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A mayar manzanasI seem to have trouble keeping this blog up-to-date. It’s funny too, because almost every day I think of something that I want to write in here, but once I finally get time to write, I decide there are other things that need to be done.

My long weekend ended up going pretty much as I expected: with nothing much to do, but I slept a lot and relaxed. On Sunday one of my colleagues at the school, he teaches History and Geography, was back in town so we met up for a drink. But really, other than that I did nothing but go running almost every day.

One day, halfway through my run and walking along the beach, I decided that I wanted to find out where the path along the ocean cliffs to Puerto de Vega (about a 2 1/2 hour walk, so it states on a wooden sign posted at the start of the path) started. So, I hiked up a set of stairs along side the cliff that borders part of the beach where I thought the path might start. I mean… a path that borders the the ocean cliffs, goes towards the east… Yeah, good idea to look for the path up on the cliff that goes towards the east.

I found the path. I also found another beach, Playa de Moro. To reach it? You have to climb down, carefully, and extensive set of stairs carved into the cliff. Really, the climb down isn’t too bad, it’s the climb up that wasn’t much fun (especially after running a mile). But the beach looks like one that in high tide would be hidden under heavy waves of water. I climbed down the stairs and walked around the beach for awhile, watched the waves splash against the sand, and the intensely smooth rocks.

After climbing back up the stairs, I continued the climb to the cliff path. I walked probably about a mile down and then decided that I was too hungry to go further. I still had to to get back to the beach and finish my run. Someday soon, when the weather isn’t as cold and wet as it has been the last couple days, I will hike the whole thing.

The last couple weeks of school have been good. Although, the truth is sometimes I get frustrated in class. Not with the students, but with the teachers. Sometimes I have to wait for the day before to know what I need to do for the class, and even then I don’t always know until I show up. But oh well, it always works out well, in the end.

Last Saturday my adviser and his family invited me to join them and their village for a traditional Asturian festival in their village. The festival is called Magosto in La Falla (the local language) and Amagüestu in Bable or Asturianu (the language of Eastern Asturias). The name comes from the verb to roast chestnuts, which is an important part of the festival. Roasting chestnuts and drinking sweet cider (i.e., freshly pressed apple juice) is the central part of the festival, but… so is music, dancing, eating local foods, talking and… drinking alcohol.

But, during the day, there was also a festival for the kids. They brought in a magician for the kids; he did a great job! He even made a couple different rabbits come out of flaming pan. Gotta say, it was pretty cool. At the end he made balloon animals for the kids that were there. They loved it.

The adult magosto that evening was great fun. I learned to dance the Pasadoble, bachata, and others that I cannot remember at the moment. It was lots of fun. My adviser and his wife dropped me off at home around 4 a.m. What I enjoyed the most was the fact that it wasn’t just people under the age of 40 that stayed out that late, but both men and women older than 50 and 60 years old enjoyed the music just as long as we did. And some of them even more animated and continued on even after we left. Of course, this isn’t an everyday thing. It’s not as if they always stay out so late, but I loved that they were out that late and had so much fun!

And well, not much going on this weekend. I’m going to make a pumpkin pie this weekend, with cider. I’m excited to see how it turns out! If you find it on the HardCider site next week, you’ll know it turned out well!

The holiday season is almost here, and I’m excited for it.