al otro lado: Back to My Roots

What will follow is a run of pictures about, yes, the thing I miss the most, the countryside. After spending 3 or so odd months in a city, it was high time to escape to see some green, roll around in the grass, and climb some trees. I had a "holy-crap-I-need-to-escape-the-city" moment, so one weekend was full of countryside, thanks to my wonderful friends I've made in Valencia. First, Lauren (from Earlham) and I went to the Botanical Gardens in Valencia, where we, two country girls from the Midwest, frolicked around the trees and plants, relishing in the sun. But that is just a taste of the happiness I got that weekend.

botanical gardens

The next day my wonderful friend Maria took me to the rice fields outside of the city, which, if you didn't know, Valencia is famous for it's rice. I found a patch of grass that hadn't been mowed in quite awhile and plopped down and rolled. I forgot how much I love grass. It was almost a full moon, so we scurried off to the beach and took a stroll along the water side, listening to the waves and watching the moon glitter off the water. Man, I wish there was a lake, or something (that wasn't Delaware Lake, which is fake and dirty) near my house in the states...

an intense fight to the death in the rice fields...with grass...

The next day, Sunday, I was kidnapped by Bruno and Maria and we drove 2 hours away from civilization to the mountains, where twisting and winding through the peaks is a river called Rio Fraile. How beautiful. We found a spot to picnic where no one was in sight, crawled around the river (now I have good luck, Erin and Mom, because I went creeking in Spain!!), and even swam. It was freezing, but the fresh water felt sooooo good. The sun was out, which of course meant laying out and just relaxing, enjoying the sounds of the birds.

rio fraile and bruno!

bruno! yes, we swam in the freezing cold, FRESH river

Did you know that there is a town called "Anna" in Spain? I didn't either! They took me to my town, which, what luck, is GORGEOUS. There's a beautiful gorge, complete with a waterfall, clear water, and caves. O man o man o man. I was super excited.

my town!

look how beautiful it is!

and....a waterfall!

What a wonderful day! The next weekend, the day before I went to Sweden (posts of Sweden coming soon), Josep, a fallero, took me to his town and we made gazpacho manchego, again. Hell yes! So good! Definitely my favorite dish in Spain.