24 W E S T W O R L D A L B E R T A | S U M M E R 2 0 1 5 simon boucher-harris/renegade photography
Myth
#
3, Steamed Away in the
Hotel Sauna:
You never have time to yourself.
As someone who alternates between outgoing
and introverted, I'm happy for my group's con-
viviality, but I was also grateful to learn that
our itinerary included plenty of personal time.
I've become fast friends with Cyd, an easygo-
ing beauty from L.A., and Carol, a vivacious
Latina from New York. But I know exactly
what I'm going to do with my two free hours
before tonight's dinner: head to M'AR de AR
Aqueduto's spa and its complimentary sauna
and rain shower. I allow myself a luxurious
hour of circulation-boosting bliss, alternating
between 15 minutes in the delightfully hot
sauna followed by 30-second icy blasts in the
rain shower. Much needed, because this
morning, before meeting the group at 9 a.m., I
greeted the sunrise on a five-km jog around
the medieval wall that borders Evora's central
district (designated a UNESCO World Heritage
Site for its 2,000 years of history shaped by
Celtic, Roman and Moorish occupation).
Myth
#
4, Dispelled on a Free
Range Pig Farm:
The excursions are standard tourist fare.
I hear Manolo Eíriz before I see him, singing a
melodic refrain to his drove of black Iberian
pigs as he swings a five-metre-long stick at the
oak trees, knocking down omega-rich acorns
for them to eat. We're standing in silence with
his brother Domingo, about 20 metres away,
so that we don't startle the shy creatures. e
pigs spend their days freely roaming the green
meadows and woodlands of the Sierra de
A man leads a donkey along a road near the Sierra de
Aracena, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Spain's
Sierra Morena Mountains.
