Sunday, June 03, 2018

Day 7 - Pueblos Blancos and Ronda

so come over here and sit next to me
we can see where things go naturally
just say the word and I'll part the sea
just come over here and sit next to me
it's alright
Sit Next to Me - Foster The People

I was expecting hotter days when I was in Spain, but except for the day I arrived, the days seemed to be getting cooler. I kinda form a habit of checking the weather every day when I'm on a trip now and for day 7, I found out that it was going to be cooler, so I took out the thicker sweater coat. It was rather chilly that day. Day 7 didn't start so early. I was taking a day tour to Pueblos Blancos and Ronda. I had no knowledge whatsoever about these places. I just thought it might be interesting. I was supposed to be picked up at 09:15 AM and when I got down the guide was already there. He was early. It was not a very big group and we used like a shuttle van which felt a bit crammed. We picked some more people and then we're off. It's interesting for me that there's actual Spanish people taking this tour too.

First stop was to the Castle of Las Aguzaderas. It's not very big and it's free to enter. There was no staff. There was no one but us there. It felt like it's just being left on its own. It was built by the Moors. They built a few of this kinda castle or look out points with towers and walls. I have to say there's nothing much to look at, just bricks and all.

Then we continued on our way. It was drizzling a bit that the guide decided to take us to an olive oil factory first. When I said factory, it's not industrial, it's like old-school family factory. I was surprised myself upon realizing that from all my travels, it was my first time going to an olive oil factory. I've been to vineyards with olive trees, but this is my first time learning how olive oil is made. I also learnt that Spain produces the most olive oil for the world, even more than the Italians and in Andalusia, olive picking seems to be one of the jobs that are still really done by the Spanish while other fruits or vegetables picking may have some foreign workers helping. As mentioned this family is old school, been doing it since many generations back. The olives are picked by hand in September - October, if I'm not mistaken. Then they go into a machine that will make them into some sort of paste. Then like lasagna (as the guide put it), the paste is layered between filters, layered upon layered until it reaches like very high. I forget how high, maybe 2 m or so. The filter is round like a table mat and is made of nylon rope. Then this stack is pushed into the presser and it will squeeze out all the oils. I can't remember how high the stack be after the press, perhaps it's down to half. What I learn is that because this is old school, the factory is like only getting 20% oil (if I'm not mistaken) from the olive. Industrial factory may be able to get like 35%. In fact I think this factory can still sell their used paste to the industrial factories. I saw that the paste was like brown and it made sense when I saw that the oil they have there was like darker. I'm glad I got to learn something new.

Then it was to the first white village. Pueblos Blancos actually means white villages. White because the houses are mostly white, but it's been white everywhere in this trip right, like in Portugal too. Anyway first stop was Zahara de la Sierra. It's not very big nor very interesting for me. There's a church, Santa Maria de la Mesa. It's like the only building not in white. Since I had nothing to do, I went in. It was kinda nice. After that, since it was rather cold that I started to wonder if I was under dressed, I had hot chocolate in one of the cafe.

Then it was to the next village, Grazalema, which was also not very big nor interesting. So far the trip hadn't been going amazing. We were given time for lunch. When I was waiting for my change, this uncle / older guy just came and sit in my table and talked to me. I think he might be American. I thought it was kinda weird, but okay the place was crowded, there's witnesses if something bad was going to happen. He asked where I'm from. Upon knowing Indonesia, he mentioned Jogjakarta, which amused me because that's not the first thing people normally say about Indonesia. He said he'd been there during his hippie days :D Then it got weird when he said he's thinking of buying a hotel nearby. Mind you this uncle dressed so normally, like didn't look not rich at all. By that time my change came, so I just said okay, well nice talking to you, bye :D Then I walked around a bit, but really there's nothing much.

Then we're off on our way to Ronda by way of passing forest of cork trees. I'm not sure how corks are made. I just googled it. Turned out they take the bark to make corks. Good I guess, because I wondered if they have to cut down the entire tree. The trees I saw in the forests were not tall, so I wonder if those were really the cork trees. Anyway Ronda, it seemed it's quite famous though I have never heard of it before now. As we walked towards the town, there's a bullfighting ring with a bull statue. We didn't go in though and I didn't as well during my free time. Nearby there are statues of Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles. They liked it there in Ronda. The lookout point nearby provided a view of the mountains.

Then we're given map and a free time to explore. Up to this point, the day was just going so so for me. Even arriving in Ronda was just so so, I thought there's nothing much too. I saw the bridge, Puente Nuevo, but the view wasn't that great for me so I was rather disappointed.

Not knowing what to do, I just followed the suggested walkabout in the map. First stop was Plaza de María Auxiliadora and at the end of this look out point, there's like many steps down and I saw some Korean tourists coming up. An uncle in particular who's like breathing through his mouth. I figured the hike down will give you a good view of the bridge. Seeing the uncle, I wondered if it's really hard or if it's because he's older. Since I had nothing to do, I went down. Obviously going down was easy, though with my luck I was afraid I was going to trip and roll over and fall. I have this kinda illogical fear sometime and one of them is like I'm not good in this kinda thing, which is basically just walking. I'm not good at walking, that's how silly I am. I like don't have confidence in myself and I'm always thinking I'm bound to fall. Anyway, reached (in one piece) a place where it provides a really good look of the bridge and what I didn't know looking at pictures before this was that there's a waterfall under the bridge and it was pretty. The water pooling under it has a nice colour.

From this point, you can go further down, but the path was looking narrow and steep and again I had no confidence so I decided to go back, but instead of going all the way back up, I followed up another path which I think would lead to a better view of the Guadalevín river. However the path again was getting treacherous and so then I decided to really go back. Going back up wasn't easy, heart rate was up, was almost breathing through my mouth, but I made it all the way without stopping. I sat down at the bench in Plaza de María Auxiliadora first waiting for my heart rate to go down. Then I followed the rest of the suggested walking path in my map. Nothing interesting to report. At one point, I took a wrong turn and ended up at the center again and so I decided to just go find a toilet and then go around the shops. On the walk back to the shuttle van, a Spanish girl in the group chatted me up. She asked if I was from the States. That was interesting because that's the first time anyone thought I'm from America :D She was travelling alone too and she's currently living near Madrid (I forget which city). In my head I was like, girl, why are you only talking to me now, you could have helped me with my boredom in the morning. Why didn't I start talking to her in the first place, you ask? Well she's always in the Spanish group. Then I was being the anti social shy me. I'm glad she talked to me even though for only a short while. That's pretty much day 7. The best part was the hike down to see the bridge in all its glory with its waterfall. For pictures, please go here

:) eKa @ 11:36:00 AM •