Monday, September 17, 2012

Sol y Mar and Cíes Island


On Saturday the family and I woke up early and went to the beach. Sofia was at a friend’s house for the weekend but that was a nice time for me to get to know Mateo a little more ( Mateo’s birthday is coming up so I need to find him a present!). Carmen and I walked along the shore line for quite some time looking and collecting shells. She told me the different names in Spanish but there was so many I could not retain all the new vocab. After sunbathing, we went to a friend’s house (the kid’s friend Andrea’s) up in the hills. They own a beautiful house that also has a pool. So we spent a lot of time in the water that day.

At around 6 in the evening I was dropped off at Amy King’s house. She lives in the country side where the houses are surrounded by orchards. It was nice to be able to talk to an English speaker. We went in her pool (more water), had some wonderful fresh fruit, and then picked her sister up from the train station. Amy’s padres then brought us all to Sol y Mar which is at the farthest part of the peninsula they live on. We watched the sun set and learned about the geography of western Galicia. Then Amy and her family took me home but we ran into some heavy traffic. So we listened to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song and talked about school. So all in all I had a wonderful day sunbathing and talking in English!

On Sunday we got up and out of the house at 11ish to catch a boat ride to the Cíes Island. According to many travel agencies, the island has some of the nicest beaches in the world. I was very excited to go. The whole family hopped on a boat and not even 10 minutes after departure we ran into about 50 dolphins! There were a lot of babies following their mothers who were chasing after the boat. That was a wonderful way to start the trip. After we arrived on the island we met up with Andrea’s family and while the children stayed with them, Carmen and I hiked up to the highest lighthouse.

The hike took about 4 hours to and from with all the picture taking. At the top there was a magnificent view of water on all sides with the Mar de Vigo off in the cloudy distance. Carmen and I had empanadas and some nut bread that was very tasty on the top of the mountain. I loved that we were able to talk up there alone and I felt that we had one of our first “mother daughter moments”. We then started our journey back down the hill and back to the beach. On the way down we took a few pictures of “The Bell Rock”. When the wind blows through it makes the sound of a bell! Then Carmen and I met up with the kids and we went to the other side of the island called the prince’s thrown.  It too had a beautiful view from the top. The whole family snacked again then we were heading down to the beach on the north side of the island. We were quite close to the beach when Carmen read the map and it said that it was a nudist beach and she didn’t want the kids seeing “anything”. That was a funny moment for the whole family.

 By that time it was about 18:30 and the boat would be arriving soon so to stay close to the dock we went into a little nearby and bought ice cream. We took pictures with seagulls and had a wonderful time. When it was time to get on the boat we were all tired. The boat ride was a little chilly compared to the Floridian boat rides I’m used to.

When we got home mi madre made us some alphabet soup and we were all off to bed early. I have school tomorrow so wish me luck! Today was the best day that I have had since I’ve gotten here. Can’t wait for more adventures!

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