Migration

[nosoypato]

Recently I fluffed my feathers, put on an Hawaiian shirt, slapped on some flip-flops, winged my way into the Atlantic Flyway to soar to the Iberian Peninsula. It was a perilous journey, in the back of my mind I was worried if the bank's fat reserves would sustain me on my way to the Summer Migration idyll. There I would fill my crop with the delicacies of the land, hoping to accumulate enough Karma to wing my way to the ducking grounds of Central La Florida.
In that Texas size territory I was soothed by the cool high Pirineos, the Ebro Valley in Aragon where the imperialistic Caesar Augustus in the year 23 b.c. founded Zaragoza after defeating the local rednecks, my ancestral Celtiberos. On to the arid Costa Blanca on the Mediterranean where hedonistic pirates, such as myself, keep a nest.
I was astounded by the comfort and speed of the AVE train, a product of Socialistic engineering that clips along at 300kph.

[nosoypato]

In Aragon I did homage to the local culture by lunching at an Aragonese cavern, eating a version of grits called Migas. It's 3 day old artisan hard bread fried in essence of the gods with longaniza sausage, topped with a fried egg and grapes.

[Public Hunter]

I'm honored to know a man of such culture Jimmy. Did you take those pictures with your phone?

[nosoypato]

Señor Hunter thank you. Did a lot of reading while in the Summer Migration Grounds to understand what might make the locals tick and flutter. What I did not do, was touch a microwave emitting, brain destroying, personal communicating devise. Instead I was armed with a Canon SX10.
Here the Ave that whisked us about at 190mph without previous encounter with troglodytic TSA interference. Not once was I thrown against a wall to be patted down for migrating while Cuban.

[nosoypato]

One morning as I stumbled down the Esplnada on the Alacant port for my usual morning brewski I noticed a magazine. It proclaimed that the Mediterranean sardine season was upon us. With gastric juices flowing and sharpened teeth I headed to the fish market, bought a kilo of the those fresh marine vertebrates. At home my son dug a whole in the backyard, filled it with coals to roast the omega3 rich scaly morsels.

[novaalex]

Great Stuff Jimmy! Nothing like a trip to Spain to recharge the batteries!

[duckbone]

Now that first dish is more my style, fried redneck food. The second I think your missing some mustard sauce but the magazine cover is brilliant.

[Captmako]

Fantastic Senor Jimmy! Always good to see a cultured man still capable of extracting el carne del huesos. :occasion14 We should give eating lessons to those who no sabe comidas las pescas.

[Randy Clark]

cool stuff jimmy . whats up with the beer didnt bring the wine sack over? looks like a great time:occasion14

[David B]

I was enjoying the trip until you got to this part. One morning as I stumbled down the Esplnada on the Alacant port for my usual morning brewski I noticed a magazine. It proclaimed that the Mediterranean sardine season was upon us. With gastric juices flowing and sharpened teeth I headed to the fish market, bought a kilo of the those fresh marine vertebrates. At home my son dug a whole in the backyard, filled it with coals to roast the omega3 rich scaly morsels.
As I so miss the run, be it either in the Azores or in the Med. What to eat today is now in the air.

Welcome back Jimmy.

[nosoypato]

Rented a TurboDiesel Alfa Romeo( that car clung to the curves like an Italian mountain goat), winged my way to the cool Pyrenean villages and meadows. A cousin of my wife lent us their mountain nest in the village of Aragues, located where Navarra, Aragon and France meet. The rednecks there in a conversation switch from Spanish to Basque or to French, not that they are a whole lot talkative till they hit the cider and wine. Then they take out medieval instruments to the joy of crowd, which form circles where they jump about in unison and proffer lusty cries. Let me tell you those musicians are multitaskers; either by holding a stringed wooden box in the crook of one arm while playing a flute and beating on the box with a stick or beating on a small drum while at the same time blowing on a sort of fife. Had an encounter that freaked me out while tooling about those mountain roads when I met 300 sheep bleating.

[nosoypato]

The other instrument.

[duckbone]

Capt. I know my fish meals and I can turn that bait into a nice mangrove or red snapper dinner. Jimmy they sell those spanish sardines and cigar minnows by the flat at the marina.

[DEADEYE DICK]

Thanks for taking us along with you on your trip!!!

[FLAWaterfowler]

Great photos, Jimmy!

The fish made me think of sitting on the beach in Portugal gnoshing on those little kritters and eating spider crab. And looking at the girls.

Has your son started his studies yet?

James

[hitch]

Cool stuff Jimmy.

[Milan]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing. I have been in most countries in Europe but Spain is by far my favorite.

[Randy Clark]

cool jimmy thanks for posting these

[nosoypato]

Randy the etheral internet gnomes have thrown a monkey wrench into my previous way of posting pictures, butt I'm trying to figure out how to post from photobucket.
Señor Waterfowler, thanks for asking about my son. He's well, finishing his Master thesis and starting the Doctorate(4yr) in October.

[nosoypato]

Randy here's one I did thinking of you.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0141.jpg

[Randy Clark]

Randy here's one I did thinking of you.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0141.jpg

what happened to the pic jimmy, if you delete it off photobucket it removes it from all threads it was posted on. or if they remove it do to content

[nosoypato]

Señor Randy it was due to the vicissitudes of the www which proves that I'm technologically inept.

This is the one, taken after an exhausting morning of romping through the forest, rolling in the wildflowers and gourging on berries much like the local brown bears do.
The brewski is for you, the flowers for Cheryl and the munchies(called bocabits in the local lingo) for Trey.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0140.jpg

The carpet of wildflowers were enticing.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0155.jpg

The organic wild stawberries were delicious.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0173.jpg

Although nice, it's not adviceable to roll on these.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0164.jpg

[nosoypato]

Although wood is pletiful, the mountain folk construct their dwellings from cut stones(granite) with walls 2 to4 feet thick. Even the roof is made of stone since this is an area that has had multiple invasions so sturdy is good.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0138.jpg
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0284.jpg
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/p5.jpg

Hunting is big in this parts. Venison, partridge, boar, hares and boar are readily available to snack on.
Here's a saint holding a golden eagle feather with his trusty retriever at the side.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0132.jpg

[Randy Clark]

thanks jim glad to you were thinking of us sheryl said she really likes the old buildings and the night pics trey would have loved to have been there to help with those kegs.:occasion14 matt who missed a hog this weekend would have enjoyed hunting in those mountains. i of course would have slipped down a ravine after drinking one to many brews pretty steep country there:smileinbo

[nosoypato]

Randy I'm a walking wounded, those heights do take a toll on the knees. I still have an effusion on the right.
That brewski was consumed on a little village that I frequented 32yr ago. Back then it was a ghost town in ruins, caved in roofs and toppled walls. This little village had its fertile terraced fields drowned by the hydroelectric dam that held the waters of the Gallego River. That village is now reborn as a Aragonese yuppie hang out, festivals are held in an open air amphitheater by th repressed waters, brewski was good.

The village is on the center right of the picture.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/p3.jpg

A little closer... You can see that the Aragonese have been faithful in adhering to building codes established 300yr ago.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/p4.jpg

My lovely wife.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0075.jpg


My rebellious son.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0159-1.jpg

Couldn't resist the numerous medieval bridges crossing streams in narrow mountain passes.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0309-1.jpg

A 800yr McMansion made to resist the Moorish hoards that tried to disloge the mountain folk from their valleys.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0156.jpg

[duckbone]

Well they've had plenty of time with not much to do but eat and stack rocks.

[Randy Clark]

dang jimmy dont know what an effussion is but it sounds pretty serious. i think i'd prescibe a few more cervesas and a chair in the shadew some where around that lake hopefully where you can keep an eye on any young ladies galavanting around there. really like that first pic great reflection. cool buildings

[nosoypato]

Señor Bone they are a self-reliant industrious bunch. Life in those steep places is difficult. So while the locals were out and about cutting stones and sinking their teeth into the local fauna, I was recovering at the only bar in Aragues one sunny morning. There, slouching in terrace I felt eyes upon me, looked up. This is what I saw.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0218.jpg

Then I noticed flying things fluttering about the flowers. Cool, hummingbirds. Butt then Biology 101 kicked in, hummers are a New World bird. Then what are these things? They were easily 2 inches long( not counting the inch long retrctable proboscis for it was an insect), wing span 3 inches and multicolored. Bugs that weird don't occur around my neck of the woods. Does any cognoscenti know what this is?


http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0217.jpg

[nosoypato]

Went to the men room to relieve myself and I was confronted by this singular bit of bathroom graffiti.


http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0303.jpg

[novaalex]

Loosely translated " you've been a legend, but all things end!" Jimmy lovely pics thanks for stirring up the memories. If you are still there and can somehow get a bottle of Txakoli to find its way into your hands I will reward you in whatever way pleases you. lets just say that it does wonders for my wife's endorphines.

[duckbone]

It's a big azz moth. I'd hate to see the caterpillar it came from.

[nosoypato]

I agree the caterpillar must be the size of a hot dog. If it was a moth, it be the F-22 of all moths. It was fast,t could hover precisely, to do it's thing with the flowers with a retractable refueling apparatus and very narrow dagger like wings that beat faster than any moth delving on crack.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0216-1.jpg

[nosoypato]

Chemical warfare it's ethical when massaging the wife's endorphins. I'll work on my son's short attention span to bring over for Christmas the Txakolin. There's a place in Alacant called Pinxo Kalea with outstanding tapas from Euskadi.

Here's a view as I marinated in the vicinity one tepid midnight.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0404.jpg

Coño, they even had an ingenious way of dispensing sidra. You know that if you drink sidra without aerating, it may turn your gut into Dante's Inferno. To do that, it must be poured from at least 3 feet high in one hand unto the other holding a glass at 37.5 degrees so the liquid strikes the rim and flows aerated to bottom. Well apparently there's a shortage of cider dispensing professionals.

So they came up with this sort of automaton done artfully with hand robbed wood and actuated with a quaint analog switching device.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0h.jpg

[duckbone]

OMG Randy look, a beer shower!

[Randy Clark]

OMG Randy look, a beer shower!

:occasion14wow now thats an invention worthy of the nobel prize:smileinbo

[Randy Clark]

hey jimmy walked out to the living room to see what the wife was watching. Julia Childs 1960's version; doing the jimmy method of making fish stock, cut up 5 pounds of fish cuttings remember to remove the gills. she added an eel to give it more flavor:occasion14:occasion14 and here i thought it was just some crazy guy stealing my fish heads. hey my trout looks alot smaller going to have to watch you cut the next one. 17 inch trout with a 10 inch head doesnt seem to add up:smileinbo

[nosoypato]

You were watching, while holding a beer! It was a generous head though:occasion14 .

[nosoypato]

All that pure mountain air, industrious locals, organically grown produce and fauna plus the quiet star lit nights caused an overdose of health and culture. My pin feathers yearned for the sunny Mediterranean, my crop was in need of a marine meal and my instincts told me it was time to put meat on the bone.

So I spread my wings leaving this behind...

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/pirineo09.jpg

I joined the Mediterranean Flyway to land in Sant Joan D'Alacant, 5 kilometers from the coast. The near by capital of this province is called Alacant. It's a port city successively occupied by Carthagineans, Romans, Visigoth, Moorsand eventually a coalition of Christians, Pirates and contrabandits.

It has a port downtown.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0414.jpg

It has a moorish fort also..

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0a.jpg

It sports date palms jutting out of stone slabs.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0420.jpg

It has entertaining nightlife.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0400.jpg

The habitat abounded with tender things to feed on.
Such as these succulent silver dollar size skewered cuttlefish done over coals.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0348.jpg

It even has a boardwalk.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0416.jpg

Where if you look closely, you'll observe locals get culturally enlightened, reading while tempting the melanoma gods.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0415.jpg

[Randy Clark]

some pretty cool pics jim :occasion14

[Goozerman]

more precise but you got me on species since I'm only familiar with the ones in the U.S......

You do have them in Forida BTW...and you're likely familiar with the catepillars if you grow tomatos as they are a voracious eater of tomato plant vegetation....the big green fat ones that have the horn on their butts and the white angled stripes or chevrons the length of the body.....google Sphix Moth and Tobacco or Tomato Horn Worms and you'll get lots of good pictures...

Steve

[novaalex]

Thanks Jimmy, this is the best post we've had in a long time!

[duckbone]

I been fighting those caterpillars all year. Just found one munching on a banana pepper plant the other day. He ate the peppers and all.

[nosoypato]

Thanks Steve. A Sphinx Moth it is, apparently also known as Hummingbird Moth.

[nosoypato]

Tormented by the knowledge that I didn't know what the heck I'd seen fluttering about the Pirineos I fled to Alacant. As usual in Spain everybody has their own language. What we call here Spanish, over there is called Castellano and in this region the spoken language is Valencia. For instance if you would, for whatever reason, want to say; tender garlic is spicy, in Castellano you say 'ajos tiernos pican' and the Valencianos ais tendres piquen.
All this language baloney gave me a headache so I headed for my favorite cove, where in times contraband is smuggled ashore and where birds of different feathers roost now.

Ambled down tasteful ceramic stairs, which not long ago was a bare trail, to the Med. Sea.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0c.jpg

Then I hung a left, not being goofy footed I watched my step. Where I came on to this.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0352.jpg

Looked down, from now nicely decorated cliff to my right and saw that some were sleeping it off on very hard and bumpy rocks.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0354.jpg

Looked to the right to notice birds of a different feather sunning in the rocks.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0369.jpg

[Randy Clark]

dang jimmy some nice birds over there not much feathers.

[nosoypato]

They be molting nicely.

[nosoypato]

Simulated by the habitat and the ongoing molting season, I pleaded with my partner to search for new roosting sites. Flew about 75 kilometers north on the Levant Coast to a wooded cove nestled in between 2 mountains with a healthy population of birds.

The approach from land looking to the Med looked like this.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0454.jpg

Circled to the sea by the stony outcrops to take a gander at the lovely cove, which looked like this.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0446.jpg

And this.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0451.jpg

Fluttering with joy I took a closer look at this place. It was carpeted with what the locals euphemistically called 'coarse sand'. Each dang grain of sand was at least 1 inch across!! The birds had difficulty waddling through the stuff butt it did not seem to inhibit the molting behavior.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0459.jpg

Being a wise old duck and to placate any ruffled feather of my mate, I proposed a evening out on the town. We had a feast fit for a merganser, for we munched on an octopus Galicean style.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0467.jpg

[duckbone]

Jimmy your hillarious. How much for the nest at the top of the hill?

[Randy Clark]

damm jimmy thats good

[nosoypato]

Pat that whole cove is owned by Germans mostly. I have no idea how much one of those go for. Most of them have hanging cement ponds which is kind of tricky in such a steep terrain.

[duckbone]

Wow hanging pools? Germans own the whole place? Socialists crashing on the flat rocks, Weird, gets my vote for photo thread of the year.

[Randy Clark]

gets my vote for photo thread of the year.

2nd that :occasion14

[nosoypato]

Butt all migrations arrive at a point where you must kick out and do a 180. Had to decamp from the fabled molting grounds( mating season was not even finished!! ). Mounted the now beat up Alfa Romeo and headed North, past Valencia, immortal creators of the paella. To Sagunto where all kinds of people beat each other up for centuries, to climb up the Sistema Iberico Mountains where a meseta is dotted with remnants of the 700yr reign of the muslims. Down to the Valley of the Ebro where I caught that wonder of Socialist engineering, the Ave, which swiftly and painlessly transported my miserable carcass to Madrid and the Atlantic Flyway to Central Florida.

The Ebro Valley.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0029.jpg

Villages with narrow alleys unchanged from the Middle Ages when narrow was good if you were being attacked.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0030.jpg

This Saint, holding the usual Golden Eagle feather, apprarently had an unfortunate encounter with the predecessors of al-Qaida.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0033.jpg

We settled in Zaragoza for a brief time. This is where we usually broke the fast in the morning. It's called the Cafe Sol, it's as old as it looks, but a tranquile place to read the paper and have an unhurried coffee.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0184.jpg

At night, stumbling inebriated, along the narrow streets I stumbled upon the Meson de la Tortilla. A monumental homage to the humble egg. 40 types of omelets, where I discovered pig's ear omelet, a delicacy that supercharged my taste buds.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0047.jpg

Visited my Alma Mater. It still looks the same as when it was built in the 16th century by Muslim converts. It's called Mudejar style.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0337.jpg

Went to Vitorinos to see Don Luis. He's a duck hunter( the guy in white, in the background ). All that is served in his tiny eatery is homegrown and prepared. The hams are all cured by him, the partridge, ducks, quail and boar are products of his land, even the truffles and eggs.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0200.jpg

The last night I had to have Ternasquico, a simple butt tasty Aragonese dish. It's suckling lamb not old enough to emit it's first bleat or munch on grass. Of course I didn't delay my digestion by tacking pictures. Here's one of the Meson de Aragon where that lamb met its end.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0480-1.jpg

Alfredo, the virtuoso of the wood burning oven.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0479-1.jpg

Thank you for accompanying me in this migration. I leave you with the image of a delicious infanticidal homage thanks to Alfredo and his oven.

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy207/nosoypato/IMG_0481-1.jpg

[duckbone]

Just awesome Jimmy.

[Randy Clark]

dammmm talk about tender. great stuff jimmy to bad you had to come back.:occasion14