We sent Eitan off this morning to Ghana – a real milestone for him (and us) as we have wanted him to have the experience of doing developing country volunteer work and this is a golden opportunity.  The international school he attends has a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and a group of 10th and 11th graders go on this kind of work trip each year. Eitan was responsible for raising a portion of the cost of the trip and he still has more to go – but there was no way we’d have him miss this.  Both Ruth and Ari have done similar trips…Ari to Peru and Ruth to Liberia…and I was in both Haiti and Zambia for similar reasons.  All of us agree the pure exposure and interactions with people living such different lives, under such different economic circumstances – is both humbling and life changing.  Andrew and I are the first to admit that our kids live in a “bubble” of sorts on a daily basis, and while we are thankful for many aspects of that we also believe that appreciating what we have fully can only come from seeing what others contend with each day. The most startling revelation I had was how – in general – people leading these simpler lives are able to be content and grateful for whatever they have.  I am generalizing, I know, but compared to the first world issues we catch ourselves complaining about, I remain in awe of this every day.  I cannot wait to hear Eitan’s stories and see pictures I know will be shared.

Exploring the Costa Brava and Breaking in the Walking Shoes

Grabbing the rare opportunity to just take off and go 🙂 we are now on a train to the lower section of the Costa Brava.  The Costa Brava faces the Mediterranean and runs the top third or so of the coast of Spain.  We have been to a small section of it briefly when exploring in France and upper Spain a few months ago, but this is a unique adventure…It will be my first extended walk in preparations for the Camino Santiago I will do with Ruthie in just a few months.  She and I plan to walk about 400km through northern Spain on a very well known pilgrimage route over about 2 – 2.5 weeks.  It involves walking for about 5 – 6 hours a day and  to prepare we are both breaking in good walking shoes!   Today is my first long test drive of shoes I bought for the occasion, and Andrew wanted to turn it into an exploration of the Camino de la Ronda that runs along the beautiful Costa Brava.

 

We are now on the train home after a lovely day!  The good news is that we did some nice walking … The bad news is that the main scenic walking trail we hoped to use was closed due to mudslides.  In reality this didn’t matter much as we just set out across the town that was recommended as the starting place of this trail, found the beach and spent a few hours wandering along the coves, promenades and parks that dot the seaboard in this part of the coast.  It was perfect.   The town is called Blanes and while in and of itself it wasn’t a complete standout of beauty (sorry Blanes) the people were very friendly and the beachfront just lovely.  We were able to wind our way up through a hilly park of the town that overlooks the water and found an incredible cove with fabulous jagged rock formations and crystal clear water below. 

We topped off the day at a seaside restaurant called Can Flores that specializes in local seafood…a couple of beers, paella, and postres later, we are sated and relaxed.  I think my new walking shoes passed muster and I’ll be running them through more paces (literally) over the coming weeks. 

Andrew and I have concluded that there is so much to explore just in Spain alone that we could nearly do this sort of day trip for a year and still not see everything.  It’s so fun to constantly be surprised.  More than anything we look forward to sharing many of these kinds of jaunts with both local friends and visitors from out of country.

Join us soon!