This mornng, we left for Vaughan Town, the English immersion school taking place in the small town of Belmonte. After checking out, I walked with another “Anglo” from the hotel at 9:30 a.m. to meet the bus taking us there, which was waiting for the group a few blocks away. It was another clear, sunny and cool morning. There, we met some of the other Anglos who had been at the tapas reception the night before, some of the Spaniard students, and the two Vaughan staff members who are coordinating the session. Weput our luggage on the bus, introduced ourselves to the Spaniards, and got on the bus, pairing up with a Spaniard to sit with for the first part of the 2.5-hour trip.
I sat with Robert, a marketing entrprenuer who owns a successful, growing business. As we talked, we drove through a dry countryside that was mostly flat with some rolling hills and small towns every once in a while. At the 1.5-hour mark, we stopped at a gas station with rest stop and had a half hour break where we could buy drinks and use the restrooms. Then it was back on the bus, this time sitting with a new Spaniard. This speaking partner was Juan Vicente, a software programmer.
At the end of the trip, at 12:30, we arrived at the Palacio del Infante Don Juan Manuel Hotel Spa in the very small town of Belmonte. I hope to describe the town more in tomorrow’s blog. The hotel is built in a very old monastery, with archeologically-dug monastery rooms on display below the ground floor.
After providing our passports to the front desk and stashing our luggage in a big room, we started the first half of an orientation given by the Vaughan staff members. At 2 p.m., we went into the hotel’s restaurant and ate lunch. Two Anglos and two Spaniards at each table, with only English allowed the whole week.
Then, our individual rooms were assigned, we got our luggage, and siesta time! I first walked around the hotel grounds to take pictures, then took an hour’s siesta in my huge, quiet room! Very nice!
After the siesta, we finished the orientation and then held two one-one sessions with the Spaniards. Dinner was at 9 p.m. I was really tired since I hadn’t slept well last night. So right after dinner ended at 10, I returned to my room to finish this blog posting and go to bed.
Lori's Travels 