I have spent the last two Saturdays up in the Alpujarras, a mountain range on lower south side of the Sierra Nevada characterized by its spring water and Jamón Serrano (ham that is dried in the mountains). The Alpujarras has many small villages tucked into the sides of the mountains or on plateaus. You can hike the entire Alpujarras in one week on the GR-7, which runs through the Alpujarras all the way up through Spain, France, and Italy, to Greece.

On my first trip I went with four others to Lanjarón, a long and narrow village. Using my Andalucia Travel guide from Lonely Planet (a must have for this semester, thank you mom) we stopped at a tourist office where the guide showed us a good trail and gave us a map. Then we went to check out the view from the Arabic castle. It was phenomenal. The Alpujarras doesn’t get a lot of attention because it’s right next to the Sierra Nevada, so the castle was a great find that not too many know about.

My second trip was with another set of friends, this time we headed to Pampaneira. When we arrived the tourist guide told us we could take the bus from a village further up the mountain, so that way we would have time to make a substantial hike. We headed up and sideways along the valley through Bubión and Capileira, stopping every little while to take in the view. At one point I could see the snow capped Sierra Nevadas, the village dotted valley I was in, the lake it led to, and the sun-reflecting Mediterranean ocean, all from one place!

Nearing the end of our trek we tried to cut off the path in order to try to summit before the bus came. Of course, fate would have it that we just ended up in a field with a horse staring at us. Then we had to walk behind what looked like a quiet house, only to find a small barbecue party on the other side. After they stared at us once they pretended like we didn’t exist, phew! We awkwardly played along and walked around their house back to the street. Embarrassing!

We ended up having a little time in Capileira before the bus came, so we sat down at Bar El Tilo to have tapas. At one point I had

to ask if we could have a minute to think and was told, “En las Alpujarras no hay estres” (in the Alpujarras there is no stress). Very chill, thank you cool waiter guy with yoga pants. Then as we ate the plaza below us filled up with people lining up to get roasted chestnuts. At first puzzled, I went down to check it out and discovered they were free! Someone gave me a small newspaper which I used to scoop some up. So great! I have no idea who was cooking them or why they were free, or if it was custom, but it was fantastic.