Los picos de Europa

What a day we had! Sometimes it's almost sad to try to put into words how amazing something was, but I'll try my hardest. Yesterday, I climbed a mountain. The peaks of a mountain, yes, but a mountain nonetheless. 
Our program has 3 scheduled trips that are planned by our director and count towards our culture credits. This first one was to the "Peaks of Europe," a cute little town, and a monastery. We got to the peaks around 11:30 and Pablo (our super great director) was hurrying us like crazy because he was worried we wouldn't get up there before the clouds covered everything. You have to take a cable car to the top unless you are a mountain goat or something, because it would take forever to actually climb, and the good stuff is all at the top! : ) The cable car is a little freaky because it's tiny and they pack you in there so you can't hardly move, but it's a super pretty ride. It seriously felt like I was in a helicopter, though. We were so high up that the  cows looked like little bugs on the ground!
We only had just over an hour to explore around, but we were all wishing we had like 10 hours! I think they do it for our own safety, because we did all suffer from some mild altitude sickness. While we were in the bus we were all getting kind of achy going up so high, but then when you ride the cable car, you go a lot faster than your body can climb. I didn't really feel bad until we were coming down. It just made me really sleepy so I was a little out of it. 
Anyway, one of the guys in our little group just took off and started running up the mountain! I think he must be part billy goat, or something. The girls and I would be quickly (what we thought was quickly) climbing and feeling like we were at a good pace, but then we'd look up and see Dustin waiting for us at the top. Every. Time. We stopped for about 10 minutes in the beginning to eat some lunch (we're still not fully adjusted to this 2:30 lunch time) and just enjoy being on the side of a mountain! And then we ignored the trails (sound familiar, Grammie?) and followed Dustin through the peaks of this mountain! At first we told him he was crazy, the girls all just wanted to follow the trails and see the normal stuff, but we followed Dustin. In hindsight, I don't think we really had a choice, he just forged ahead! In the end, though, we were so glad we did! We found these horses that belonged to a farmer in the mountains, but he just lets them roam around without fences. I mean, who needs fences when you live alone on top of a mountain? They were so beautiful!
We spent the rest of the time exploring with the big group and showing each other our favorite places before Pablo made us start heading back down. We're trying to make plans to go back, or to find mountains to explore in Santander one weekend. I would go back in a heartbeat, it was so, so wonderful!
So that was amazing, and we were all exhausted, but we weren't done! We had a half an hour drive down to the cute little town of Potes. We finished eating our lunch (because it was lunchtime by then) and took short little siestas and then were let loose to explore the pueblito! The first item on our agenda: chocolate. Poor Dustin always gets pulled along on the girly trips, but he really doesn't seem to mind. Boys like chocolate, bookstores, beaches, and shoes too, right? There was a sweet little bakery that we decided to try and we hit the jackpot! There were all these homemade little cakes and truffles and cream puffs. We all got something different and got to try them all. We definitely deserved it after our mountainous trek, but the display case did look a little empty as we left!
Then we lazily walked around town, enjoying the beautiful weather, and we bought our first souvenirs! It was fun to pick things out to bring home. I think that's one of my favorite parts of travelling when I can actually find gifts that I know people will enjoy.
Even then we still weren't done with our adventures! We drove another 10 minutes to a monastery. It was really, really beautiful, but I decided not to take pictures. For one, I had already taken a couple hundred and I was done for the day, 2 sometimes I like to just preserve the memory in my mind and I feel like I forget about the real thing when I take pictures. It's easy to just remember the pictures you took, not the actual thing. And 3, I kind of wanted it to be a less touristy moment. Sometimes it's nice to not be caught up in the fact that I'm an American and just enjoy living in Spain. I did, however, steal some pictures from my friend so you can see some of it.

This monastery is really special because it has what is believed to be the largest piece of wood from Jesus' cross. Because of this it is a common resting point and passing point for pilgrimages and has been for hundreds of years. Above is a picture of the gold display case they keep it in. 

They also take it out so people can see and even touch it.

This is the outside of the monastery.

That's all. It was a lovely day and I can't wait for the other trips! Next weekend we're going to go explore some caves and the following weekend we're staying 3 nights in a different monastery and walking part of the pilgrimage of Santiago.

I hope you're all still satisfied with life in the States after this, but if not, just come visit! :) Love you all mucho!