour of the hike.

 Civilization.

Pretty view.

 Me and Danielle. 

Again.

Water!!

 Another great view.

 I wanted to get up there, but it was really too high.

 So we went on the mini rock.

 Pretty scenery.

Hikers

At the top!!

Clocktower in the town with storks nests on top! Never seen a stork's nest before.

We were promised a 4 hour hike, but we got a 7.5 hour one.  It was tough and by the end my legs felt like jello, but I'm so glad I went.  So great to be in nature again!  City life is hard...