Dear snake

This happened about two weeks ago, when we were driving back home from Córdoba. Most of you will find it uninteresting, but I feel it was something important to me...

Like every other time we have done that journey, we stopped to have our picnic lunch on a wooded spot just off the divided highway to Madrid.
This place is close to Venta de Cárdenas train station (province of Jaén), in the vicinity of Despeñaperros Natural Park. I like that location because it's very quiet there, and you can always find a good shade for the car. The rail tracks are just a few metres away (although you have to climb a quite steep slope in order to get there), so every time I visit the place I take the chance to leave a couple of coins on the track, with the hope of finding them on a future visit, flattened by a train's wheels. So far I have found most of them; they're good for nothing but I find it thrilling :) The thing is, I will no longer be able to do it, as on this occasion I found, to my utter dismay, that a fence had been erected to prevent wild animals (and me) from getting to the tracks. But I didn't want to go without having a final look, so I inspected the area in search of a hole or something. Climbing was out of the question (I'm too fat for the fence, poor thing), but I found a place where the ground was uneven and there was enough space under the fence for me to cross. So I lay on my back and crawled under the fence. Ouch! Suddenly I noticed that there were brambles all over the place. Finally I managed to get in and climbed to the top. The effort had been worth it, as I had found one coin. When I was about to descend, it happened. There it was, staring at me in a fierce way, less than one meter away from me. It was a snake, the biggest I had ever seen (I could say it measured about one meter long, and its diameter at the thickest part seemed to be about 5 centimeters), with two dark stripes running along its light brown back. To me, the most surprising thing was the fact that it didn't seem to have the slightest intention of slithering away, as any other snake I had come across to date had done. It was challenging me, but I didn't feel like responding to the challenge. After all, I didn't know whether it was a venomous snake or a harmless one, so I opted for the safest option: running away. Before doing so, I talked to the creature in a sweet and soothing voice, in an effort to calm the snake —it looked stressed :)— and make it remain where it was. Luckily the jolly fellow agreed to my requests and didn't try to hunt me down, so I retreated slowly and made for the fence. It had been exhilarating!! I was excited and thrilled; it had been my first "dangerous" encounter with a wild animal, and it felt so good! In fact, later I found out that the animal that had challenged me was an adult Ladder Snake (Rhinechis scalaris). They can bite you, but they're not venomous... Thank God it hadn't bitten me: I would have gone mad!

Together with exhilaration, I felt deep inside me a close connection with nature; suddenly I realized that I was forgetting the place where I come from, a small village in the countryside, not in the middle of the woods but teeming with wildlife such as birds and small animals. It had been quite a while since I had last had a close look at a living wild thing; life in the city no longer allows me to do that as often as I would like. I hope this situation will change in the future...

To make our day perfect, when we were about to depart, a couple of jays came very close to the car. Most probably it was a mother and her offspring, as the latter seemed to harass the former in a demanding way, cawing as it flew about. I love these colourful birds! Finally we set off. I was feeling utterly happy.

Back from the Canaries

These have been, by far, our laziest holidays. All we have done is, as promised, swim in the hotel pool and sunbathe. The hotel was in the area known as "Playa del Inglés", which includes not only the beach but also the seaside town that has sprouted at its side. I think they called it like that because of the many British tourists that mill around.

We went to the beach on just one occasion, making use of the free bus we had at our disposal. When we arrived there, it was very hot and uncomfortable, and the sand was especially clingy. We couldn't afford a sunshade and a couple of deck chairs, as I had forgotten to take enough money with me, and there was no chance of using an ATM machine, as there was only one in the vicinity and it wasn't working. And, even if we had had the money, we didn't like it there: there was some kind of net that stretched from the first deck chairs to the last ones, blocking our view of the beach and sea (it had been erected to prevent the sunshades from flying away). So we took a taxi (we were lucky enough: the ride cost exactly what I had on me, 3 euros) and fled back to the hotel pool. In comparison, that was heaven to us...

Well, in fact, we got our share of adventure. One day we went on a four-wheel-drive trip, which proved to be more than we had bargained for. It was called "3x1", as part of the journey took place over asphalt, another part over dirt tracks and finally we would have a camel ride. When they told us about the trip, it sounded good, and not too harsh, so we bought it. I even asked the girl if there would be any problem, as my wife was pregnant; she answered that this kind of trip was a quite comfortable one... The day of the trip we were picked up at the hotel with a Santana Aníbal 4x4; as directed, we had got some protection for our heads (a couple of baseball caps) and applied sunscreen on our skin, as the day promised to be a hot one. And it was; even though it was quite early in the morning, we were baking in the sun as the guides explained the details of the tour. Thank God we finally set off and headed north. First we drove through winding secondary roads; after passing a couple of small villages, the landscape changed and all that could be seen around you was rock. All of a sudden we came across a bar, which was standing there in the middle of nowhere. Time for coffee. The man in the bar used a moka pot, just like the ones people have at home, but it was the best cup of coffee in my holidays so far (I'm afraid I'm not yet used to Canarian coffee; at the bars they use expresso machines like everywhere else, but it tastes very different... Funny, I would say). I find it surprising how such an establishment can thrive in a place like that... well, in fact, I wouldn't say it thrived, but merely survived. The walls surrounding the bar were decorated with paintings which depicted the story of the island; they were perfect for the guides to give us a history lesson on Gran Canaria. We drove on, and then left the road for a dirt track. The tour guide told us, "Now that we're no longer on the road, you can stand up if you like". At the beginning it was OK, but then the nightmare started! (or the fun, if you want).
We got very little of that smooth dirt track we'd been told about; soon after that, the terrain got rougher and rougher, and suddenly the track consisted exclusively of stones, big sharp ones. Of course we could stand up; there was no way we could do the trip sitting on our seats! So we started to bounce in the back of the car as it moved forward; I thought that this wouldn't last long, but I was wrong: we did that for hours! In fact it was real fun, but I didn't feel at ease as I watched how much bouncing my wife and my future child were getting... But it wasn't that bad after all; she ended up exhausted but amused. The landscapes were impressive, as we drove through pine forests and deep ravines... The drivers stopped frequently, in order to tell us interesting things about the place and its history. Around midday we left the dirt tracks and rode on asphalt again. It was bliss! We crossed Fataga and then San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Curiously enough, the seaside towns in the south of the island belong to the municipal district of the latter, even though the town is so far inland. Shortly after leaving San Bartolomé we reached the restaurant where we were to lunch. The food was great (it would have tasted good anyway: we were hungry!). We continued; it didn't take long to get to the place where the camels were (actually, they were dromedaries).
The ride was fun, and much smoother than the one with the 4x4... After that, not much more was left: we drove back to Playa del Inglés through more winding secondary roads, enduring cold weather on the way (it's true: when we were on a high altitude, the clouds surrounded us and it got chilly; of course, we didn't have any warm clothes). We were tired and our legs ached, but on the whole it had been a really enjoyable experience.

Time goes by too quickly when you're on a vacation. We both had got some suntan, and I had put on a couple of kilograms (the food at the buffet was surprisingly good, and I had to try everything; doing otherwise would have been a crime). Much to our dismay, we had to go...

The last good thing about the trip was the flight. We took off in the evening, but there was still plenty of daylight. Soon it grew dark; at dusk, the sun shone a bright red in the horizon, and the clouds looked beautiful and fluffy down below. But the real show was to start when the night fell and we were flying over Peninsular Spain. The clouds were sparse then, and I could see most of the land through the plane window. Then I saw the cities and towns. They shone like Christmas trees, with rows of luminous spots sparkling like diamond necklaces against the black background. I found it impressive; I also realized how much luminous energy is wasted. It was curious to see how close together the towns seemed to be,; they looked like houses, each with its own light and its group of people living inside... I don't know how to express it, but it was a wonderful feeling.

The landing was perfect, and thanks to the pilot we were 15 minutes early (I don't know what the hurry was, but he was proud to tell us he had managed it. I found it funny; after the landing, I really expected him to do a spin with the plane or something).

And that's all. Next year it'll be three of us for the holiday, but maybe the baby will still be too young for travelling. If that's not possible, we can always go to the beach, as we have it so handy... See you!

It's over!

(Originally written on June the 8th)

Well, sort of. On Friday the 3rd we did the last exam of the semester, and the following Saturday was the last day for uploading assignments on the Aula Virtual. But I've had to leave two subjects for later, so I can't go wild yet. Anyway, I feel relieved to a great extent; I'll take the chance to spend a week with my beloved wife in the Canary Islands and a few days at my parents' in Córdoba. I'm really looking forward to it; it's been quite a while since we last went on vacation...

We've chosen the Canary Islands once more, as we wanted to relax and do nothing much apart from lying on the beach (or by the hotel pool), eat at the buffet and laze around: as we are five months pregnant, we must take it easy. Maybe we'll do some sightseeing; we'll decide when we arrive at our destination.

Last year we went to Tenerife and spent a very active week: we rented a car and visited many landmarks and attractive places around the island; just driving around was also highly enjoyable. This time we're going to Gran Canaria so as not to do exactly the same trip. In fact, we're heading there on the plane at this very moment; the plane's in-flight magazine is rubbish, so I've decided to prepare this entry for the blog as a way of killing time... By the way, 2€ for a 33cl still mineral water bottle? That's what I call a daylight robbery!
And they have the cheek to write "Have a snack at Vueling prices" on the menu, making you think that it's going to be cheap... And another thing: who had the wonderful idea of serving such an excellent gin as Bombay Sapphire with such an awful tonic water as Nørdic Mist? I want Schweppes! Urge to kill... rising...

It's a boy!

Finally I know: I'm going to be father to a lovely boy. Great!! And there's not much time left now (well, in fact, we're more or less in the middle now)... someone is going to be the proud bearer of my surname and carry it on to the next generation :) Oh my, isn't it nice? I'm thrilled...

The girl from the future

I saw this advertisement some time ago, and I can't get it out of my mind. It showed a blue-haired girl (no, it wasn't Marge Simpson) who supposedly came from the future, and had brought a revolutionary washing powder with her. Each time I saw the ad, I thought to myself, "hey, hold on a minute. She has come from the future and all she has got to show us is a bloody box of washing powder?" This girl comes from the far future, maybe centuries away from us, from a world with an advanced society where scientists must have found a cure for every known illness, where they must have found solutions to the problems we have today... and she comes here just to show us what the washing powder of the future will look like? She must come from a world where there is no AIDS, no cancer and no Alzheimer, where they have found the secret of eternal youth, where they have a remedy for the ever-increasing hole in the ozone layer, where natural resources are plenty and available to every human being, where they have developed new energy sources; still, she wants to tell us about washing powder. What on earth is she thinking about? Well, maybe in a century or two, washing powder will be as valuable as gold, or even more valuable than that, who knows... But if we ask the woman in the advert (the one that receives the unexpected visit of the blue-haired girl from the future), who is busy trying to remove some stain from her laundry, I'm sure that she would rather get some other piece of information instead: the following week's winning lotto numbers, for instance? Seriously, this really drives me up the wall...

Slave to pastry

Yes, I have to admit it: I'm a slave to pastry. I couldn't think of my life without it; the mere thought of it is unbearable! I would eat my way through a whole box of Donuts ("mmm... donuts", Homer Simpson would most probably say) if I allowed myself to do it, but I feel too much remorse to carry it out. Why is it that all good things are harmful to you in one way or another? Why do they have to make you fat? It's so unfair!! And, in addition to this, if I want to be able to indulge myself in those deliciously sweet and spongy little works of art for the rest of my life, then I have to consume them in moderation. Arrggghhhh!! I want to do a binge!!

The end is nigh

Definitely it's time to panic. The dreaded day is approaching inexorably, and there's no way I can escape from it. Of course, I'm talking about the final exams. They have been there all the time, we knew that some day or other they would finally arrive, and that day is around the corner now.

What to do now? There's still soooo much to do, and so little time left. Usually, I work better on tight deadlines (the more time I have, the less fruitful it is), but I'm not too sure about what will happen this time. I'm so stressed!! I've been too many years safely away from this world (that is, I've devoted my time to working), and I had quite forgotten what it felt like to be a student. Man, isn't it unfair? A student can never really get away from the worries that future tasks and upcoming exams cause. If you're a student, you can never fully enjoy your free time (free time? What's that?).

Worst of all, everyone else who is not a student will think that you are leading a lazy and comfortable life, doing nothing apart from cramming for a exam from time to time. People who work and have never studied (I mean seriously) think that we study just in order to avoid working; that's absolutely false! (well, at least in the majority of cases). Actually, working is the easy solution; I myself have been working for many years, and I can tell you that there's nothing like finishing your working day and not having to worry any more about it until the following day. But if you want to get a good job, then it's essential that you study. After all, that's why I'm taking all this trouble at this stage of my life... But I'm sure it'll be worth the effort; I want my offspring to be proud of his/her daddy :)

Birds

I love birds. I'm a keen birdwatcher, and I find pleasure in listening to birds' songs and watching birds through my binoculars (or much better, with the help of a spotting scope), trying to find out what particular species they belong to. Unfortunately, I no longer have plenty of free time to devote to this hobby, but I still get carried away by a feeling of joy each time I hear a melodious bird song (now is the best time for that) or see some small bird darting through the bushes.Today I've heard for the first time this year the cry of the bee-eater, high up in the sky. For me, it announces the arrival of hot weather; now summer is just around the corner.

These spring days are great! Every day I go to University, I can hear the singing of dozens of birds (the fact that there are hundreds and hundreds of trees there contributes greatly to this): I hear sparrows (of course; they're just everywhere!), white wagtails, serins, goldfinches, greenfinches and the occasional robin or blackbird. There are many magpies as well, and sometimes I hear other birds such as the great tit (no jokes, please); one day I even heard a hoopoe. When I lived in my small village, hoopoes were a common sight, but in Castellón they don't show up too often.

But there's something that worries me. In other countries such as the United Kingdom, there are hundreds of thousands of amateur birdwatchers (the RSPB —Royal Society for the Protection of Birds— alone has over a million members), while in Spain they are far fewer (SEO —Sociedad Española de Ornitología— has only about 11,000 members). But worse than that, is the fact that the new generations don't even know the names of the most common birds; for them, every bird they see must be a sparrow, and some can't even name the sparrow: all those flying little creatures are just "birds". I find this utterly disheartening. How can you make people love birds, if nobody bothers to get to know what they really are, not even a bit? Maybe it's because now I'm living in a city (a small city, by the way); maybe in the small villages of Castellón people can actually differentiate between the main bird species... I hope that's the case. The same thing happens with tree and bush species. Has everyone lost contact with nature or what? Sometimes I feel I should have never left my dear little village...

But there's a problem with small villages: many people know the birds' and plants' names, but unluckily there are many hunters as well. I will never understand what's so fun about killing a living creature just for the sake of it. Well, at least, hunters have a big knowledge of nature, and love it their way. But the problem is, up to date I have yet to meet a hunter who wouldn't enjoy killing an eagle if he knew that nobody was watching and he wouldn't get fined. Usually they abide by the law just for fear of being caught, not because they feel that killing endangered animal species is wrong.

The only good thing I can think of about hunting is that many natural reserves have survived until the present day just because they have been preserved for the practice of hunting; we mustn't forget that many of the first conservationists were hunters who changed their minds and turned to protecting animals instead of killing them. My admiration goes to them; as for all the hunters that mill around our villages today, I wish that every single one of them would experience that change; Mother Nature would be deeply grateful to them.

Now my happiness is complete

I'm going to become a father!!

You can't start to imagine how happy I am. Finally life begins to have a meaning; I'm happily married to the woman I love, I'm studying what I like most (Translation and Interpreting) and now the circle of life is complete (insert The Lion King soundtrack here). A new generation is on the way, and I'm proud to be responsible for it.

In fact, I'm not yet fully aware of the importance of this event; for the moment I'm just happy and proud. Once the child is born and takes a liking to breaking into crying in the small hours of the night, I'm afraid I'll be brought back to reality with a bump :) Hopefully it'll be a quiet baby; I'll keep my fingers crossed...

I just can't wait to hold the baby in my arms! In about a month, we'll know whether we're having a boy or a girl; I'll keep you up to date!

Wine

I've discovered recently that I'm passionate about wine. It's not that I hadn't tried it before, like "hey, this red stuff tastes great! What is it?". I've liked it for quite a long time, but never before had I taken the trouble to do any research into the matter.
I've joined a website (www.verema.com) that is devoted to the world of wine, where I can get lots of information about wine production, wine tasting, wine types, wine conservation... just anything you can think of that is related to wine. What I like most is the site's forum: I can pose any question I have about wine, and there's always someone who is an expert in the matter and is willing to clear up my doubts.
I've learned some basic things like the type of wine glass I should use, the importance of decanting, the perfect serving temperature, where to buy the bottles... you'll learn something new every day. On this website, the members recommend the wines they like, and usually they're not too pricey; I've followed their advice and tried some great wines! Before, I used to buy very cheap wines, which I found just "not bad"; by paying an extra euro or two I'm starting to discover the pleasures of wine drinking... in moderation, of course! :)
Classic cars are my other passion, but, for the time being, I don't own any. The good thing about wine is that, actually, I can afford it. Cheers!

Travelling

Man, how much I like travelling! But the strange thing about me is that the thing I enjoy most about it is the trip itself. I've been to a couple of places already (no, I haven't been to Italy, if you're wondering :) Why is it that they pose that question on every English language workbook?), but I'm afraid they're too few for my liking. Last summer I went to the Canary Islands with my wife, and we enjoyed a lot driving around and across Tenerife, visiting the island's many interesting places. But never have I enjoyed travelling so much as on my honeymoon trip: we did a small tour of Europe by car, but not venturing further than Austria.

"Do you like driving?" goes the BMW TV commercial in Spain. In my case, yes, I do. I don't have a BMW but I enjoy lots driving around with my trusty Seat León. That's why we decided to travel by car. We departed from Castellón and headed straight towards France. It's worth mentioning here that Catalonian highways were the most expensive we found in the whole trip. Some people complain about Switzerland's highway tax, which you have to pay if you intend to enter the country with a vehicle, regardless of the length of your stay. But it entitles you to free use of Swiss highways for the rest of the year, and it costs just about 25 euro. I would sign for that in Spain without hesitating; just going from Castellón to Barcelone costs more than that.

In France we visited an impressive cave called La Grotte des Demoiselles, which I found breathtaking. Never before had I seen anything this enormous and magnificent many metres underground. Highly recommendable. From there we moved on to Lyon, where we strolled through its ancient streets and visited a couple of buildings, one of them the cathedral. I like these buildings, but I think I should include only one of them on each trip, otherwise I'm overwhelmed. On another trip through Castilla y León we visited several of them and ended up a bit tired of them: too much of a good thing :) And anyway, once you've visited Burgos Cathedral the rest of them don't seem half as great... Here come to mind the words of a friend of mine, who calls cathedrals, churches and the like "stones with shapes" :)

Before leaving France we visited another town, Belfort. The main feature of this place was a gigantic stone lion that protruded from the ancient city walls at the very top of the town. It looked impressive, and from there you could enjoy a great view of the whole of Belfort. There's something about stone lions that always attracts my attention; whenever there's one around I have to go and see it (this wasn't an easy task in London: they were everywhere!).

We crossed the border and entered Germany. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland is where I enjoyed the driving most: the landscapes were highly agreeable and sometimes truly arresting, especially in the Black Forest and the Alps. The area known as The Black Forest in Germany is full of woods, vast expanses of green grass (and cows) and lush vegetation. A real pleasure to drive through. The villages were nice and cute, and everything was perfectly clean and lovingly cared of. What the hell do these people give to their plants? They had them bursting with colour! The hotels and guesthouses were covered in geraniums in full bloom, a sight to be remembered. We visited a couple of nice towns, like Konstanz, Füssen and Wassen, as well as the famous castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. The latter reminded me of Cinderella Castle at Disneyland. The view of Neuschwanstein castle from a hanging bridge near by is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Don't miss it if you happen to visit the south of Germany.

Then we crossed into Austria. We didn't visit any town there, but enjoyed lots with the landscapes. This must be a great place for walking! Some day we'll return there and spend a week or two ambling around. The next country was Liechtenstein, if you can call it a country. We visited it just out of curiosity: a place so small and still a country! Well, in fact it's just a "principality", but worth a visit anyway; maybe a bit too modern, though.

And from there on to Switzerland. We visited Zürich, which we hated, and Luzern, which we loved. And guess what we found in Luzern? A stone lion! :) Actually, we had gone to Luzern in search of that lion, about which I had read a lot previously. I adored it. It had been carved in the early 1800s in a sandstone cliff above the city centre, and the setting was just perfect, with a small lake in between. We spent a long while sitting there and gazing at the sculpture, and I found curious, if not amazing, how little time visiting tourists were allowed to appreciate the monument. They came in big groups, the guide told them the story behind the sculpture, and after five or ten minutes they were gone. That's why I prefer to travel on my own!

In Switzerland we got the chance to drive through the Alps, and it was great! We won't easily forget such breathtaking sceneries, with snow-covered mountains, winding roads and meandering rivers. When we were on the top, it snowed! It was just magical... Without leaving the Alps we crossed into France again, where we admired the magnificent Mont Blanc.

After that, we returned to Spain, a bit weary after so many kilometres on the road, but utterly happy for having made this trip. We hope to repeat the experience some time again; there are so many countries there awaiting to be discovered!

Bye bye 2009

We're in January again, and another year has gone by. 2009 has been an interesting year for me. Not a particularly good one, but not too bad either.

I started the year working at a tile factory (something not too surprising in Castellón), driving a forklift truck, preparing tile orders and loading them on lorries. The economic crisis had begun already, but I wasn't too worried about it; after all, I still had a job and I did it the best I could. In fact, I bet I did it much better than many people around me did. I could see that we got fewer lorries to load, but we had more or less the same amount of work: no matter if you order two boxes or twenty-eight, you still have to handle those boxes. Actually, I would say that the fewer boxes the order consists of, the more you have to work: a whole pallet of tiles means hardly any amount of work, as you only have to move it around with the forklift truck.

But the crisis was there and it also arrived at my workplace. The company considered that too many people were employed, so they decided to lay off a dozen or two of them. And I was in the list. I was outraged. I had done my best but still I had got the sack. The reason was that I was cheaper to sack than other people, regardless of each one's capabilities. After three years working at the same place and doing the same kind of things, I had grown accustomed to this routine, and I found it very hard to stop it all of a sudden. Well, at least now I could devote all the time I wanted to studying for my Official School of Languages' exams... I think I did quite well, so it was all worth it after all :)

It was time to face the future. It was April, I was entitled to twelve months of unemployment benefit, and, given the economic crisis, I wasn't going to find a job anyway. Since I quitted University back in 1997 I had had the feeling that I should resume my studies before it was too late, so, why not now? It was the perfect situation: during the first year (the hardest for me, as I'm no longer used to studying in a serious way), I could rely on the unemployment money, and after that I would find a way to combine work with studying. So, I decided to go for it. I had always wanted to study Translation and Interpreting, but when I tried those many years ago, I couldn't (my English wasn't good enough for Granada University). This time I would try in Castellón. I couldn't enrol straight away: first, they put my name down on a waiting list, and afterwards I was told to attend a big meeting where they would assign the vacancies left to be filled. I was lucky enough to get a vacancy! I was so happy! I could fulfil my dreams at last!

Summer came to an end, September arrived, and with it, the beginning of classes. Back to school, at 35! Oh my God. It felt weird to be once again in this environment, but this time surrounded by people much younger than me... Never mind, I'm here to study Translation and Heaven knows I'm going to do it. But I have to admit that it's proving hard to carry out. There's soooooo much to do! Every teacher has an impressive amount of homework for you and there's just not enough time for it! I mean, if you devote hundred percent of your time, of course you can do it, but, aren't we supposed to have a life? Maybe it's just me; anyway, I'll do my best to succeed in this new challenge. But I'm afraid I miss terribly my working days; there were so stress-free... I long for my dear old forklift truck :)

I hope 2010 will be a better year for everyone; especially for me ;) I just can't wait to see this bloody financial crisis go away; I want to see everybody happy again, with plenty of jobs available, with new businesses sprouting everywhere, with plenty of opportunities for the future. Last but not least, I want to pass all my University exams :)

Happy New Year everyone!!!!