

We started on one side of the mountain and as the path wound upwards, we ended up more on the other side of the mountain, and would you believe it that one side of the mountain was foggy and windy and the other side was clear blue sky?! After a few kilometers we reached the base, which has a little house with picnic tables, and took a short rest before a total uphill walk to the top - standing at 3,500 feet. The beginning part of the walk was quite easy, but the last part gave me and my running shoes a challenge. Although I have a hiking shirt, I don't have hiking boots. I assume that will be my next investment. Anyways, the terrain changed from grassy slopes to steep hills with loose shale rock that changed the scenery from a green to gray quickly. With small crosses lining the path, paying tribute to people who had fallen from the path and died, I made sure to watch each step and not to rush and made it safely to the top.
At the peak were a lot of large crosses (I can't imagine carrying one of them up the shale hill) that had already been enveloped in fog. Although we couldn't see the amazing view that the top has, the quick moving fog provided us a cool resting spot for a few seconds, where you could hear the wind and feel the droplets of mist on your face. In between the fog, you could barely see down the hill and instead we were just in a land of clouds and crosses.
At the peak were a lot of large crosses (I can't imagine carrying one of them up the shale hill) that had already been enveloped in fog. Although we couldn't see the amazing view that the top has, the quick moving fog provided us a cool resting spot for a few seconds, where you could hear the wind and feel the droplets of mist on your face. In between the fog, you could barely see down the hill and instead we were just in a land of clouds and crosses.

By the end of our hike, our tired feet were happy to slip back into flip-flops and our bellies happy to go home and eat lunch while more clouds blew in.
Another day, with good weather blessing us again, we did a short 2-hour hike that is near his home. The hike is named Itxaspe, which is obviously Basque. On the walk, Joseba explained to me the meaning...itxas means sea and pe is a short way of saying the word behind, so the hike leads to a huge Basque house, named Itxaspe - behind the sea! All large Basque houses have names and since the hike goes to this one, it is so named.
Once we reached Itxaspe, we start the descent along a gravel road with vegetable gardens lining the road. Not only gardens, but also goats! Now, the big ones with the horns are tied up and can only wander so far, but the baby goats, cute as they are, can roam where they like, which kind of scared me. I didn't want any goat bites! We traveresed through the scary goat land and finished the hike on the beach - not bad eh??
The last hike I went on, included again this Itxaspe house, but noooo it wasn't a small 2 hour hike. Instead, I hiked from the beach in Orio to San Sebastian - 11.1 miles. Yea, long. It was a sunny day, and I had no plans except to meet a friend in Donosti at 6pm, so I thought to myself, why not just walk there? I know, its a crazy thought, but I had already done a 10 mile hike from Donosti to Orio once before and I thought that although it was long it was peaceful and enjoyable. This time I decided to challenge myself a bit more and decided on a 'difficult level' hike, thinking there would more hills and such. About an hour into the hike, I realized that 'difficult' should have been explained more with the word 'jungle'! With plants covering the path, rock-climbing, cactus-looking trees that cut me up, and creeks to jump over and hills to scale down with a cable, this turned out to be a pretty serious hike for one little girl in shorts.
Between almost falling, dropping my new sunglasses and walking 10 minutes back to thankfully find them and wanting to turn back a million times, I eventually arrived in San Sebastian - 5 hours after I started. While it was a tough hike, it was filled with great things. I was quite surprised to see flowers still blooming this late in summer. With pops of purple, yellow and pink, I was always happy to see these beautiful plants instead of the pokey trees that attacked me. Also impressive where the hills of only slabs of rock. While walking along the narrow path to cross them, I tried not to look down, because if I would have fallen I would have slide all the way to the ocean! Once I finally got across I would always gaze back in amazement.
With these hikes done, I am giving myself time to rest for a bit. After that 11 mile hike my body hated me the next day - tired muscles, sore ankle and scratches all over! But, my friend Emmie and I are already thinking of doing another tough walk next week - only 9 miles! Piece of cake hahaha. I'll let you know if I survive!
Besos!
Amanda
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