Day 115: Spain Day 9

Thursday, September 15, 2016

I woke up at 9:30 after a relatively restful sleep.  Leticia, my mom, and my dad went to find a mechanic who could fix the rental car window (yikes), while my sister, my cousin Victor, and I watched some trashy yet sadly entertaining show on tv and laughed at it.  I was pretty hungry, so I ate bread with Nocilla, jamon serrano, and a plum.

Shopping!  Vanessa and I are luckily about the same size as our mom, so we had clean stuff to wear.  But shopping was needed.  So, our mom, us, and Leticia walked to a few shops and bought toiletries, a few shirts and shorts, jeans, etc.  I´m glad we found cheap yet cute stuff!  That´s always a plus.

When we got to our relatives´ house, Victor Sr., Leticia´s awesome husband, was home.  Leticia went to pick their youngest son up from school while we stayed and chatted/listened to Victor´s hilarious stories about work.  Then Leticia and Ángel were back and we all ate some delicious hot homemade soup with bread, and some rice with ham and veggies.  The car was fixed by the time we finished eating, so we said goodbye once again to our family and drove off.

El Chorro
We drove to El Chorro, a huge wooded area where the very famous and dangerous (hehe it rhymes :) Caminito del Rey is, as well as three famous bodies of water that are known for their pristine blue-green color.  Vanessa and I had gone there two years ago when we came to visit our grandmother, so it was exciting to show our parents the beautiful views of the water and undulating rock, the soft limestone carved for thousands of years by wind and rain.  We hiked around for a bit, then went down to the clear, turquoise water.  It was cool to the touch, just like the color itself.

El Caminito del Rey

Dinner
We ate, once again, like royalty.  There were olives and cheese for the appetizer, a scrumptious dinner of lightly fried eggplant with dark honey drizzled on top for me as the entree.  It was slightly sweet and really good!  My mom got asparagus and tasty fries with alioli, Vanessa an absolutely amazing goat cheese ball, mango, apple, walnut, raisin salad, and my dad a bowl of bread crumbs (literally called that in Spanish) with bits of ham in it.  Yay for food.

Cheese appetizer

Fries with alioli and asparagus

Migas de pan (bread crumbs)

Fried eggplant with honey

Setenil de las Bodegas
Even at night it´s beautiful.  My dad and I, once we finished unpacking, walked up and up, looking out at the town below us.  The cobblestone streets looked very London-esque to me (I´ve never been there sooo...how I picture it anyway), with glowing streetlights illuminating shadowy, old houses and smooth cobbled ways.  We climbed up and looked at the sprinkling of stars in the sky and the full-ish moon, in awe of the night and the town.

Day 114: Spain Day 8

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

We woke up at 8 and packed up to go.  We planned to go from the Málaga beach to the estuary of Río Guadalhorce, a really good spot for birds, and finally to Las Cuevas del Becerro.  We said goodbye to Beatriz, our nice hostess, and drove to Málaga.

It took a while to find parking, and we finally did on the road parallel to the beach.  We walked on el Paseo Marítimo, the beautiful walkway by the beach, and looked around at the shops nearby.  Then, it was time to eat!!!

Lunch
We ate at La Casa José, a small restaurant 75 feet away from the shore.

Olives and anchovies

If you haven´t tried Lemon Fanta you haven´t fully exercised your rights of drinking

YES CLAMS

Espeto = sardines grilled on a stick

Calamare = fried squid

When we got back to our car, we realized that someone had broken a window and stolen our suitcases and backpacks, save for my mother´s suitcase because it was big and already opened to reveal just clothes inside.  That was a very unpleasant rest of the day, going to the police, remembering various personal and impersonal valuables that had been suddenly taken away.  The upside was that we were all okay, the policemen were very nice and helped us a lot, and we were able to see our cousins again.  Leticia and her family graciously let us stay with them the night, and I really enjoyed hanging out with them again.  The robbery was hard to get through, but we did not let it hinder us too much on our plans.  We canceled our stay in Cuevas del Becerro, but still planned to go to a beautiful forest and lake area called El Chorro the next day.

Day 113: Spain Day 7

Tuesday, September 13, 2016
We woke up around 9:30 as our parents left to scope out a churrería.  Vanessa and I read until they returned with hot churros and chocolate, and, strangely enough, the need for some alcohol.  You see, my dear parents (they are seriously so awesome) had turned the completely wrong way when trying to go to Malaga to find churros.  They had ended up driving further up the mountain on the edge of a cliff and whose road had no guard rail.  Nice.  So, they needed a de-stressor

Calle Larios
We went to El Centro, the busy center of Malaga.  I love el centro with its touristy shops, guys on the side of the cobblestone streets selling candied nuts, colors everywhere, the huge market bustling with people, a hubbub of activity all around.  We ate lunch at Del Norte Al Sur, me eating fries with a fried egg and jamon serrano on top (to die for), lemon Fanta, and cafe con leche for dessert.  Vanessa had one of the best grilled shrimp I´ve ever tasted.

Picasso
We went to the Picasso Museum, a building close to the small house that Picasso was born and grew up in.  The sad thing about Picasso is that he never returned to Malaga after he first left at 18, but I can´t say I blame him since Spain was, at the time, ruled by the evil dictator Francisco Franco.  Anyway, I had been to this museum once before with Vanessa, and it was interesting to see the galleries that had changed.  He was an amazing artist with abstract and incredibly realistic artwork.

Leticia y familia!
My mom's cousin Leticia and her family are wonderful, and we went to their apartment in Malaga to chat and go out to eat.  We had a great time talking and joking around while eating some delicious tapas.  After hours of talking and eating, we went our separate ways content and full.

Day 112: Spain Day 6

Monday, September 12, 2016
We woke up early this morning--6:45--in order to get on the trail early.  There are many hiking trails throughout the area, since there are mountains surrounding the Casas Bajas valley.  We went up along the river and then a small gravel trail.  It went zigzagging up a scrubby mountain that overlooked the town.  There were a few signs of farm life: olive groves, some dilapidated old farm storage buildings, and a short squat stone fence zigzagging up away from the trail.  The view of the valleys below was stunning.
Walking up a bit more, we discovered a manmade cave made of rocks, and another storage unit, the roof made of thatched bamboo.

We got back around 10 and were ravenous.  We ate bread with Nocilla, a jamon serrano meat pie thing that was really good, paraguayo that was also very good, kiwi, and pear.  We chatted with our nice hostess Carmen as we ate.
Then we went to the square after packing and ate some olives and peanuts along with the best drink ever: Lemon Fanta.  Vanessa and I got enormous jamon serrano, olive oil, and herb sandwiches for the road.

The road....is long and annoying
So, the iPhone Maps app sometimes sucks if anyone was wondering.  It took us to the wrong address after literally 7 hours of driving.  So, 9 hours after leaving Casas Bajas, we finally got to a gas station near Malaga, the southern coastal city that my mom´s family is from.  Our hostess for this house drove like a crazy woman up a mountain to show us to our home for 2 nights.  Sadly, the house was lacking in the clean department, but it had beds, so we slept and tried to forget about the very, very long trip that day.

Almond

Inside a tiny manmade cave

Wild blackberries

Wonderful lunch for the road

Day 111: Spain Day 5

Sunday, September 11, 2016

We woke up at 8 in a packing frenzy, because we realized we had to get out by 10.  We packed and said goodbye to our sweet hostess Ana and her husband, then drove and parked near the beach.  We ate at a cute cafe catering to English-speaking tourists since their chalkboard out front by the walking and bike lanes was advertising everything in English.  They had great music taste too, playing Coldplay, Maroon 5, and an Ellie Goulding song that was actually good.  We ate under light cloth covering small tables with lights, looking at the beach and sea.  We each got the amazingly fresh orange juice ans a mini jamon serrano sandwich.

On the road
A long trip using Siri and the photos of the route that did little to help with navigation.  The countryside was nice though, and when we were hungry, we followed some road signs to a town we had at first seen in the distance.  It had white zig zags above it going to a building we later found out was a church.  The town looked quaint, typical Spanish, and oddly deserted.  It was slightly eerie, and just as we (ok, maybe it was just me) were starting to wonder if the apocalypse had happened and we had just missed the memo, we saw one soul (aka living human) walking ahead of our car.  We decided to follow him--he would lead to salvation/food right?  We got to a plaza and attempted to find parking, then went into the bar where old men were smoking cigars and drinking outside, staring at us. Hey guys!! We´re from ´Murica/definitely not from here if you couldn´t already tell....walk away walk away into the restaurant...
  The waiter informed us that there wasn´t anything to eat yet, but we got some water and my parents beer as we tried to figure out how to get past the whole siesta-time-meaning-kitchen-closed thing.  Then the guy we had followed came in and sat down at a table with an enormous jamon serrano sandwich wrapped in paper.  Ummm, that´s exactly what we are looking for.  The guy soon asked us if we were staying to watch the game.  Mama said no, and as a family we started talking in English about what we were going to do about eating.

The English guy
The guy with the sandwich asked us if we spoke English, and when we said yes, he said that was better for him too.  We found the one British guy in the entire town!  What are the odds that the one guy we see from the start is the only person in town whose first language is English?  Well, we learned that he had lived in Valencia for a few years before coming to this town, a town that is quiet in the off-season, but poppin in the summer--all of the rich people come to party there.  Interesting.  He is known as El Inglesa in the town, and told us that he had gotten the delicious-looking sandwich at a bar up the road.  As friends came into the back room of the bar to watch the soccer match and greeted El Inglesa enthusiastically, we went to the bar down the street.

Lunch
The nice owner was watching a telenovela and talking on the phone when we arrived.  There were fresh tomatoes and such in baskets in the corner of the seating area, and pictures of the Mexican conquistador Zapata on the wooden walls.  We ate like freaking conquistadors, but without the mercilessness.  Fresh tomato wedges in olive oil, olives, calamare (fried squid), jamon serrano, hot bread, manchego, and a cafe con leche for dessert.  The awesome waitress talked to us for a bit; she´s from Colombia and has lived in the States.

Casas Bajas
It took us a couple more hours to reach our next Airbnb stop: a smallllll town called Casas Bajas.  It was picturesque.  Bell tower, cobblestone streets, old men outside, a Plaza de España (apparently most Spanish towns have a Plaza de España).  The house was fantastic!  All wood beams and four floors and as rustic as you can get.  We took a birding walk to the old mill house and trails by the Rio Turia as our mom ran, then went and ate at a bar around 10 pm.  We went to bed in our awesome third floor living quarters, sleeping well.

Hilarious metal man in front of the old mill in Casas Bajas

Strike a pose dude

This is the essence of the awesome house we stayed in

Day 110: Spain Day 4

Saturday, September 10, 2016

I woke up around 8:30 and we all got ready to find some churros, the amazing fried dough strips that Spain is very well-known for.  People dip it in a very thick and very beautiful chocolate sauce, or coffee with milk.  Alas, after much asking and walking around, we discovered that there were not any churrerías this time of year (after tourist season, and in Cataluña).  So, we went to a pastelería instead and bought some goodies.

Breakfast

OH YEAH.  Fried egg, chorizo, and a chocolate croissant :)

Beach
We went to the beach with our mats and sunbathed and read for a while. We were really hot after a while, and decided to get some refreshing drinks at the beachfront bar.  We went to the Bar Chillout place and discovered an absolutely ingenious idea: a beach bed--a foam bead with foam pillows that you can lay on and eat/drink.  We all enjoyed the luxurious situation, and V and I drank a virgin piña colada and ate some fantastic patatas bravas and olives.

Terrassa
It took forever to get to Terrassa, the city where my mom´s cousin on her dad´s side and her family live.  We finally got there and went to Estefania´s apartment.  Her children are sooo cute and already bilingual: their dad is Cataluñan and Estafania knows the language, as most people do in the region, so they know that and Spanish.  As my mom and Estefania talked, my dad, sister and I played with Claudia, the eldest, at 7 years old.  Her adorable brother Eric, 2 years old, followed and watched us work on a puzzle and run around getting chased by a lunatic Mickey Mouse riding a bike.

We all went to the hospital to see Estafania´s father Pepe Luis.  He suffered from a stroke a couple months back and then got a throat infection in ICU.  He had a tube in his throat, thus couldn´t speak, but he utilized a marker and whiteboard to have a conversation about how he was doing.  The other patient in the hospital room was awesome.  He and my mom got along really well, and he was really interesting, talking animatedly about soccer.  He must of been a good guy too because he got a lot of caring visitors in the short span of time we visited Pepe Luis.

Dinner
We walked back the way we came (UPHILL), and saw some incredibly dark storm clouds.  Of course we were walking directly towards them.  With rain threatening to drop, we  met with Ampáro, our grandfather´s half-sister, and her boyfriend and went into a restaurant.  Just in time, we heard the storm raging outside.  We got some tapas to eat: chicken kabobs, chocos (squid), fries, chicken wings, olives, and patatas bravas.  We had a really interesting conversation with Ampáro and her boyfriend Paco about their travels by cruise to Italy and up the Mediterranean, Ampáro absolutely loved Pompeii.  Vanessa and I told them about our gap year and bird banding and Nicaragua.  Saying goodbye was hard. By then it was 10:30, so we walked Estefania and her kids to their apartment.

We went to a bar close by so that my mom and sister could go to the bathroom, and I ordered a cafe con leche for my dad.  We both watched the soccer match between Barcelona and a team I had never heard of--los Ave.  The patient by Pepe Luis had been hoping that Barca would win.  Here they were though, down 2-1.  That´s basically unheard of for Barca against such a lower-ranked team.  Everyone collectively sighed when a poor shot was made by Barcelona.  We decided to watch the rest of the match (there were 5 minutes left), so we stayed to sadly see the few minutes of Barca´s loss.  I loved the unified feeling of everyone though.
 We drove home, getting lost of course, because the Spanish roads take a while to get used to.  The inky black sky was beautiful.

Storm's a-comin'

Storm frenzy

View from the hospital window

Aaaah thank goodness we got to the restaurant before the rain came down

Day 109: Spain Day 3

Friday, September 9, 2016

We all woke up at 8 to my mom´s alarm.  She made tortilla de patata (typical Spanish omelette) as Vanessa and Iread and journaled outside, watching a pair of new warblers in the gardens below.  Our dad went to try to find our car that he had parked last night.  The tortilla was delicious, and we ate it with peaches, the paraguayos (which were sadly past their prime by now, so not very juicy or flavorful), and bread with butter and Nocilla.

Beach
We walked to the beach and found that there was a superb-looking street market blocking our way.  V immediately found a beautiful green cloth purse for 9 €.  Mama, V, and I kept looking through the market as my dad went to try to find the car again (the streets are very deceiving).  We bought some, I know, so luxurious, socks.

Beach time!  The three of us got to the beach and felt the cold, crisp, clear water of the Mediterranean sea.  I attempted to skip rocks (the beach shore was covered in glistening smooth rocks and coarse sand).  We all skipped rocks, and then my dad came with success.  Going in for a dip, the water was salty and buoyant and wonderful.  I spent some time floating and listening to the music of the rocks and sand skimming themselves because of the waves.  We read as our parents played frisbee and went to get beer.

¡Paco!
We went back to the apartment and showered before going to a beachfront hotel (Hotel Palace).  Paco was right in the lobby, waiting for us.  He is my mom´s uncle (he is the husband of her mother´s sister.  It was so great to see him--he hadn´t changed a bit.  After some discussion, we decided to stay where there was AC; eating in the hotel we weren´t actually staying at.  Paco talked nonstop :).
I ate french fries, potatoes with a yummy meat broth, and a Catalán soup that was very similar to chicken noodle soup.  For dessert I tried curd with honey and that was okay, but there was also a delicious cream and chocolate cake thing and arroz con leche.

Paco is a wonderful guy.  He pretends to not like his wife´s dog Mia, yet takes her for half-hour walks and had a glimpse of a smile in his eyes as he talks about her.  He talks very wisely about politics and economics of Spain, surprisingly fiery about those topics, and inquires about how my mom and such.  We went back to our apartment and talked and ate tapas.  Paco left after a nice goodbye a couple of hours later.

After Paco
We walked home after walking Paco to his car, chilling for a bit, before going to bed.
3 am:  The wind and rain woke me up.  It was an epic storm, and my dad was already awake; V and my mom joined soon after.  We watched the rain and lightning bolts for half an hour, illuminating the mostly dark buildings and roads glistening with rain. 

Spanish tortilla for breakfast

Stormy night