Planting Trees in Cañamero

Every year, high school students from Herrera del Duque participate in a service trip through ADENEX - Asociación para la Defensa de la Naturaleza y los Recursos de Extremadura (Association for the Defense of Natural Resources in Extremadura). I had the priveledge of participating during the first week in February. The project involves planting trees in the town of Cañamero which also happens to be the same place in the province of Cáceres where the "Algo Asi" restaurant is located.

A dry and extremely hot area in the summer, Extremadura is a very dangerous place for forrest fires. Cañamero is one of several towns that has been affected by forrest fires in recent years. Particularly during the summer of 2003, when the amount of forrest fires in the region was completely devastating. 

The ADENEX organization runs several environmental programs and the one that we helped with is called "Plantabosques." Literally, "plant a forrest." Since 2004, the Plantabosques program has taken volunteers out to affected areas to plant trees every weekend from February to April.

Here are a few pictures I took of the beautiful area surrounding Cañamero:

Although a large portion of the weekend's volunteers were high school students, workers of all shapes and sizes are welcome. Volunteers include, families, church groups, businesses and even children:

The program provided us with food and housing for the weekend. As you can imagine, sharing a hostel with 30 fifteen-year-olds can get a little hectic...

I like to call him Justin Beiber (which of course he hates):

Group picture in the hostel, please don't try to find me in this one:

Both Saturday and Sunday we woke up at 8:00, were hauled out to as far as the buses could take us, and then walked four miles to our designated planting area. Given the gorgeous weather and scenery, it wasn't much of a chore but I'm sure some of the students would say otherwise.

One of the English teachers, Isabel, is the person who organizes this entire feat. I have to admire her patience and dedication to this program! Here she is workin hard:

More tree planting:

And to wrap it up, a final group photo taken during our last day. What a fun weekend!

Holiday Season Festivities in my Village

As most of my entries have focused around where I go on my travels, I figured I'd finally write one about the actual town I live in, Herrera Del Duque. Although I teach at both the high school and the elementary school, most of my social life stems from my co-workers at the high school. I was so lucky to be placed in a town with such an inviting group of people who always seem to put "having fun" at the top of their list!

Like any workplace in the United States, the high school had its annual Christmas celebration for staff. Theirs consisted of a meal at a nice restaurant in town, and like most company Christmas parties, everyone dressed up. It started at 3:00 pm on a Thursday, their lunch time. School gets out at 2:30. This meant everyone had half an hour to run home, freshen up, change and meet at the restaurant. (This wasn't quite as difficult as you might think considering everything in my town is in walking distance - and not all the teachers work up until the last period at school).

Here's a picture of where we ate, notice the bread on the table - an absolute must for every meal:

After we put a good dent in our delicious food it was time to unveil the recipients of the secret santa gifts. Here, they call secret santa "amigo invisiblie" - invisible friend (if you couldn't figure that one out on your own). I personally feel that anyone reading this will appreciate my friend Carlos' gift the most.

Here he is, take a guess at whats in that bag:

This might give you a better idea:

Yes folks, that is a leg of ham. If I haven't mentioned it before, ham is one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of Spain, particularly serrano ham. Serrano ham is a delicacy here. It's basically really thinly sliced, cured, salty ham that comes from the tender meat on the leg. Don't tell any Spanish people if you don't like it, they just won't understand.

In addition to serrano ham, Spainiards eat everything pork. Many argue that the pigs on the Iberian Peninsula are the best, and they might be right. Personally, I'd compare their pig meat to our cow meat. Sorry Spainiards, but you just cannot get a good hamburger or steak here. Furthermore, burgers and the various types of steak are just not as popular here as they are in the U.S. In fact, order a burger at a bar and I guarantee you will get something that consists of at least 80% pig meat.

OK I think I'm done with my pig tangent now. In addition to serrano ham we also ate cod, croquettes, some type of fried potatoes (it wasn't french fries or chips), salad (dressing made from white wine vinegar and olive oil), smoked salmon, chicken and fried shrimp. Most of that food was cooked in Spanish olive oil and when you add in the local wine, you have a very typical Spanish meal. I'm still trying to solve the mystery as to why the people here are not fat.

Here's a picture of some of us during the meal. You can see my new roommate Cristina, directly to my left:

The secret santa gift-giving consisted of a lot of cheering and excitement, and it got everyone just riled up enough to start singing songs. Obviously, you probably couldn't just walk into any old restaurant in Spain and see a large group of people singing in celebration, but I will say that most Spainiards I've met are completely open to the idea of celebrations.

In-between songs, somebody decided to pass around blow up Nemo toys. These kept us occupied for a little while:

At some point I went to the bathroom and upon my return the whole group started singing the American National Anthem as a joke. They put their hands on their hearts and everything. Since they were only imitating what they've heard on our T.V. programs it sounded something like, "ohhhh wayyy can juu wiiiiiiiii." Hilarious.

My co-workers told me that because it was the Christmas party, everyone would dress up and everyone would stay out late to celebrate. I'd probably say that normally I spend Thursday evenings with the "under 35 and single crowd" but this night was different, a celebration for all of the staff.

Here we are at our first stop, after the meal:

By the time 10:30 rolled around (dinner time here) I was still full, but skipping meals is not an option in Spain. We plopped down at another one of our favorite spots to eat:

The rest of the night was a blast. As it turns out, I'm glad my flight home for Christmas didn't leave earlier. This night in particular marked one of my favorite Spanish cultural experiences thus far.

The following Saturday I had another opportunity to experience something unique here in Extremadura. As a continuation of Christmas festivities we had a lunch planned in the neighboring town of Cañamero. Since it was about an hour drive we rented a bus to haul all of us to and from the restaurant.

Here I am on the bus with my Portuguese friend, Tiago (he got stationed in my village working for Nestle - and hangs out with the teachers often).

So why did we decide to haul all the way out to this restaurant? First of all, the name of the restaurant "Algo Así" literally means "something like that." It's also a phrase often used to describe something unique. And unique it was!

The restaurant is located in the middle of the country, off of a dirt road. It was opened by a Swiss couple, Frank y Susanna Sinzig who decided a few years ago to fulfill their dream of opening a restaurant in the countryside of Spain. What makes the food extra special is that all of it comes from the country surrounding the restaurant. This couple grows their own fruit and vegetables and even slaughters their own meat!


Picture of the entrance:

Here you can see my friend Ismael and I holding the wine that the couple produced on their land:

The food was delicious and was described as "international fare." It surely was different from the typical Spanish food I eat in restaurants on a weekly basis. Additionally, the menu is always chef's choice (not a bad thing, I promise). From fresh squeezed fruit juice and a distinctive environment, to wonderfully seasoned pork and bread that actually wasn't crunchy,  Algo Así offered a truely unique dining experience. It definitely has my vote to be featured on the food network!

This picture gives a good perspective of what the inside looked like:

Here, my friend Vanessa and her boyfriend toasting with the after meal liquor. Speaking of liquor, everyone here drinks a little bit of it after a large meal. Apparently it helps with digestion. Why don't we do this?

If you're an "off the beaten path" type of traveler and you find yourself in Extremadura, I definitely recommend hitting up this inimitable restaurant for a rare and wonderful experience!

That about wraps up my Christmas festivities entry. In the days following, I flew back to the U.S. for some quality time with family and friends. It was a strange feeling to leave here and come back but I'm definitely looking forward to a fun and exciting second half! 

December Puente in Italy

So what the heck is a puente anyway? Most holidays in Spain fall on a fixed date rather than a day, so if that date is a Saturday or a Sunday, you lose out. On the other hand, if the holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, it's really not worth going to work on the Monday or Friday, so you have a "puente". For example, this year Día de Andalucía is a Tuesday. Therefore, Monday is a puente and everyone has two days off. (Literal translation: "puente" = "bridge".) In my case there were two holidays back to back, with one day in between: Constitution Day on December 6 and the Immaculate Conseption on December 8, so what´s the point of working on December 7? - a puente is in order.

I decided to travel to Italy during my time off with a group of three other people in my program who teach in the small town of Zafara: Kristen Rooney, Katharine Foote and McCallum Foote (siblings). Our itinerary (yes we literally had one thanks to Katharine) included Rome and Florence and just about every monument, statue or piece of art you could see in either place. It was an enlightening and exhausting trip to say the least.

Although transportation is always an issue out of Extremadura, we were lucky to have chosen a flight that flew out of Lisbon, Portugal rather than somewhere in Spain. The Spanish air traffic controllers went on strike the day we were scheduled to leave. My teachers say this is ''una verguenza'' - an embarassment.

Upon our arrival in Florence we headed to the most famous Cathedral in the city:  The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Begun in 1296 in the Gothic style, the Basilica was completed structurally in 1436. The materials used and design of the Cathedral Complex are nothing short of impressive.

The dome remains the largest brick dome ever built and we had the priviledge of working off our pizza lunch by climbing to the top. Below you can see Katharine, Kristen and McCallum beginning the long and narrow haul up the stairs.

View from the highest point (indoors) in the dome:

Part of the painting on the dome ceiling:

And the gorgeous view of Florence from the top

Speaking of great views, my friend Maggie who studied abroad in Florence a few years ago recommended that we go to Piazza Michelangelo. It was another long haul but well worth it as it gave us an entirely different perspective than the one on top of the dome. Additionaly, the piazza is home to a bronze replica of the statue of David (the original is in a museum within the city).

After seeing the piazza we made a visit to the famous  Ponte Vecchio - Bridge of Gold. As you can see, the bridge is not made of gold. Instead, the shops on the bridge are made up of goldsmiths. It´s the place to go to find jewlery and if you´re lucky, you may witness a proposal.

Kristen and I, sitting on the bridge:

Aside from hitting up the main tourist destinations, we walked around the city and its many piazzas, bartered at the local markets and checked out the leather industry. 

A few more pictures around Florence:

Our next destination: Rome. And if it seems like we saw a lot in Florence, it´s nothing compared to everything we saw in Roma. I´ll try to just mention the main things.

First, the colosseum in Rome. The largest ever built in the Roman Empire, it´s considered one of the greatest works of Roman architechture and Roman engineering. If you do go to see it, I´d recommend paying a little extra for a tour guide as we did. Not only do you get to find out exactaly what you´re looking at, you also get to skip the gigantic line to get in.

Our tour included the Roman Forum, which is directly west of the coliseum and extends from the foot of the Capitoline Hill to that of the Velian Hill. Our tour guide told us to imagine walking on the same ground that Julius Caesar did years and years ago. Besides the fact that all of these things made me want to go home and watch Gladiator again, it is really amazing that some of it is still standing.

Looking down at the Roman Forum:

What´s left of Julius Caesar´s grave:

Another sight to see in Rome is the Spanish Steps. The monumental stairway of 138 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, today still located in Palazzo Monaldeschi. It is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.

Found this photo online, you can actually see what the steps look like since there aren´t a million people on them here:

A picture from the top, overlooking the constant crowd of people. Down that street is naturally where I do my shopping: Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Channel, you know - the usual.



After hanging out on the Spanish Steps we went to what was probably my favorite thing in Rome - The Trevi Fountain. The Trevi fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. It brings water all the way from the Salone Springs (approx 20km from Rome) and supplies the fountains in the historic center of Rome with water. My picture doesn´t do it justice.

In addition to the steps we also go to see the Pantheon. The word pantheon comes from a Greek adjective meaning "to every god". It is a building commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD.

The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a covered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

Last but not least, we toured Vatican City and the Vatican Museum. I saw countless paintings and sculptures, some of which were vaguely familiar to me as I grew up seeing them in history books. Noteably, the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo´s famous fresco painting, The Last Judgement on the ceiling and St. Peter´s Basilica.

Inside the museum:

In Vatican City, you can see the dome of St. Peter´s Basilica in the first one:

Aside from the drama of getting back home to Spain, that about concludes my Italy trip. I´m sure whoever stuck through this entire blog entry is sick of reading it by now. I´ll keep everyone updated on my next adventure!!!