Back from holidays

It's been a while since my last post here and even though I came back home more than a week ago I hadn't posted anything yet because I needed to organize a lot of things first: starting with my mind, work, pictures, meeting friends and so on.


Where to start?

Asturias (taken from Wikipedia)

Since I moved to Iceland I had only been travelling on the island (which has been great and I mean GREAT) but sometimes it is good to change the air and go somewhere else. This is an island and sometimes you really feel like you are totally isolated and away from everything so it is more than necessary to get in touch with something different.


This spring's destination was Spain and more specifically Asturias.


Asturias is absolutely different from what everybody has in mind about Spain: sun, beach, party, etc. No, no. Far from that, being the key features of Asturian geography its rugged coastal cliffs facing the Cantabric Sea, the mountain interiors, forests everywhere and a nice template climate.


Now, why Asturias? I have a very good friend who lives in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. Laura and I met about eight years ago in Santiago de Chile while she was finishing her career there as an exchange student. Last year she came to visit me to Iceland and now it was my turn to go and visit her. 

Laura and us in Cudillero

The trip began in Madrid where we spent a weekend. I always say that living in Iceland spoils people. Everything is close, tiny and very familiar. Being in a huge city, as Madrid, was a bit of a shock (but not in a bad way). So much noise, people everywhere, traffic, commerce and the possibility of getting lost in lost that was something that even though I can say I was missing (because Santiago is like that also) after two days I thought I had enough of it and moving up north was the best thing to do. 

One of the first things we made was to visit a market. Oh how I miss markets! Fresh fruit! Lots of them! I ate some fruits that I hadn't eaten since I moved here! Peaches, papayas and medlars. 

Once in Asturias we stayed mostly in Oviedo and Villaverde and moved from there. 

Oviedo from Cerro Naranco

Villaverde

Everything we saw was breathtaking: 

Beautiful beaches

Including Gulpiyuri: a very peculiar beach that on a cliff about 100m away from the coast  and surounded by a green meadow

(Picture taken from the internet)

Small  towns and villages 

Cangas de Onís

Llanes

Ribadella

Cudillero

Among others.

Caves

Like Cuevona: the only access to the village of Cuevas is driving  through a natural 300m long cave.

And Cobijero, a cave that ends next to sea deep in the cliff:

Mountains everywhere (unfortunetely it was cloudy most of the time so we couldn't see the European Peaks) 

Eurpean Peaks (pic by Paco Lavín)

And green everywhere!

Covadonga

I think I could be writing many pages about everythig we saw... so I better share with you the pictures I put on my Flickr gallery (I am still uploading pics, still going through them... so if you are interested you can always check again for updates :)


Another thing that I made while I was in Oviedo was to meet with Hiro, a Revelry friend, that lives in Langreo, very close to Oviedo. We spent a very nice day day together. She took us to Langreo, her hometown, and had lunch there (wow, I can't believe how much I ate there!) and visited the MUMI (Museo de la Minería, The Mining Industry Museum). Hiro started an online shop (www.tejeme.com) and has really cool things there. 

We also made a little trade: I took for her plötulopi so she can knit a lopapeysa and some candy and she gave me SO MANY THINGS!!: sweet wine, a skein of baby alpaca, stitch markers, needle holders and bag (all made by her). If you read this Hiro: ¡Muchas gracias nuevamente por todo especialmente tu hospitalidad y generosidad!



Time went really fast, I it always does when we are having fun! It was an amazing time. I am really looking forward to coming back there and very soon!


About knitting. Even though I took the Lilac shawl with me I think I managed to knit just one pattern repetition. We were really too busy travelling, eating and having fun that there was almost no time for knitting! So, the shawl is pretty much the same: I am done with 14 repetitions (and I am planning to make at least 30, the shawl has to be really long) and I still have to think about the border.


Since I came back home I decided to finish the lopapeysa for my friend in Argentina NOW! Before travelling I had the body and one sleeve done. I have managed to finish the second arm and I am already knitting the yoke (yes! the fun part finally!). It is looking really good and I think it will be done either tonight or tomorrow :)

For now I am trying to keep the focus in these two projects and then think about what comes next... it has been really hard! Especially because in Asturias we visited the shop of a friend of Laura in Avilés and I bought bobbins (bolillos) and a couple of books: yes, I will try to learn how to make bobbin lace just with a book. SO WISH ME LUCK! 


By now, I am still waiting for the bobbins to come because I sent them through the mail (we bought so many things that we decided to send a couple of boxes instead of paying to the airline for the extra kilos). 


Now I just have to be patient.