Signing off

It´s Saturday…we have a busy day planned, getting set for an early morning departure home tomorrow. I decided I needed to start the day by getting caught up on my blog….as Ben´s been saying…we´re going to need to blog our brains out to get caught up. We need to make a last minute trip to some shopping place or another to buy a new suitcase…cause Ben´s gave out on us….and other little items…then hopefully see Harry Potter today, get packed and get set for another 23 hour travel day.

I hope you have enjoyed our rambling, those of you who stuck with us. It was great for us to sit down and think about the things we did each day to lock them in our memory, and then we´ll be able to go back and read our own journal when the memory starts to fade. Two weeks was a nice long time…but I must say, thing we are looking forward to getting back home to our normal lives and seeing our familyh and friends, and the familiar surroundings of home.

Adios.

Camels-Snakes-Belly Dancers

One of the side trips we were looking forward to is scheduled for today Friday November 25th. We decide to take an organized tour to Morocco instead of go it on our own. Which turns out to be a great decision. With language changes, custom changes, continent changes, money changes and a short amount of time to try to experience the city of Tangiers on the Northern tip of Africa. We were under the leadership of a very good English speaking local resident who toured us through parts of the city we would have never seen otherwise: The casbah, the medina and the various sections of the city defined by which nationality settled that area. …and she was able to fill us in on the rich history and cultural uniqueness of the area. We had a stop for a Kodak moment (in our case it was an HP moment) where Jackie, Ben and I all had the opportunity to sit on a camel and ride around a bit. The camels didn´t seem to be too amused, but we were.

Then off to the casbah, which was originally a military fortress years ago, but now is a town within a town, a residential community of rows and rows of small bungalows that are divided only by narrow cement pathways…as she described it this is community living like we have never seen. The house are so close you can hear conversations from one to the other, and everyone, knows everyone else's business. It´s like Desperate Housewives without the landscaping. Then the snake charmer….the poor old fellow blew his picallo trying to get that snake to surface…but finally they just grabbed the back he was in and yanked him out for the tourists to take pictures with. We all declined that one. Finally, they dumped us in the hands of some high pressured rug salesmen, who gave us a 15 minute presentation of their wares. This is the only part of the tour that was a bit tacky…we had no desire or need for a Moroccan rug…so we patiently waited and got the heck out. Street vendors are soooooo aggressive on the small winding pathways through the medina that it puts the Mexican beach vendors to shame. These guys are all over you, literally encircling you and barking at you with their deals, and super deals…..well it was just too much for Jackie to resist….she bought a wooden box from one guy, and that escaladed the selling frenzy to a whole new level…..she was forced into yet another purchase of a small wooden camel from a teen age boy….and luckly we were about to escape to the bus and our Super Ferry ride back to Spain. Maybe one of our very best days…so different, so unique.

A day of Thanks!

Thanksgiving day. Yes here in the land of lamb chops and Spanish Rice they did pull together a Thanksgiving buffett “American Style” at the Hotel. We didn´t realize there were so many Americans staying here, until they all showed up at Thanksgiving dinnner. It was a great feast ane we all ate too much, like Americans are suppose to do, and then ate some more. Just like at home without football games on TV and lying on the after dinner couch. The only football they care about here is soccer, and soccer fans were in mourning here the last 48 hours with the passing of George Best…the man they say was the best soccer player in history. Literally hours were spent reviewing his life and escapades on special after special on British tv here.

Parking con leche

Well, Monday, and we´ve heard big things about the Marbella Monday Market so decide that´ll be our morning destination. The only other market we went to was a little dissappointing. You´ve heard me rant about the narrow streets and roundabouts….but let me take a moment to throw in a bit about parellel parking on these winding streets, with barely enough room to move let alone jockey for a skinny parking spot in compitition with the most aggressive drivers in the world. I´ll never complain about the Tacoma Mall Parking lot again. But park we did, and after wiping the sweat from my furrowed brow proceeded on foot to the Monday Market. One of the most interesting walks, as, for the first time we are walking down a very busy Monday work day crowd. To see everyone very wrapped up in their day doing the things they do, visiting socializing and making their way to what ever work their off too. One of the things we took note of is the street cafes where locals were having their coffee in a clear water glass with leche and dipping some sort of pastry. Jackie and I new we would have to be doing that. So after another rather dissappointing market (lots of cheap junk) we stopped off at one of the busier local local street cafes and hung with the locals with our coffee con leche and pastry. Not Starbucks, mind you, but very unique and fun. Well this is Monday and the grocery stores are open. Yeah. We go get provisions…the typical: Brown eggs (still trying to explain that to Ben…and I don´t quite understand myself), Leche, cool little flacky pastrys, pear-apples….and this time in a grocery store that almost looks like home. Al Campo at the La Canada Mall.

Nike España

One of the things on Jackie´s list to do before we head home, is check out the Nike Store we saw on our way in from the airport. So on this Tuesday we head East to Torremolinos, which is the city we stayed in on our first night and took a tour through their factory outlet store, it was fun but not dramatically different then what we see back home. Left their to head to the area we new and loved on the first day, a cool walkway and shops right on the Mediteranian. Got a little screwed up on how to get there so parked a long jaunt away and had to walk through dog poop lined staircases to get there but once there, it was great. Sunny day, fresh air (we needed it after the poop problems) and lots to see and do.

Wednesday we look some time to relax and swim and headed to the Old Town area of Marbella. Which is something we read about but had not yet seen and it is close to where we are staying. Very intereresting place….we parked jumped out of the car and excitedly walked to the center of the activity. Old churchs, more road side coffee, shopping and a quick lunch in Marbella. Very fun. One problem: with all of the excitement of finding this area, the struggle with parking and anticipation of what we were to see and do….we totally had no clue where we parked in this city-maze of streets, and everything kind of starts looking the same, and of course reading signs has always been impossible. Here comes the sweat on my furrowed brow again. We literally roamed the streets, and in our minds trying to piece together clues as to where our car might be…. “I think I remember seeing that sign. Wasn´t that a shop we passed? Didn´t we park on a curve somewhere?” It was a 20 minute ever increasingly panic search…and finally Ben said: Hey there is a little silver car it could be ours. Same brand, same model, same wheels……..Thank god we found it.

Had our dinner in Puerto Banus and went back to the safety of our home away from home.

Ben´s education hangs in the balance

It´s our day to pick up stakes and head to the second of our vacation spots. From Playa De Andaluzia to the Marbella Beach club. Both Marriott. The Marriott sales team are hot on our trail trying to hook us up with a second week purchase of time share…but so far we have been beating them off with sticks and keeping Ben´s college fund in tact. A couple more Sangria reception parties and Ben could be attending the Gig Harbor school of hard knocks.

The weather continues to be on the cold side and sun bathing is not a part of the routine. On this Sunday we have to check out at 10am and can´t check in until 4pm, so we use the time to swim and play in the indoor pool, play some giant outdoor chess and then head to the grocery store to get provisions for week number two. Surprise! It´s Sunday, much like the three hours of Siesta time each day, the country takes the day off on Sunday…nothing is open. Being the ugly American consumer, we don´t quite buy off on this day of rest crap. But we have no choice, we too must relax, rest and leasurly get settled in our new home. Our first impression is we liked our old spot better. This is an older complex and is in a very conjested area, the beaches are nothing like we know in Hawaii or Mexico for that matter. Not nearly as sandy, or expansive. But the internet works here, and they have a large “blogging room” with 7 computers. There are two indoor pools here, but like the other spot, the outdoor pools are closed for the winter. I can tell that summertime here is a wild place with European visitors galore….just a difference ambiance this time of year. Looking forward to another week. Thanksgiving week…and yes, rumor is there will be Turkey.

El Mattsones–Blending in like locals

Saturday–We are starting to feel like locals. We´ve been going around and around on their round abouts, drinking San Miguel and Sangria and almost always say Hola instead of hello. How more local can you get. So, today we decide to go to a local Saturday market in another of the many mountain towns…this one just off the coast, so not a long trek or winding roads, to a town called Mijas. Since we can´t read any of the signs (okay so we are not quite that local) I pull off at a gas station to ask how to get to Mijas, I say: “ Donde Esta Mijas” The response: Este es. I say: Huh? (That is Spanish for “Huh?”) She repeats Este es (you idiot) a quick flash back to my two years of Spanish in high school and I realize she is saying “this is it, you el idiot”. 

So we wind down a small road off the freeway and there is the market. Lots of leather belts, pottery and most any Calvin Klein rip off you might ever want to buy…lots of CK´s on almost everything. Since Calvin has never been one of our favorites, and the belts look like they might fit around a Rhino, we walk away empty handed, except for the experience and a few video moments.

Just like the locals we took some time on this Saturday to do a little laundry

..unlike the locals we used the dryer in the room…in preference to flaunting bras, panties and jockey shorts on lines draping from the deck to a window…which is more of the local thing to do. And of course all of the locals are proud to show the CK symbol on everything displayed on the clothes line. Calvin is huge here.

Monkey Business

The Friday of o hanging for some conversation we can understand, and to order food that we know what it will be….so it´s off to Gibralter. Gibralter is a tiny English colony still ruled by the crown….even though the Spanish and English have been squabling over it for years. In fact there are lots of signs of wars between the two…cannons and gun turrits and lots violence directed toward one another. Been going on since the 1700´s before that the Arabs were involved in the squable too. They finally decided to get along….and the citizens of Gibralter voted recently to remain independent, yet a colony of the of the British empire. This all to say, we could go there and talk to people and they didn´t look back at us as if we were idiots. Refreshing. Had a great day there….very interesting and lots of new sights and experiences. Like having a monkey on your head. Now that is a new experience. Yes a real live monkey, and yes…Ben was lucky enough to have one on his head. There are over 250 monkeys that inhabit the rock…imported from North Africa by Winston Churchill….they now roam free on the rock…and on our taxi tour to the top of the rock, our friendly (English speaking) guide quickly asked whether Ben would like to have a monkey on him….before Ben had a chance to think too much about that offer, the monkey was draped across his shoulders and head. We of course took a picture, and have now proudly titled it: Monkey on Monkey. The tour included a trip into caves, a view at the top of the straits of Gibralter, the Northern Tip of Africa and the Atlantic ocean…pretty awesome. The main street at sea level is loaded with shops and people and we relished in all the English we could understand. It grew dark, we couldn´t find our bus stop to get back to the boarder and to our car, and after only a few minutes of panic…..just by accident our number 10 bus arrived and wisked us off to the safety of our minature Opel 5 door. It was off to our home, food in the room and visions of monkeys dancing in our heads. Not to mention the monkey odor on our clothes.ur first week…we decide to go to a place where they speak more English than Spainish, yes, we are

A Day of Rest

The family has been clamoring for a day off. A day to relax. And this day, Thursday it was as sunny as we have had. So a quiet day it was…actually some pool time, some beach time and kicking back time. The high light was after doing nothing we jumped in the car and hit the A-7 highway (speedway) where once again I was able to assume the role of Mario Andreti and head to the plush port town of Puerto Banus…this is where the European wealthy come to play. Very cool and sheik and we strolled the marina with thousands of million- dollar yachts. Ate at a place called Jack´s specializing in…….AMERICAN FOOD! It was burgers and fries around. We´ll go back there to explore again, but for that night we were full tired and learned one important tid-bit: Harry Potter´s new movie would be opening next Friday here, and as a bonus…it´ll be shown in English as well. One little boy was very happy, and that helped lock in one evening of entertainment while we are here. No flamingo dance on the roster yet….but Harry Potter is locked in for 25 Novembre 2005.

Caseres-Old castles, white buildings and tricky banos

This is a long awaited update….since we have been void of technology for the past three days. At our hotel, they let us know on Wednesday of last week that the computer service was down. We checked each day to see if it was up, and each day they said no. (They said it in a way that was a bit foreign to us, but we got the message….no blogging.) Finally today we have checked into our new time share spot, in Marbella (pronounced mar bay ya) and alas, back to internet access. I know you have probably been checking in every single day, each hour, hoping for an update, wondering if we had been abducted by Islamic militants or just spending too much time touring and playing and driving winding roads into the hills.

Well that is exactly what we did on the day since our last blog. Drove to a small town in the hills called Caseres. After getting lost, which is actually a part of everyday´s activities (since every street sign seems to be in totally different language), we found our way to yet another of the very cool mountain cities…more white washed buildings, more small winding streets, and white knuckles on the dash board, by my fearless traveling companion…(that would be Jackie). We arrived having to go to tht Banos of course, and the only thing open was a quiet, dark pub. We of course hit town just at siesta time again, it´s uncanny how we can manage to plan every trip to arrive when everything is closed. Anyway, not wanting to use the banos without buying something we had the obligatory beer. We all went off to the rest room. Jackie,however, seemed to be gone a long time….Ben and I finally went to check, only to find that she was pounding on the door from the inside…not able to get out. We allowed her escape, and laughed for the duration of our beer stop. In Caseres we visited the moorish castle that was build in something like 410 BC…needless to say it could use some new paint and carpet. In fact they were working on it to restore it and we weren´t allowed in. View was spectacular once again…and it was way interesting walking through the narrow passageways in the hillside neighborhood, seeing locals clothes hanging from the their small porches and folks going about their business. We made it back to the coast and Jackie swore it would be the last of the mountain treks…I will miss the wild hair pin turns and the crazy drivers and the new aggressive driving attitude I have adopted. Of course there is still alot of fun with all of that here at sea level.

Rounda- bouts

Everyone still seems to be a bit jet lagged. Ben and Jackie slept until 10:30 or 11 and I slept to an unusual 9. The rains seem to have subsided….and up on the hills behind the resort you could see snow visable on the higher elavations. Our English freinds told us there was snow in Ronda…a moutain town that we had slated to go visit on this, our second full day in Southern Spain.

We headed out after a false start (Jackie left her wedding ring at the hotel) after at least a dozen round -a-bouts later we were off again. There are roundabouts at almost every block in this country….a daring driving manuever everytime you approach one. Spainish drivers have no fear….it must have been born out of their bull fighting heratage. So meek, mild mannered, Fox Islanders are at a distinct disadvantage having only really experienced them approaching the North Gig Harbor pair of roundabouts going to Home Depot. Believe me when I get home…I will be a holy terror on my way to buy a can of paint.

The drive to Ronda was straight up a mountain pass not unlike one in the Cascades. The only difference is there are no lines differeniating one side of the road from the other, and guard rails are not where they spend their tax money here. On our way up we did in fact see dustings of snow along the side of the road. From out of nowhere a town appears, with the typical narrow streets and white washed buildings jammed together in eradic rows. Hmm, and how do they get cars parallel parked along these narrow streets? Another fun and interesting learning experience. This little town is amazing. Normally alive with activity, we arrived at siesta time…yes from 2pm to 5pm everything pretty much shuts down in Spain, a tradition I am seriously thinking about adopting when we return home. While we waited for things to come back to life we went to the town’s edge, where you can view valleys and hills for miles in every direction. Pretty breathtaking…literally. You look over the short rock wall and you look straight down a cliff to the houses below. The major land mark is a bridge build hundreds of years ago that connects one half of the city to the other. The legend is, that the architect that designed it was lowered down the side to inspect the structure apon its completion and his hat caught in the wind…he reached out to grab it and fell to his death. Cool story huh?

After returning to sea level and our familiar stomping grounds we found a comfortable looking restaurant and had another of a series of great meals. Ben chummed up to a cute little dog named “grumble” who was another guests dog, roaming free in the restauant. They became fast friends and now Ben swears he wants a Russian toy terrier.

Weather was cold but no rain, and they say things will get better as the week progressed

The Rain in Spain

Forget about what you have heard about the rain in Spain staying mainly on the plain. It’s along the coast and in the mountains too. At least that was our experience on day two. After making the switch from hotel to time share we had a few hours of daylight and sun, and took advantage of their “indoor” pool at Playa Andaluza the location for our first full week of the Spain adventure. This resort is located nearest to the town of Estepona. But after retiring for the night we had thunder loud enough to shake this three story complex, and lightning that lite up the room. A mediteranian storm to be sure. Woke us up in the night and kept us wondering what the next day—even week, might bring.

We awoke to passing storms of rain and wind on Monday…Jackie and Ben chose to snuggle in for a bit of “Charlie and Chocolate Factory” while I ventured out to explore the coastline. The beach was little dissappointing…some major rocks along the water line….imported beach sand to provide a beach setting. Still, being along the mediteranian coast was a bit magical, just not Hawaiian style beaches. Might have helped if the sun was shinning. Something about drizzle, brisk winds and 52 degrees that doesn’t conjur up visions of sun bathing. If it sounds like I am complaining…I definately am not. Just trying to paint the picture.

We took the grey day opportunity to go to the grocery store and stock up on supplies for the week. An experience in itself. Very different from the QFC but far better than the Supermercado of Mexico. The brands we know and trust are somehow missing from the shelves…so we are forced to roll the dice and hope for the best.

That night off to tapas and Sangria at the “happy talk” get together of Marriott guests. We had a great time meeting some English Bloks that we have now run into a few times…David and Barbara….they are regulars here so are happy to give us some tips. Plus some New York/Orlando retirees who shared their Marriott experiences with us. Word was we should head up into the hills to a small town of Benahavis for dinner…the largest number of restuarants per capita in all of Spain, or some such thing. So after a glass and a half of fine red Spainish wine under my belt, I had the courage to miander the streets of Benahavis. White stucco buildings stuck to the hillside with narrow streets wide enough for a pair of Vespas, but my mini-sub compact trying not to side swipe cars, buildings and passersby as I wedged my way up and down the side of the hill. Parking? Yea, that’s what we said…parking? Hmm. We roamed for a while, Jackie white knuckled and gasping at every turn. After getting lost like a kid in a corn maze, we decided that if we ever could find our way off the hill, we’d be happy with the experience and find food somewhere else where parking was possible….and streets were six or eight inches wider. That we did…and had a great dinner at sea level, on flat ground, with nearby parking and great food. This was our first, but likely not our last experience with the hillside towns, narrow streets and round-abouts at every block. I am becoming as gutsy, aggressive and random a driver as the locals….you have to, to survive.

Our first day in Spain

It was a long flight…but we new that and were prepared with mass electronics and movies and books. Turns out we slept and watched the in flight movies mostly. Everything went exactly according to schedule, no delays no problems. Finally arrived 24 hours after departure tired, but it was 1 in the afternoon so had to figure out how to keep our selves going til bed time. Great news was we got a car upgrade, and when we got to the hotel…a room upgrade. The stars are aligned and everything is going our way. Only one small problem, we couldn't figure out how to get our car in reverse, so had to jump out and push it backwards in the parking lot. My brilliant son Ben finally figured out how to do it, so we are now in good shape. Just had a great breakfast…sun is shining outside (not warm, but nice) and we are all well slept….except of course Ben. He woke up in the middle of the night and felt like it was day…a couldn't get back to sleep…..Jet Lag nailed him. We are in Torremolinos just a short distance from the airport for the first night. Today we head to our time share in Marbella, about 50 miles west of here.