aventuras de alyssa

This post is overdue – bear with me!! I’m also uploading this from my phone so if the pictures are weird or something doesn’t work, I’ll fix it 🙂

On Monday, we boarded the bus (I went with the 5th graders with Luis and another teacher, Jesus) and started our journey to León. I was so tired from Sevilla that I kept nodding off a bit on the bus! Unfortunately, I almost completely lost my voice at this point so I sounded like a deranged animal of some sort. Not great for going to English Camp! We explored León with the monitors (they’re like camp counselors) that met up with us – they’re from California, León, and Galicia. The girl from Galicia speaks perfect American English, so she convinced the camp she’s from America to get the students to only speak in English to her! Even the teachers with me thought she was from America. My two favorite parts of León were the Casa Botines – a building designed by Gaudí, one of three that isn’t in Barcelona – and the Catedral. The Catedral was absolutely incredible because of the stained glass windows that decorate the entire cathedral. The pictures I took don’t nearly do the cathedral justice.

The camp itself looks like a camp but doesn’t really feel like one because I’m used to camps in forests with tons of trees and the constant threat of a bear. Here, it’s quaint cabins close to civilization – in fact, there’s a bar across the street! Also, there wasn’t enough space at the camp for the teachers because there’s 220 kids here, so they put us up in “Casas Rurales” meaning rural houses. I was expecting a shack that was freezing cold. Instead, I hit the jackpot! I stayed with one of the other female teachers named Belen and we had a whole cabin to ourselves. I think I’ll come “camping” here again 😉 The mountains surrounding the camp were breathtaking – I tried to capture it in a few pictures, but it’s (obviously) not the same unfortunately.

A bunch of the girls were homesick, which I totally understand because I was their age at camp once and I made my parents come pick me up on the second day (I was a huge wimp!). Thankfully, Belen is great and calmed them all down. On Tuesday, we had two excursions. The first was in the morning because it was raining and we went to a museum of fauna. It was essentially a giant taxidermy museum, which was pretty cool to see how realistic the animals were. After the museum, we went back to the camp for sandwiches, which have turned out to be (both days) a giant sandwich with a ton of bread, meat, and cheese – no complaints from me!

We then boarded the bus for the next excursion at las Cuevas (the caves). We broke up into three groups, one teacher and one monitor per group. I was stuck with the crazy monitor, which was a little stressful because he had no care for the kids’ safety and we were doing some semi-dangerous things! The first activity for our group was to go inside the caves. Thank goodness for the helmet, suit to cover my clothes, and flashlight! It was so muddy and small in the cave, but it was really cool to see. We had to crawl at some parts and I hit my head about fourteen times throughout the relatively short journey through the caves. I couldn’t take my phone so you’ll just have to believe me that it was awesome. We ended up in a small space where our guide told a scary story about the cave and then had us turn off our lights and be quiet. It was so wild – the absolute silence and complete darkness. There was no difference between my eyes being open and closed. The kids couldn’t stay silent for more than 30 seconds so that’s all we had in the quiet. We saw a bat sleeping and the different stalagmites that have been growing in the cave for hundreds of years.

Our next activity was rock climbing on the side of the mountain. I didn’t participate (heckin scared of that) but the kids had a great time. The weather cleared up beautifully and we had sun! Our final activity at the site of the caves was to shoot bow and arrows. They were suction cup (thank god) but they were still dangerous and my monitor wasn’t helping me when the kids were throwing them right at each other!! It was hectic, but fun at the same time. After we got back to camp, we went back to our houses for a little rest and we played foosball – Jesus and I unfortunately lost to Belen and Luis, but it was a good time.

On Wednesday, we woke up to a fresh blanket of unexpected snow!! Thankfully Rosa and Juanjo loaded me up with clothes for the cold mountain so I was fine, but it was chilly. Since it was snowing, we couldn’t go on the hike planned for the day yet so the monitors had the kids in the activity room doing some English lessons and then it was time to dance! We taught them the Cha Cha Slide, the Macarena, the Wobble, and two new ones (for me at least) Bills and Stomp the Ground. It was so fun!!! We ate real lunch today and in the meantime, the snow turned to rain which melted all of the snow and finally we saw the sun. It worked out perfectly for the hike up the mountain behind the camp. We had a little bit of a drizzle but otherwise it was sunny and gorgeous hiking the mountain. The viewpoint at the top was breathtaking AND we saw a rainbow!!!!!! We went to the bar across the street before going to see the “discoteca” the camp set up for the kids. The bar is literally someone’s basement, but it was so good – we got chorizo, types of hams whose names now escape me, cheese, and of course a few Mahou’s. We went over to the discoteca, which was dramatic because some girl asked a boy to go with her and he said no and asked someone else… it goes on. In the end, we had a few boys and girls crying, but that’s typical 5th and 6th grade dances for you! After putting out the fires, we headed back to the Casas Rurales for the last time!

On Thursday, our last day at camp, we visited La Cueva de Valporquero. The way to the caves was a very windy road along the mountains and the girl I was next to got sick, but thankfully she had asked me for a bag beforehand and didn’t make a disaster like me in 8th grade to Williamsburg. I felt so bad for her because I know how terrible it is to feel sick on a bus! Thankfully, we got to the cave before she threw up again. I was expecting a cave similar to Tuesday’s, where you got dirty and it was cramped, but instead we walked into this incredibly huge and beautiful cave. There was a lake and a giant waterfall and the stalagmites have been growing for thousands of years. We enjoyed the caves for a bit and then it was time to head back to camp and then home! I had such a fun time and it was a cool way to experience the countryside in Spain!

From left to right: Jesus, Luis, Belen, me, and Anita!!

Some random fun things:

-The main monitor, Mark, is from California but has been living in Spain for the past 5 years and he’s started his own English teaching company for adults. TEMPTING.

-The crazy monitor, is from India, told me he lives in California, but has a British accent. He told Mark he lives in England, so we’re not too sure what the truth was or if his accent was even real.

-The crazy monitor and I were talking and he asked me if I liked León, to which I responded “Yeah it’s very cute!” And he had such an issue with me describing a city as “cute.” He insisted I use a different adjective, such as “charming” or “enchanting.” Luis overheard the conversation and after Salmin left, we were hysterical. From that point on, we only described things as charming or enchanting! 😂