Las Casas de Alcanar

In the first week of September, just before school started, I went with the family on their vacation to the beach. Rebeca's family has a beach home just outside of a little village called Las Casas de Alcanar. The home was located in front of the sea wall with a beach within walking distance (although the beach was a little rocky). Since the sea was so close, we could leave the windows open and enjoy the breeze and amazing sound of the waves crashing on the rocks. My room had windows that faced the sea so I really liked falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the waves.

Enjoying lunch in the back yardish area. That gate leads out to the sea wall.

While in Las Casas we enjoyed riding around on the boat, fishing, relaxing, and eating! The food we ate while on vacation was so fresh and tasty! A lot of it was very healthy (veggies, fresh seafood) but we also had some very unhealthy things (Paella and Leche Merengada).

Chilling on the boat.. :)

Paella is a traditional dish that originated in Valencia. It is rice that is cooked in a sauce with some sort of meat. There are different flavors and types depending on what kind of meat you use.

Leche Merengada is an amazing little drink that is basically milk that has been sweetened and frozen (slightly). It can also be made into an ice cream of sorts. You have to drink it with cinnamon on top! It was awesommeee. We went into the village and had this awesome drink just about every day.

A couple of times we took the boat out to a sand bar where there is a little restaurant. The food was so very fresh and amazing. I loved the outdoor eating area and I love that we had to take the boat out there. The paella we had out there was probably my favorite. If you have paella, make sure you squeeze some lemon over your rice, it definitely adds a lot of flavor.

The weather while we were there was sunny and warm every day. It was not too cold to swim but it wasn't unbearably hot. Some days it was quite warm in the house because of the lack of air conditioning. But with the windows open and the fans blowing, we survived.

One day I went running around one in the afternoon when it was probably in the high eighties. I definitely realized that I think(know) I have lost ALL of my ability to deal with higher temperatures. Before I left for Spain I could go running in 100 degree weather and be fine. My run in Las Casas had me gasping for air and crawling into the shade! (haha okay maybe it wasn't that dramatic)

The last three days we were in Las Casas, one of the Garces' family friends came and stayed with us at the house. It was great to have more people around and I really enjoyed getting to know them. They have three kids who are super cool and were very sweet. Two of them knew quite a bit of English so they were nice to have around.

The week at the beach was a relaxing and fun time. I loved being by the sea and I couldn't help but smile every time we were on the boat.

On Sunday it was time for us to make the drive back to Puigcerda.. On the way we stopped at a restaurant and got these charred onion things. They were quite interesting. Not my favorite. But they were still fun to peel and (sort of) enjoy.

When we arrived in Puigcerda, we couldn't help but feel that we had driven into fall. There was a slight chill in the air and leaves were changing and falling.

Fall is probably my favorite season so I was quite happy that it came upon us so suddenly.

Another great thing about fall is that it means I am coming home in less than a month! I have really enjoyed my time here, but I am so very excited that I will be in Texas soon.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Love you guys!

-Ames