Recap, Part 2: Snowboarding in Granada

Back to recapping what I've been doing...

The weekend of Mar 17-19, Lulu, Luis, Alberto and I ventured to Granada to snowboard in the Sierra Nevadas before it got too hot and all the snow melted. They picked me up from work in Rioja on Thursday the 17th, we had lunch in a little bar there, and then we headed to Granada. The car was PACKED to the max with stuff because Alberto had his snowboard and boots, we all had our bags, and we had brought all of our own food for the trip because we knew it was going to cost us a ton to buy food in the tiny little resort town.

The resort town of Monachil where our apartment was

We got to Granada capital around 4:30 and then had to drive another 30 minutes up into the mountains. After we unloaded all our stuff at the apartment we rented, we had to hop back into the car and drive 30 more minutes back into Granada to pick up our equipment since the car was too full earlier to pick it up. Though it was a hassle, it was definitely worth it because we got a DEAL on our equipment rental. We were renting for 2 days and we got a buy one, get one free deal...only ended up paying 13 euros each for 2 days of equipment rental. If you know anything about renting snowboarding/skiing equipment, you know that that is insanely cheap--in the states it costs something like $30/day. The lift ticket was the pricey part of the trip (at least for me because I didn't get the student discount). It cost me 70€ for a 2 day pass, but I couldn't really pass up the opportunity, especially considering that Granada is so close and the rest of the trip was going to relatively inexpensive. The apartment we rented was only 50€/person for 2 nights which was a deal considering we had a full kitchen, room for 4, and the gondola to the top of the mountain was within walking distance.

Luis and Lulu in the gondola

Anyway, the next day, we got up early and made our way to the ticket office to pick up our lift tickets and we got up to the mountain around 9:30am. Lulu and Luis had never snowboarded before, so Alberto and I were going to have to teach them. For the few times I've been snowboarding, I'd say I'm a pretty good snowboarder. I have taught a few people how to snowboard pretty effectively, so I was expecting it to be a piece of cake, but I was severely mistaken. 

Lulu and I

Not knowing the technical terms in Spanish made it VERY difficult to explain. Not to mention, when someone's on their board, you've gotta be able to explain to them quickly, exactly what to do and how to move, and the words were just not coming to me. I got really frustrated that I couldn't express what I wanted to and pretty much gave up. Alberto took over with the two of them and told me basically to just take off and have fun. I wanted to help, but I was super frustrated and I knew it was gonna be a waste of everybody's time for me to stick around and try to teach them. 

 I was really thankful that Alberto was okay with that because I got to explore the whole mountain. I hadn't been snowboarding in almost exactly 4 years, but after run number 1, it came back to me perfectly. I guess it's a lot like riding a bike in that once you learn, you never really forget how to do it. 

I was on my own for a few hours and then I met back up with them near the lodge to eat lunch. We had brought sandwiches with us so we wouldn't have to buy expensive ski lodge food, so we just sat outside in the snow and ate and relaxed. Luis had basically gotten the hang of boarding and had been practicing by himself on the bunny slopes. Lulu, on the other hand, had fallen down backwards, caught herself by putting her hands behind her, and hurt her wrist. In other words, she was basically out of commission as she was going to be falling quite a bit more (as is normal on the first day) and surely was going to hurt her wrist even more.  

Sunset over the mountains from our terrace

The slopes closed at 5 because around that time the snow started getting pretty melted and mushy, at least near the bottom. We headed back to the apartment, showered, rested, and eventually cooked dinner. That night, we drank some but crashed pretty early cause we were tired and would have to get up early again the next day for day number 2 on the slopes.

Getting up early was a success, but unfortunately packing up the apartment and loading the car took us quite a while. We had to return the keys to the apartment that morning, so we had the challenge of loading the car with not only all of our bags, but also all the boards and boots. It was like a game of tetris trying to get everything to fit so that all four of us could still cram into Alberto's 2-door, itsy-bitsy, canary yellow (I hope you're reading this right now, Alberto hahahah) ride. The next problem was that we were going to have to leave the car in the parking garage all day where we had seen someone's car get broken into the previous day. Thus, Alberto didn't want any of our belongings to be visible, so we spent another 30 minutes taking out our boards and rearranging everything so that the shady vendors who were walking all around the parking garage wouldn't know that we had all of our stuff in the car. After all of those delays, we finally got up on the mountain around 11. 

So pristine...wish i had been the one to have carved out that lone trail

The second day, I also spent a good amount of time by myself. I was with Luis for the first part of the day, but after a few hours I went off on my own again. Alberto told me how to get to the other side of the mountain where the SnowPark was. I found that this side of the mountain was considerably less crowded, but unfortunately much flatter, more open, and with less variety of trails. The picture to the left was the view from one of the lifts on this side of the mountain. Looked like some brave person had found their way onto one of the untouched parts of the mountain and had managed a short run before realizing that it would be a good idea to stop before hitting the rocks. Being alone and admiring the beauty, size, and flawlessness of the scenery was humbling in a whole new way. Having always lived by the ocean, that's the thing that I've always been able to rely on to remind me how small and insignificant I really am. Swimming out into the water until I can't touch the ground has always made me think about the fact that I am nothing and that the sea could easily swallow and wipe me away without anyone ever knowing to where I had disappeared. But that day, the mountains took over that role. All the untouched snow reminded me that no matter how dominant we may think we are, something bigger will always be in control and able to one-up us. With that thought in my head and the wind rushing past me as I flew down the mountain, I reflected. It reminded me that the things I worry about are so petty and trivial in the grand scheme of things and that I shouldn't let myself get so caught up in my day-to-day life. 

Río, one of my favorite runs

I finished the day alone and my last run was down one of my favorite trails which was called Río, or river. At the bottom of the hill, I met up with Lulu, Luis, and Alberto, and we headed to the car to pack up our boards and hit the road back to Almería. It was great to have gotten to snowboard again after 4 years of being out of practice. Overall, it was a great weekend and I'm determined to make the few that I have left here just as good!

Also, in my last post, I forgot to list my 4th and final option of what I can do if I'm not offered a job. At Tomás' suggestion, I'll just have to marry a Spaniard! Visa issues, solved. My friends will just have to fight over who will be the lucky one to be my "husband" hahahah.