Life in the Sierra

Well I have realized after the past year that I am not a very good blogger.  My plan to write an entry every couple weeks has failed miserably.  The last time I wrote was just after I arrived in Siles.  At that point, I knew very little about the town and all I could give were my first impressions.  It's amazing to think that I've already been here for more than a month and a half.  Time has really passed quickly since I've been here.  It really does seem like I just arrived but I guess that is a good sign.  After spending a month and a half in Siles, I've found that there are some real advantages and disadvantages but before I get into the pros and cons let me give you a little more information about Siles, the in which I'm now living.  As I wrote previously, Siles is a small town that is located in the mountain range, Sierra de Segura which is in the Jaén province.  The town was surrounded by forests and it was originally an important site for the lumber industry.  Wood from the surrounding forests was used to build the ships that would sail from Spain to the Spanish colonies.  I found this to be an interesting connection to my home State of California.  With the decline of the lumber industry Siles has shrank significantly in size.  One look outside the window of my apartment will tell you the industry that is important to Siles today, olives.  Olive tree orchards stretch as far as the eye can see.  There have to be millions of Olive trees in the mountain ranges surrounding Siles.  In Spain like in Italy olives are extremely important because olive oil is used to cook almost everything here.  People around here like to boast that the best olive oil in the world come from Jaén.  They also claim that most of the "Italian" olive oil that is shipped to the US and other countries is grown and produced in Spain.  They say that the olive oil is then bought by Italian companies and marketed as Italian olive oil.  As a result of being where the alleged best olives in the world come from, I have eaten more olives after a month and a half in Siles than I have in the prior 25 years.

                                        View from my apartment of mountains and olive trees

So let's start with the advantages of living in a small town in Spain in the middle of the mountains.  The first advantage is the commute.  Last year, I had to travel in between Cuenca and Motilla del Palancar every day I had to work which ended up being 2 hours of commuting.  In Siles, I can get to my school in ten minutes on foot.  My commute time has majorly decreased.  Another advantage of Siles in living being in the middle of a National Forest.  Siles is not only surrounded by olive trees but also surrounded by pines trees and nature.  There are hundreds of trails to go hiking on and many beautiful small towns in the area that are nestled up in the mountains.  This past Saturday, I participated in a popular activity here in the Sierra, collecting wild mushrooms.  During the fall in Siles it seems that almost everybody heads out to the forest to look for wild mushrooms.  They grow in abundance here and many mushrooms are edible, although I would never go without a local because there are mushrooms here that are poisonous.  Saturday afternoon I came home with a half bucket full of mushrooms and later cooked them all.  I'm still standing so I must have picked the right ones!  My experience with the people from Siles, Sileños, has been quite similar to my experience in Cuenca.  People here have been so warm and welcoming to me just as they were in Siles.  Even if I meet someone for the first time, they usually offer to help with any problems or issues that might come up.  Similarly to Cuenca, people seem not only willing but excited about sharing their hometown and customs with a foreigner.  I think this has become my favorite part of Spain.  They've done a good job of spoiling me.

Although living in my new town has been a mostly positive experience there are some drawbacks.  One of these is being removed from all my wonderful friends that I made in both Cuenca and Motilla del Palancar.  Last year was an exceptional year for me and I established some great relationships with friends and colleagues at the school.  At times it has been hard being away from this support system that I had last year, but I'm already starting to make one of my own in Siles and I already have some great relationships with some of the people here.  Another disadvantage of Siles is the town is out in the middle of nowhere.  Although the area is beautiful, it is not very well connected with the rest of Spain.  If you don't have a car it's a little difficult to travel.  There is no train station and bus service to and from the town is rather limited.  I have been catching a lot of rides with my colleagues at the school since many of them travel on the weekend.  I've been able to find rides to many places in the area, which has made my life a lot easier.  I've even been able to catch rides to Motilla del Palancar.

Most weekends I've been traveling around the area.  One long weekend some of my friends from Cuenca came to visit me here in Siles.  We spent the weekend exploring the area, which included going to the town of Ubeda, which is a town about the size of Cuenca filled with old Renaissance style buildings.  Other weekends I made trips to Jaen, Cuenca and Zaragoza.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving!  As I discuss with my students the tradition of Thanksgiving and how the whole premise of the holiday is to give thanks, I realize this is something that I don't do enough on my own.  I'm truly lucky to have such wonderful friends and family in many parts all over the globe.   I have been able to have incredible experiences in many places whether it has been California, Ohio, Chile, Spain or somewhere else.  It has been the people that I have met and shared these experiences with that have made these experiences truly amazing.  So thank you to everyone!  I'm truly blessed that you have been a part of my adventures and look forward to the many adventures to come!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!