Pic Post: Weeks 3 & 4 in the Cave

With a lot of moving around lately, I haven’t been great about updating the blog. The last 2 weeks in the cave were a weird mix of being way better and way worse than the first 2. In some ways, I got really comfortable with living in a cave and in many ways, I just got really annoyed. Anyways, I am now in Italy with my new Workaway hosts and I am much happier here.

Week 3
The week was pretty fun. Admittedly, after having so much fun in Granada it was pretty difficult to come back to boring-ville aka Huescar. I worked on some super random stuff including one fun project which involved finding whatever stuff I could around Hannah’s house, painting that stuff, and then hanging it on her cave wall. The weekend was fun, Hannah’s builder friend Raymond encouraged us all to go to Castril (a nearby town) which we gladly said yes to. Hannah went too, cause she only does anything fun when other people make the plans.

Raymond taught me how to hang things on a cave wall using his crazy tools.

Those “things” I found around Hannah’s cave, before I painted or hung them.

Here’s how it turned out! She’s going to fill them with photos and things later. I had limited resources yet again but was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Yes, more dogs. Raymond, invited us over and this is one of his beautiful dogs named Snowy.

Raymond’s kitchen. His cave is the bomb.

Upstairs of Raymond’s cave

My favorite part of Raymond’s cave. K enough of Raymond’s cave.

The path we walked along in Castril

On the bouncy bridge on the walk

Raymond had to carry Snowy across the bridge because she was scared

Me, Wiebke and Judith during our walk

After our walk and a drink, we went to visit Raymond’s friends who live near Castril. Their house was not a cave but was very cool and historic. We drank coffee by the fire and played with even more dogs.

Heaven.

We basically hadn’t eaten all day so by the time we got to the Medieval Market in Castril, we were famished. Needless to say, we made this guy’s day by basically buying 1 of everything he had.

It was a beautiful day in Castril

The market was a lot smaller than I expected. This was one of the main attractions- a swing ride for kids that was powered by a seemingly very unhappy grown man on a bike.

I could not get over the sky and the landscape in Castril. It looked like a painting!

When we got back, the sunset in Huescar wasn’t so bad either.

Week 4
For my final week, we had a new visitor. Bruno, from Argentina, was set to stay for 1 week. I thought with all of the negative shit the girls and I said about the cave, he might turn around the same day he arrived. But he did not and I am very glad! Bruno was a great positive energy to have in the house when all the girls and I could think about was getting the F out.

I don’t even remember what we did in those final days but I know we ate a lot of desserts and went out to eat more than normal. At one point we also drank some mysterious alcohol we found in the cave.

I left the cave a day earlier than planned so that I could stay in Granada for 1 more night and see the Alhambra.

OH! I taught the Germans and Argentinean man how to brunch. Obviously with everything unhealthy including MY-mosas. I bought 2 bottles of champagne and Wiebke actually asked me if I was “seriously buying that much?!” I laughed in her face and sneakily put the 3rd bottle I had intended to buy back on the shelf.

We brunched hard. I even took the classic post-brunch nap after.

And then Bruno introduced us to MUG CAKES. Aka “let’s throw everything sweet into a mug and stick it into the microwave.” My mom and dad sent me a care package with Dove chocolates, peanut butter, and Thin Mints so these ingredients were rightly incorporated.

I went on a lot of guilt runs since we were wasting our days away eating sweets.

Pretty sunset one night

Coloring to occupy my time

My last project in the cave was staining the stairs that Raymond built. This was a fun, day-long project and I thought they looked really nice. You can also see my mural in the background.

Bye cave, see ya never. Hello again Granada!

The Alhambra should have the tagline “come watch people obsessively use selfie sticks to take pictures of themselves in front of some of the most detailed and beautiful architecture in the world,” I literally had to dodge selfie sticks everywhere I went, it was pretty pathetic.

The cats of the Alhambra

Selfie of me scowling at other people taking selfies

I could post many more pictures of the beauty of the Alhambra but they don’t do it justice. Also, I tried not to take obsessive amounts of pictures. The fact that everyone around me seemed so focused on documenting their entire walk through the Alhambra made me reevaluate and really appreciate the beauty in the moment. So thanks everyone that nearly decapitated me with their selfie sticks because I enjoyed myself more cause of you.

I forgot that one of the scariest parts of traveling alone for me is ordering food when I don’t speak the language. I therefore challenged myself to go order gelato. After passing 2 or 3 places I finally got up the courage and got myself some Oreo gelato.

I had an over-sized dinner that night and talked to some English strangers who sat next to me. It was a nice night and I got to sit outside, and then I had a warm night sleep in my cute little hostel. I am so glad I made it to Granada for one more night before leaving Spain. I love Granada!

In a few days I will do another update explaining how much greater the place I am staying is compared to the cave. But for now, arrivederci!