On Easter we went hiking in the Llevant mountains in the East. They were the smaller of the two mountain ranges. Hannah's mom made sandwiches and we had to pack up the car with everything.

We drove for awhile along the twisty roads until we were almost there and Sam shouted “nisperos!”. Arjan explained that it was like a mix of a peach and an orange. The trees were in someones yard but after parking the car along the street we could reach them over the fence. Hannah handed one to me. They did look like small peaches and the ripe ones had little brown dots. It was really sweet and citrusy and tasted like a tangy peach. They were pretty small and had a pit in the middle. They were better if you peeled them. It was impossible not to get all sticky. We picked some for awhile and put them in a bag. After rinsing our hands off we got back in the car and then continued towards the mountains. 

Abandoned house along the trail

We parked in a little parking lot across from the trail and got our stuff to go up the mountain we packed out sandwiches and water in Arjans’s bag and Hannah carried it for awhile. We were waiting for some of their other relative to join us for the hike so Arjan, Hannah, and I sat in a shady spot a little up the trail to wait. Savitri and Sam had already decided to run up the mountain and we were left behind. I of course had my camera and couldn't wait to get to the top and take photos.

They finally walked down the path with their young kids in tow. Hannah and I walked together over the twisty rocky trail. Even from half way up the views were amazing. It was middle of the day so it was pretty hot. I had some water but I didn’t want to drink all of it so I had some for when we got to the top. When we were almost to the top we met saw their mom sitting on top overlooking the bay. She looked happy and seemed one with the mountains. 

Sam, Arjan, Hannah and I continued walking up to the top where there was an amazing view. It was more rocking on the top with fewer trees. We could have gone further but we found a spot that overlooked the valley below and the ocean until it added away into the horizon. It was impossible to capture the beauty of it all with my camera. Nevertheless I attempted to take as many photos as I could. There were small pink flowers that were very pretty. We sat there for awhile and ate, tossing rocks over the edge and watching them disappear into the mountain. My tofu sandwich was a bit soggy at that point but I ate some orange too. 

We had become separated from the rest of the group so we hiked down a little bit to try and find them. We figured they had gone off on another path up. Arjan and Sam walked ahead as I walked with Hannah and stopped to take pictures of the mountainside often. 





We spotted some wild mountain goats climbing up. There were four that I counted. They would stick their heads up above the grasses and you could see their black of tan fur. They were surprising close and didn’t seem to mind humans but just went on their way climbing up with their horns peeking out of the grass. 



There was a couple that came down the mountains so we asked them if they had seen a family with two small children. Hannah tried speaking in Spanish but they said they didn’t speak Spanish. Hannah then asked them in English and they posted down the trail to where they had passed them, with their German accents. It was interesting how English was the common language to speak between European countries. It was one that many people knew at least some of. 

We continued walking down the trail and then saw them coming towards us. They were headed up a bit more and asked if we wanted to go with them. Sam and Arjan were ready to sprint down the mountain because Sam was starving. Hannah and I decided to follow, walking much slower and taking photos while they literally ran down. They were even faster than the mountain goats. Hannah had warned me that Sam got grumpy when he was hungry. We looked down at one point and they were already half way down. The walk down was very pretty and for part of the hike down we took a different path. 



There were stone walls that ran across the mountains and little gates that had been worn away. There was a hermitage across where there was a church on top of another mountain. I decided it wouldn’t be so bad to live on top of a mountain for the year instead of going to college. I thought I could find a shaman and then I could find myself on top of a mountain. It really didn’t seem like a bad idea. 

By the time Hannah and I got to the bottom Sam and Arjan had already ran into the little nearby town and looked for food. Everything was closed because it was a Sunday and Easter. They could only find bars that were open with expensive food. They had come back and were sitting in the car when Hannah and I found them. We had pretty much ran out of food and as Hannah had warned me Sam was very hangry. I found two mandarin oranges and gave one to Sam and ate the other. I had also packed some goldfish from home and ate most of those with Hannah. We were waiting down at the car for awhile before the rest of the group came hiking down. By then we were a car full of starving teenagers and Sam was very grumpy.

Their Uncle had said there was a nearby small town that would have restaurants. We decided to go and parked the car. Their mom wanted to go for a swim so Arjan and I left the car first and set off in one direction. Hannah followed and Sam trailed behind. There was a beach with huge waves crashing down on the right and a sidewalk that went along the bank. Arjan said it was the best place on the island to surf. 

I was really hungry so I went over to the ice cream stand and got mandarin sorbet, which tasted amazing. They had spotted their family sitting at a table at the outdoor restaurant and Arjan sat down. Hannah and Sam wandered off to find pizza and I sat down. We all talked for awhile and watched the sunset. Hannah tried to quiz Sam and I on fruit by looking at the smoothie menu and covering the English translation. We finally went home after a long day. Sam and I were very sunburnt, but at least we were not hungry.