Disfrutando del presente...

It's official! Sunny, warm weather has arrived at last! Last Friday was April 1st and it seems as though with April comes wonderful, warm weather here in Granada. It's been absolutely gorgeous outside lately! Case in point: yesterday's weather. At 7:00pm, it was still 80 degrees and sunny as I went for a run and threw a frisbee around with a friend in one of the parks by my apartment! So, as you can all imagine, it's hard to fathom spending any time at all cooped up indoors when the weather is so nice out. For that reason, last weekend some friends and I spent the majority of our waking hours outdoors, enjoying the start of spring! Last Friday, I traveled one hour south of Granada to the coastal town of Salobreña with three of my Finnish friends, Hanna, Sofia and Johanna. We were met at the beach by two more friends, Silva, another girl from Finland, and Nelson, from Portugal, later on in the afternoon. We enjoyed coffee in a seaside café and lounged on the sand all day long, suntanning and even taking a dip in the sea for a bit (the water's still a bit cold, but it'll warm up soon). We had a long, lazy and wonderful day at the beach- the perfect way to start spring if you ask me!

We made it to the beach!

The wonderful and beautiful Mediterranean Sea :)

The coastal town of Salobreña.

Minulla oli mahtava päivä rannalla! One of the few things I can say in Finnish, it means: "I had an awesome day at the beach!"
(L-R) Hanna, me, Sofia, Silva and Johanna.

The following day, my friend Kristiina had the wonderful idea to round a bunch of us up for a late afternoon picnic in Sacramonte, one of Granada's "gitano neighborhoods" located to the northeast of the Albaicín and to the west of the Alhambra. At 4:00pm we all met up in Plaza Nueva, bags of snacks and drinks in hand, and we walked up the hills to find a place to hold our picnic. It wasn't terribly sunny that day, but it was warm with a slight breeze, and it was a great afternoon for a picnic!

Views of Sacramonte from the meadow in which we had our picnic.

Tall grass and spring flowers!

The whole group minus Johanna who took this picture.

Sunday, I spent the day in Motril, a town along Granada's Costa Tropical with two of my Spanish friends, Macarena and Ana. I met these two girls one night a couple of months ago while I was out for tapas and we've become close friends. We left Granada around 11:00am and headed to the coast where we spent the day walking around the town and the beach. Maca's friend, David, has a bar with his family in Motril and after enjoying a delcious seafood lunch, we headed there for a cup of coffee. I'd never been to Motril before last weekend and I'm hoping to go back with the girls when the weather's even nicer! The following pictures are from Torrenueva, a small town just to the side of Motril, where we met Ana's aunt, uncle and cousins for a walk along the sea.

We walked along this beach in Torrenueva for a bit.

Torrenueva, a small and quiet town on the Mediterranean.

¡Me encantan estas chicas! (L-R) Ana, me and Maca.

I'm happy to say that it looks as though this weekend is going to be just as nice, if not nicer, than last weekend. Meteorologists predict sunny, clear skies and temperatures in the low 80s for the next three days. Amazing! I'm still in the process of making plans, but as of right now I'm spending today hiking in Monachil, a town just outside of Granada with access to the Sierra Nevada, with two friends and tomorrow will probably be another beach day, this time in Almuñecar. Sunday, as usual, will probably be a lazy day for finishing up work and lesson plans, but I'm sure I'll manage to find time for an afternoon stroll and coffee break! The phrase "livin' for the weekend" has never been more appropriate!