Hotel Baeza

... the Sierra Nevada highlands about 20 km north of Malaga and started up a series of serpentine roads going higher into the hills. As we came up over a high hill, we could see hill after hill of olive trees. These hills and valleys were covered with olive trees as far as the eyes could see. Because of the heat, you could smell the thick heavy greasy odor of olives very strongly. As we reached Jaen, we veered off the Autoroute and ...

... where Kathryn teaches...she has to take a 20-30 minute bus ride there and back from the city of Jaen to the small pueblo of 3000 people. Her school is preschool and elementary and is very charming. When we went out there for her to introduce herself, they brought us into a 4th grade classroom and let her assist in teaching a lesson where they were learning vocabulary about the rooms of a house in English. They were amazed by us and how we spoke since they are used to learning British ...

... still hits the spot on those really hot days when it's getting over 38 to 40 degrees outside. We will be wrapping up our stay in Ubeda this weekend, which is kinda sad because we have had such a good time with the family there. But we do want to see the rest of Spain. Since we spent so much time in Ubeda, and because it's getting so hot here in the south, we've decided to forego Valencia and the Balaeric islands. The plan is to catch a ...

... and the water was snow melt (really cold!) At noon we stopped for lunch, then decided we'd better turn back.  We made it back to the visiter center in time to get our bags before they closed for siesta (2PM -5PM).  Then we relaxed at a little bar down the hill.  We caught the afternoon shortbus back to Cazorla, and then the afternoon real-bus back to Ubeda. 

... for the most part, we have been pretty successful. Of course, it helps that in addition to being excellent hosts, Merche and Paco are also fabulous teachers. This has been especially helpful for our spanish skills. Just in the course of doing everyday things with the family (cooking & eating meals, watching soccer games, going shopping or out for a walk, and just talking about our day) we have learned SO much spanish. There are tons of ...

... us it was "muy rico". It is a form of ground pork, in a dark red greasy looking sauce. We ate it with bread, and it was slightly sweet and spicy. Pretty good. Then Moses came back to the table (after running after Ramon) and began to explain the ingredients. Cerdo, (pig), cebollas (onions), sangre de cerdo (pig blood) . . . Wait, what was that??? SANGRE de cerdo??? The table erupted with laughter at the expression on my face. Don´t think about it ...

... with good intentions, I'm sure) and always excuse our poor grammar. So, on Thursday we caught a bus from Granada to Ubeda. We found a hostel, booked 2 nights, and then fired up my laptop to check the address. Well, it turns out the address wasn't included in the letter, nor was their last name. Total bummer! We made some quick phone calls back to the states to see if we could somehow extract the data from our home ...

... level of communicative spanish necessary`and set off early Monday morning to the Molina family's finca. Ali and Meg had thought of sending us to another family but the father apparently drunk alot and tended to be alittle letchy. Our first task was milking. Milking begins at 6am and is quite possibly one of the most difficult things to master at that time in the morning by hand. Well Estalin showed us how to do it, grasping those teets in his muscly, bronzed hands and ...

... One of the best things about Granada is the fact that if you order a beer during the day, it comes with a free tapas. Therefore, if you order three beers, you walk out with a little buzz and a full belly. All for the low, low price of about $4.50. So we found one of these places and ordered a few beers and tapas. It was nice to sit down in the AC and have a beer. It was about this time that Henry decided to assert his authority and toss a water ...

... there is a passage explaining it)... digression----i feel a whole entry could be set aside to describe drivers and traffic in this pollution filled city, but let me just say, that there really is no point to having lights or signs, as people just kinda do whatever they want...i believe it would be best described as semi-cautious merging.... anyways, back at the monument on the hill, which is apparently the 3rd most visited statue in the world after the broad ...