Vamos a jugar por la playa
This is the story, supplemented with pictures, of one of the strangest 11 days of my whole life. It began like so, with Julen falling at the beach and splitting his head open, a site I had the joy of seeing up close, and then his father took him to the emergency room where he promptly received three stitches and returned to the beachside cafe, looking pleased as always. This, of course, happened on the first day of vacation.
If you haven't been to the Mediterranean, I highly recommend it. There are boats and palm trees that cast neat shadows on the boardwalk. It is quite unimaginable.
On the eve of our first day in Calpe (in the south of Spain, part of the province of Valencia -- lots of orange trees and all that), Amaia celebrated her 15th birthday. Here we are at midnight, her first moments of the big One Five. I'll omit the picture of me with q-tips in my nose.
One day I was laying out on some rocks away from the beach and I woke up to find this seagull standing at my feet, not moving, not doing anything but standing there. It scared the shit out of me and I am glad I didn't fall into the watery blue depths right next to me. Amen.
Of course, I thought, if Julen has stitches already, why not make him climb a tree and pose no-hands so I can get a beautiful picture? Seemed harmless enough.
This here is the Peñon de Ifach, which is the big ass rock that seperates one side of the beach from the other. It is gigantic. It is 332 meters high (that's about a thousand feet or so), and it's just this looming presence that sneaks up on you wherever you go.
So of course, I had to climb it.
I took the trail that went all the way to the far end instead of all the way up, and once you get there, it's NOTHING but rocks, seagulls (a lotttttt of seagulls), you and the sea. It was amazing.
Here I am at the top of the end of the rocks. I wish I had a better picture of the trail going up, because once you exit the tunnel that passes through the thing, the trailhead says "WARNING! THE PATH IS VERY DANGEROUS!!!" in three languages with a symbol to boot, and sure enough it was the scariest thing I've ever been on. Slanting, slippery rocks with no railing or guardrail or anything, just a straight-to-the-bottom drop off down the side of this thing. I climbed barefoot.
On the way back down this seagull posed for an amazing picture. That, in the background, is half of Calpe, where uncle Mario owns a bar/restaurant, and where I ate a lot of potatoes and meat.
Not much happened after this climb. The rest of the vacation was terrible. But at least I have these memories... Enjoy!
If you haven't been to the Mediterranean, I highly recommend it. There are boats and palm trees that cast neat shadows on the boardwalk. It is quite unimaginable.
On the eve of our first day in Calpe (in the south of Spain, part of the province of Valencia -- lots of orange trees and all that), Amaia celebrated her 15th birthday. Here we are at midnight, her first moments of the big One Five. I'll omit the picture of me with q-tips in my nose.
One day I was laying out on some rocks away from the beach and I woke up to find this seagull standing at my feet, not moving, not doing anything but standing there. It scared the shit out of me and I am glad I didn't fall into the watery blue depths right next to me. Amen.
Of course, I thought, if Julen has stitches already, why not make him climb a tree and pose no-hands so I can get a beautiful picture? Seemed harmless enough.
This here is the Peñon de Ifach, which is the big ass rock that seperates one side of the beach from the other. It is gigantic. It is 332 meters high (that's about a thousand feet or so), and it's just this looming presence that sneaks up on you wherever you go.
So of course, I had to climb it.
I took the trail that went all the way to the far end instead of all the way up, and once you get there, it's NOTHING but rocks, seagulls (a lotttttt of seagulls), you and the sea. It was amazing.
Here I am at the top of the end of the rocks. I wish I had a better picture of the trail going up, because once you exit the tunnel that passes through the thing, the trailhead says "WARNING! THE PATH IS VERY DANGEROUS!!!" in three languages with a symbol to boot, and sure enough it was the scariest thing I've ever been on. Slanting, slippery rocks with no railing or guardrail or anything, just a straight-to-the-bottom drop off down the side of this thing. I climbed barefoot.
On the way back down this seagull posed for an amazing picture. That, in the background, is half of Calpe, where uncle Mario owns a bar/restaurant, and where I ate a lot of potatoes and meat.
Not much happened after this climb. The rest of the vacation was terrible. But at least I have these memories... Enjoy!