Not wanting to be known as the little sister of Barcelona, Valencia is a hidden jewel that has climbed the ranks on its own. In a land of Las Fallas, celebrated oranges, renowned paella and a mild Mediterranean climate, it doesn’t take long to appreciate its place in Spain. Actually, one can not take a step in this accessible city without being surprised. You soon realized that this old city centre is immersed with beautiful buildings, fountains, and plazas separated from the newer city by an ancient riverbed of gardens called “Antiguo Cauce del Rio Turia.” On a beautiful sunny day, it is delightful to wander through the old town and then flowered gardens of the riverbed or if that isn’t to your liking, just hire a bike or segway and tour around.

Big happenings are in Valencia and the city is evolving rapidly. The city has transformed in the past few years! In fact, they are getting four million visitors a year and many new residents who decided to hang their hat permanently. A newly renovated airport has two underground lines, which link the airport, the city centre and the harbour.

And speaking of seaports, a state of the art one was built, which became the battlefield for international sport’s oldest trophy in 2007, sailing’s 32nd America’s Cup. Proving a huge success, Valencia was awarded to host the 33rd. The port resides along the Mediterranean with lovely new walkways, shops and restaurants. So mark you calendar’s for this and other upcoming events.

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

The Oceanography of the City of the Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias). The “Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias” is reason enough to visit this innovated city of contrasts. The Oceanográfico is an underwater city with many of the colourful creatures belonging to the aquatic. Explore through tunnels surrounded by aquariums of tropical or arctic life. During this festival, The Red Sea Auditorium will become a great projection hall that will open its doors for the underwater world of documentaries and photography. The objective for is spreading the message of the conservation of the marine world and its inhabitants.

The European Grand Prix moves to Valencia this year! What’s really trendy is that the Valencia race will happen through the streets of the city, around the port area, just like the Monaco Grand Prix. It is scheduled to run 23-25th August 2008.

With all these upcoming events, sit down along the waterfront and have an Agua de Valencia and chill out. It literally means water of Valencia, made with a base of orange juice and a mixture of cava (sparking wine) with other liquors. It is not hard to see why Valencia is becoming so popular. Of course, any trip to Valencia can’t end without Paella

Best Bets While You Visit Valencia

1) Albufera – This freshwater lagoon is just south of Valencia and is an important wetland and nature reserve. Birds of migration love to feed in its surrounding rice fields. It is separated from the Mediterranean by a sand bar. Best bet is to arrive late in the day, take a boat and see the sunset within the lake far from the madding crowd. http://www.turisvalencia.es

2) Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencia – Designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava containing 3 futuristic buildings; the Hemisferic (IMAX theatre), the Parque Oceanografico (largest aquarium in Europe) and the Museo de las Ciencias (hands on Science Museum) with many special exhibits throughout the year are surrounded by network of steel, glass, concrete and gardens. www.cac.es

3) The Cathedral – Styled in a mixture of Gothic, Baroque and Romanesque but what makes this cathedral unique is its most celebrated object; a gold and agate chalice. It is said to be the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper – the Holy Grail, so go judge and decide for yourself. Located at Plaza de la Reina, nearest Metro: Colon

4) Museum of Fine Arts (Museo de Bellas Artes) – one of the best in Spain and recently expanded. If you love art, this extensive collection of paintings and sculptures will include the masters. Have Van Dyck, El Greco, Sorolla, Velazquez, and Goya fill your day up. http://www.cult.gva.es/mbav

5) Museo de las Fallas (Fallas History Museum) – To appreciate Valencia you must understand Las Fallas, a festival of fireworks, multi-coloured parades and ninots–huge cardboard, wood and plaster statues–that are placed at over 350 key intersections and parks around the city prior to Easter each year. As a festival, the ninots takes a year to construct, presented during that one week and finally consumed by flames on the last night. However, some figures are not burned and are presented at the museum along with costumes and photographs. http://www.fallas.com/museo.htm

Hotels in Valencia range from ultra modern along the new beach promenade to boutique style in 19^th Century buildings. Since the premier of the Americas Cup in 2007, many new hotels have opened to accommodate the visitors with Mediterranean style.

Living a mile high can play tricks on your psyche. Even in Denver, a tranquil day in the park may not be what it seems. Especially in Denver, you’re very likely to encounter a park with a macabre stratum.

Denver’s Cheesman Park – despite its comedic moniker (it’s actually named after the 19th century water baron of Denver, Walter S. Cheeseman) – will call out to your need for serenity. The calming aura and collection of sombre trees can be a refreshing sight. You may think that you’re finally going to get off the busy streets of the city once and for all. Looking around, you might stop and wonder what kept this place so untouched? How could such a peaceful locale remain virgin and untouched by developers? Certainly, it isn’t the 150 miles of panoramic views.

From Congress Park to Cheesman Park

To really dig into its history, you’ll need to consider its life as and former name of “Congress Park.” Even before the location was known as Congress Park, it was an abandoned and disused cemetary, full of broken coffins and grave-robbed holes. Local landowners didn’t want an abandoned cemetery bringing down land values, so real estate developers determined a park would add more to property values. Colorado Senator Teller went to the U.S. Congress to have the cemetary converted to a park. In recognition of the swift approval in Congress, Denver named the place Congress Park.

Then came the dirty work. Families of the deceased were asked to claim their corpses. For those who went unclaimed, the city inked a contract to a local undertaker known as McGovern. McGovern’s contract was terminated as a result of unscrupulous business practices. His work went incomplete, and unclaimed bodies remained underground.

Over the years Congress Park was demarcated in half by a residential community. The sale of this land towards the end of the 19^th century, gave rise to an ordinance motion being passed and approved by the City Council, thereby preventing future sale of this park.

Heroes and saints were not interred here, but rather the first to be buried here were John Stoefel and the brother-in-law that he murdered. These are the two people who never found peace in the exact place where you might be standing. So now you need to ask yourself: Why were you led to Cheeseman? Was it the unclaimed souls who couldn’t find peace in a park?

Today, Cheesman Park is host to scores of unsuspecting tango dancers. Do they know that they could be dancing over the remains of past Denverites?

Today, Cheesman Park is bounded on all four sides by the historic districts of Wyman’s Island, Humboldt’s Island and Morgan’s Island. It is one of the first residential areas in the whole of Denver that has the honor of being classified as a historic district. Its controversial history, spooky stories and beautiful landscapes make it an enigmatic location of interest for locals and tourists alike.

The Inside of the Lost Mission of Satevo. See the previous entry for more on Satevo.

I had the privilege of touring with a Tarahumaran guide. The Tarahumara, as a people, are fascinating. They are the most resilient and self-sufficient people I’ve met. Their sandals are made from the rubber of old tires. They use the sandals to race in world renowned races. Tarahumara men, because of the elevation, the heat, the extreme length of their travels – are able to run hundreds of miles without a stop. They are some of the world’s best natural marathon runners. And I was hiking with one!

A video of a Tarahumara showing us how to tie the patented Tarahumara Huarachi Sandals

Awaking at six, with a liter of water in hand and some granola bars in the camera bag, I walked out of the streets with Modesto. He’s a short and friendly man with a tinge of gray hair. In fact, he looks like an extremely well-tanned Mel Gibson. Modesto knows the Native Tarahumaran tongue, and I was lucky enough to hear him speak it when he ran into a friend on the trail.

Walking along Rio Batopilas

We walked along the crystal clear waters of Batopilas River. It was a gorgeous, but hot, hike. All along the trail, I adamantly tried to strike up conversation with Modesto. Naturally, my Spanish would serve its purpose, I thought. But most Tarahumara don’t know Spanish, or very little, if they do. And, I’m sure understanding my mediocre Spanish is about as difficult as me trying to understand his Native Tarahumara dialect.

On the trail, there were abanoned buildings and the occasional Mexican cowboy (make no mistake: These are real cowboys – the types of cowboys that existed even before pilgrims landed in the U.S.). There was a small school in the middle of nowhere, and it seemed to be empty. I probably saw about fifty burros on the way. Rio Batopilas is a beautiful river that somehow manages to remain cool in 95-degree weather. halfway along the trail my water was down to 1/4 of a liter. It was empty by the time we reached Cerro Colorado. The outside temperature had topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pueblo de Cerro Colorado

The tiny pueblo of Cerro Colorado (“cerro” means hill in Spanish) is comprised of one truck, and about ten houses. It is a derelict mining boomtown. Three-hundred years ago, the houses of Cerro Colorado probably contained Spanish criollos who supervised the back-breaking work of mining silver. Undoubtedly, Modesto’s ancestors were probably slaves in the silver mines at one time.

We sat down on a bench before returning to Batopilas (which seemed like a metropolis compared to this town) and Modesto chatted it up with a guy sharpening his knife on a rock. An old woman, who had to be at least 95, and had likely lived deep in these canyons for the whole duration, caned her way to the gate to see who was sitting on the bench. Apparently, a pale-faced gringo is the last thing she expected to see!

I gave Modesto a granola bar; he couldn’t figure out how to open it, so I gave it a good tear. I hadn’t realized that we walked 10 kilometers by this time. That would mean the return trip would be a seven mile trek in 100-degree weather (and shade was nowhere to be seen). Upon returning, the only thing in my sights was the river full of water and the aquedect next to me (constructed for the mines in the 1700s, but still in full use!) My clean water was gone! I couldn’t drink for the seven mile trip back.

Modesto told me earlier that the water in the aqueduct is very “sucio” (dirty), so I refrained. But, to my surprise, less than a mile out of Batopilas, he dipped his hands into the aqueduct and began drinking prodigiously. I’m sure his stomach was fully aware of the microbes that existed in the water – his DNA contains a natural resistance to burro dung, perhaps?

Modesto laughed when I saw him drinking. Laughing at me was a normal occurrence for Modesto, so I shrugged it off and smiled. Upon return, Monse fixed me water with lime juice from the trees in her garden.

Monse is an avid gardener and leads a gardening group in Batopilas. The lime water was the most satiating substance I’ve imbibed in my life. After about three litres of this nectar of the gods, I crashed on the hammock. It was a state of half-sleep and half-awareness, as the weather was unbearably hot, but somehow the hammock and a leak in one of her garden irrigators made everything better.

I am now recouped. just took my bath in the river (there are no baths in the bathroom, ironically; just a toilet). This is a paradise – if only it was a bit cooler, everything would be perfect.