Siete Picos

Sunday was an all day event. Vivian and I met up with a my childhood friend, Katie, to Hike Siete Picos (Seven Pikes) with a local meet up group called Hiking Madrid. The leader Joseph has helped out for five years and is an english speaker from Canada. However, we met many madrilenos. The closest to our age was a girl named Raquel. She was a sweet girl whose boy friend of two years (also on the hike) was a firefighter in Ohio. She is studying to become and English teacher in Spain but has had a lot of trouble finding work. She says it is unheard of for teenagers to work even in the supermarkets or at the movies. Ironically most of the other english speakers our age had jobs through either the Spanish or American government teaching English as a second language.

The group stopped and had a nice lunch with beautiful views of the Segovian mountainside. We learned lots of good tips from young adults who have lived here for years (even where to take free yoga classes!) My favorite part of this week has to be walking though the beautiful yellow bushes that cover the mountains and stumbling upon a small herd of cattle, complete with cow bell. Although a close second is getting to see Sorolla's Strolling along the Seashore in person, a favorite of mine since a seeing it in the game Masterpiece as a child.