Life: Idiotropic

Travel shows, guides, and locals will boast the intense beauty and diversity of Granada and its surrounding area.  Where else could you ski by day, then dine outside on the beach while watching the sunset?  Snow and a warm beach only 45 minutes apart?  Phenomenal.

We'd seen the beach.  Today, it was time for snow.  In fact, so determined to see snow were we that I'd packed bulky bibs, boots and other snow gear, things I'd only need this one day, in our clown car at the beginning of this trip.  An entire bag of clothing that we'd only need 1 out of 12 days in a vehicle where every square inch of space counted and laps weren't empty.  We wanted snow and lots of it.  I hoped to flop down in a bank of it and flap my arms like I was 5.  Elise threatened to stuff snow down Tiara's pants.  They all had their hearts set on a good snowball fight and may be a family of snowmen - icy Stahlbaum lookalikes left for the locals.

And we were off up towards Granada following the signs to the Sierra Nevada and Monachil, the place where it all happens, a village created and sustained by all things snowy.  Shopping, restaurants, villas and apartments.  A city based on snow.  Lifts take off from the center of it dangling like strung Christmas lights up the hill over the tops of chalets, higher and higher to the mountain tops where that intoxicating white stuff is deepest.

The road like most we found here is another one of those narrow curvy things that was carved into the side of the mountain giving you a spectacular view of the valley below looking out over the cliffs edge.  Winds blew hard.  A few times we held our breath feeling the pull of the wind and watching the lines of the road even more intently.  In one area we saw cows perched on tiny hills like mountain goats.

It was eerie going up.  I was seriously worried.  After all... it was a long way up.  40 minutes of twists and turns and the entire way a steady flow of ski topped cars going down.  What did everyone else know?  I tried to check weather.  We've seen the snow.  It's up there.  We can see it from our village behind us - a mountain top covered in snow.    Eventually we reached Monachil, a town that should have been magically covered in wonderous white.  It was grey, dreary, wet, and there was not a drop of white in sight.  But... there's no turning back now.  We parked.  The kids got their bibs on. We were ready to find it.

One lift was right in front of us when we walked out of the parking garage.  A thin muddy patch of snow, another small patch, nothing solidly white until somewhere out of view.  A view mixed with grey clouds, the blur of rain, and a rush of wind pushing it sideways.  The lift was still.  A random couple or family walked by.  It was a ghost town.  An iron grate in the path and we were walking over the top of a rushing waterfall.  Ski racks sat empty.  Half the shops were closed.  The wind blew so hard, we had to grab the girls hands to help them walk against it.  The rain got heavy and we dashed in for food.  The fam got average Italian.  I got the best meal of the trip - Pato Confitado con Salsa Mozarabe - the biggest, moistest, most flavorful duck I've ever eaten.  Perfectly cooked veggies and the sauce, wow - can I call it multidimensional?  That's what it was.  A balance of salty and sweet, loaded with flavor, but not overpowering.  So many overlapping flavors.  Why can't all Spanish food be like this?  Forget the trip.  This was the best meal I've eaten out since moving to Spain.  I think the influence of the arabe culture is good for the cuisine here.  It's richer than what I see here on the coast.

Dinner's over.  The waitress tells me that all the lifts are closed because of wind and gives me a website to try next time.  Sigh.  Next time.  We take a little walk, duck into a shop to buy gloves for Elise, then give the snow one last effort trudging up the stairs against the wind in the increasing rain.  Finding nothing, we gave up and came back down, got to the car, desuited, and headed back down the mountain home to Lanjaron.

Dishes, games, laundry.  Elise beat Tiara brutally in a game of war then began to challenge everyone else.  Kirk teaches Arianna and Luci  to play Skip Bo.  I blow dry last nights laundry by the fire, then pack up the winter gear.  Won't need this again until...?


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