First part of my Spaintour!

Finally, after a long time and several people were begging me, I will start my blog with my Spain-trip from February to May 2010.

I wanted to stay longer time in Spain since my last school year. After finishing my apprenticeship in January 2010, I started travelling in Barcelona at the 21th February. All my plans were almost failed, before I started it, because I entered the wrong train to Berlin. But because of my patient mother I got my flight in Berlin, thanks for that again.


And the first thing I saw in Barna was a sticker at the airport supporting the 'no pasaran'- demostration in Dresden (so I still felt home ;))


In Catalunya it was a lot warmer than in Germany, and the first thing I've done, was walking trough Barceloneta. Surprisingly I came into a karnival celebration. Very funny, with samba bands and not this silly german stuff. I spend my first evening in the 'Bar Mariatchi', a bar where musicians (Che Sudaka, La Pegatina, Manu Chao, Manana Me Chanto, La Kinky Beat,...) meet and tourist are unusual.


During the next days I have been on the Tibidado, the highest point in Barcelona, then in the Parc Güell, I made a guided tour trough the Barrio Gotic and visited a concert (Zulu 9.30 and La Kinky Beat) with the Brazilian Luiz who I met at 'Bar Mariatchi' two days before.


The day after the concert I left Barna by bus to Madrid!
In the morning of the 24th February I headed to Madrid, without a plan where to sleep (I hadn't a plan too often :D). So first I was searching an internet point to find hostals in Madrid. After a long and rainy walk I found a youth hostal and I shared a room with three italian girls. We had dinner together in a nice and delicious tapas bar.


The next day I drove to my first helpx-place near Cadalso los Vidrios near Madrid. But before I visited with the italian girls the 'Palacio Real', where the kings of Spain lived in the present. Later leaving the bus in the right village wasn't that easy, but spanish people are very helpful. In Cadalso a neighbour of my helpx-host Houston picked me and three other helpers (Maja from Finland, Laura from Australia and Tara from Canada) up. Because a lot of rain the days before the roads were so bad, that we had to walk the last 15 minutes, we have been to heavy for the car. After the arriving we girls talked a little bit and went to bed.


The work begun on Thursday, Houston showed us his property, explained how we can help and we decided what we would like to do. That is a good way, that the helper always gives the best and don't get bored, because we were always free to change our work. After daily 6 hours of work, we spend the time reading, drinking tea, learning spanish, going for a walk (and in my case: drawing).

myself, Laura, Houston and Tara

He built a very interesting house. We had a compost toilet and had to safe water. But that wasn't dificult because of special mechanisms. He also used only electricity from his own solar panels and wind generator. Lot of days we had sun and much wind, so we could all recharge our mobile phones, ipods and computers and also use the toaster and the ofen. To heat the house he used gas and also wood from his own trees. He told us also about the big hole behind his house. Our first thought was, that he wants a swimming pool, but wrong, this was the beginning of a huge green house. He said something with fishes inside, so that the water circulates from the soil to the fishes and back, but my english level didn't allowed me to understand all :(


The weekend 5th/6th March was my Madrid-weekend. I had a look to the typical things: Parc del Retiro, Prado, Plaza del Sol, Museo Sofia Reina, Estacion Atocha, El Rastro and so on. On Saturday night I also went to a concert. A couchsurfer invited me, but couln't host me. Anyway, the concert was so much fun and I met a girl there from Leipzig, she was an Erasmusstudent in Bilbao. The band was 'Limando el Serrucho' which made funny Ska, Reggae and Funk music.

After finishing the work at Houstons house, I spend one more night in Madrid with Laura and Tara. For this last night I found a couchsurfing host for us. We cooked for Fede and I think it was the only time his kitchen was used ;P


Before I drove to Santiago de Compostela we three girls tried 'Churros con chocolate' for breakfast. Very tasty, but also very heavy and sweet for the first meal of the day. The bar was very cute, only spanish people, because it was near the house from our host and the quarter isn't interesting for tourists!

rainy days in Galicia

Changing the state, changing the weather. It was warmer in Galicia (often working with 3-5°C outside near Madrid), but a lot rainier and still cold. So I decided to buy a heat, because I thought I don't need one in Spain. The weather teached me something else!!

So I arrived on the 11th March in Santiago de Compostela. Before my CS-host had time to pick me up, I made a tour through the old town. The cathedral looks amazing in the sunset and there have been also some pilgrims which reached Santiogo after a long walk. I had the luck being in Santiago during the Holy Year, so I could attend two pilgrim Mass and the biggest censer of the world. This is swimming very high. it almost touched the roof of the church.

My CS-host Lisa was a very nice austrian girl, bad for learning spanish, but good to speak german again. I had my own room and she gave me advices where to go in Santiago and also A Coruna.
The old town in Santiago isn't that big, but worth to see.

The city at the Atlantic coast, A Coruna, is not the nicest, but has some beautiful spots. This is for exmaple the Torre de Hercules, because it is surrounded by nature and not houses. It kind of seems to be the end of the world. I also liked the city beach, but of course, I like it because I don't know this from Dresden! :)

With Lisa and friends of her we made a Sunday-trip to Vigo by train and then by boat over the river to Cangas. Then we walked out of the village and had a beautiful view to islands more outside at the sea. Unfortunately boats going only in the summer to the islands!

We enjoyed the sun and blue water, had a drink in Cangas and drove back to Vigo. During the second boat ride we have seen an amazing sunset!

After Santiago I couchsurfed by Shirini in Vigo. The city is ver ugly, but we went to the MARCO, museum for modern art. One night there was an art performance, but the woman talked too much, so we haven't understood the performance. Shirini also invited me to a night in a bar with her friends, all Erasmus-students. Very funny, we get so many tapas for free, only because we ordered drinks.

My next aim after one and a half week free was my next helpx-place near Esgos (near Ourense)!

Work with horses and escape to Portugal!

typical store houses in Galicia and dog The Boss drinking

In Galicia I started my second work near Esgos near Ourense. Izcalli had 6 own horses and 2 from other people. There also was another helper, Kira from Germany. The first night she told me some stories which weren't nice and gave me a bad impression of the next weeks. I wanted to stay three weeks there, also at Semana Santa (Eastern), But I left after one week together with Kira.

Kira and one horse

The reasons: Cold and rainy weather, no heater inside the house, a broken fence every day, some days in a rope no healthy food. Izcalli told us again and again, that she hadn't time to buy some stuff, so went one morning to the village to buy something. This shouldn't be my job, but ok. The house was so cold, even in my winterjacket I was freezing. As I said, the horses broke the fence every day. I rebuilt the fence and Kira catched the horses. We hadn't much to do, so we looked for work on ourself. It seemed that we cleaned the stables from 5-years old shit, disgusting!!!

the only one female dog and cat Kamel

The dogs were great. But sometimes it was stressfull, too. They followed us everyday to the village, when we wanted to go the Library for internet access! So we tried to get all somewhere inside the house, not that easy. But in other cases it was great to have the dogs, Tika, The Boss and all the others I forgot the names, around!
I also liked the two cats, Lila and Kamel, they warmed us insinde the house ;)

Izcalli was a strange person, too, so I decided to leave after one week with Kira and we went to Oporto in Portugal! And it felt so good being out of Spain, because we had SUN and it was warm. We really enjoyed it! We walked through the city until our CS-host picked us up and drove to his flat directly in front of the Atlantic Sea, so wonderful! After watching the sunset we had dinner together and went to bed. We have been so tired. The next day we made a walk along the coast. The night program made our host. We (our host, Kira, and two other couchsurfer from England) celebrated a Couchsurfing brithday. There was one guy in Oporto and he had 600!!! Couchsurfers in 2 years! Apprx. 20 people celebrated this in a restaurant. At 1 am, they wanted to go to disco, but Kira and me we decided to go home. We said, we can find it on ourselves, but we needed two hours!! The taxi driver didn't understand us, and we neither knew the exactly adress nor the village other host lived....

Oporto

Kira and me

At the 1st April Kira flew home to Germany and I continued my way and went back to Spain, Oviedo!
My April-joke for my mother was a textmessage that I missed the bus, try to hitch hike and found a first lift to the border. Haha, she was so worried and my sister wrote me later: Good Joke ;) !

Atlantic coast and Oporto from the brigde

Semana Santa!

I made a mistake on my way back. I should have asked in Vigo how long the bus to Oviedo needs. I thought 4 hours, but I arrived in Oviedo at 1am in the night. So I was in Oviedo, didn't know where a youth hostal is or if one exist. But at the bus station was a tourist information with a map. I saw one albergue, made a foto of the map and started walking - uphill!!!

I reached the albergue at 2 in the night and the guy said it is full. He didn't understand me aksing if I can sleep the next day there. Then I went to the next park, tried to sleep on a stone bank, but with 5 degrees and wind it was absolutely too cold. I was back at the busstation at 5 and waited in front of it. After the opening I went inside and slept little bit, because it was warmer there. At 9am the tourist information was open and I could ask for some cheep hostal. Ok, Oviedo only has this one albergue. Walking back to the albergue they said to me, I can't sleep there, because I need a youth card. Totally silly, the woman: 'I can't tell you, where you get this card, you must figure it out on your own!' Please what? So I paid bit more money for a hotel room and slept very good....

Oviedo old city

Eastern processions

The Eastern processions are as you now it from german TV. They carry this huge statues through the streets with nice bagpipes music, very celtic (in Asturias, I don't if it is the same in toher states) and also kind of an jazz orchestra! I loved this music, it was addictive for and I enjoyed the melodies. When the bearer made some moves with the statues the audience applauded. A little lift was enough for hearing clapping hands. So I have seen two processions, one at the 2nd and one at the 3rd April. Both were from the same group, so I saw similiar costumes and heard the same orchestras. But still, it was nice and worth to see.

After Oviedo I couchsurfed rural near Oviedo in Ceceda in a house full of dogs and two donkeys outside. I spend the nights with two dogs lying on me, I couldn't move while sleeping and when I opened my eyes the next day, at first I had a tongue in my face! :D

I continued my way to the next work in a mongolian yurt area in Asturias!

Yurt life...

After arriving in Arriondas (Asturien) Bego picked me up. This is a woman living in mongolian yurts in the countryside of Asturien with a horse, sheeps, goats, a dod, two cats and chicken. She has approx. 20 yurts, she lives in one of them, another one is for helpers and in the rest are factories, storage space or an exposition about Mongols and how they live. At the entrance there is the biggest tent, the 'teahouse', so cute decorated, very colourful and she has a lot of games there. The tea is also very tasty!

I worked there 3 weeks. The same day I came she bought two little goats, too. We had to feed them with milk from the neighbours cow. The first two days it was really hard, because they didn't know how to drink from the bottle. We also had to be careful, no milk may enter their lights, then they die immediatly! But later it was so easy to feed them! And they were screaming for milk all the time beginning in the morning, they waked us up!

I also had to water the garden every day, sometimes made bread, painted some poles, painted the structure with Kayleigh and Vincent together and clean the tents. Every weekend Bego open the area for visitors and the can make a round through the tents and learn something about the mongolian lifestyle. Very interesting! Outside they can play some mongolian games and at the end they go inside the teahouse for a tea, of course and can play some more games there. Often we helpers played together with the visitors and Bego some games, often the same and I won this game very often!

During my three wekks there, different helpers come and went, so Vincent was there all the time. Other helpers were: Andy from the UK, Jonathan with his 2-years old child Frida from the UK, Kayleigh from the USA and Emma from the UK. We helpers had a lot of fun there, but sometimes trouble with Bego...

After work we often went for a walk or drove to the city, with Kayleigh we went to the next city for a drink and hitch hiked back or we just went to the neighbours with the internet access and tried to talk to them in spanish or with hands and legs ;)

Atlantik coasts in Asturias

The surrounding was so beautiful, so green with hills and we always heard the bells of cows. I have never been in the Switzerland, but I think it is similar!

little Frida with rabbit

curious goats

With the neighbours!

One weekend I was hiking in the Picos de Europa, but this is an own topic!

Hiking in the Picos de Europe!

Grotto and Kayleigh

With Kayleigh from the USA I went hiking in the Picos de Europa. Most people can’t believe that there are mountains like this in Spain. We were hiking there from the 18th to 20th April and there was still snow. Kayleigh had birthday at the 18th April, so we thought we should do something special. As she arrived she saw the mountain from far away and made the decision to go there.

Picos de Europa

stop in Cangas de Onís

So we started in Arriondas, helper Jonathan drove us to the city and from there we hitch-kiked to the Picos. This was my first time hitch-hiking, but Kayleigh had done it before! And it worked out so well, we never had to wait more than 10 minutes. At first we hitch-hiked to Cangas de Onís and asked in the tourist information for good hiking walks and ‘refugios’.  These are cheap hotels for hikers. Our next lift brought us to Covadonga, at the foot of the Picos. This is a very touristical village, I’m not sure if somebody is living there. We have seen a big basilica and downstair a cute chapelle (Virgen de Covandonga) in a grotto!

the elephant

dinner

From there we were looking for somebody who took us uphill the 12 km to the ‘Lagos de Covadonga’, two very beautiful lakes in the mountains. Our lift, an older couple was so firendly, they drove us directly in front of our ‘refugio’. That was so good, because I felt sick and only wanted to sleep. Kayleigh was outside. Later the man of the refugio made us a fire in the fireplace and we warmed up our food and celebrated Kayleighs birthday with red wine.

Picos de Europa

inside a cloud & snow

The next day at nine we started the walk around the two lakes, the ‘Lago de Enol’ and ‘Lago de Eracina’. Amazing, wonderful and the lakes were like a mirror. In the afternoon we started hiking uphill. It was hard, but suddenly we were so high, we could almost touch the raincloud! So I was keen how it feels, when we are inside the cloud, so we continued hiking uphill. Inside a cloud it is very foggy; we saw a group of wild goats and also the first fields of snow!

tapas

Our last day we started at nine again went to another point of view. From there we could see, that we awaked above the clouds and we finally could see the tops of the mountains (the day before was too cloudy). The way back by hitch-hiking was well, too. We made a stop in Cangas de Onís for some tapas!