Day 27 - 11/3/10 - Sunny with a chance of beach

           I am freezing, burning up, out of breath, and super happy about today.  On Wednesdays I only have one hour of work in the morning from 9:30 to 10:30. The weather forecast for today had beach weather written all over it, so I decided to spend most of the day in Torre del Mar, the beach town that is a ten minute tram ride away. I hopped on the tram at 12:40 without knowing where anything in this town that I wanted to do or see was at or where I had to get off at.

            There are three stops in Torre del Mar. At the first stop I started getting nervous, no it’s not this one, we’re not far enough into the town for this to be close to the center. Luckily there were two elderly ladies sitting close to me and I finally decided to ask. I wanted to buy a bike, eat somewhere good, and be able to get to the Conservatory of Music by 5 pm to be able to give my private English classes to Jose Luis’ kids.  The first thing I asked was “do you know which stop is closest to the center of town?” The elderly woman next to me responded with a question “Well, what are you looking for?” …The center, duh. I said “I’m not sure. Do you know of a decent restaurant where they serve good food?” At this point another elderly woman chimed in as well and they dished out a few names of different restaurants, then the woman next to me said “I am getting off at the last stop and can walk you to a restaurant that is very close to the center, good and cheap.” Perfect. That was exactly what I wanted.

At this point we arrived at the second stop and the other elderly woman that had been chiming in got off. Now I was on my own with the elderly woman next to me. “Do you know of any good bike shops around here? Or maybe a used bike shop?” “Yes, well there are a few. There is one that is kind of far from where we are going that is really good,” oh great. Here comes the first obstacle. “But there is a used bikes store that we will pass on the way to the restaurant.” Awesome. The really good store would probably be super expensive anyway. “It’s a used everything store, sometimes they have used bikes and sometimes they don’t, but usually they do.” Hm. Well if there isn’t one today at least I’ll know where the store is.

We arrived at our stop. The elderly woman guided me where to go. Along the way she asked me where I was from and all that good stuff and I told her that I’m from the US and what I’m doing here and whatnot. She was really nice and went explaining what and where things were as we walked. There was a road lined with trees and where cars were not allowed in. “This is Larios, it is considered the center. It leads to the beach and up the other way are most of the clothing stores.” That was good to know. We continued and not much further we passed the used everything store. I saw three bikes in the window, yes! One of them had to be good enough. She pointed out the store and we kept walking. The restaurant was a street over. It was 1:15, still early to eat. She told me that now would be a good time for me to go look at the bikes before going to eat at the restaurant around 2. She was right. I thanked her for her help and she wished me well with the rest of my time here.

At the used everything store I looked at two of the bikes. Originally I wanted one of the bikes, but when I looked at the prices the one I wanted was 150 Euros and the other one was 40 Euros. 40 Euros for a bike? No way. I looked at the bike, even rolled it around a little to make sure it worked alright. I asked the guy if he knew anything about the bike before it was brought in. He spoke in a very broken Spanish, but I couldn’t tell where he was from and didn’t think that he knew English so I just stuck with the Spanish. I asked him a few more questions just to make myself feel more comfortable. It was a little old and rusty, but it worked fine. Heck yes, I’ll take it! I had to pay 40 Euros in cash, which I didn’t have, so I went to an ATM across the street. When I came back I heard the guy speaking in British English with another customer. Hm. When he came over to me I said “I didn’t know you knew English. That would have made things a little easier. Where are you from?” He said “Yea, I suppose so, haha. I am from Greece, but I have been living here for 4 years.” Is it bad that the second I heard him speaking in British English I felt ten times more comfortable with him and trusted him more? That goes against everything I try to be, nonjudgmental and open to others who are different from me. Gah. Stupid stereotypes. Anyway, he then directed me to a store where I could buy a chain lock for the bike. I thanked him and went on my way.

After buying a chain lock for less than 5 Euros I decided to take a ride by the beach before going to eat, if only I could find the beach. The elderly woman told me that no matter where you were, if you went in this direction you would get to the beach, so I went in that direction rather than going back to the street named Larios where I was sure how to get to the beach. Before I knew it I was going through all of these little back streets where there was barely anything. Good thing it was day time because if it was night time who knows what kind of trouble I’d be getting into. I finally made it to the boardwalk. I rode all the way to one end of the boardwalk, which was the port and where all of the fishermen were. I forgot I had been there before with Ana and her son. Then I rode all the way back to where I started. The sky was clear, the sun was burning, and the wind felt good. It was nice to be able to ride around and enjoy the weather, but now it was time to eat.

I went to the restaurant that the elderly woman advised I go to. I ordered a “plato combinado,” which is basically a plate full of a little bit of three things. I got pescaditos, which are little tiny fish, fries and salad. A very healthy meal, I know. It was good! What made the hour that I spent there interesting was the waitress/bartender. She was Colombian, pregnant, and one of the liveliest people I’ve ever seen work at a bar/restaurant. She smiled, laughed, joked around, spoke with everyone, knew everyone, and was constantly on the move. I was alone so having someone like that around while I was alone picked up my spirits a little bit. I mean I’m not complaining, my day was going very well so far, but I was eating alone in a town that I didn’t know at all where I didn’t know anyone, that kind of makes you go quiet. The food was good, the service was good, I was done and I had 2 hours before I had to give my private English classes.

I went to the street named Larios and went straight to the beach. I got on my bike and rode in the direction I had went earlier until I got to the Port and turned around. I went back to where I started again. I sat down and enjoyed the view for about 30 minutes. There was a little Chiringuito, which are the bars that are on the beach, right in front of where I was sitting. I could hear the Flamenco music they were playing. It was a little flavor added to the taste of my surroundings. At the bar there was a group of English or German people enjoying the sun and a cold drink. It was nice to see a group of people enjoying themselves in such a simple way. I wished I had a few people to enjoy the time I was spending there at that moment too, but it’s good to do things alone every now and then. After the 30 minutes I got on my bike going the opposite direction and went all the way to the other end of the boardwalk. This way was a little bit longer, so when I got to the end I took a 10 minute break. The scenery was nice no matter where you were on the boardwalk. I went on like this for the entire 2 hours, riding for awhile, sitting for awhile.

I remembered where the Conservatory of Music was and headed down that way. I also remembered that when I came to Torre del Mar with Ana one time we stopped by an ice cream shop that was very close to the Conservatory, so on my way I made a pit stop for some ice cream. I took my bike and my ice cream to a bench in front of the Conservatory of Music and waited until Jose Luis and his kids showed up. It was very relaxing. The entire day since I had gotten my bike and found the beach was very relaxing, but now it was time to do a little bit of work for a little bit of extra money.

Like I mentioned in a previous blog, Jose Luis’ kids are really cute and well behaved. The best part about teaching them is that they want to learn, so it is easy to get them to pay attention and try hard. I spend about 30 minutes with each of the boys, spit out a little bit of English, joke around, and have a drink. I feel bad that Jose Luis pays me because it doesn’t even feel like work and I enjoy it, but he insists. Today he brought little Carmen along, but she woke up from her nap in a bad mood. Most of the time she was either crying or moping, but she came around every now and then. She even sang some songs she learned at school for me! I couldn’t understand even half of the songs, but it made her happy and it was adorable, so I listened with a smile on my face.

I had planned on taking the tram home since the sun was starting to go down and I had never walked or ridden a bike from Torre to Velez, but the next tram wasn’t coming for another 40 minutes and Jose Luis assured me that it wasn’t a very long ride at all. I was freezing and ready to go home, so I asked him how to get home and followed his directions. I was wearing short sleeves and it was beginning to get cold since the sun was going down so I was ready to bike fast. Within the first couple of minutes I had to make it up a pretty steep hill. After that the ride was a piece of cake, long, but a piece of cake. There is a bike path that goes along the side of the road, so I just followed the path. I was going pretty fast and passed several people along the way. At this point I could feel my body temperature rising. The distance between Torre and Velez sure does seem a lot shorter when you go on a tram! Once I got to the entrance of Velez I knew I was about 5 minutes from home. The bike path ends when you get to the entrance of Velez so I was riding on the sidewalk. Luckily the sidewalk is pretty wide almost the entire way to my apartment; I only had to stop 2 times where the sidewalk narrowed to let people by. Velez is slanted so I was riding slightly uphill the last 5-10 minutes. I was huffing and puffing at this point, but still cold because of the wind. The entire ride took about 15 minutes. Now that I think about it, I was going pretty fast almost the entire time, so I’m guessing that if I took things at a more relaxed pace that it would take about 25 minutes. Not too bad.

I spoke with strangers, explored a new town, spent some money and bought a bike, exercised, enjoyed the sun and relaxed, made some money and taught English, and found my way home. I even did a little shopping once I got home and bought myself a windbreaker that was on sale. Overall it was a pretty successful day. Now it’s time for a hot shower and a cozy bed. Goodnight all.