Calm before the storm! December 1-3, 2020

Three days and two nights away from our home base in Chirivel found us exploring an area about an hour's drive on the other side of the mountain range we see from here. We are learning that each large valley between the mountains in this area seem to have separate weather patterns. As I sit typing this entry, the wind is literally howling with gusts of up to 68 mph! There is a cloud of rain actually horizontal to the ground. We are thankful for the wood stove that burns chunks of hardwood almond.

It took most of the morning to prepare for our departure and run a couple of errands. On our way to La Piza, a nature park area, we stopped in the town of Maria to get some bread. We asked a masked mother and daughter who were walking with a purpose for directions. We were extremely lucky because they were headed to the bakery as well and it would close in just 7 minutes! The town was a bit maze like and after several minutes of winding around, we arrived at the panaderia (bakery) just in time. After ordering some empanadas for lunch and a loaf of bread, we were gifted two small cookies! They looked like tiny calzones but were filled with dried lemon and ginger. The pastry sparkled with a sprinkling of sugar crystals. We stopped at the church in the picture below to enjoy them. 

We arrived in La Piza shortly after and sat outside to picnic in the sunshine. 

This is what it looked like where we were parked for the next two nights.

Following lunch, we completed a circular hike of 5.5 km trail with a shorter climb called Norte de la Dehesa ("North of the Meadow"). It was quite beautiful winding between the low forest of Carrasco Pine (Pinus halepensis), Black Pine (Pinus uncinata) and Holly Oak (Quercus ilex). Little did we know that in the next two days, we would repeat this loop twice more, once on mountain bikes and a third time in the opposite direction.

  Holly oak

In the late afternoon, we enjoyed a warm drink in the park's cafeteria which was, much to our surprise, open! While there, we learned that the fuente (spring) had drinkable water that was supposed to be very good. In this area, finding sources for non chlorinated fresh drinking water is a gift. We are in the habit of traveling with a number of large, empty water containers for just such an occasion.

That night was really cold. We were warm enough inside of SAM thanks to the heater and three blankets. In the morning there was a long icicle from the condensation from the heater on the outside of the camper.

The day was beautiful, but really cold until around 1pm. We went for a 13 km hike on a trail called Pinar de la Alfahuara. The elevation of the high point was 1400 m. 

We ran into one other person on this hike, a man who worked for the park. We managed a simple conversation with him in Spanish and he recommended that we go to a campground restaurant on our return. He also mentioned to look for the eagles which soar on the thermals which we did witness that afternoon. 

A fossil Herman spotted on our hike. I thought it might be a trilobite, but have not been able to identify it...

This is the remains of a Calera which were giant stone and earth igloo shaped kilns used to extract lime. These kilns had to burn for three consecutive days and nights. The lime was used for mortar, white washing, disinfecting, fertilizer and to deworm livestock.