Day 11 & 12 El Chorro to Antequera to Ventas de Zaffaraya

15.02.2016 21:00

In spite of the growing wind and the annoying lights coming from the Olive Tree's terrace I had fallen asleep quite quickly the day before yesterday. Around 4:30am I woke up randomly as usual, but  it wasn't so easy to fall asleep anymore because the wind was really strong and loud now. Suddenly I heard a terrible sound, as if one if my bones had just broken - in fact if was one of the two poles of my tent. I was lying there in shock for a moment. It really was broken. The right side of my tent was hanging down and the upper part of it was shaking with the wind. Oh god.

I went outside and, in my shock, tried to fix the pole with gaffatape. That obviously didn't work, and neither did it after I tied some more tape around a stick together with the pole. Oh god.

There was nothing I could do but take my sleeping bag and go inside, where I found two other people already sleeping on the couches in the common room. I apparently was so terrified that I managed to fall asleep lying on my back, which usually is impossible.

The next morning the tent was still broken. I was SO frustrated. It was still raining but the wind had almost disappeared when I brought all my things inside to save it from further damage. For some time I just left the goddamn tent outside in the rain because I was mad at it, but in the end I packed everything together while it was still raining. The rainbow couldn't really make up for the fact that it stopped raining completely and the sun came out about ten minutes after I finished packing the tent.

I was still in shock and hung around for quite a while. There was lots of free food in the campers' kitchen so I treated myself with some oatmeal for breakfast while I wrote some frustrated sentences in my diary. Then I decided I should probably just move on to Antequera, which was the next big town around. Maybe I would be as lucky as I had been with my gas canister and find just the right piece to repair my tent there.

Because I was told there would be a heavy storm coming in the afternoon, I didn't walk the actual GR7 route but walked along the road to Antequera for about an hour. Then a car with a family inside stopped for me, the woman who sat in the codriver's seat moved to the back, squeezed between her two sons and let me sit in the front as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The teenagers spoke a bit of English but I again managed to have a decent conversation in Spanish. 

They actually drove all the way to Antequera, which was more than I had hoped for, because there was another town in between, and they even passed by the square in which my hotel was. So it was only around 1:30pm when I got there, but luckily the room was already ready. I took a long shower and also cleaned the tent in the bathtub, which was less of a mess than expected. Thanks to my creativity with the fan I managed to hang up both parts to dry and then went outside to see the town.

Most unfortunately it was Sunday though, and in the town of churches literally everything was closed. The weather wasn't too friendly either, so the streets were empty too. My search for a nice little cafe like they usually sit in every other corner was unsuccessful because they were walk either closed or shut down, so I just got a coke in an Asian mini shop. I really liked Antequera though and imagined it a great place to be when there are people around.

EDIT from 10.04.2016: For some reason, my description of Day 12 seems to have been completely lost. The hike from Antequera towards Ventas de Zaffaraya was one of the most emotional and demanding days of all. I don't think it makes sense to recap my experiences almost two months later, so I'll just repost the pictures and let your fantasy do the rest.

Confusing but obligatory map: started in Antequera on the left side of the picture and hiked until Villanueva de Cauche, which is the bunch of red dots next to the two crossing highways. Then hitchhiked to Alfarnate, from there to the single dot north of Alfarnate, and finally into Ventas the Zaffaraya.