Parque Natural El Torcal mountain hike

Monday, March 31, 2014
Antequera, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Yeah, it looks like the cool (by Spanish, not Canadian standards) and rainy weather system of the last few days has gone. Today dawned bright and sunny, with very little wind.
We've laughed at ourselves since yesterday, when we found out that our one and only watch has been set one hour late since we've arrived in Spain . We don't have a cell phone, and the only TV we can get here is out of England, and there's no clock in our apartment. So yesterday, being Sunday, we thought we'd saunter 'round the village, giving ourselves lots of time to get to the beautiful local church for Mass at 11:30am. We arrived at the church, and there was a buzz of people inside - so thinking it was just another busload of tourists, we entered, took a seat in the back pew, and 'lo and behold, found out that we were just in time for Communion! Asking a young parishioner, we found out that Tom's watch has been set one hour slow for the last two weeks! After a good laugh, we decided that this is the way to be relaxed while on holiday. The only reason we needed to know the exact time was because we had a lunch reservation for 1pm, at a very nice local hotel, Valparaiso. It is an Italian restaurant, delicious food and excellent personal service - the owner of 30 years gave me a rose as we left. So European!
Today, being bright and sunny, we headed out for a hike, high in the mountains northeast of Mijas . We drove through very high mountain ranges, with lots of hairpin curves in the road, prime agricultural land of olives, wheat and beans, avoiding herds of goats and sheep grazing along the edge of the roads. Antequera is the closest town to the park, with its Roman castle still in very good shape, protecting and overlooking the townspeople below.
Passing through Antequera, we travelled on to the Parque Natural El Torcal for our hike. We were surprised at the beauty and grandeur of the limestone formations. We were also surprised at the temperature differences as we climbed from the bottom of the mountain at +20 degrees to the top of the mountain at +10 degrees. No wonder people looked at me curiously in my shorts - the class of young children on their school trip to El Torcal were all wearing their winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves.The limestone was formed over 200 million years ago while on the bottom of the sea, from the accumulation of millions of shells and sea creatures. Since being pushed up and above sea level by earthquakes only a few million years ago, the limestone has been weathered into unusual rock formations and caves. Apparently it is also home to fox, weasel and some special wild orchids, but we didn't see any. I looked, but didn't see any fossils. We hiked slowly through the rock strewn paths, not nearly as surefooted at the mountain goats we did see along the way. What a great day we spent in the mountains of El Torcal. If I had to live in Spain, this certainly would be one of my choices - such a perfect mix of agriculture, mountains and vistas, all with the backdrop of the Mediterranean sea.

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