Costa de Almería ~ Almería Coast

      In October, I went hiking with a couple friends for three days along the coast. We wanted to be spontaneous, so the only planning we did before we left was calculate the kilometers between little towns on the coast to have an idea of how far we could reasonably make it in a day. We hiked some 12 kilometers each day, right along the coast, packing a simple lunch of bread, salchichon (sausage), and Lindt chocolate : ). When we arrived to our destination town each evening, we searched for the cheapest spot to spend the night. Our record was 13 Euro apiece. The weather was beautiful!

first night..la primera noche..

Daniella, Anne y yo

Danza africana

Esto es de hace un mes…


       Hoy fui a mi segunda clase de danza africana. Alucinante. De la gran variedad de clases que se ofrecían como actividades fuera de la escuela (como pintura, encuadernación, rutas subterráneas por Granada) fue danza africana que más me interesaba, así que decidí probar este campo de baile que es completamente nuevo para mí a ver cómo era. En la primera clase, la instructora era una española, pero esta vez, los instructores eran dos hombres africanos (senegalenses), que trajeron una mezcla de tambores, que llegan hasta las rodillas en altura, para crear la música. Son hermanos y ambos tienen rastas gruesas. Mientras que uno se dedica solamente a tocar los tambores, el otro (que se llama Dali..puedes ver unas fotos en http://www.myspace.com/dalidanza, si quieres) pasa la mayor parte de la clase enseñándonos a bailar, aunque de vez en cuando se sienta al lado de su hermano y tocan juntos mientras bailamos. El hermano que toca más los tambores tiene la sonrisa más increíble –si pudieras imaginar toda la alegría que el baile y la música pueden inspirar captada en una expresión, sería la sonrisa de este hombre—. Absolutamente brillante. La coreografía era bien rápida y divertida, e involucraba todo el cuerpo. Ojalá que pudieras ver a mi instructor bailando; es increíble como su cuerpo y su alma se mueven con el ritmo de los tambores, creando una energía radiante e irresistible. Me hace querer ir a África.

African Dance Class

 This is from about a month ago…

        Today I had my second “danza africana” class. Amazing. Of the wide variety of interesting classes that were offered as extra-curricular activities (painting, bookbinding, subterranean routes through Granada) danza africana piqued my interest the most, so I decided to take a plunge into this sphere of dance that is completely new to me and see what it was like. In the first class, we had a Spanish woman as our instructor, but this time our teachers were two African men who brought a variety of knee-high drums that they played to provide the music. They are brothers and both of them wear their hair in thick dreadlocks that fall past their shoulders. One of them only played the drums, while the other (Dali is his name..you can check out http://www.myspace.com/dalidanza if you want to see a couple pics) spent the majority of the time teaching us new choreography, although he occasionally played the drums along with his brother. The principal drum player had the most incredible smile; if you could capture in an expression all the joy that music and dance can inspire it would be his smile.  Absolutely “brillante”. The choreography was fast-paced and so much fun. I wish you could see my instructor dancing; it’s simply incredible how his body and spirit move with the beats of the drum, creating an irresistible, radiant energy. It makes me want to go to Africa.