Alburquerque

Hola, buenas tardes queridos lectores!

I am SO busy these days, it's crazy. Monday through Thursday I have class in the morning and the evening. I am making a habit of leaving town on the weekends. I spent last weekend in Portugal with friends that I met I couple of weeks ago. Next weekend I am going to Barcelona to visit an old friend. Two weekends ago I went hiking with Spanish friends that I have met during this trip.

My friend took me to visit Alburquerque (it has one more R than ours does). It is a beautiful old town, as all of the towns here are. One amazing thing about Spain is all of the layers of history piled on top of each other.
Extremadura has art and architecture dating back to pre-history (cavemen), It has a lot of Roman buildings, bridges, roads, etc. There are also many towns that were once Islamic (including Alburquerque). Although the castle you see here was built during the Spanish renaissance.
Below the castle you can see part of a wall. The wall wraps around the old city. The castle was built about 500 years ago. The city is built high on a hill, just like the old city of Cáceres. I discovered that almost 100 men left Alburquerque for the Americas during the Spanish conquest of the New World.

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My Dears,

I wrote that about a month ago and have been insanely busy and tired ever since. I have gone to Barcelona and Portugal. I have climbed a few mountains. I have bought a bicycle which I ride about 25 km a day (13 miles or so). My classes are difficult mainly because they are in Spanish. I am learning more than I could measure. My Spanish is getting better.

This weekend I climbed a mountain by myself. It was hard and I felt so tired and proud afterwards. I walked from a town in one valley, climbed the pass and descended into a town in the next valley. I will spend this afternoon posting photos for you all to see and I will try to make many small posts from now on in an attempt to keep this blog updated. I realize that I am having too many adventures to tell all about them in this blog. There just are not enough hours in the day.

My time here is half over. It has been so incredible and I am sure it will continue to be. I miss my family and friends. But I will keep on making the most of what is an important time in my life. This trip is changing me. I love you all. Much gratitude.