We have been traveling for about a week now and have learned a few things about Spain. We have been in Northern Spain in the mountains this past week and have loved every minute of it. As in Guatemala, Spanish is a bit troublesome for us but we always seem to get by fairly well. For instance today we were stopped at a road block by the policia and I thought they wanted to search the motor home. Tob thought maybe they wanted to know where we were taking it or where we got it from, anyway we got by with lots of smiles and phrases such as muy poquito espanol, no entiendo or comprehendo and lo siento. I don’t think he was real impressed and we frustrated him as much as he did us and he opted to just let us go.
Traveling around in a motor home has also been quite the experience, considering we haven’t camped like this before. We have listed some of the pro’s and con’s below.
Pro’s
You always have a place to sleep even if you end up in a McDonalds parking lot for the night. McDonalds has free WiFi (and the only place we have come across this past week with functional WiFi)
You always have a toilet, even if Tob describes emptying it as “disgusting!”
You can cook your own food when the kids refuse to eat anything not “normal” or prices seem a bit steep.
Freedom to roam
You don’t have to keep packing and unpacking, just picking up a little.
Vehicle gets 25+ miles per gallon.
Con’s
You have to empty your own toilet (as mentioned above this is Tob’s job :0)
Petrol is expensive and our vehicle is big. Diesel is 1.06 euro per liter which is roughly 5.90 USD per gallon.
You can’t lay down while you are driving (Nojah’s gripe)
Paranoia about breaking any part of the motor home and losing our 600 euro deposit (about $834.00), although I have to say Toby is an excellent driver with many years experience of driving large fire vehicles.
Driving through small towns. You must park outside of town and walk.
Small windy roads and tunnels can be a bit scary for the passenger but the driver says “no problema” (as long as no one’s coming the other direction)
It’s too cold in the morning to get up before 10am (at least I think that’s our problem)
We have been in the Pyrenees mountains in the small picturesque town of Torla with the majestic mountains as the backdrop. We stayed one night in a campground outside of town and two nights in the parque de ordesa’s visitor center parking lot, merely because we were too cheap to pay another 30 euros to sleep in the campground. However we did have access to a washer and dryer while we were at this campground but chose not to use them because we didn’t really need to yet. We later realized this may have been a mistake as I washed all of our underwear in our sink tonight. So far we have not found any laundry services in ANY towns and when we asked a lady today she said no only in campgrounds. On a side note most campgrounds close November 1 for the year, if not soon as we have already found out. Guess we will be the stinky tourists.
We have learned along the way that Spain is a fairly laid back country in many ways, especially out of the large cities. It has taken us a week to get things half way figured out on how they work. For example we would go shopping in the middle of the day and everything was closed only to find out they are open from 0800-10-30 or sometimes 0900-1430 and then again from 1700-2030 or so. Of course we don’t seem to get out of bed until 10 at the earliest so this usually poses a problem. I am not sure what most Spaniards do during the day but even in the city most places seem to be closed when we want to go, small markets, museums, stores of all kinds, restaurants, café’s, etc,etc. I haven’t figured it out yet but it is my mission to report back to you why. However I love the idea. I told Tob I want to work at the Correos (post office) in Torla. Their hours are 0830-1030. He said what about the medical clinic. I said the hours were too long, afterall they were open from 0930-1330.
Anyway, this has been a fun trip so far and we are having a great time just relaxing and roaming around Spain learning new Spanish phrases and seeing new things every day. I will try and add photos for you to enjoy. We are quite a bit more limited with internet access then expected, but will continue to try and keep everyone updated on our travels. So far things are good. Have been on some great hikes, seen beautiful waterfalls, watched some goat like creatures, and have been lulled to sleep by the sound of cow bells off in the pastures. W will be making our way down to a monastery believed to be one of the early homes of the holy grail tomorrow and then through Basque country and hopefully the Portugal coastline within the week.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
We made it to Spain
October 24, 2010
We flew out of Boise on the morning of October 22nd. The flights were pretty unremarkable except for the one couple who had the audacity to yell at both myself and my children for their poor behavior and lack of manners on our flight from SLC to Atlanta, GA. The thing was they were quite well behaved the whole trip, however any time they opened their tray or got into their seat pouches or got up to the bathroom these people gave us dirty looks and had a conniption fit. I won’t go into the whole story but at one point I told this couple that we had limited space my kids were being careful not to disturb them and kindly suggested that maybe next time they pay a little extra and fly first class so that they are less likely to be “disturbed”. I wasn’t pleased. They made my kids feel horrible and cry which was not ok.. What I really would have liked to say is I hope you have a screaming vomiting child that sits next to you on your next full flight. I thought better of this. Our next flight (8 hours long) the attendant commented on how polite and well behaved they were, which made me feel much better.
We arrived in Madrid, Spain at about 9:30 am on the 23rd a little sleep deprived from our flight and jumping 9 time zones ahead. A gentle man was scheduled to pick us up at 11 am to take us to the campervan/motor home/auto caravan rental place. We retrieved our baggage and then waited for him to arrive. The airport reminded me of any city in the states with kids running free, and people meeting and greeting family member only speaking Spanish, not English of course. Shortly after we started discussing who had to call the company and who to ask for help our driver made his appearance. He spoke no English and our little bit of Spanish was not enough to keep the conversation flowing. There was only one man who spoke English at the camper dealership and he did our paperwork with us and then sent us off with a gentleman who didn’t speak a word of English to explain to us how everything worked. It was great. We told him we understood everything and he smiled and off we went only to return 5 minutes later trying to explain to him there was only ½ a tank of gas and them tell us, oh ya your brake lights out. Whew, got that fixed and then we were off again. We got on the highway and couldn’t really figure out how to go the direction we wanted to so we took another J
You wouldn’t think getting gas would be difficult, however it was interesting. Nothing would come out of the diesel nozzle so the gentleman Tob asked for help just used another one, unsure what kind of gasoline actually was put into our tank and whether or not our newly rented home would even run. After starting it up and a few choice words from Tob we were off to find food. We stopped at a nearby mall and headed into a super-walmart type store called Alcampo if I remember correctly. They had food which was great although we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what most of it was. We left the store with some lunch meat (we think) cheese (pasteurized I hoped), cereal, bread, fruit juice and a powdered sugar pastry treat. We made some lunch and got back on the road. It didn’t take long before I noticed Toby’s sleepy eyes and the drifting motor home, realizing we both could use a nap. Soon after that we spotted our first castle and decided to go check it out. While we were driving through the small streets we noticed a line of cars driving up above town nearby what looked like a bull fighting arena to view some sort of horse/bullfighting activity. We followed them up on the hill, parked our home and watched while hundreds of vehicles full of families and friends joined us. Tob and the kids stayed up and watched as they released two groups of bulls from the arena and then 2 goups of men on horses with 4-7 foot sticks. The bulls ran as the horses herded them, with hundreds of people chasing the bulls from behind. They went around obstacles through the fields and streets of Torjia until they finally managed to get them back into the arena. I woke up as they were finishing up and Tob went to sleep before they finished. After the crowds dissipated the kids and I went for a walk overlooking town with a beautiful shining full moon. We opted to just stay put in the field for the night and were tucked in by 8:30pm.
We had a chilly night, one kid with nightmares and didn’t get up until 10;30 am. After getting up we unpacked and organized somewhat and then walked the streets of Torjia to get a few items for breakfast as well as a cup of coffee. After that we went to the castle which tuned out to be a very cool museum, went to the park and then headed out of town towards the Pyranees mountains. The highways are much like ours in the states except with some road signs we don’t understand. All mileage is in km, there are lots of windmills, orchards and large billboard sized black bulls. This is also probably our first international trip that it isn’t obvious we are tourists. Most people expect that we speak Spanish and of course we speak muy poquito espanol. Anyway, we haven’t seen or done much yet but we are here and happy to be. Right now we are sitting in a restaurant in Huesca about 60 km from our first national park in the Pyranees mountains, which we will be exploring tomorrow. We were hoping to find blankets today at a store but most stores even in the cities are proving to be closed on Sunday’s which was true as well in Guatemala. One more night of freezing in our cheap little kids sleeping bags they provided us won't kill us will it? We hope not anyway. No pictures right now, our computer is going to die but hopefully soon. Just wanted to drop a “quick note” and say we made it to Spain.
We flew out of Boise on the morning of October 22nd. The flights were pretty unremarkable except for the one couple who had the audacity to yell at both myself and my children for their poor behavior and lack of manners on our flight from SLC to Atlanta, GA. The thing was they were quite well behaved the whole trip, however any time they opened their tray or got into their seat pouches or got up to the bathroom these people gave us dirty looks and had a conniption fit. I won’t go into the whole story but at one point I told this couple that we had limited space my kids were being careful not to disturb them and kindly suggested that maybe next time they pay a little extra and fly first class so that they are less likely to be “disturbed”. I wasn’t pleased. They made my kids feel horrible and cry which was not ok.. What I really would have liked to say is I hope you have a screaming vomiting child that sits next to you on your next full flight. I thought better of this. Our next flight (8 hours long) the attendant commented on how polite and well behaved they were, which made me feel much better.
We arrived in Madrid, Spain at about 9:30 am on the 23rd a little sleep deprived from our flight and jumping 9 time zones ahead. A gentle man was scheduled to pick us up at 11 am to take us to the campervan/motor home/auto caravan rental place. We retrieved our baggage and then waited for him to arrive. The airport reminded me of any city in the states with kids running free, and people meeting and greeting family member only speaking Spanish, not English of course. Shortly after we started discussing who had to call the company and who to ask for help our driver made his appearance. He spoke no English and our little bit of Spanish was not enough to keep the conversation flowing. There was only one man who spoke English at the camper dealership and he did our paperwork with us and then sent us off with a gentleman who didn’t speak a word of English to explain to us how everything worked. It was great. We told him we understood everything and he smiled and off we went only to return 5 minutes later trying to explain to him there was only ½ a tank of gas and them tell us, oh ya your brake lights out. Whew, got that fixed and then we were off again. We got on the highway and couldn’t really figure out how to go the direction we wanted to so we took another J
You wouldn’t think getting gas would be difficult, however it was interesting. Nothing would come out of the diesel nozzle so the gentleman Tob asked for help just used another one, unsure what kind of gasoline actually was put into our tank and whether or not our newly rented home would even run. After starting it up and a few choice words from Tob we were off to find food. We stopped at a nearby mall and headed into a super-walmart type store called Alcampo if I remember correctly. They had food which was great although we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what most of it was. We left the store with some lunch meat (we think) cheese (pasteurized I hoped), cereal, bread, fruit juice and a powdered sugar pastry treat. We made some lunch and got back on the road. It didn’t take long before I noticed Toby’s sleepy eyes and the drifting motor home, realizing we both could use a nap. Soon after that we spotted our first castle and decided to go check it out. While we were driving through the small streets we noticed a line of cars driving up above town nearby what looked like a bull fighting arena to view some sort of horse/bullfighting activity. We followed them up on the hill, parked our home and watched while hundreds of vehicles full of families and friends joined us. Tob and the kids stayed up and watched as they released two groups of bulls from the arena and then 2 goups of men on horses with 4-7 foot sticks. The bulls ran as the horses herded them, with hundreds of people chasing the bulls from behind. They went around obstacles through the fields and streets of Torjia until they finally managed to get them back into the arena. I woke up as they were finishing up and Tob went to sleep before they finished. After the crowds dissipated the kids and I went for a walk overlooking town with a beautiful shining full moon. We opted to just stay put in the field for the night and were tucked in by 8:30pm.
We had a chilly night, one kid with nightmares and didn’t get up until 10;30 am. After getting up we unpacked and organized somewhat and then walked the streets of Torjia to get a few items for breakfast as well as a cup of coffee. After that we went to the castle which tuned out to be a very cool museum, went to the park and then headed out of town towards the Pyranees mountains. The highways are much like ours in the states except with some road signs we don’t understand. All mileage is in km, there are lots of windmills, orchards and large billboard sized black bulls. This is also probably our first international trip that it isn’t obvious we are tourists. Most people expect that we speak Spanish and of course we speak muy poquito espanol. Anyway, we haven’t seen or done much yet but we are here and happy to be. Right now we are sitting in a restaurant in Huesca about 60 km from our first national park in the Pyranees mountains, which we will be exploring tomorrow. We were hoping to find blankets today at a store but most stores even in the cities are proving to be closed on Sunday’s which was true as well in Guatemala. One more night of freezing in our cheap little kids sleeping bags they provided us won't kill us will it? We hope not anyway. No pictures right now, our computer is going to die but hopefully soon. Just wanted to drop a “quick note” and say we made it to Spain.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The joys of soccer....
My friend Kristen and I coached the 8-10 year old soccer team this year and enjoyed watching each and every one of these kids grow and improve throughout the season.
The picture above not only shows Lex making an excellent throw-in but depicts a few of the different personalities that Kristen and I coached this fall. Please take note of the child with a cone on his head, one losing control of her ball, but, kindly trying to duck under the throw-in, while another sits on the bench ready to go in, or wondering what the kid is doing with that cone on his head. This picture makes me laugh simply because all Tob was trying to do is get a decent picture of Alexyss when he captured so much more.
As for Alexyss, I couldn't be prouder. This little girl has improved so much this year and just loves to play. She enjoys playing center forward the most, much like her brother where she can be right in the thick of things. Not much intimidates her and she has been a pleasure to watch play as well as coach. She scored her first goal this year when her brother insisted that she would be taking a free goal shot because she hadn't scored yet. Everyone listened to him, the ball was given to her where she shot perfectly for the corner and scored.
Nojah has improved as well, perfecting his ball handling skills, playing hard, while having a great time. Being one of the older kids on the team he was expected to be a leader and set a good example, which he enjoyed at times and not so much others. Sometimes I think it's as hard to be the "coaches kid" as it is to coach your own kid.
On a side note for some reason I have the children who's shoes are NEVER tied. Generally it's Nojah and he just chooses to not tie them, which is probably why I do not have a photo of him in the middle of the field trying to remedy the problem like his sister. I can't even count the times I have had to tie that kids shoe and you would think this would bother him (having his mommy tie his shoe and all) since he is in 5th grade and 10 years old, but much to my dismay it doesn't bother him, not one little bit.I guess I should enjoy it while I can because it won't be long and he will grow out of wanting me to tie his shoes, and start using the word "mom" instead of "mommy" and stop crawling up into my lap and offering fewer public hugs and kisses.
One of our proudest accomplishments as coaches for the season is that each and every one of the kids on the team have scored a goal and hopefully are enjoying themselves along the way. They have not only improved their soccer skills, but also the importance of good sportsmanship and have done an excellent job of demonstrating it throughout the year.
I have learned more about soccer, coaching, and myself along the way as well and I have to thank my coach cohorts, friends, parents and kids for all their guidance and support. It's not always an easy job, but always proves to be well worth it in the end.
I have learned more about soccer, coaching, and myself along the way as well and I have to thank my coach cohorts, friends, parents and kids for all their guidance and support. It's not always an easy job, but always proves to be well worth it in the end.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Yesterday Shaun, the kids and I took a drive up to Anthony Lakes and hiked around in the rain. I miss my brother and wish I got to see him more. Seems like I have seen him too infrequently the past couple years. He's hasn't been doing well and is going through a rough time so if you could keep him in your thoughts I would appreciate it. He is such a great person and has so much to offer when he is doing well and I hope he knows how much I love him.
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