Parador De Cazorla La Iruela

... north and headed back inland on a four lane Autoroute. Within 50 km the temperature went up 5°C to 35. It continued to climb as we went closer to Jaen near our destination, where it reached 44°C. Hot no? Jess, eets wery hot. Een fact, eets hot for dees espanisha peoples too.

We stopped to fuel up and took off to re-enter the Autoroute. We must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque because the gas station road didn’ ...

... it ever since. We also learned just the other day that you can also get it with just cold carbonated water instead of Fanta, but why would you do that? :-) So basically it's a wine-cooler, but somehow classier, and it is SO good. It turns out that you can actually buy it pre-mixed in 2-liter bottles at the supermercado, because Mercedes brought a bunch home one day when we mentioned that we like it. The pre-mix is not quite as good ...

... shucks).  We took a bus to Cazorla in the morning, then had to wait a long time for the mini bus that takes people out into the park itself.  The mini bus dropped us off a couple kilometers from our campsite, so we hiked in and set up camp. We were a little bored, and things got a little silly.  (Those are my knees.  Really Really, just my knees).  I think I ...

... as well as when we arrived. Also, we rarely pass up an opportunity to improve our skills in the kitchen, and this has been a golden opportunity. Merche has taught us to make gaspacho, tortilla española, albondigas and croquettas. Unfortunately, the last 2 usually require a deep-fryer, (Merche has a countertop model-about the size of a bread maker) but we will experiment when we get back home. We have had such a fabulous time in the kitchen and ...

... and Italy have the worlds best goalies (according to the commentator on the TV), but Spain has lost to Italy for many many years now. Emotions were high. The score was 0-0 as the second half drew to a close, and Jose arrived home from Granada. As they went in to the first then the second overtime, Jose and Paco became more and more animated. Still neither team scored, and they went into the five penalty kicks. Well apparently Spain and Italy have ...

... Mercedes and Paco. Apparently they have a big house and usually host up to six students at any given time. Hoping Mercedes and Paco might let us stay with them for a few weeks, we wrote them a letter back in February. Unfortunately, we never heard back from them. Shortly after that, we also got word that the school in Ubeda had closed, so we had no other way of getting in touch. It was a little dis-heartening. We knew that ...

... the Midwest and we are the ONLY people from NY, so basically we got the party started every night. We found these little bars in the middle of the "pueblo" where we were like the only people in them. So the bartenders would always put on the kind of music we wanted and stuff. I got everyone in a huge circle and got that cheerleading game started where one person goes in the middle and does a dance move and then the ...

... with learning English is that although most of them started in primary school, they have never had to speak in English or practice it orally at all. That's where I come in. The kids have to practice speaking with me because even the English teachers don't speak very well in English because they never had to speak in school. All the exams for passing English in elementary education are written, and as far as I have heard, it is much the same ...

... through. So it was stifling hot and the lights kept flashing as well as the sound of people talking as they walked throught he lobby came straight up and into our room. This went on for a long time - even after I had gone to bed at midnight. Poor Joan. June 22 - Alhambra I had been advised previously to book my tickets for this sight beforehand, so I had bought my ticket online and was due at the Alhambra at 5pm. I had chosen this time in the hope that it would be somewhat cooler than ...

Leaving Edinburgh after some sad farewells, the next sector of my journey was underway... A miraculous 20 minute connection in Frankfurt (love your work Lufthansa) saw me arriving in Casablanca at around 1 am, stumbling into a grand taxi, which contrary to its name had nothing grand about it - a 20 year old beat up Mercedes, and hanging on for dear life as the taxi driver did 150 km/h down the highway with no sign of a seatbelt... The next ...