What Holiday Is It?

Thursday was a federal holiday, "el día de la constitución" aside from celebrating the end of the dictatorship and the founding of the new democracy, it meads a couple of days off work. We (the other three American teachers, Joanna, Melissa, Lindsay and I) chose to celebrate the constitutional freedoms by touring around the province with Juan Miguel (one of the teachers from my school) as our guide. The first stop was a scrap of a cove that looked as if it had been torn from the an illustration of Never Never Land; in fact, I wouldn't have been surprised to see a mermaid pop out of the water. Whittled into the bluffs were a series of caves; in one of which were living a couple of Germans taking advantage of Spain's warm suthern coast.
The symbol for the region is called the "indalo" and looks like a little stick figure with an arch connecting its open arms. The symbol itself is thousands of years old and comes from the prehistoric inhabitants of the area. On our way to the mountain we stopped by the sight where the "original" indalo was said to exist. In order to get to the indentation of rock where it was painted, we had to scramble up a steep incline, crunching through dried sage and lavender as we went. Once we finally climbed our way to the top in a cloud of herbs, the indalo was so weather beaten it was hardly visable, but at least we can say we saw the original.
Next up was Aguilas, named for the giant eagle shapped rock that jutts up from the sea.
We made the manditory tapas and pastry stops and then headed for the mountain towns of Veléz Rubio and Veléz blanco. Entering the town of Veléz Rubio was like releasing a long withheld sigh. There was finally a sign of the changing seasons. Living on the beach surrounded by palm trees, the changes are more subtle: the air grows chilly once the sun goes down, the waves become more agitated as if regretfully ushering in the biting winds, and only the bravest of the English can be found fickely consuming weak rays of sun. The mountains, however, tend to be more traditional about their seasons and prefer the old fashion indicators of falling leaves and shades of brown.An impressive castle, which we learned was more for show than protection, perched on the hill top.
We ended the day by observing a fabulous sunset and munching on jamon serrano and cheese; it was one of those infrequent yet completely satisfying moments in life.