Taking Initiative - Hiking in the Sierras of Béjar

Today I rediscovered the importance of taking initiative, a lesson that I have learned before but is often easy to let slip away. Yesterday I reached out to some peers in my group that I hadn't spent much time with before. We decided to take a bus to Béjar, a small town within the province of Salamanca, and go hiking in the mountains. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect at the beginning of the day. It became evident pretty early on that we were going to have a wonderful adventure. 

After arriving in Béjar, we found the office of tourism. The very helpful woman who worked there pulled out some maps and showed us the hiking route we should take for a 4 hour hike. And just like that, we were off. We had to walk up a fairly steep mountain to get to where the hiking paths even started. Once we reached the top, we were greeted by a view of the snowcapped Béjar Mountain Range.  

This sign reads "Hiking through Béjar." When we reached the top
of the first mountain we used this map to orient ourselves and find the route we needed. 

We had this view throughout the entirety of our hike

The route we chose took us in a giant loop from Béjar, to the town of  Candelario which was nestled in the valley between the mountains, and around through a pine forest and then back to Béjar. The hike took us about 4 hours, including stopping for pictures and lunch.

The town of Candelario where we stopped for lunch (Candleas, my host mom, packed me a salami bocadillo AND a nutella sandwich...everyone was jealous :p)

The lesson of taking initiative that I learned today was twofold --

1. Even if it's difficult at first, it's worth it to reach out to people who you don't know that well to go on an adventure. I hope to continue to do this throughout my time in Spain, with both IES and USalamanca students. 

2. It is equally important to 'reach out' to Spain. I think sometimes it's easy to feel like just being in Spain, in such a new situation, is enough - that I can sit back and wait for Spain to come to me. But there is so much to find and experience, right nearby, that I (re)realize how essential it is, and how happy it makes me, to go out and chase after Spain. 

I certainly don't think that this is the last time in my life (or even on this trip) that I will relearn this lesson. But at this moment, I feel lucky to have it in my heart along with the memories of today. 

Saludos, 

AB