Adventures from España: Salinas ❤

I have found a new favorite place in Spain :)

During the week, Carmen, our AHA site director, invited us over to her house in Salinas to have a meal and bond. We planned for Friday after school, but apparently the memo didn't get to everyone and we had some confusion. Poor Carmen had been cooking all day, and I felt so bad that we were not organized enough to come when we told her we would! Yesica and I finally just decided to leave, and some of the other girls met us after their class was over. It is about a 30 minute bus ride to Aviles from Oviedo, and then another 10 minutes into Salinas. Yesi and I took the bus, and then Carmen met us at the station to take us to Salinas. She was nice enough to give us a little tour and she told us all kinds of facts about the 2 cities. Next stop was the beach. We parked and walked out to a point, and as soon as I smelled the ocean I got unbelievably excited! I took tons of pictures, and she told us stories. There was a type of jetty going into the water, and it reminded me of Oregon. My family often rides bikes or takes the boat out to the jetty and we go perch fishing on the rocks, so when I saw similar ones it reminded me of all the good memories and I immediately decided I love that place! Next, we went to Salinas and parked near the beach again. Salinas is a very small town-Carmen said there are only about 7,000 people. She also told me that it used to just be a regular beach town, then people from Oviedo and other cities began using it as a vacation spot for summers. Now, it is home to many people who work in Aviles, and over the summers there are many visitors.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous! We took a walkway out to a point and took lots of pictures, then made our way back. While Carmen got the car, Yesi and I admired a little waterwork on the side of the road that Carmen said an old retired man works on regularly and adds to. We drove to Carmen's apartment, where she had a delicious feast of Cuban food ready for us! Carmen is originally from Cuba, but lived in the US for 20 years and has been in Spain for the last 30. The other girls got there and we ate. The food was amazing and it was so nice of her to prepare it for us! We had black beans and rice, a ground meat dish that was kind of similar to sloppy joe meat (but better), salad, bread, plantains, peppers, an homemade flan that she made the day before. It was absolutely wonderful! We got to talk quite a bit and meet her husband and son. Afterwards, Jessica and Yesica went back home while Megan, Carmen, and I hung out!

Carmen took us to the Niemeyer Center in Aviles and we went up to the restaurant and into the gift shop. Afterwards, we went back to the beach in Salinas and had a lovely talk about the future. Carmen knows that I am interested in coming back to Spain and teaching, and she told me about some programs and told me she would be happy to write me a letter of rec. Clearly, this made me so happy and excited for whatever my future holds! We made our way to the cafe on the beach while watching the surfers, and sat and had a coffee/tea. Finally, it was back to Oviedo for Megan and I!

I absolutely loved Salinas, and I can't believe I hadn't gone there before now! It reminded me of my favorite beaches in Oregon, although I couldn't exactly tell you why. It may have been because it seemed real, unlike the fabulous beaches of Monaco, Barcelona, and Villefranche. There weren't a ton of tourists, and it isn't flawless. There are prettier beach towns in the world, but because it wasn't a fairy tale beach I loved it even more! The little city reminds me of Pacific City, where my family's beach house is in Oregon. It's small enough to walk around without needing a car, and everyone seemed to have that laid back, beachy attitude compared to the city people in Oviedo. It is a great place to go to escape the city, which has always been what the beach is for me-my escape. Overall, it was absolutely incredible, and I am definitely going to try to go back in the next couple weeks! Thank you so much Carmen, this was one of my favorite days in the last 3 months, and it was so nice of you to organize it for us :)