The twain in Spain

By Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent, 01/12/03

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Andalusia "was like walking into a book, someone's literary version of Spain," said Christine Phelan. "You see peppers drying on the side of whitewashed houses, bosomy old women sweeping the sidewalks, men wandering up the road with a donkey carrying bales of hay. It was just like what you'd imagine old Spain to be like."

Phelan, 30, decided a few years ago "to go on an adventure every year." Her companion for this one was her father, Jim Phelan, 61, of Charlottesville, Va.

Visiting Andalusia, a region of southern Spain, "was entirely his idea," she said. Her father once lived in Spain and speaks Spanish. They both enjoy being outdoors and being active. Her parents had recently hiked through Switzerland.

Their trip was bookended with a stay at a friend's in Marbella, and they toured nearby Granada and the Alhambra. But the main course was an eight-day, self-guided, inn-to-inn trip with Sherpa Expeditions (www.sherpaexpeditions.com), a British outfitter. Called "Hidden Andalucia," it costs about $900 per person and includes lodging, some meals, and route information in this range of mountains and valleys known as the Alpujarras in the Sierra Nevadas.

Phelan, who lives in Jamaica Plain and works in the communications office at Northeastern University, said she and her father had never traveled alone together but are close. There's also "some good-natured competition" between them, she noted, as they both ran track in school. Sometimes that helped spur them on during the trip, which was at its most physically demanding when they added on a climb to the summit of Mulhacen, Spain's tallest mountain and, at 11,246 feet, one of the tallest in Europe.

The region is known for its vestiges of Moorish culture, including an elaborate system of aqueducts and narrow winding streets. Pathways connecting villages are still used by farmers, and some trails are part of GR7, a long-distance trail throughout Europe.

"Sherpa gives you a spiral-bound notebook with the route," she said. If the trail isn't marked, the directions would read something like, " `At the large boulder, go right and you'll see a large olive tree.' There's nothing out there but you."

Their tour started with a bang - in Mairena. It turned out they arrived on the day of "the biggest festival this tiny town had all year. There were Jesus and Mary figures all decorated with flowers on a stretcher. They'd shoot off fireworks," igniting them with lighted cigarettes, "and the whole town follows the procession to a hilltop," she said.

Each day father and daughter would hike between eight and 12 miles, staying in tiny hill towns. They discovered tortilla espanolas, or Spanish potato omelets: "cheap and hot and filling," Phelan said.

Also each day, they would discuss whether to climb Mulhacen. "The entire time we were there, we kept saying, `Should we do it, should we not do it?' "

Ultimately, father and daughter couldn't resist the challenge and took off from the village of Trevelez, famous for its cured hams and spring waters. The day began inauspiciously, Phelan said, laughing, when they discovered they were locked inside their small inn, secured with a gate, the keys to which they had locked in their room. When they finally got out, they were behind schedule for the 11-hour hike.

The climb turned out to be "one of the most difficult things I'd ever done in my life," she said. "It was a steady uphill. We watched the vegetation change from rock and grassy, then pines, then giant gravel piles. When the clouds came in, you couldn't see anything."

At one point, she said, "It was getting harder to breathe and we were so tired. But we said, `We came this far, we have to at least try.' We'd go 100 steps, then we'd rest. Then it was 80 steps, then just 25."

When they reached the top, "We were just elated. Looking around, it was just like looking out of a plane. I think we made it on exuberance alone." They ended the day windburned and exhausted.

Since returning, Phelan has turned her hiking boots into a kind of shrine. "I've not wanted to wear them again. They still have the silver dust from the countryside on them."

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