Calpe and my last day in Alicante : (

Today was my last full day in Alicante : ( but it was a great one! This morning Cristina and her daughter picked up Paco, Carmen, and I and we went to Calpe, a little city in Valencia up the coast a little. It is beautiful there! The weather was veryyy cloudy, but it wasn´t that cold. Seriously there are these beautiful big houses all up on the mountains and on the cliffs that overlook the mediterranean, and theres a big port where all the boats are docked, and the little center where all the fish and food and restaurants are was so fun to walk around in. When we got there we climbed up this big huge stone. Penyal d´ifac or something? I got a brochure on it. It is basically a huge rock that is preserved by the community and you can hike up it and then at the top sort of climb through it but you have to use a rope to help you climb and it was pretty slippery so I was too scared to do it. Once we climbed so high we got to see the prettiest views of the city it was beautiful. It might have been a little prettier if it was sunny but you could still totally see how great the view was. Only Cristina, the daugher and I made it to the very top and even I was really sore afterwards so it´s a good thing Carmen and Paco didn´t climb any higher than they did. Like I´m for sure going to be sore tomorrow...probably because I haven´t worked out in 4 months..After the climb we went back down and wandered through the areas with all the information on the land and all the different types of animals you can see there and the rocks and trees, etc. It was so cool I´m so glad they took me there. Then we ate the best lunch ever oh my gosh. We got calamari and an assortment of fried fish to start, and then Carmen and I split a seafood paella. It was SO GOOD. Usually I don´t like paella in restaurants, my señora told me its because they cook it like 2 days in advance, but I could tell this stuff was really fresh, and the fish gave it such a good flavor. Apparantly this place has some of the freshest fish around. Throughout the center each little stand was trying to compete for your business to buy their fish. After lunch we just wandered around for a little bit, and on the way home little Cristina and I both fell asleep in the car. When we got home we all rested for a little bit, then I caught up on some shows and chatted with my friends for a while and skyped my dad. For dinner we had delicious cauliflower and the reallllllyyy good jamon that we had bought the night before. They are going to make me a bocadillo tomorrow for the airport with it. Yum. For dessert, strawberries with whipped cream, and a little later, ice cream. Needless to say it´s been a great week here. I´m not really ready to leave. I really hope all of them come visit Portland at some point. They treated me so well here. Tomorrow my flight is at 12 so I pretty much just have to get up, eat breakfast and head out the door. I think Cristina is taking me to the airport so I will get to see them one more time. I´m definately going to miss it here I´ve had so much fun. Maica pleeease tell your parents how much I enjoyed it because I don´t think I´m expressing my gratitude enough through my limited spanish skills. Also, it´s been so nice to be able to blog everyday of my trip...it´s going to be annoying when I go to Madrid and then Canary Islands for a week and can´t blog the whole time..Pictures will come tomorrow, and if not, Saturday. I apologize in advance for how many self-pictures I took...sometimes it´s just more interesting to have a person in the picture...and a lot of those times it´s just me...taking it myself. Hope you enjoy though!

                                                  Calpe!

                                      Walking up to the big stone, Penyal d'ifac