Los Campeones de Galicia, y más

That's my swim team - we won the Galician (one of 17 regions in Spain which is like a state in US) Masters swimming championships!  On February 5th, at 7:45 AM, we headed to Pontevedra, 30 minutes from Vigo, and their incredible 50 meter Olympic size pool and surrounding which overlooked the local Ría(estuary).  It's wonderful to have these nice Spanish men "fighting over" who gets to pick me up for the trip since they all know I don't have a car...yes, they're all married or too young but fun to be "fought over" just the same!  Upon arrival, there was only one big problem...someone had accidentally turned off the heat the night before and cold air was blowing into the pool area at a temperature of 50 degrees.  Imagine being wetheaded, in a wet suit, and in and out of the water - brrrr!! About 1 PM, it finally began warming up so the afternoon session was reasonable - and think of all the extra calories we burned by shivering!  At about 5:30 PM, the announcement was made that our men had won first place and our women had won second place and our team had won the overall team title - go Traviesas!!  And, just in case you missed my bragging on Facebook, I won 4 gold medals:  2 in individual events and 2 in women's relays!  The moral is if you stay fit until 60, you can do well in Spanish Masters swimming!

My swim team...I'm on back row, bending over in middle

 Last week I also had my most US/Austin like experience when I went on Friday night with my friend Teresa to hear and see her brother's band's 20th anniversary party.  It was in a small club and they had decorated the stage with memorabilia from their history.  All of his band members were there and instead of playing music, they showed videos that were artsy, funky and partially in English of their past together.  Her brother spoke fluent English and many of the 40-50 age group attending did also...one band member even asked me about Austin City Limits when I said I was from Austin!  He knew a lot about our music opportunities in Austin.  It was lots of fun and showed me another facet of Spain that I hadn't yet experienced.

Yesterday, February 11th, I went for the day to Porto de Lima, Portugal, with my friends Cris and Nando and their group.  True to form, we started with a group picture and ended with a great meal!

Group picture before hiking through the Lagoa

   We explored a lagoon natural area near the town which was nice but not much wildlife since it was winter.  We ate at a restaurant on the banks of the river with an incredible view of the town out of its large windows.  In Portugal, you often split meals because of their size so another lady and I split a plate of octopus tentacles that were cooked to perfection!  Tender, juicy and a grilling flavor! 

Tentacles next to potatoes! Yum!

Accompanied by appetizers of bacalao (cod) eggs, pickled pigs' ears, and callos (beans cooked w/pork parts), wine, of course! - an excellent Portuguese vinho verde, corn bread which is popular in Portugal, potatoes, cabbage...you get the idea!  Fortunately, we had saved walking around the town for after lunch because those crazy Portuguese eat so early!(12:30 PM!)  As you can see, it has an amazing old Roman bridge still in constant use.

Roman bridge and its reflection

My picture was taken with Brutus and also with a bronze sculpture of Portuguese fiesta attendees.

¿Et tu Brute?

   Reminded me of Austin because the river goes through the middle and all the people out walking, fishing, horseback riding, bike riding, etc. on the banks of the river.  I met new people in their group, including a dermatologist who had done training in Galveston at the med school and knew our family dermatologist (and longtime family friend of my folks) who had taught there part time!!  It is a small world, isn't it? 

Party until you drop?

There's hiking and then, there's HIKING !

I am hereby admitting that I, prior to this hike, was a little cocky about being in pretty good shape for my age and stage.  After all, I have been swimming 3 times a week for a Master's swim team for at least 10 years, including the one I have joined in Vigo.  In addition, since I have no car, my daily walking average is at least 3 miles per day as that is the round trip distance to my school.  So, when a fellow teacher asked me if I wanted to join their group for a Saturday hike on January 21st, I asked how long it would be?  She said about 16 km (10 mi) and mostly flat so I said "sure".  Very fortunately, another close teacher friend, Teresa, and her friend, Teresina, were going...their first hike w/this group also.

View along the trail

Starting out at the top with fog still in valley

Teresa picked both of us up at 8:30 AM and we headed out to join the group.  I had slightly more than a liter of water, a bocadillo (sandwich in a bun), two mandarin tangerines and some hard candy.  For the 2 to 3 hours we were promised, that should be plenty.  We were all dressed in layers because it was chilly outside but we knew it would warm up as the sun got higher.  Tennis shoes are my only hiking footwear in Spain.

We should have known to start worrying when we drove, some via dirt roads, and left half the cars literally at the TOP of a mountain - next to all the whirling windmills.  As we started out, it was windy but as we angled downward, we escaped the wind and thus, the cold.  But the angling was all on narrow livestock paths in loose dirt with lots of rocks, stones and water to cross...and they marched (not strolled) at a quick pace!  Basically, looking up to see the views was almost impossible except at the very few, very brief rest stops we made.  And, I became determined that "la americana" was not going to be the one who hurt herself and caused a dilemma in the middle of nowhere.  Actually, we were in a Natural Area called Suido that was nice when you had a chance to look at it! We did get about 20 minutes for lunch at a shepherd's hut on a small hill....with aguardiente made with herbs that we all sampled.

Small shepherd's hut on hill behind guide

Teresa and Teresina, mis amigas

I think that's why it took the 3 of us a little longer to realize that the majority of our hike was heading down and thus our toes were jammed into the toes of our shoes for literally miles and miles.  We did find the beautiful Teas River at the end...but not before the "guide" had backtracked us several times in search of the right way to go.  Backtracking and uncertainty are not popular when your feet are dead and you're hungry! 

Teas River

Teresa and I started walking backwards downhill just to give our poor toes a rest!  Final statistics were 22km (almost 14 mi) in 5 hours.  There were about 25 of us and one of my favorite statements was when they took up a little money at lunch for club expenses that they told us as newcomers we did not need to pay....because for some reason, most of their newcomers never returned!!  This was "HIKING".  Personal note:  it took me 3 days to be able to walk down stairs or even sit on the toilet without supporting my weight on the way down with my arms because my quads were so sore!!

Then, there's "hiking"  with my wonderful friends, Cris and Nando, and their group.  It is significant, I think that our walks always start out with a group picture and being sure a reservation has been made somewhere for "comida" after our hike.

Group shot minus photographer

On January 29th, we headed out for a beach hike on another gorgeous, sunny, cool day.  We were going to Cabo (cape) Udra by parking our cars in Bueu and walking along the coast to Belaso (lunch reservation!) and then continuing along an absolutely pristine coast and beaches.  I hope most Spaniards continue thinking you should go to the beach in the summer only because as my pictures reflect, we basically had the coast to ourselves.

just one of many small beaches

kayakers enjoying beautiful water

I felt "on top of the world"

There is definitely something about strolling along, being able to look around and conversing with people as you go along...guess my macha days of HIKING are gone forever. 

Not really a hike but also lots of walking, my friend Teresa invited me on Saturday, January 28th, to go to Valenca, Portugal for the afternoon.  Another gorgeous day here of sun and coolness, and we set out about 12:30 and arrived all of a half hour later...just in time for "comida", Portuguese style.  That means you either have fish or chicken so we asked for one meal of each.  Each plate is served with salad and some sort of delicious potatoes.  Since we asked for the "menu del dia", our dessert, drinks and first course of a creamy vegetable soup was included.  I asked for a glass of red wine and was brought a 1/2 bottle!  Teresa asked for a beer and got a good-sized bottle of the local.  Chocolate mousse was dessert!  After all the food and drink, we weren't sure what the final tab would be but who cared because we were now fueled and ready to look around the old, walled town.  Our tab was only 6 euros ($7.50) each, the originally advertised price of the menu del dia!!  All the drinks were included!!  No wonder people here shop and eat often in Portugal!  The old town was amazing with its thick, green vegetation walls around the entire city with admittance only through the ancient arched doors.

Thick walls below me and Tui across the river

Local "gang" who were thrilled to pose for me

On our way back we stopped in Tui, a small town out side of Vigo where I had once visited the renovated stone house of friends of my friends.  This time we went downtown and saw the old cathedral which is one of the biggest in Spain.  It has a Romanesque interior portion with a Gothic overlay for the newer portion.

Tui Cathedral

The weird trees !

  Also, we checked out these strange trees called "platanos" even though they do not produce bananas.  They do produce, however, branches that grow together from tree to tree!  Another new and interesting day for my Spain experiences.....