It is my father's voice that whenever I travel is very nervous.
"As long as we get up at 8.30 a.m. to leave home at 9 a.m., we will be in time at the airport," I told him last night at dinner, thinking that it takes around an hour from Athy to Dublin.
On the way to the airport, a bunch of advices and tips collapses my brain. I'm already 20 years old, yet it doesn't seem like that.
My father and I got to the airport terminal at 10 o'clock. The plane leaves at 11:15 a.m., so I am on time. Our farewell is in the up and down area of travelers. I see him heading to his work, while I stand up.
I walk to the terminal and I find Erin in the queue. He beckons me to his side. I skip 7 post of the queue. Erin and I have been friends since childhood.
We board on time. Today, we treat lavishly ourselves and fly with Iberia. In 2 hours and a half flight, we landed in Madrid.
In the terminal of Madrid, a professor of the University waits for us in a car. It takes two and a half hours to reach our destination: Cuacos de Yuste
The trip has been enjoyable. Ricardo, who is professor of ancient history, has been telling us the program of the summer course of medicine, as well as describing some specific features of the places where we are going to. He lets us know that tomorrow morning we will do a route of senderismo interpretado (Hiking interpreted) by the mountain. We need to rest well.
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8 a.m. in the morning. Ricardo is standing by the bus, while he checks we are all there. I sit next to Erin and we see the photos of yesterday afternoon from our visit to the monastery of Yuste. We were surprised by the lush surroundings of oak forest around the convent. The cloisters seem to be an essential part of the scene of Charles the fifth's retirement. We were trying to figure out those days of this long times ago.
The bus stops. It's half past eight.
We have just passed the riverside and there is a 4x4 of pink color that play a big contrast to the countryside. A man with a hut stands up in purple T-shirt, he stares us. He must be the guide.
"Good morning everyone and welcome to the Extremadura region", he greets us once we are gathered around his company car. He explains us our surrounding environment and the differences between rivers, gorges, torrents and streams. He tells us emphatically that the course of the gorges is a singular feature of the geology of this area.
After some brief instructions that we must follow in our route, we begin the walk along the left streambed against the sense of the current.
As we go, we start to be far from the gorge. The path becomes narrower because of the surrounding shrubs and oaks. I take a photo of Erin's backs, which is a shot with a network of trunks and branches which reminds me to a neural structure. As I look at Erin's back I remember when we decided to study medicine on a boat trip on Lake Ennell.
"Attention those of the end, who have been delayed ..." Carlos's voice brings me back to the reality, the group guide of Conyegar.
We have reached a bend in the path where a torrent falls sharply. There is a small space where the twenty or so students are having a sandwich, while we listen to a story about the maquis (Groups of resistance to the dictatorship in Spain from 1939 to 1965) of this region. I connect this story, in some way, with the experience of the resistance movements of my country.
The bus stops. It's half past eight.
We have just passed the riverside and there is a 4x4 of pink color that play a big contrast to the countryside. A man with a hut stands up in purple T-shirt, he stares us. He must be the guide.
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| Hiking Sierra de Tormantos |
After some brief instructions that we must follow in our route, we begin the walk along the left streambed against the sense of the current.
As we go, we start to be far from the gorge. The path becomes narrower because of the surrounding shrubs and oaks. I take a photo of Erin's backs, which is a shot with a network of trunks and branches which reminds me to a neural structure. As I look at Erin's back I remember when we decided to study medicine on a boat trip on Lake Ennell.
"Attention those of the end, who have been delayed ..." Carlos's voice brings me back to the reality, the group guide of Conyegar.
We have reached a bend in the path where a torrent falls sharply. There is a small space where the twenty or so students are having a sandwich, while we listen to a story about the maquis (Groups of resistance to the dictatorship in Spain from 1939 to 1965) of this region. I connect this story, in some way, with the experience of the resistance movements of my country.
"Gentlemen and ladies in brief moments we are about to land at Dublin airport the temperature is ... “Aidan, wake up! It's more than eight o'clock! "This time, it's Erin nudging me.
I look out the window, it's raining. The drops of water from the glass take me back to the torrents and gorges of Extremadura.
Aidan, June of 2017
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Active Tourism, an eco-awar family enterprise from Extremadura: Conyegar
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