6am yesterday morning, I woke up excited for a new adventure. I’ve never been hiking before so when I saw the trip was still available and I didn’t have any weekend plans, (as per), I figured why the fuck not. I headed to the meeting point and off we went to La Pedriza near the town of Manzanares el Real, only about 45 minutes north of the city.

The mountain is actually stunning. All the rock formations look like they’ve literally been hand carved by God and the views overlooking the little town were beautiful. You can just about see the huge sky scraper offices of PWC, CESPA and the city in the distance. After lunch, one of the leaders plugged their phone into a speaker and we were descending and dancing to Mans Not Hot. Trust me, if you haven’t hiked to Big Shaq, you haven’t lived my friend.

At one point we had the large mountain formation we’d been climbing behind us, and another forest looking mountain, that still had a thick layer of snow on it, surrounding us. In that moment I felt so small, but not in a bad way. In more of a humbling way, I guess. It was an oddly comforting feeling. I’ve never been one of these outdoorsy people but I really appreciated nature and life in that moment.

Once we got back to Madrid some people went to dinner, but it was getting dark so I scurried home. I feel a bit like Princess Fiona from Shrek at the moment. I can’t be anywhere after sunset like her, but like Fiona she eventually managed to do it so I will to. (Never did I ever think Princess Fiona, an animated ogre, would be my inspo). I love doing these trips as I get to meet so many people from so many countries and hear about their experiences and what they’re doing here and such. All in all a really good day, a beaut new experience and 100% worth the 6am call time.

// 6am por la mañana ayer, me levanté para ir a una aventura nueva. No he hecho nunca el senderismo y había espacios en la excursión entonces, yo pensaba ‘porque no?!’. Fuimos a La Pedriza cerca del pueblo que se llama Manzanares el Real, aproximadamente 45 minutos al  norte de la ciudad.

Las montañas son super lindas. La formación de las rocas parecen como Dios las había tallado. Cuando bajábamos, las montañas y un bosque grande, que todavía tiene el nieve,  nos rodearon. Yo sentí muy pequeña, pero en una manera positiva. Sentí humilde y aprecié la naturaleza y la vida en completo.

Me encanta estas excursiones. Me dan la oportunidad de conocer a nueva gente, quien es de alrededor del mundo. Oí sus experiencias y su vida cotidiana aquí en Madrid. En breve, un día bonito, una experiencia nueva y una memoria que hace que la alarma a 6am fuera que vale la pena.