California Stars, Wilco and Billy Bragg

Did you know that the reason why California's coast is so rocky and cliff-y is because we lie on a fault line on the boarder of two tectonic plates? Well, obviously, seeing all the earthquakes we have, but a lot of the mid-westerners I'm meeting did not realize this. So when we saw the southern coast of Spain this weekend with my oceanography trip, a fair amount of the kids did not realize why there are so many mountains on the coast line, as well as rocky, cliff-y beaches. In fact, there were even some complaints about the discomfort associated with these beaches! Crazy, right?

The southern coast of Spain, outside of Alicante in the Valencia region is extremely similar to the coast of California and well, the entire west coast. There were a grand total of three west coasters on this trip, and everyone else was shocked by the "state" of these. Monica, our professor, was very patient to explain all of the interesting facts about oceanography, including naming different kinds of fish, pointing out sea anemones and nursing jelly fish stings. (I did not get stung, thankfully.) We ate lunch with her, and I may or may not have interviewed her about her master's thesis (150 pages long. I doubt I could write something that long..) and environmental issues and how they're being addressed (they're not). She teased me for reading Into Thin Air (done with the 3rd book, starting the 4th. How many more months do I have here?), and asked me a lot of questions about Yellowstone and mountain climbing. She gave me some tips about local Madrid areas for camping and hiking. I think I sufficiently kissed up, but will probably keep going. She's a very, very interesting person.

On Friday, we snorkeled in the Mediterranean, went to an aquarium (tiny, but it had a loggerhead turtle!!) and ate delicious Spanish-Mediterranean food. The beach we went to was protected so we were able to see a more "full" ecosystem, although it is still struggling to be a fully recovered one. The problems of erosion we encounter in California are also very serious in Spain, and there are only a few environmental groups trying to fix this. Most politicians, however, are more concerned about the money tourism brings in, ignoring that in a few years, if nothing is done, the entire area could be in serious trouble for more than just tourism. The groups are starting to get some help from the UN, but there is only so much the UN can do.
Saturday, we went sea kayaking. After paddling for about an hour, we made it 3.2 miles to a nearby beach, where we were intending to have lunch. However, the winds began to pick up, it got cold and they tried to send us back to the port. However, my kayak took on some water when we got out past the shore break; 4 inches wasn't that big of a concern, though. We continued on, only to have the ocean continue to fill up our kayak. At 7 inches, we were still unconcerned, but by the time we made a joke about this, suddenly, there was 12 inches and the front of the kayak was going down. Meredith jumped out and we tried to figure out the best course of action. How did I handle this crisis? By laughing, of course. A second kayak stopped to help us briefly, but there was nothing we could do until the dingy came. The driver of the dingy emptied our kayak, helped us into the boat and then gave our kayak to another pair. Our kayaking adventure had ended on a fairly exciting note. I have decided from this that I absolutely love sea kayaking. When I become a nomad, I'm going to have an inflatable kayak with me in my pack.

Sunday, we had a storm. In about 30 minutes of rain, the roadway was flooded, so we stopped in a small town and ate lunch. After having a long conversation about Mexican food, we chanced upon one in this town (don't know what it was called). Unfortunately, we were barely able to see much of the Mar Menor (a small inlet of the Mediterranean Sea) nor much of the area around the light house we stopped by, other than cliffs. The areas on the coast in Southern Spain are extremely built up and they're in for a nasty surprise when the jetties continue to destroy beaches and erode the coast line more than it's already eroded.

Other than this weekend, this week was fairly uneventful, again. I went to Sierra Madrid on Tuesday, rock climbed and broke my camera. No joke. I'm way bummed. However, all my pictures are still on the card, it still "takes" sometimes, when the lens decides to work, and I figure, that's not the worst that could happen. At least it was my camera, not my head that got hit on a rock, but I guess that's still up for debate.