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| Reminds you of England, doesn´t it? |
Remember that intercambio hiking group I
told you about a few posts back? Well, this weekend I joined them once again to
take a lovely hike in the Cantabrian countryside and mountains.
This week there were a few less people than
beforehand, but still, there were some fresh faces including other language
assistants who reigned from the East End of London, Minnesota, Seattle and
California. I also had the opportunity to practice my French a little this time
round as I shared a carpool with a Spanish person who spoke fluent French and
this is an intercambio for all languages.
Despite the early hour and suffering
somewhat from lack of sleep, we were still able to engage in a healthy debate about
the independence of Catalonia (the referendum was being held that day).
The journey wasn’t too long on this
occasion, maybe taking just less than an hour to get to the teeny tiny village
of Aloños. But it was also very pretty,
and on the way there we were able to enjoy some beautiful vistas. Despite this
village being relatively unknown, one member of the group (the flatmate of a
friend of mine) had relatives living there who she was sure to visit whilst we
were there.
We then headed uphill – which was a very
arduous but rewarding task.
Fortunately the weather held out for us,
and we avoided any major downpours. And, because I can always find something to
complain about, I would say that it was too sunny, in fact. It made sure that
whenever we started walking, we would be unbearably hot, and the second you
stopped you would get chills all over. 
However, I have to admit that the sunrays
beaming through the autumn colours made it all the more beautiful – there were
lots of golds and oranges! Moreover, the sun meant you were really able to the
incredible greenery and the different scenes. In particular, I loved looking at
the small villages in the valleys, as we stood at the peak, watching the sun
light up one area whilst the other remained in relative darkness. 
At some point in the afternoon, the clouds
overhead got considerably darker. So, we decided that it was probably best to
make our way back down, cutting the hike slightly short. As we descended down
the mountain, we past many different farmyard animals. Arina and I tried to
imitate them, in an attempt to communicate with the creatures (unsuccessfully I
might add). But it was then that we were
to discover the different languages that animals speak! Onomatopoeia is not the
same world over as you have thought – actually animal sounds differ between
languages which (as a language geek) I find really interesting.
Once we regrouped back in Aloños, we sat in
the gardens of the rustic church in front of a stunning backdrop and had some
lunch. I also took this point to down a litre of water! We then were sure to
warm up once more before we returned to Santander. We ducked into a small
café-bar and had coffee all round!
The only negative I would say about these
trips, is that sometimes you can get a little tired of waiting around. When
there is so many of you, you find yourself walking, or just generally moving at
different speeds and then you either have to wait or catch up. And because we
rely on certain people driving, we then have to wait on the drivers schedules
before we can leave. And when you are cold and tired, sometimes you just want
to be able to head straight off home. This is really only a small thing though,
and something that just has to be done. Actually, I appreciate the lift and
enjoy the company and chatter. It is a fantastic way to spend a Sunday
afternoon.
Hasta luego.
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