Blog Birthday: Top Ten Posts and Many Thank-Yous

Today my blog turns one year old. My first post went public on September 1, 2011. Then I was full of fire about "Hemingway Paradigm" stereotypes to debunk, and was in need of a serious distraction from seemingly insurmountable professional hurdles. A year later, and I'm still keen on seeing expats and visitors update or fine-tune their out-of-fashion anachronistic "Hispanomanía", though I confess my passions are increasingly directed away from this not-for-profit hobby to more fiscally-productive, extra-blog-icular pursuits.

Before I share with you what have been my most popular posts for the year, I wanted to say thank-yous to a few bloggers out there who were important over the course of the year in either drawing attention to the blog, or keeping me engaged in it. First thanks should go to Ibex Salad, a savvy Spanish economy blogger whose mention of my blog in its early days pretty much put it on the map so far as search engines and bot trollers were concerned. I had less than a 1,000 hits total before his mention on November 4, 2011, and averaged a 1,000 hits-a-week after. I'm eternally grateful. (So to all you power bloggers out there, don't forget the little guys. We appreciate it!)

My first blog entry was a call to arms... to puncture the Hemingway Paradigm!

Special thanks always go to Chic Soufflé, La Cuchara Curiosa and Hola Valencia / For 91 Days, bloggers who have been my direct inspiration for taking up this medium and whose blog projects continue to impress me with what blogging can contribute to the metaverse... good taste, creative commentary, exciting adventure.

And then there are you many other bloggers who, through your regular comments and constant twitter titter, have kept me tuned in to the project and the Spain expat blogging community, even as my time for blog posts has diminished in the face of an increasingly busy, fulfilling personal and professional life. Here I'll single out for mention, in no particular order... Reg and Nancy at the Spain Scoop, Nieves at Sangria, Sol y Siesta, Hamatha at Pass the Ham, Kaley... y mucho más, Tumbit's Mr. Grumpy (happy 3rd birthday to you!), Gee Cassandra, Mother Theresa at The Rain in Spain, Molly in Granada at Piccavey.com, Steve at This is Spain, Néstor at Luces eXtrañas, and Sorokin at Diario de un Aburrido. There are many, many more of you out there whose interactions I've appreciated this past year, and I try to give some recognition of it by adding you to the "Not Alone" Blog Roll on the left side of this blogsite... But if you don't see you there, please write or comment to let me know! (Spain blog newbies, feel free to comment here to let yourself be known to all of these "power Spain bloggers".)

I'd also like to thank BlogExpat.com for flattering me with an interview, and Expatica.com Spain for reposting many of my blog entries (since imitation is the highest form of flattery). And I can't resist an additional four-letter word thank you to Damian Corrigan, my Valentine, whose ludicrous, overly-trafficked About.com GoSpain site still continues to light a flame in my heart in the crusade to counterbalance trite and superficial expat commentaries about my adopted country. (Damian, yes, I still think you're wrong about Valencia.)

These thank-yous aside, here go my (thus far) all-time top ten posts:

(10) "Not Hemingway's Madrid, part 1"

It's been a while since I looked at this entry and the part 2 that I wrote on Madrid, but I continue to recommend it to those of you wanting to get a non-touristy view of Spain's capital.

(9) "That Perfect Gift: Kukuxumusu, Cartoon Cool"

Very few things cooler than Kukuxumusu. I doubt they need my help selling their image, but I'm happy to do so. Or maybe I should be thanking them for drawing traffic my way?

(8) "Valencia's Fallas 2012: The hangover post"

To the extent that blog post popularity reflects passion and local knowledge, I'm happy that this post has ranked up there among the top. It certainly was a hit the week after I posted it. I hope that next year during Fallas it gets more hits, and also encourages any of you Valencia or Fallas doubters to come here and experience the fun for yourself. Fallas, fallas, fallas!

(7) "A Sport's Nation: Its Always Soccer Time in Spain"

There are no limits to the power of soccermania in this country. No doubt, if any of you bloggers want to increase your page hits and blog traffic, write an entry or two about soccer (a.k.a. football) here. Name drop players' names, and load some pictures of them, too. None of us ever get tired of this image of that magical moment in July 2010. Good times.

(6) "Valencia, Spain's Third Largest City: Getting Oriented and the City Center, part 1"

"Valencia, es la tierra de las flores... di-dadi-da-di-dadaa... Valencia"... Nothing makes me happier than to see this entry in the top ten. Valencia is easily one of Spain's most beautiful, under-appreciated cities. In March I added a photo link to my blog template (in the left column at top) to a page on all things Valencia and Fallas, hoping it boosts the visibility of my adopted city. Valencia is great! Come visit! You'll love it!

(5) "Movie Review: Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012)... A Moveable Flop"

I can't tell whether this post is getting traffic because people are curious about the movie and what a cranky "Not Hemingway" blogger thinks of it, or curious about the sex scene photos with Nicole Kidman. Whichever it is, I'm hoping it has the desired effect of steering audiences away from the film and towards more interesting things like books and articles about Martha Gellhorn. (Fat chance.)

(4) "Two Spains, Many Spains: The Spanish Civil War"

Okay, so I'm actually very proud of this entry. I think it's one of my best written. But can you guys _ever_ get enough about the Spanish Civil War??? I started this series, "Two Spains, Many Spains", with the idea of applying my skills as a historian to broad trends in Spain's dynamic culture. But then I got busy and burned out. But I promise to return to it... On the table: entries on immigration, the Spanish exodus (post-war and contemporary "brain drain"), and European Unification, among others. All trends transforming the country and making Hemingway's image an increasingly obsolete one.

(3) "The Hemingway Paradigm Is... Dark eyes, dark hair, thick lisp"

"Paz Vega" appears right below "Ernest Hemingway" on the list of all-time
search terms that lead people to my blog. Who knew?

Speaking of obsolete images... I only wished that the majority of visitors to this page were actually stopping to read the entry. But again, I suspect the source of traffic here is google image searches on Paz Vega and Elsa Pataky, since the volume of traffic fluctuated in sync with the gossip about these actresses' pregnancies and other shenanigans. This post is one of my every-25-entries-or-so revisits of the "Hemingway paradigm". Too bad the subsequent one on "bullfights, bandits, and black eyes" didn't rank here... but that one requires reading a lot of text to appreciate it.

(2) "Don Ernesto: Ernest Hemingway in Spain"

Well one would wonder if a site dedicated to debunking Hemingway stereotypes didn't draw traffic about Don Ernesto. So no real surprise that this entry gets a lot of visitors. If you didn't get a chance to read it, I recommend the twin entry I wrote with this on "Hemingway's Novels in Spain", which features some wordles of his works.


... and the #1 post of all time for my first year blogging is about ...

(1) "That Perfect Gift: Spanish Footwear"

SHOES! Hah! What a laugh! A subject I know relatively little about. Go figure. I suspect the popularity of this entry is partly owing to a pinterest tag on some of these shoe photos. Or maybe shoe shopping is up there with porn and cute cat photos for massive internet traffic. Who knows? Still, if this post helps to raise the profile of Spanish shoes in the world, then I'll rest happy. A big thanks to my mother-in-law, whose shopping savvy about Spanish footwear made this entry possible. And a thanks to Menorca, whose "menorquinas" sandals inspired the idea for the entry when I was visiting there.


I'll be curious to see what happens to these post rankings and the rankings of future blog entries as a new crop of exchange students, ESL teachers, and travel/adventure bloggers flood appear in Spain this fall and start perusing websites, gleaning information for their exploits.

Check back here next year to find out! And thank you to all for reading!

Spanish National Parks: "Parque Nacional de Ordesa," A Natural Treasure in the Spanish Pyrenees

One of many spectacular trails in Ordesa National Park

Americans are rightfully proud of their country's natural treasures. I always tell Europeans that if they want to see something truly different, truly American when visiting the U.S., they ought to forgo the trip to New York City, Miami, or California (a.k.a. L.A/San Francisco), and instead visit its National Parks out West. It embodies the core of our "frontier culture" and national psyche. Well, the truth is this advice goes both ways. How many Americans or Brits have travelled to Spain, toured its many clubs beaches, and never thought to do rural or mountain tourism here, of which Spain has much to offer? Americans come to Europe to see its cities and its "civilization" or "history", and as a consequence by and large reduce its "natural beauty" to either quaint towns (with splendid backdrop), Mediterranean beaches (with splendid clubs), or Alpine ski resorts (with splendid ski lifts).

In the spirit of counterbalancing this tendency, I offer you today this photo entry of my recent visit to Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, my first Spanish national park to visit, but most certainly not my last. Located in the Spanish Pyrenees, Ordesa is an incredible natural beauty, and also a cool mountain retreat, to escape the heat in the summer. In 1997 it was even marked a UNESCO World Heritage site, and should be added to the list of places to visit for those of you fortunate to stay in Spain for a year or longer. It is a wonderful place for "senderismo" (hiking).

On "Gran Recorrido" trails,
look for this mark

To arrive there you drive to the small town of Torla, to park your car and take a bus up to the Ordesa National Park entry grounds and opening "pradera" (prarie). (In the summer season park officials close this route to individual cars, in order to control the quantity of people who frequent this very popular family vacation destination.) There are many trails in the park (you can find more information at this website, clicking on the "Senderos de Gran y Pequeño Recorrido" link on the right). We chose to do what is the most popular destination: "La Cola de Caballo" (the horse's tail), a three-hour hike to a waterfall and three hours to return, thus one of the "Gran Recorrido" trails or "GR #", marked by red and white stripe paint.

A panoramic view of Torla, the small Pyrenees town which is the
launch point for bus rides up to Ordesa National Park

The view from the Ordesa Park entry "pradera"

On this trail you are effectively following a river up to its source in the mountains, which means you are nestled in a valley between magnificent mountain peaks and cliffs with periodic spectacular views of waterfalls ("cascadas"). This particular trail is a real treasure because of the varied terrain that you move through…

Los Hayedos:

Early on you enter a series of forests or "hayedos" (forest area, which comes from the word "haya," or beech tree). This part is heavily shaded, which keeps the strong mountain sun off your back!

 

About an hour in, you arrive to the first series of waterfalls. They make for a great stopping point, to snack, and you can walk down some steps to see the waterfalls up close.

Then you pass along a cliff trail, to arrive a the first raised valley, which has lots of wild flowers and is nestled between striking orange and white cliffs.

Las Gradas de Soaso:

The next destination along the trail, and in my opinion one of the two main contenders for "most incredible sight" along it, are the "gradas" or waterfall steps, a series of waterfalls formed as the river flows down a bunch of terraced drops. They are nice place to stop with the family for a picnic.

El Circo de Soaso: 

Continuing up a steep trail, you suddenly arrive in the land of the Wizard of Oz… That is, a brick road appears in place of the dirt and rock path, things level out, and you are in a valley high up in the mountains, with even higher mountains and cliffs surrounding you. Frankly, there is no way to capture with photos the peculiar sensation you feel in this enclosed, elevated valley. It is incredible, beautiful, surreal, and gorgeous. (Don't take my word for it! Come visit it!)

These two stray cows had the upper valley all to themselves,
living a perfectly happy life away from the herd.

Confession: I found myself humming songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music (1965)… such as "Climb every mountain", or "The hills are alive with the sound of music." Cue panoramic shot of protagonist spinning, pull back camera to reveal breathtaking mountain backdrop.

At the very end of the "circo" (geological term, "cirque") and end of our trail is the Cola de Caballo, a waterfall whose dispersed arrangement on the rocks resembles the hairs of a horse's tail. Though not as impressive as the "gradas", it is still a nice final destination for a trail. (Though the more adventurous and travel-tested can continue up a steep trail to the "Refugio de Góriz.") Up above the waterfall is the "Monte Perdido," whose name "lost peak" is ironic given that it is one of the tallest in the Pyrenees (3355 meters high), and hardly easy to loose.

Although it is technically prohibited, it is simply a must to stop at some point along the river and take a foot bath. The water was so cold, I found it impossible to keep my feet under the water for longer than 10 seconds. But, man, were my feet happy to cool off there after heating up along the trail. (Among the other things which are prohibited, but which I saw tons of Spaniards and other park-goers partaking in: taking dogs with you on the trail, bathing or walking in the river…)

And yes, there are animals and plants to enjoy. We saw a chamois on the bus ride up. Though in general we didn't see much wild life beyond birds. There were lots and lots of beautiful butterflies! What our trip lacked in fauna, it more than made up for in flora. Lovely wild flowers… There are edelweiss flowers here, though we didn't see them this trip, since they bloom in the winter. (Cue Sound of Music sentimental scene, lone man with guitar singing, "Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me…").

And lots of interesting trees…

Since the hike takes around 6 hours overall, you also experience a change of light over the course of the day. The shadows on the cliffs shift, the light in the forest changes, and along with it the mood shifts, adding a different texture to sights you've already seen, but don't tire of seeing again...

When we got back to the forest, there was this incredible, magical blue light. I snapped this photo, which only partially captured the surrealness of it.

By the end, my feet were killing me, but my eyes would have kept my body there all day. I knew I would miss these majestic cliffs...

HAPPY TRAILS!