Asturias

I'm a little behind in recording my travels, and I've noticed that each time I do sit down to write it's pretty late and my writing includes a few misspellings and punchy remarks.  So I apologize for this now, at 1:15 AM...as it seems my patterns aren't going to change for a while. 

After two days and nights in Cantabria, we awoke in our rustic posada in Carmona to another gloomy morning and stuffed our luggage into the Garcia Ruiz's compact van.  Back on the winding mountain roads, we stopped along a gorgeous river bank where smooth white rocks arched over the water that one minute was shallow enough to walk through, and the next minute deep enough to dive into.  Our next stop was in the city of Cangas de Onís, a small city famous for its Roman bridge that rises to a point at which below hangs a large decorated cross.  We then enjoyed a traditional lunch in a nearby restaurant....actually I don´t think I can honestly say enjoyed.  It certainly was a wonderful meal of traditional Asturian style, but this also is what killed me for the rest of the day.  Spanish food in general is much richer than the food I am used to, but then Asturian food is also much heartier to accommodate as they are mostly mountain farmers and herders.  Needless to say, I did my part as a traveler to order the local cuisine, and in the end couldn`t finish either serving, didn´t dare order dessert, and whimpered while holding my bowling ball of a stomach for the rest of the day.  I´m learning slowly that I can still enjoy new food in much smaller portions thank I think I can. 

From here, and with my full belly, we traveled back into the mountains to visit the Basilica de Covadonga, a famous basilica on a cliff top next to a taller cliff in which was built a shrine to the Virgen of Covadonga, carved into the cliffside and visited by hundereds of tourists every day.  Once admiring the architecture of both sites, Pablo and Pilar decided, even with the dreary weather, that we would go on a bus ride up the mountain to see two famous mountain lakes.  Unfortunately, the rain got worse the higher we went, as would be expected, and so our walk to the lake ended being a short walk to a nearby museum displaying the history of the mountain range, Picos de Europa.  It also led to me getting a cold (did I mention we were all wearing shorts?), which only added to some bad allergies I seemed to have acquired only moments after arriving in Spain.  What fun! But it has all been bearable, and thank goodness for long car rides to recuperate,  and a plethora of Kleenex packages.  : )

Thankfully our "fun" in the rain came to an end as the afternoon cleared up and we found ourselves at our new posada, Casa Mario, which was absolutely beautiful.  A symbol of these northern provinces is the "hórreo," which is a storage house for harvested food built on columns so you can walk underneath it and animals can´t get inside it.  The small terrace and entrance to our posada was built around one of these hórreos, and then our living quarters were tucked in behind. That night we ate at a nearby tavern where we met an Australian couple staying in our posada.  It turned out they were on a world tour and so were not at all fluent in Spanish, so we had a wonderful time communicating and translating with them and the "cheeky" (according to the Aussies) waitress. 

Only a little more, I promise!  Our following morning involved a quaint country breakfast in our posada with freshly squeezed orange juice, local honey, and freshly picked fruit. After taking it all in one last time, we were off again, stopping soon to get out and explore the Asturian forests, looking for bears, "osos," but only finding slugs "barbaros." Then, finally, it was time to really hit the road and head towards Galicia, our final destination for the next 12 days!  We actually arrived in La Coruña that same evening, but I will write more about this city in a few days.  Now it is almost 2AM here, and my stomach needs to get ready for tomorrows adventures, as do I. 

¡Nos vemos!