Santender

This past weekend I had my second trip with the school.  We traveled to Santender, an ocean-side city in the region of Cantabria.  The bus ride was five hours, and a perfect opportunity to make up for the sleep lost over midterms.  The town itself is a popular vacation spot, especially for the wealthy of Spain.  The docks are lined with yachts and the beaches are kept in pristine condition.  The water is bright and a deep blue, even with the temperamental weather.  It probably beats the "culture" that you find at my local beach where the filthiness of the beach is surpassed only by that of the people who inhabit it.

Hampton Beach in all its glory.

On the second day there, we traveled to Cuevas el Soplao.  They looked like how I imagine the entrance to Hell will be like.  

The most prominent feature of the caves though are the crystal structures.  These stalactites don't grow in the traditional way.  They defy gravity and end up pointing off in all directions, seemingly at random.  

These structures can be found in other caves, but none of them have as many as Cuevas el Soplao.  As tempting as they were to touch, doing so would get you sued.  I had to restrain myself, but I left the caves without a single lawsuit.  

The next day we visited another cave.  This one, Cueva el Castillo, is important more for its history than its architecture.  These caves were occupied by ancient man and were filled with various drawings.  It was almost disturbing seeing the negative-prints of these people's hands.  

It was humbling to realize just how many people have gone through this world that we don't remember and how brief our lives are in the scheme of things.  But before I digress into any philosophy, I'll just say that Cantabria is a unique place and definitely worth the long bus ride.