The tunnel to the gift shop![gallery]

 


I wake to intermittent rain and wonder if I will get in my hike today.  Last night, the english speaking hosts son-in-law recommended one nearby and it sounds wonderful through chestnut and beech forests.  He also recommend the caves of El Soplao, with unique and rare stalactites growing in an unusual fashion from the wind drafts on the cave.  Another recommendation is the tramway  to see the Picos de Europa the best way and I decide on the cave, the tram and the hike if it fits in, which I seriously doubt.   I am on small mountain roads which I love and do take shortcuts when I see them.  After Michael Jackson sings to me, Chris Issac falls in love and radio reception wanes, Mary Morrissey is on a CD speaking about the Law of Attraction, the video, ‘The Secret’ and living life in the moment.  If one advances confidently in the direction of their dreams; that which we fear and that which we revere it has a magnitude of power to it.   When Emerson says stand by the portal of your mind, it is the guard that which we let in and take root or that which we don’t give any credence to.  We allow ourselves to dwell in patterns of thinking out of habit and reinforcements from our world that supports thinking about the/our problem.  The discipline of mind or thinking is part of living from the secret.  The past is important yet not all-encompassing, we don’t have to live it still.  We can forgive if not forget.  We can always choose a different future.

The entrance fee to the caves is 12€ and in Spanish only.   I am an hour early, as winter hours have kicked in and it opens at 11:00 instead of summers 9:30.  I sit and have a cafe con leche in the cafe overlooking the beautiful mountains and valleys below.  I have climbed a bit up a hill to get here and many peaks lie on the horizon.  The tramway is not running into the cave for some reason in Spanish, which I understand ‘mas o menos’; (more or less); possibly more ‘less’ than ‘mas’.  We walk into the cave and it is beautiful, once mined extensively for gold (I think).  The ‘menos’ is alive and well.  Lots of explanations I do not understand save that I already know and recognize about stalactites, stalagmites and columns.  It is a very unusual cave with the stalactites that grow every which way due to the wind currents in the caves (?-another ‘menos’).   One area is the opera room with great acoustics and we are treated with wonderful opera music once we enter.

I want a ceramic handmade vase, I do not need (I’m so bad buying breakables on long trips and keep up this bad habit here) in the gift shop and here starts my bad day of expenditures.  It’s like once that gate opens I cannot close it for at least the day.  A couple of innocent postcards starts it and a magnet which is my normal allowable expenditures; of which I will soon need a bigger refrigerator for!

My next stop is the tramway up to the peaks of Pico de Europa in Fuenta De.  This takes me through Potos, a bigger town with stop lights which I have not seen lately.  I am getting use to the flashing yellow; which does not mean stop if you can.  The flashing yellow occurs both before it turns red and before it turns green, it just means go but be cautious, I have noticed that it turns solid yellow right before it turns red.  Even after the light turns red I see the locals going through it!  The town is bustling with people and I decide I’ll stop and look around on my return trip.  I finally reach the tramway.  I am unhappy with the trams 16€ cost, yet must go.  There are only a half-dozen other Spanish men with me on the trip up.  It is beautiful and I am surprisingly not as fearful as I think I may be, unable to see the top where we dock at.  The trip is silent and stealth like, very fast.  The mountains have fresh snow on them from last night, at least six inches worth!  It is gorgeous up there.  I want to hike some at the top yet the snow changes my mind and how cold my feet will be tramping around in the fresh snow, my hike is very short.  It took hours to dry my shoes last night by the fire.   I am pleased to realize I am not paying a heavy price for yesterday’s hike, barely feeling any effects.

Outside there is another catwalk screened see through bottom where you can see straight down, the 750 (2475 ft.) meters we ascended.   Wow!  What a view!  I also proudly realize I did more than that yesterday!   This was so much faster!!  We are at 1847 meters (6,095 ft.).  The views are spectacular, fresh snow-capped mountains, a glacier valley, steep limestone walls and fall colored trees below.  While rainy at times today, it clears up perfectly for me, clouds wafting in and around the peaks, which was exactly what I ordered!   I go inside for a cafe con leche and then I continue my expenditures with a tee-shirt of Pico de Europa and a couple other small items.   The cashier wraps each item separately in paper, a common practice I now realize, be it a pastry or product.  After I pay I see a pin of Picos de Europa I want and she graciously wraps it as well and shrugs off my payment; a gift she says!  “Thank you! Gracias!”  I go to descend and am unhappy with the full car!  It’s perfectly fine though and after descending I drive to the town of Potos, known for a special liquor and fresh at the tail end of a three-day festival for such…..

I should’ve passed it by.   It is as if I must stop, to feel the festival-like setting and throngs of people milling in and out of the shops and bars.  Music can be heard and bagpipes and accordions are seen.  It is a nice change from my isolation.  The town is a decent size, not too big for my taste, the main area is compact.  Some of the shops are in a pedestrian only area, quaint, old with the stone buildings I’ve grown accustomed to.   I walk into a few shops and it turns out the gates to ‘Visa land’ are still open as I buy local liquor, pastries for my travels, local meats of boar and deer, a gazelle skin I do not need and a shirt, hat and local designed jacket that I do not need.   I find trekking poles for 7.70€ , I cannot resist; it’s a cheap price and completes my set.   I gotta close that gate!   After pizza (local meat, cheese and mushrooms) and a beer that is!!  Total for the day: 198€  yikes!  The dollar is at 1.33€.  It is time to be frugal again.

One of my original plans in this area was to go to a town I read about called Barcena Mayor, a town reputed to be the best preserved of the old style yet my host tells me the town I am is also representative of that, which is exactly what it felt like when I entered it.  The difference is that Barcena Mayor has the marketing and tourist shops to commemorate it.  I don’t need to go to a tourist place to feel that, plus I did that enough today.  I trust my host.  After today expenditures, I gotta get back off the beaten track!

It is a full day as I am home after dark looking at a clear star filled sky.  No hike today.  Starting my fire I must dry the rest of my clothes to hit the road again tomorrow……

One thing I learn on this trip is I realize that I am not attached to the outcome.   I will enlarge this thought to any outcome in my life; no forecasting, no mind reading, no expectations.   I want to live in the moments and embrace it all.   The sound of the church bell eleven times rings as I tempt sleep.