After getting up at 8 and packing almost all my things together I found out over breakfast that the hotel I had planned to stay at in Bubión was closed in February. That sucked, but luckily I was welcome to stay at Ruud's for another night. He and Siv had wanted to go to Pampaneira by car and see the chocolate factories there, but his knee was giving him troubles, so he wouldn't drive. So it happened that Siv joined me on this hike, which I did without my backpack, because we would hitchhike back in the afternoon.
First we went uphill into the woods, into "Beneficio", where the hippies live. Ruud was right when he said that they wouldn't be a awake yet when we'd pass by, but we did see some of the temporary and more long-term housings, as well as the "great tipi", which is obligatory for any hippie gathering as it seems.
After passing the last house with a friendly Spanish guy in it, we started walking uphill. Somehow we managed to loose the path and ended up in the middle of a rocky hill, but trusting my gps we just went straight ahead and hit the path again.
Entering the first village we stopped to feast on the fruits of a cactus, which had tiny spikes on them, but Siv found a way of peeling them more or less without getting stung too much. They had lots of seeds in it, but I loved the consistency and taste so much that picked some more later on to have them for breakfast.
As we walked through Cañar I noticed that Siv was without the walking sticks she had borrowed from Ruud. She had probably forgotten them by the cactus, so she hurried back while I used the opportunity for a cafe con leche and a chat with the bartender.
The next section led us down to a river and then up again on the other side, beautiful walking and scenery, only sometimes tainted by some annoying thorny bushes. This waterfall made me very happy as it had two rainbows in it.
These caterpillars I've seen many times already, but usually dead and run over by cars, because they seem to like streets for some reason. These were happy and alive though, holding onto each other as they crossed our path.
We reached Soportújar at around 1, which was later than I had expected. The village was full of pictures and figures of witches, because, as we should find out later, there was a cave outside of the village, in which witches supposedly used to meet and hold their rituals.
Parallel to a street but far enough from it to feel free we continued climbing uphill towards Pampaneira. Got lost several times for some reason, but always found our way back.
All day I was wondering about the strange foggy air that you can see on the next picture. It was white, but always seemed to stay in the distance and was kind of intangible. I decided it couldn't be fog, because we would feel the dampness for sure, and guessed it was a sandy wind from the Sahara. (This turned out to be the case in the end, but it's still strange that it is white, not yellowish like I know it, and that one wouldn't feel it but only see it in the distance.)
On the final meters we were totally worn out and hungry too. I'm surprised that we got along so well also on this last part, because I get really grumpy when I'm hungry.
We found ourselves a bar with shady seats outside, because Siv had enough of the sun for a moment, and had a great plate of potatos with eggs served with our drinks. Afterwards we went to see not only one but two chocolate factories, where I got so full from all the free samples that I almost couldn't make the chocolate cake we ate later.
As we wanted to have pizza for dinner and needed some vegetables for it, we followed a sign saying "supermercado", but only found a delicacy shop we had passed before. Outside sat a cute guy with a huge dog, enjoying a beer in the sun. I asked him if he was from here and if he knew a supermarket that was still open (it was Sunday), or another place to buy vegetables (YES in Spanish!! :D). He said he doesn't know for sure and I should ask the girl inside the shop. Said girl told me there's nothing open anymore, but in the end Siv found a basket of tomatos in a corner of the shop and so we just bought two of them. In the mean time the cute guy, which I will call Juan in the following, bought some ham, bread, and a bottle of wine and ventured away with his dog...
There was a bus back to Órgiva at 5, but as Siv had never hitchhiked before I felt the duty of demonstrating its beauty. (Looking back, I think that worked out quite well.)
So back we went to the street leading downhill towards Órgiva and stood and waited. Surprisingly many cars with surprisingly many people inside passed us and I was already feeling nervous that this would end as a frustrating experience. Then Juan came around the curve and became slower with a wide grin, dog on the backseats. We hopped in and I said something like he could've told us before that he was leaving soon, but apparently his English wasn't good enough to understand and my Spanish wasn't good enough to explain. Our conversation was also a bit limited by Nanouk, the dog, who always wanted to know what was happening in the front. All "sientate"s were in vain, and I loved it.
We talked about this and that, including the weather, because that air really bothered me, and about him going to Trevélez with Nanouk for her to see the snow. I was super excited about him, something that is not very usual for me anymore, and I wished to sit in this car forever. But way too soon the ride was over when he had to take a left next to the Ermita de Padre Eterno, some 5km before Órgiva.
As he drove off on the dirt road next to the Ermita, I realized I had just fallen in love, and as we got into the car of an American yoga teacher a few minutes later, Siv realized she had left Ruud's walking sticks in Juan's car. Coicidence? I think not! :D
We spent the evening over a delicious pizza with the fateful tomatos and green beans from the garden on it, and a round of scrabble, which I dominated as if I was playing it every day. Ha.
Siv's and my fantasies (okay, mostly my fantasies) were also going crazy about what Juan might do dor a living (our ideas were: carpenter, graphic designer or professional dog breeder), if he had a girlfriend, and what he was doing with the bottle of wine and the ham. My theory was that he either has one of those bitchy girlfriends he's too good for and therefore brings her wine and ham for no reason, or he recently broke up with someone and treats himself with a solo botellon.
Went to bed fantasizing about him and how I was going to run into him the next day, so unfortunately I didn't fall asleep too easily that night..
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