Life in Pradoluengo, Spain

My legs started to burn the further up we went, and the walk down would leave my hips sore for days after, but reaching the peak was a dream. This past weekend I embarked on my first ever mountain hike, a total of four hours, seven miles, and peak 4,100-foot elevation. It’s a trek the inhabitants of Pradoluengo, Spain complete often as they take advantage of the landscape around them. 

Life here is simple. There is no fuss over unnecessary things, they have all they need with nothing frivolous. I awake at seven most mornings and take my time getting prepared to teach at the school at nine. With the school being a few minutes’ walk away there is no need to rush out the door with time needed to drive. Instead, we walk merrily down the street as the music played by the school echoes through the town.

After hours spent with the students integrating English into their daily classes the school day ends at two. From there it is back to the house to have lunch, their largest meal of the day. Food here is different than America, but delicious, nonetheless. Taking the time to soak in all the most popular foods I continue to eat my fair share of jamon serrano, lomo embuchado, and butifarra, all cured meats I would enjoy the American versions of! The fish here is fresh and the fruit is plentiful too. After lunch and a siesta, the children take part in various activities: sports, extra classes, dance, or playing together in the park. This is no different than what is felt like to grow up in America. Though the walk to all your friends’ houses is just a minute or two and nothing more! 

I spend these hours attending some of the children’s activities, watching them play in the park, going on runs, or enjoying a drink at one of the three coffee shops turned bars on the weekend. As everyone knows everyone in this town being a foreigner means people notice your presence more. It truly feels like everyone is somehow related to one another like one big family. 

Time on the weekends is spent with family having a big, beautiful lunch together often walking off the meal through the town after. Having the pleasure of attending family meals on both Saturday and Sunday I was truly stuffed full of amazing food. 

My host mother has family in a nearby village with 20 total inhabitants! They walked me around the small town and pointed out historical elements along the way: an old wheat grinding mill built by their grandfather or where they once did laundry using the stream which flows through the city. While I knew towns like this existed in the world it is truly wonderful to experience them in person with the people who keep them alive. 

While my Spanish needs much improvement, I am able to communicate more and more each day, learning more about these people and their culture along the way. Many in this village refer to it as “the heart of Spain”, still deeply entrenched in tradition and even using words not seen anywhere else! So, yes, it is quite different from the life I am used to in America, but a great different. I am constantly reminded humans are more alike than different as I connect details learned here to life in America, surprising the Spaniards by how similar it is too.