Hot and dry in beautiful El Escorial

Hola!

It has been a great trip so far. Super hot here in La Escorial at midday.  Caught bus from Madrid yesterday to El Escorial, amazing unusual place to me.  Dry rolling hills with scattered pines and gullies with denser trees.  Arrived to meet the other girls near the bus stop.  Walked five mins to Albertos apartment, amazing to see people I recognize again.  Swimming pool out the front is amazing even at 8pm it was where everyone hangs out to cool off (=  Then we had dinner together at 9.30 Alberto made a Spanish omlette and shared the prize of his last orienteering race, a salted leg of ham-yum!  Imogene, Georgia and I are staying in a beautiful new apartment 5min walk down the road.  The town is at the foot of a steep mountain.

 Went for run at 9am this morning in forest, orienteering.  Open scattered pines with big rock clusters.  One technical map then a faster broad hills course on open forest with small erosion ditches.  Slippery ground and crackly because it is all so dry.  Seems like a desert here.  Lavender is growing wild on the ground!  Cows wander freely with big horns but they are friendly we hear.  Navigation went well.  I took it slowly to start with, and got the first controls bang on.  Feeling confident now.  Orienteering is orienteering as long as you are adaptable.  Grey rock was not flat and easy running like in Finland or Australia, but rather rough and broken so it was better just to go direct.  Rock pillars were huge 10m tall and cliffs best to avoid.  Black squares were ruined square rock walls.  The rock wall fences seem so solid they would have been difficult to build.  Legs feeling normal again which is great.  No pain in shins orienteering today but used the ice pro just incase and because I didn´t want to waste the water which is so precious in Spain.

In Dubai, Greta and I were able to use the gym between flights which was very nice.  The cycle bike and cross trainer were something we recognized well despite being in foreign lands.  Also the shower was refreshing.  A worthwhile break in the flight which seems to get longer every time we come over.  No delays.  Flying into Mallorca was an eye-opener, the landscape was very dry and looked similar to the middle distance map we will run on at UWOC- broad hills with scattered trees and then steep cliffed erosion gullies more than 15m deep.

The night in Zurich worked well.  Didnt see much of the city though.  Public transport worked amazing, trains trams and buses all flow together.  Legs still felt funny.

Staying indoors for the afternoon as it is still hot.  Catching train to Alicante tomorow.  Glad we got here early to adapt to the heat as much as we can.
Adios, Angela