The good, the bad, and
The ugly prowl these hot lands
Like lost souls. Searching.
I'm not sure which of us matches which of those characterisations (wink wink, nudge nudge), but we three headed out from Almería rather late today. Sleeping in is a luxury we don't often have, but staying in a real campsite and now having a bit of time to spare made it possible.
Our siesta in Almería was wholly uneventful. We scoured the city, looking for Wi-fi (gaah! Northern Spain got it so right!!) in innumerable cafés only to happen upon an unprotected network in a random residential park. Strange how these things work. Anyway, we did our internets quickly and cooked a fine meal of lentils. Cooking in parks is so exciting: every time we do it I can feel my hobosity increasing, and the food is always so much better (and just so much more, really) than what we could find in a restaurant. We've all-but-given up going to restaurants because the price to food-amount to deliciousness ratio doesn't satisfy us in the least.
Heading out after napping shifts--useful when three all want to use the internet and to sleep, and time is limited--, we took our final routing choice. The mountains were a better route. The coast from Almería was much longer and headed through a mountain park anyway, not to mention that the roads dwindled off into paths that didn't connect in any sensible way. It would be hot and hard, but it was better. We headed north.
Immediately, desert. Mountains. I was carrying the knapsack, which I am not particularly accustomed to but generally do alright with, and I nearly passed out from overheating. But the sweeping dryland was breathtaking. The wind stirred up dust devils that chased us along the unused road paralleling the motorway. No animals greeted us. No surprise.
A fair piece to the north our map indicated a place of interest labeled "Mini Hollywood." What? We arrived at it without really intending to. Did you know that the Old West of Clint Eastwood movies (and other films from that era) is actually the south of Spain? Well, you do now. I super like that photo. Look through our Picasa albums for one of me and my sister posing with "lassos" and "cowboy hats." :)
Even as the sun began to think about sleeping for the night, there was no chill in the air. The heat here does not magically go away at sunset as it does in other places. It seems to permeate what little vegetation there is and leak from it for hours afterward. We settled into an olive field, our camping stove-and-tent setup hidden from the road by a giant stone welcome sign and gate, for the evening. Lordy, it's hot. I'm so glad we're not biking this in the middle of the day... probably we'll be able to make it to the coast before it genuinely turns warm tomorrow morning.