Today, I went mountain climbing for the first time. It was an interesting experience. What I saw was absolutely amazing, but as I sit here writing this, I'm not 100% sure my legs won't just fall off. I am absolutely exhausted.
Eva, Diana, Aingeru, Aitziber, Alex, Roberto, Aimera, and myself started our journey to the mountain at 9 this morning, and made it to the national park by 10. Then, it was up to the top! First, we trekked through what I not-so-fondly like to call the "Terrible Forest of Mud" which was just like it sounds. It was a steep incline that consisted only of mud and rocks since there had been a lot of rain over Easter and the trees in the forest didn't admit sunshine. It was treacherous and next to impossible to find a safe place to step. I was the first to both end up ankles+ deep in mud and fall, but fortunately (for me) not the only one to do so.
After the Terrible Forest of Mud, we entered a clearing or pasture that had the beginning of some magnificent views. Also, the sun wasn't hidden by trees, so the earth was nice and dry. This clearing took us to a steep slope of rocks for the final ascent to the first peek. The rocks were a bit scary from time to time as they weren't always stable, but we all made it to the top of the first peek! Here, there was a stone archway to walk through, and the views were, of course, spectacular.
Next, we headed down the backside of the mountain a little ways, until we started to head across and up the mountain to go see a cave. Most of this journey was very rocky and quite difficult. I'm not sure which is worse, slick mud or wobbly rocks...call me crazy, but I like the ground under my feet to be stable. However, the cave was cool. We camped out there for a few minutes to have a snack, drink some water, and do some spelunking. There were no bears living in the cave, but there were some drawings on the walls which were obviously the first signs of Basque civilization... but I'm not sure what reindeer type creatures had to do with the Basques.
Next, we had to do some more climbing down, and up and around the mountain. We encountered all sorts of crazy things like a hole that literally seemed infinite and a tiny stone house that was actually in a state of livability. Apparently, there are tiny houses of all sorts scattered around the mountains for people to stay in case they get lost and have to spend the night on the mountain. Good to know.
Eventually we came over a ridge that opened up into a grassy valley between two peaks. We went down into this valley and found another little house, this one with some tables outside, so we sat down for a lunch of bokatas (sandwiches made with a loaf of french bread. Eva and I bought some delicious cured meat and cheddar ("Canadian") cheese for our bokatas the night before after having a drink with Leire in Algorta). During lunch, there were all sorts of horses and sheep kicking around in the valley and all the horses had cowbells around their necks. So, all you could hear all throughout lunch was cowbells, and all I could think about was "I gotta have more cowbell!" Unfortunately, my Spanish-speaking friends have never watched the American-version of SNL. They, of course, have their own Spanish SNL.
After lunch, we started heading back to the vehicles. It was quite a hike, but it was the easiest part. Here is where we saw the most beautiful views in my opinion (see pictures in the slideshow of the can-can and what not). Also, here is where you could view the mountain that is said to look like 'Mari' the dominant women in Basque mythology and was supposedly the goddess of the Basques. See the picture below (sorry for mispelling mythology in the photo edit).
All and all, a very interesting and cool experience. I'm glad that I can now say that I have climbed a mountain in the Basque country. But... I think it would be very difficult to persuade me to do it all over again.
Hasta la proximá vez,
Kathlene
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