Day 52 - 11/28/10 - Me, myself and my bike.

            Man it felt good to soak my face with salt water today. I’ve gotten used to my once or twice a week bike rides to Torre del Mar and riding along the boardwalk. The view and the feeling of the sand, the ocean, the sun, the wind, the city and the mountains is amazing, but it was something that I got used to just looking at. It’s like a snow globe, you’re on the outside looking in and what you’re looking at is untouchable; the beach became something that I just looked at rather than getting off of my bike, digging my feet in the sand and soaking my hands in the water.

Today I decided to break the routine and walk along the beach. I went up to the water, put my hands in and splashed my face a couple of times. For some reason it was so refreshing, it felt so good. It felt like I had reached a goal or something, I don’t know why. When I stood up and looked around, the beach looked as if it went on for miles and miles, and then it meets the city in one direction and meets the mountains in the other direction. I couldn’t help but take pictures.

            These bike rides have become therapy. Friday and Saturday it rained like cats and dogs, it was the most and longest it has rained since I have been here so it was somewhat depressing. Today when I woke up and saw that the sky was clear and the sun was shining I immediately felt the urge to get out and soak it all up, which is exactly what I did. Me, myself and my bike.

 

Day 50 - 11/26/2010 - Familiy Pride

          I received an email from my mom the other day that she sent to my brothers and I:

"Kids, below is a link to an article about the job your dad and Jose Maria are working on (of course, they called your dad Jose Reyes, dimwits!). Its funny how dad mentions that the “wives” ( I thought he was only married to me………) send paella so they can eat. So it happens I sent your dad paella, lentil soup, ham and tortilla so he wouldn’t have to cook. Anyway, tell your papa how proud you are of him. They contacted us from La Voz de Galicia and they want to do an article about stone masons from Galicia. Neat!"

          Here is a link to the article:

"Family Tradition: Spanish stone masons 'have some roots' on Blue Ridge Parkway"

          La Voz de Galicia is a newspaper from the region of Galicia in northwestern Spain. This whole ordeal is really interesting to me because there is this show on TV about Spaniards who live in different parts of the world and I've always thought that it would be really cool if our family or any other Spaniard family that we know in the US were put on the show. Being interviewed and quoted in a newspaper article isn't exactly the same as being put on a television show, but hey, we'll take what we can get! Although there is an error in the above article (my dad's last name is Rey, not Reyes), it is exciting to know that the little things such as old family traditions still have some importance in today's society. And the fact that my family's roots are the traditions that have been chosen to be used as an example makes me proud.

            My family is Spanish, but my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles went to the US for job opportunities years back. My brothers, cousins and I have been fortunate enough to be able to visit Spain during the summers and experience the culture, a culture that I would like to add that we have fallen in love with. Since I can remember, my dream has been to someday live and work in Spain. I had the privilege of studying abroad a semester in Malaga, Spain during my junior year of college. Now, I am proud to say that I am living and working in a town in the outskirts of Malaga. I applied for a co-teaching position through the Spanish Embassy, was accepted and moved here the first week of October. I am an assistant teacher to several teachers in the bilingual program of the secondary school that I work at. The day that I have class with these teachers, I teach their subject in English. This program is a year program; every year people apply for my same situation and every year a new person obtains the position. What I'm trying to say is that, although this job is only for a year, I am super excited for this opportunity. It feels good to have at least one foot in the door. This job is only the first step in the process of me going back to my family's roots and moving to Spain.

            I owe all of this to my parents, my family and our Spanish origins. I am extremely proud of all of my family, who came from little villages in the countryside in northern Spain to now living in the outskirts of DC, for having made such a tough decision as to move to an entirely different country of which they did not know the language in order to create a better life for themselves and for their children. Thanks to them, now not only can we enjoy the benefits of having grown up and lived in the US, but we can go back to our roots and experience the culture that made our family what it is.



Day 49 - 11/25/2010 - Happy Thanksgiving!

            Well, I found the cocaine spot on Thursday nights… unintentionally of course. As I mentioned in a past blog, Thursday nights I go out for drinks and tapas with some of my co-workers. We start off with tapas and beers at one bar, continue with the same thing at another bar, and end with harder drinks at a third, and usually last, bar. The last bar for the past two Thursdays has been a bar with an English name and a Guinness sign at the entrance. For some reason, this Thursday night we noticed a lot more shady characters enter the bar. I, automatically, figured it had to do with drugs, but figured it was one of my pessimistic thoughts and kept it to myself. We minded our business and kept on with our drinks and conversation, but couldn’t help notice the amount of peculiar people that entered this bar tonight.

At one point, Javier, one of my co-workers, got up to use the bathroom. He came back fairly quickly and mentioned that there was a long line for the bathroom and used a Spanish word that I’ve never heard before. I asked what the word meant and they explained to me that it meant that the line for the bathroom wasn’t to use the bathroom; it was to do cocaine in the bathroom. Well, that explains the crowd of people that we found ourselves amongst. It didn’t really matter though. They minded their business and we our own and there were no problems, I just found it interesting that it was so easy to tell that something was different about the people entering the bar that night. Whatever. They can all snort cocaine until their nasal canals are completely burnt and they fry their neurons for all I care. Let me get to the topic that I intended to discuss in this blog in the first place.

            Thanksgiving! It’s Thanksgiving in the US of A today. I didn’t really think much of it when I woke up and went to work this morning, but to be completely honest, I almost cried in my first class of the day. My first class today was English with my 8^th graders. Ana made photocopies of a text about Thanksgiving that I was to read to the class. She then told the class to write down questions that they wanted to ask me. During this time Ana asked me some questions herself. She asked me to explain to the class what my family usually does for Thanksgiving. Once I was done sharing my family’s usual Thanksgiving I could tell that half of the class didn’t even understand half of what I had said. Ana then went on to ask me “I know this may be somewhat of a personal question, but do you miss your family especially today since it is a holiday that you usually spend with them?” Yes. The answer was yes. I didn’t even have to think about it, the yes came out involuntarily. I hadn’t really thought about it but I knew that my family was going to get together and have a nice dinner and enjoy each other’s company to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I wasn’t there to celebrate with them. Ana told the class that she had thought of me a lot the night before and this morning because I am so far away from my family. She proceeded to tell the class that she and they were my family during my time here since I am so far away from home. When she was done saying this I overheard some of the students say “pobrecilla,” which (in literal translation) means “poor girl.”

Like I said, I hadn’t really taken the time to think about all of these things before coming to work today so it kind of hit me by surprise. Before I knew it I was fighting back tears. Yes, I do miss my family. Yes, I do wish I was going to be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them tonight. Yes, I wish I had been home for my dad’s birthday. Yes, I wish I had been home for Halloween. Yes, I am glad that I am going home for Christmas and get to see all of my friends at the annual Foursies Christmas party and all of my family at our annual Christmas Eve party. I am thankful for my family and friends back home, my many opportunities to travel and live abroad, the people who have let me into their lives, the friends I have made abroad and the maany experiences that I have been able to experience. I think that this Thanksgiving away from home has been the most thankful Thanksgiving I have ever had. Being away from everything that you know makes you realize how fortunate you are to have all of those things in your life.

I am thankful. I am thankful for everything: the good, the bad, and the in-between. Everything I’ve experienced has made me who I am today, and maybe I’m going through somewhat of an identity crisis but I’m okay. I’m happy to be alive and I’m happy with everything in my life right now. …What about you? …What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving to all J

and...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGETTE KIM!!

Day 46 - 11/22/2010 - Monday funday

            Today was probably one of the best Mondays I have had so far. Mondays for me are usually pretty boring and consist of me doing laundry, grocery shopping, and not much more. This Monday was a bit more productive in more than just getting laundry and grocery shopping done, but doing things on a social level.

            Yesterday, Sunday, I was hoping to be able to ride my bike to Torre and bike ride on the boardwalk, but the day ended up being cloudy and chilly. My solution to this was to stay in and do absolutely nothing besides watch TV. I was hoping that the weather today, Monday, would be good enough for me to be able to do what I wasn’t able to do on Sunday. Luckily, I woke up to partly cloudy skies that opened up and turned out to be a great day.

            The bike that I bought was a steal, hands down; I still don’t know how they let me buy it for 35 Euros. The problem with most steals is that usually there is something wrong with them. In my case, the brakes on my bike were really stiff and if I were to ever have to make a quick stop, in order to avoid getting hit by a car for instance (not saying that this almost happened or anything), then I wouldn’t be able to. The place where I bought my bike said that I had a 1 month guarantee and could bring the bike by to have any minor work done to it, so I took them up on this.

            First, I did my laundry. I showered, ate, took the clothes out of the wash and hung them outside to dry (yes, this is not America; we hang our clothes to dry). The clothes are usually dry by the end of the day as long as it doesn’t rain or isn’t too cold. Once I finished I put on my back pack and was off on my mini adventure.

            There is a big difference between the temperature in the sun and in the shade. Whenever I hit a patch of sun I would break a sweat, but whenever I would hit a patch of shade I would get cold. The ride from Velez to Torre is slightly downhill, so I let gravity do the work for me. Along the way I passed the school where I work at. I thought of all of my co-workers and smiled as I thought “Man, it must suck to be stuck inside four walls on such a nice day. …suckerrrrrrs.” Very mature of me, I know, but I couldn’t help but revel in my freedom to enjoy the day ahead.

            Once I got to the center of Torre I went straight to the store where I bought my bike. When I looked in through the window I was taken back by the amount of bikes that they now had. “Hooooly crap! I wonder if there’s an even better bike for somewhere around the same price that I got mine!” I went in and checked out the newer bikes as one of the men from the store worked on the brakes. These bikes were almost brand new, but the prices showed it. The next best deal to the bike that I got was a bike that was a lot newer, a little bit bigger, had a more comfortable seat, and perfect brakes for 100 Euros. Now that I think about it, this was probably a better deal than my bike considering how new it was, but I really don’t need all of that. The bike that I have is big enough, it may be a lot older but it works fine, maybe the brakes are a little stiff but since I got a little help from the guys that work there the brakes are fine, and yea the seat on my bike is rock solid but luckily Jose Luis has told me that he has an extra bike seat that has a lot more cushion than mine and is going to give it to me for free. Like I said, I’m not sure how I got away with such a good deal.

            On a side note, it was somewhat of a relief to talk to the guys at the store. Let me remind you that these guys are all from London, but moved to Torre about 10 years ago. It was nice to be able to speak with them in English. They all have the typical English accent with their slightly different vocabulary that includes words such as “bloody” and “bullocks”. There was one guy that I hadn’t seen the first time I came to the store. He had a bit of a different accent, I’m pretty sure he’s Scottish. Anyway, he and one of the English guys started talking about going to have a drink in the afternoon at this one bar that was full of… I don’t remember. I know there’s always been somewhat of a rivalry between two English speaking countries but can’t think of which two they are. He’s from one of these countries and the bar is of the people of the other country, so they hate him. Basically, he and the English guy were talking about how they don’t give a “bloody hell” and that they were going to have a “blasted” drink at that bar either way. Just listening to them put a smile on my face for some reason. They’re a fun bunch.

            Once my brakes were softened up and the chit chat was over I headed to the boardwalk for a bike ride before I rode my bike back home to Velez. It really was a nice day. By this point the sky was completely clear, the sun was reflecting off of the water and the palm trees were swaying in the breeze… okay, maybe that’s somewhat of a picture perfect movie description, but that’s really what it was like! I could feel the warmth of the sun on my back and the breeze of the wind in my hair… haha okay, okay, I’ll stop now. Well anyway, it was one of those kinds of bike rides where you just sit back and enjoy your surroundings. It’s something that I wish I did on a more regular basis, but I was happy to have made it out on this Monday. Once I made it all the way to the end of the boardwalk and back to where I started, I decided to head back to Velez. It was almost time to eat.

            I’m not going to lie; I haven’t really done much to try to get to know people in my town. Thursday nights I go out for drinks and tapas with some of the other young teachers at my school, and every now and then I go hiking on the weekend, but I haven’t met people my age that I can really consider my friends or hang out with every day in Velez. I decided it was about time that I try to find something to help me do so. I asked around at work for a place where I could find sports teams or exercise or anything sports related and people recommended this place that is like a recreation center about 5 minutes from where I live. This afternoon I went to the rec. center to get information about the different activities held at the facility.

            I wasn’t sure exactly where the building was at, but according to some of the teachers I work with, once I took a left at this one road I would eventually just run into it. It was dark out and there was no one on this street. I started getting a little bit freaked out and thought to myself that if I didn’t see the facility in the next two minutes I was going to turn around and go home. Sure enough, as soon as I thought that I saw two lit up tennis courts and people entering a fenced in area. This had to be it.

            It was! Wooh, what a relief. I went straight to the front desk and waited behind a woman that was speaking with the personnel. As I was waiting I looked around a bit. There was an indoor pool that was surprisingly impressive, but on the other hand there was a gym area that was extremely small and somewhat disappointing. I turned to look behind me a little bit and was surprised to see one of the teachers from my school named Alejandro right behind me in line. “Hola!” I said. “Ooh, hola Angela! Que tal? Que haces aqui?” Oh wait, sorry I forgot we were speaking in Spanish. Basically, we greeted each other and he asked me what I was doing there, so I told him that I wanted to get into some sort of aerobics classes or sports. He asked me if I was interested in the pool, which was the main reason why he came to the rec. center, but to be completely honest I am not the best swimmer, or anywhere near being a decent one. At this point the woman that was in front of me left and I went up to the counter. Alejandro knew the guy at the desk and they started talking. Alejandro told the guy what I was looking for and that I’m new to the area, and then he was off to start his swimming session.

            The guy was really helpful, but unfortunately there are waiting lists for the aerobics, Pilates and yoga classes. The only things left were sports that I am not interested in and tennis. Once he mentioned tennis I got excited. Yes! I can play tennis, I mean I’m not amazing, but I can hit the ball hard enough and keep it in the court. For some reason the guy got excited too, it turns out that he’s in charge of some of the tennis classes and he signed me up for his class this Thursday at 5. Sweet. The bad thing is that I don’t have a tennis racket, but that was the least of my worries. At least now I had my foot in the door. The guy told me to let him know which other classes I want to sign up for when I see him at tennis on Thursday. I thanked him for his help and went on my way.

            On the way home I realized that there is another gym across the street from this one. It was late and I didn’t really feel like taking the time to check it out at that time, so I’m planning on checking it out after tennis on Thursday. I’m also going to ask the tennis guy about soccer because I know that there are small indoor soccer tournaments and maybe he could help me find a team or at least send me in the right direction. That would be amazing, way better than any type of aerobics class or tennis. I miss playing soccer.

            As I continued my walk home I called one of my co-workers, Javier, because I had a missed call from him. He was wondering if I wanted to go out for a drink or two and for tapas. He is one of the co-workers that I go out for drinks and tapas with on Thursdays. An hour later we met up in the center of Velez. The first place that we went to, which is one that we had gone to last Thursday, was closed. It was Monday, it wasn’t too surprising. I told him about this other bar that I had been to with my friend Jakob and we went there. We had pulpo a la gallega (yes, my favorite dish!) and bacalao, which is a salty, white fish. Both dishes were really good. It was nice to have a friend to randomly hang out with during the week. We talked about all kinds of things. He studied in Salamanca, which is where my cousin (basically my sister), Jessica, studied abroad, so it was nice to hear some stories about the area. Supposedly it’s really pretty and since it’s a college town it’s really fun. I’ll have to check it out sometime. We also talked about different places in Galicia, Carnavales, which is like Halloween times 10, semana Blanca, which is a random week off from school and work during the winter, etc.

            When we were finished eating we decided to go to Torre to have a last drink. We had both heard that Torre is where there are more bars and more nightlife than Velez. There is a strip of bars in Torre where most young people go, so we decided to go check it out. The set up and the whole look of this one strip remind me a lot of Richmond. There were lots of different colors, but it was sort of dark at the same time, the buildings were made of brick and were painted with artsy things. I liked it. Of course we didn’t really think of the fact that it was a Monday so when we got there everything was closed. Javier knew of a different pretty decent bar so we decided to go there. It turned out to be a bar that I had gone to once with Juan Carlos, a guy that works at our school that showed me his apartment in Torre when I was looking at renting an apartment. Here we had a long talk about people of different cultures, how he didn’t figure out he wanted to get into music until pretty late, how I’m now sure what I want to do, etc.

            An interesting discussion and a nice cold drink… it was definitely the ideal way to end a Monday.

Moral Scenario 2 - Screw me, Pay me - What would you do?

            Here’s another scenario. Say you are getting your doctorate degree and your father is paying for it. One day your father calls you telling you that he has lost his job and can no longer pay for your doctorates. While you are at the hospital that you work at you print your insane bill to pay for your schooling, and coincidentally the handsome son of one of your patients shows up to ask you out to dinner. You accept. The dinner date is going amazingly well; you guys have many things in common and connect really well. As the end of the date is nearing, the guy says “You know, I’m flying back to New York in the morning, but this date is going so well. I was wondering if you would like to come back to the hotel with me?” You respond “Look, I agree completely and have to say that I’ve had a great time, but I’m not one to go home with someone on the first night, especially if it’s only one night.” And then he responds “I know that it’s the only night, that’s why we should take advantage of it. I don’t want to intrude, but I couldn’t help but notice the outrageous bill that you printed out at the hospital. I was thinking that maybe I could help you out. I could give you $5,000 to help pay off the bill, and you could come back to the hotel with me.” You could gain $5,000 and sleep with a super handsome guy with whom you have great chemistry, or go home without the money or the man. What would you do?

Moral Scenario - Zero to Cash Hero - What would you do?

            Here’s a scenario. Say you are a filmmaker trying to make it big in LA. You are hired by a 3 time Oscar winning filmmaker to film his daughter’s 18^th birthday party. During the party you take the opportunity to ask him if you can give him a copy of your end of the year film project for him to take a look at it and see if he likes it. He turns you down. Later on while filming the party you accidentally catch the professional filmmaker cheating on his wife with his 18 year old daughter’s best friend. In order to keep you quiet, he offers to pay you $100,000 for your film without even looking at it. Would you take the money and start your professional career that way?


... just curious.

Day 30-31 - 11/6-7/2010 - Tu Vista Favorita

      

For some reason it has taken me some time and effort to even begin this blog entry. It is a continuation of my weekend that started in my last blog. I had an amazing weekend and want to share it, but for some reason have lacked motivation in doing so. I have about an hour, hopefully the motivation will kick in and you’ll have something semi-decent to read!

            Where did I leave off? Oh, when I met up with my friends in Malaga on Friday night. Well, there isn’t too much else to say about that. We did the usual bar hopping, drinking in the street and trying not to get caught by cops, and crazy picture taking. One of the girls in the group moved to Ferrol in Galicia on Saturday, so Friday night was her going away night. The night ended at 8 am, and there I was, unable to keep my eyes open and head bobbing on the hour long bus ride from Malaga back home to Velez-Malaga. The more times I take this bus ride, the more I realize how inconvenient it is that I live that far from Malaga. I need to make more friends in Velez.

            Saturday I slept until 4 in the afternoon and woke up to a sunny day. I spent some time in the library and went back home. It was a calm afternoon; I definitely needed calm after the previous night! Plus, I was going hiking on Sunday for the first time with Jakob and two of his friends, so I wanted to make sure that I was well rested in order to keep up with the group. I’m not much for watching TV, but decided to end the night with a movie on TV. As I was flipping through channels I came across this show called “Tu Vista Favorita,” “Your Favorite View”. I am definitely a person that revels in the beauty of an amazing view, so rather than watch a movie I decided to check out the show.

            Tu Vista Favorita is a show that consists of traveling to different parts of Spain and seeing 40 of the best views. 4 views are shown each episode and at the end of each episode people vote for their favorite view of that episode. Each week views are eliminated and others are voted on to finals. I’m not sure how far into the season the show is at right now, but the views I saw on this Saturday’s episode were amazing. One was called Los Pueblos Blancos de Cadiz, another was called Monte Abantos in Madrid, and I didn’t get to see the other two views because I had to shower and get ready for the next day. I highly recommend looking up the show on Google and checking out the website. The views are breathtaking and if you watch the full episodes you can learn a little bit about the history of each place.

            So Saturday night was very calm. Sunday morning I met with Jakob at 9 am to go meet up with his other 2 friends at 9:30. We met up with Jacob and drove to pick up Juaquin. Juaquin is older and has been hiking for at least 15 years. He knows about all of the hiking routes in Andalucía, especially Malaga, and in other parts of Spain as well. Jacob just started hiking on a weekly basis this past summer, so he is still somewhat new to it as well. During the car ride to where we were going to hike Juaquin shared all sorts of information about different routes in the Malaga and Andalucía areas. I was excited to be hiking with him; I could tell he was going to be interesting to listen to and learn from.

            The mountain we were about to hike is called Sierra de Alcaparain. Juaquin said that it would probably take about 5 hours altogether. Considering that this was my first real hike, 5 hours sounded crazy to me, but it wasn’t half as bad as I thought.



Map & info about mountain & route

 

Info about surrounding view of mountain



  

              The path on the way up the mountain was a dirt road so it was pretty easy besides the increase in inclination as we got further up the mountain. Along the way there were posts that marked how many more kilometers were left until the top of the mountain. Although the path wasn’t very interesting, the view from the mountain was really nice.

Jakob and Jacob

 

                           

            After about two hours and a half we made it to the highest point of the path. Jakob, Jacob and I arrived about ten minutes before Juaquin did. There was such a drastic change in wind speed from the bottom of the mountain to the top. We stopped to take pictures, put on more layers, eat a snack and wait for Juaquin.

The highest point of the path!

Juaquin and Jacob





            We thought that was the top of the mountain and that once Juaquin caught up that we would find an area where there wasn’t as much wind, take time to eat some more and rest. When Juaquin caught up with us he said “You guys are already eating?! This isn’t the top of the mountain.” Woops. It was the highest point of the path, but the highest point of the mountain was about another 20 minutes further. This is when the hike started getting interesting because there was no longer a set path and we had to figure out the best way to get over and around rock formations and wild, prickly plants.

Once we got to the actual top of the mountain it felt like we were on top of the world, it was a good feeling. There was a big difference in the view from the end of the path to the actual top of the mountain. You could see all around the mountain rather than just around one side. It was cold and the wind was crazy, so after taking a few pictures we found a pocket in the side of the mountain really close to the top to eat and relax. The sun came out from behind some clouds and we ended up staying in that spot for about an hour. The combination of the amazing view, warmth of the sun, and the good company made for an extremely relaxing hour.

Jacob

Highest point of the mountain!



Jacob, Juaquin and Jakob



Me, Juaquin and Jakob

Me and Jacob

 

            On the way down the mountain we decided to take a path that took about half the amount of time that it took on the way up. This path was a lot more interesting though because it was a lot more natural, steeper, less noticeable, narrower, and went through forests on the side of the mountain. We were all a lot quieter on the way down the mountain. I think we were each taking it all in and just enjoying our surroundings. I’m super glad that Jakob invited me to go hiking with him and his friends, it was something that I enjoyed very muchand definitely plan on doing more often with them.

The length of our path on the way down

            Once we made it back to the car we decided to stop in a town on the way home to have something hot to drink. We stopped in a town called Casarabonela, which I found out is the birth town of Antonio Banderas! For some reason I found it funny that I had been in a winery with a barrel signed by Antonio Banderas and the town he was born in all in one weekend. I can think of a few friends of mine that would be super jealous if they knew haha. While we sat down to have a hot drink, Juaquin told us about these two older women who sell home grown food, we decided to go by their houses and see what they had.

the entrance to the old part of Casarabonela



The first woman’s house that we stopped by had so many different things. She had natural honey, membrillo (which I don’t know what is called in English), figs, pumpkins, lemons, aguacate, and more. We each bought a jar of honey, which I have already had and tastes refreshingly good by the way, and Jacob bought some aguacates.

The next woman’s house that we stopped by had olives, loads and loads of olives. On the way into the house we passed by huge baskets filled with olives and barrels that I suppose the olives are put into at some point. I absolutely love olives, but the olives in this area are different from the Spanish olives that I am used to eating. Unfortunately, I do not like the olives from this area at all, but it was nice to see where they come from. This woman also had a really pretty cat. The majority of the cat’s body is an off white, while its tail, legs, ears and face are black, and it has bright blue eyes. I tried taking pictures of it, but they didn’t come out too good.



            Our hiking trip and town visit came to an end. I can only speak for myself in saying that at this point I was very exhausted, but I’m pretty sure that the three guys were as well. As soon as I got home I took a hot shower and hit the bed. It had been a great day and I was excited to know that I’d be able to enjoy these amazing views very soon again on the next hiking trip with Jakob, Jacob and Juaquin.



Day 29 - 11/5/2010 - City culture: Time periods collide

            This weekend was great. I spent Friday afternoon and night in the city with friends, spent Saturday on my own resting, and spent Sunday in the mountains. It was the perfect mix of several different things.

            My friend Jakob’s girlfriend, Olympia, was in town visiting for about a week and she was leaving Saturday morning. They decided to spend her last Friday evening in Malaga and invited me to go along with them. I knew of a few places that were very typical of Malaga that they most likely would not see unless I showed them, so I was excited to go.

            We began at Calle Larios, which is the very center of Malaga and probably the most well known street in Malaga. This street is full of all types of ATMs, stores, restaurants and people. There are many little side streets that lead you to other streets that are full of other stores and restaurants as well. Jakob and his girlfriend wanted to stop and have a coffee or tea, but decided to stop in a couple of stores and do some shopping before sitting down. I told them about the most well known churreria in Malaga that was not even two minutes from where we were and we decided to go there. This churreria is in a very small side street and every single table that is on that street belongs to the churreria. At certain times of the day every single table is taken and people wait until tables open up. It became so popular that the owner had to buy space on the other side of the street, so it was as if there were two different churrerias, but it was really just the same one. I had never really noticed before but Jakob mentioned how he enjoyed how noisy it was there. The waiters shout to each other from one side of the street to the other to stay on top of things and there are always two of them on each side to make sure that things are running smooth. Like I said, I had never really noticed until Jakob mentioned it, but I enjoyed it as well, it showed how busy they were and added some character to the place. The churros and hot chocolate were delicious. Sometimes, in many places, the churros can have too little or too much sugar and in many cases the chocolate can be way too thick, but here both were perfect. Before leaving we asked the waiter if he could recommend somewhere for us to eat some good paella, he and a woman that was sitting next to us both told us about different places on this one little side street. Just to make sure that we knew where it was, we went by the side street before walking around again. Sure enough there were 3 places that looked as if they had decent Paella. We spoke with a waiter from one of the places called La Aldea and were convinced to go back there once we were ready to eat. Until then, we went to walk around some more.

            We walked around to where the Cathedral of Malaga is. It is nicknamed “La Manquita.” The reason behind this nickname goes way back to when the Cathedral was being built. There are two sides of the Cathedral that are supposed to have identical towers, but on one side the tower was never finished, so one of the towers is shorter than the other, as if there were two arms, but only one hand. Instead of using the money to finish the second tower, the city of Malaga decided to donate this money to Spain to go to  war (I say “war” because I don’t remember what war it was), so there was no longer enough money to finish the top of the second tower of the Cathedral. I always say that I like things because of something that gives it character, but its true! Oddities and the history behind things are what make them what they are, which is what makes them interesting!

            We continued our walk to where the old Moor city called La Alcazaba is. Visits inside are only allowed during certain hours of the day, so we were not able to see the inside, but even from the outside it looks pretty cool. I have been in La Alcazaba a couple of times and have to say that it is probably my most favorite thing about Malaga, besides the beach of course. When I studied abroad in Malaga I remember going to La Alcazaba and seeing the sunset over the city and the beach and the water. Whenever people talk about La Alcazaba or ask about it I always mention visiting during the hours of sunset because it is one of the prettiest views I have ever seen. What makes where La Alcazaba is located even more interesting is that over the past 5 years there has been excavation of Roman ruins right below the Moor ruins. When I was in Malaga about 2 years ago you could see maybe half of the theater seats, but now you can see the theater seats, the stage, and even behind the stage. It’s really cool to be able to see ruins from two different time periods sitting right next to each other. It was already dark by the time we were there so both of the sites were illuminated with bright lights. I’m sure that was a nice romantic moment for the last night of Olympia’s visit.

     

            From there we were going to go to La Plaza de Merced, which is a plaza that is also part of the center of Malaga and really close to where I lived while I studied abroad there. I have many great memories with my close study abroad friends in that plaza and the surrounding streets. I myself am not very much into wine, actually I am not into wine at all, but there is a very well known winery really close to where we were that I thought Jakob and his girlfriend might like to go to so I asked them if they wanted to go there and they did. Jakob had actually heard of the place from a few other people so he was excited to go. The place is called El Pimpi. I used to go there with my close girl friends from study abroad a lot. The inside of the place is very nicely set up. The ceilings are very tall; the walls are full of old school pictures and posters, and barrels signed by famous people who have been there. I found out that Olympia was a fan of Antonio Banderas so I took them to the way back where there is a wine barrel signed by Antonio Banderas. The interior decor of El Pimpi creates a very old school, calm atmosphere. It is the perfect place to have a glass of wine, or a few. ;)

             After El Pimpi it was about time to go eat some tasty Paella. We were traveling through the small side streets on our way to the restaurant we were going to eat at when we heard music. There was a band or orchestra of some sort playing in front of a church; we decided to check it out. There was a crowd of people surrounding the music performance. After asking a woman in the crowd we found out that it was the anniversary of the death of whatever the saint of that church was. Today they were having this musical performance, and the next day there was going to be a procession. We listened to a song or two, took some pictures, and a video. After being there for awhile we continued our path to the restaurant that we were going to eat at.

            When we arrived at the restaurant La Aldea the waiter that we had spoken with before greeted us and sat us at a table outside. We were all excited to eat some paella, but then we noticed that the paellas are made for two and there were three of us. I told them to go ahead and order it and that I would order something else, fortunately I’ve had many paellas and have family who know how to make it, so I figured they would enjoy it more. I on the other hand saw some Galician food on the menu, which made me crave some Pulpo a Feira, which is octopus prepared in the way that it is prepared in the north of Spain, so I had to order it. We also decided to get some appetizers. I ordered Almejas a la Marinera, marinated clams, and they ordered eggplant covered in honey. We shared. Both of the appetizers were really good, so we were pretty positive that our main dishes were going to be good as well. Their massive paella dish came out at the same time that my plate of pulpo came out. I must say that their paella looked pretty damn good and I was tempted to have some when they offered it to me, but I knew that they could eat the entire thing so I refrained from eating any. I was actually kind of afraid to order the pulpo because I’m used to it being made a certain way that was originally only done in the north and had never had it anywhere other than in the north, but was also excited to try it in the south in hopes that it would be almost as good if not just as good as in the north. To my surprise, it was almost just as good as in the north. I was officially in heaven. Now not only could I have my favorite dish whenever I’m in Galicia, now I can have it in Malaga! I must say that it tasted slightly different, I think it was the type of pimenton (powdered pepper) that they used, but it was still really good. The weather was nice, the food was delicious, and we even had a few musicians play some tunes as they passed by. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening.

            Once we were done with our meal we still had about 30 minutes before Jakob and Olympia had to catch the bus back to Velez-Malaga, so we decided to take a last stroll around town. Jakob asked me to show him where a few of the bars that I go to are, so I did. Along the way we passed by some new bars that I had never been to and observed the atmosphere. The night was young; people were still eating and having their first drinks. This is part of why I love Spain so much. Everywhere you go there is always people out and about, mingling and enjoying their surroundings. It’s weird because you would think with the crisis that Spain is in right now that people would stay in more and you wouldn’t see people out on the streets so much, but there is this attitude of this way of enjoying life here that I don’t think will ever change.

            We made it to the bus stop about 10 minutes early and were greeted by skateboarders whizzing by. We sat down and enjoyed the show. There was a group of skateboarders riding around and doing tricks. One of them would tape the others every now and then. It was crazy the kinds of tricks they could do just on flat ground and the curbs of sidewalks. There was also a rail that separated the bus stop from the street. One of the skateboarders made a few attempts at jumping the rail, doing a trick or two over the rail, and landing in the street on the other side of the rail. It was really cool to watch. Actually it was kind of scary because the street is a really busy street and I was scared that the guy would get hit by a car because he fell twice, but luckily that never happened. There were a few of them that were really good at what they were doing. It would be neat to be able to see the film that the guys put together in the end.

            I will definitely get to see Jakob around, but I’m not sure I will ever see Olympia again. She said that she plans on visiting 2 or 3 more times, so hopefully we’ll get to have another exciting evening, but until then it was goodbye. The bus came and we said our goodbyes. The evening had come to an end and now it was time to start the night.

            I thought it was going to be about 2 hours before meeting up with my friends in Malaga because they don’t usually go out until 12:30 or 1 am, so I decided to take another walk around town and stop and have a drink at a bar in La Plaza de Merced. When I studied abroad in Malaga this bar was a cocktail bar where my girl friends and I would get some free cocktails at every now and then. When my friend Mo was in town and I showed him around we stopped by the bar because I told him that they made good cocktails. To our surprise there was a new owner and the bar was now a gay men’s bar. It wasn’t a big deal; we still stayed and had a drink. We even made friends with the owner who was one of the bartenders.  He is from Ireland and has been living in Malaga for 10 years. During the free time I had before meeting up with my friends I decided to go to this bar, which is now called El Carmen, just because I knew the area and that one bartender. He was really nice and I knew that he would sit and chat with me for a little while. Sure enough, he did.

While I was there I called one of my friends to let them know that I was already there and to let me know when they were on the way. They were hopping on the bus at that moment and told me to meet up with them at Calle Larios in twenty minutes. Sweet! Twenty minutes was the perfect amount of time for me to finish my drink, pay, and walk over to meet them. I thanked the bar tender and told him that I’d make sure to pass by again sometime soon. I didn’t remember his name so I asked him (I still don’t remember what it is) and told him my name again, but he said “I’ll just remember you as Sandra Bullock.” Haha. Wow. Spain is the last place I would expect to hear anyone say that to me.

... the rest of the weekend will be continued in the next blog.