Good morning Wall family!!!
Leaving the village....
The herder's hut.
Note the cowbells at the necks and imagine these guys chasing behind you....
On the ridge
Family foosball
Imagine a tiny village, populated with ancient stone and wood buildings capped with terra cotta tile roofs, with lush green and dark granite mountains in the background, and you have Tudes, nestled towards the top of a mountain peak on the eastern edge of the Picos. The scenery from our window last night was right out of a post card, truly unbelievable. The town as Katie described yesterday has only about 30 residents, including our hosts Tony and Lucia who bought this place as a ramshackle, run down assortment of buildings and have renovated it to create a delightful accommodation complete with a pool, internet and a foosball table to keep the kids happy!
Vacation has finally settled in with us and we are on that kind of schedule (or maybe it is the Spanish schedule), sleeping late (9:00 AM), lounging over breakfast, taking on the day’s activity, (driving, touring, whatever), eating a late dinner and then not going to bed until midnight. This morning we were awakened by the sound of barking dogs, chickens squawking and roosters crowing. After buying loaves of bread from the back of the breadman’s van (he visits the village everyday to sell his freshly baked loaves) and stocking the larder, we were ready for exploring.
Today, being Tom’s birthday, we let him choose the adventure of the day, a glorious hike right from the door of our apartment. We climbed up a wide trail, past a herder’s hut and up to a ridge with the most incredible views in all directions. The sun was shining, the kids were enjoying themselves and life was good. What goes up must come down so around the ridge we went past the grazing cows, (complete with bells around their necks) and the barking herd dog, Tom leading the troops all the way on the 2 ½ hour (purportedly, in actuality 4 hour) hike. If you would ask the kids, they would say the highlight of the hike was when Tom “mooed” at the cows and they began to chase after us. Hearing those bells clanging and seeing the cows on the move, I must admit, I was a bit freaked out!
A late afternoon swim, (Ok, a leg dip into that frigid mountain swimming pool water) some foosball, pool, dinner at the tavern again including a delicious apple tart with birthday candles and out of tune singing and our day is complete!
Cathy
Estimada Katie
ReplyDeleteLa forma correcto es--los ojos--la nariz (solamente un ere ) y la boca.Tu debes aprender los varios partes del cuerpo.
Su maestro,Abuelo Juan
Gosh---how beautiful those photos are are! Wish I could've seen Tom running from the cows.........Always moo at cows that are behind fences! G.A.
ReplyDeleteThe cows were chasing us uphill so we were doing more of a fast walk than a run...we are still laughing about it all today! While we were out for our walk this morning the boys (Tom included) felt quite safe in mooing at a handful of fenced in cows!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Tom! I'm assuming you got more sleep than I did!!!
ReplyDeleteGrandpa! I understood what you wrote! looks like you guys are having fun. I didn't know uncle tom spoke spanish. Love you
ReplyDeleteMary
Saludos a Los Viajeros
ReplyDeleteEl verano es el mehor estacion del ano. La temperatura es calientita y hay mucho sol.
La gente va a la playa para nadando y tomando el sol.Los ninos comen mucho helado y todos son felices incluyen me.Cuando yo escribo estos mensajes a ti, yo no uso el diccionario.Yo soy muy inteligente.Yo se la lengua espanola como un inhabitante-----si verdad !!
Hasta tarde--- Abuelo Juan