Trip to Valle de Jerte and Galicia

The month of April is crazy for me. I will be traveling for 20 our of 30 days. I already want camping for the first weekend in Valle de Jerte, which is known for it's cherry trees. Every year around this time (depending on when the trees bloom) there is a festival and celebration of the cherries. Everything in the towns within the valley is based on cherries. It was really nice to get out into the wilderness and hike in the area called ''La garganta de los infiernos'', or the throat of hell. It sounded menancing at first, but ended up being a great hike with some really nice views. I went with a group of Erasmus (the European version of Study Abroad) students: There were two French, two Italian, one Turkish, one Spanish, two Americans and one Canadian. Everywhere we went we were asked where we were from, for records and statistics of the tourists, and we always had to list six countries. It was quite the international group

Then, three days later I rented a car with my friend Morgan to go to Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña. I am looking at a jewelry design school in Vigo, so I went to spend 3 days there to see if I liked the school. Morgan explored the city and showed me all of the most important parts when I finished school in the afternoon. The school was great, and everyone was super friendly, and helped me with everything I needed. Also, the accent there was so much clearer than in Badajoz! It was much easier to understand. 

After Vigo we went on our way to Santiago de Compostela, where they were celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Cathedral by "hugging" it. People were dressed up in traditional Gallego costumes and they organized people to surround the cathedral holding hands, to give it a hug. It was fun to see. Then, we took a quick trip up to A Coruña, another city on the northern coast of Spain. It was a nice city, but sadly the highlight for us was eating Subway... We were craving American food so badly that we were thrilled to find Subway and Foster's Hollywood Cafe. And we ate at both...