Day 2: El Alquián

A spectacular five-star day due to the time we spent at one of my favorite places - a library, of course. A few steps up to the librarian’s desk and a few minutes wait while a book was retrieved from the reserved reference area, and I had in hand a real treasure: Augustin Sánchez Hita’s El Patrimonio Historico de la Alpujarra y Rio Nacimiento, a book I’ve been waiting three years to see. Its 300 pages are filled with exquisite details on life through the ages in the villages of the Sierra Nevada, covering everything from medieval acequias (water channels) to 20th century mines.

Armed with copious notes from the library, we set out for Decathlon (Spain’s version of REI) to replace our hiking poles. Thanks to the AirTag tracker we had packed in the tube, we know that our poles are spending a second day in Madrid with no sign of progress toward Almería. Nor did any of the phone numbers we managed to dig up offer any satisfaction. So we decided it is best to get a new set of poles and literally and physically be ready to move on tomorrow.Read more