Spain…

Well this has been a long time coming, sorry about that. We’ve been busy and I’ve been feeling the post-Christmas blues a little. I always feel a bit sad after Christmas is over (possibly because I anticipate it for so long) and this year was no better and maybe a little worse. And of course, as my friend Teresa would say, January is such a long month!

We moved to a new house yesterday so packing and unpacking always takes time and thought. This house is very green, I’ll put up some photos eventually, and it makes me laugh.

However, I’ve been procrastinating for long enough so will tell you all a little about Spain.

We left here on the morning of the 14^th, early to drive to Colombo. Travel always gets me, it’s very weird to leave the east coast of Sri Lanka on a Thursday morning and arrive in Southern Spain on a Friday afternoon. Very different worlds. The flight was long, longer than I though it would be. Or I guess it felt longer than I thought it would feel. We flew Colombo to Paris (11 hours) and then Paris to Malaga (only 2 hours). Paris was freezing! It’s been a long time since I’ve been that cold, though I had the air conditioners set to 15 degrees all week before we left to try to acclimatize. (I’d be sitting there freezing in my office but determined to persevere. I’m going to say that it worked too because Scott was cold many times when I was not…) Anyways, it nothing could have quite prepared me for Paris that Friday morning. I’m very glad that the whole week wasn’t that cold because I have no warm clothes with me at all.

So, here are a bunch of things I loved about our Christmas in Spain. They are in no particular order and in fact I’m sure will turn out to be quite mixed up, but I just can’t bring myself to recount a whole chronological trip itinerary.

- narrow cobblestone streets

- Plaza with sidewalk cafes

- Orange trees. We picked oranges off them a couple of times, but mostly they looked much better than they tasted

- The company of good friends and lots and lots of laughter

- Being in a country where I don’t stand out quite so much

- A Flamenco store

- The terrace restaurant in Ronda.

- Morocco and being the only “tourist” for the vast majority of our trip to Tangiers

- Almost missing the ferry on the way home from Morocco. I have to say that having to get little cards stamped on the ferry is a weird system, especially since you have to stamp both your exit and entry cards upon entry…it’s a customs thing and I suppose if I had done it correctly it wouldn’t have been quite so weird, but anyways, almost missing the ferry was fun. We had to go back to the customs office to get the appropriate stamp (which for some reason Sean and Karen got…) so we hopped on a bus and the driver was very helpful. We weren’t sure we’d make it back to the ferry on time so we ran from the bus up the ramp to the customs building. Once inside (we obviously looked like people who had forgotten to get the right stamp) this guy saw and yelled “Stamp” while making a stamping motion with one hand on the other. I yelled “OUI” since French is the second language of Morocco and he madly gestured to where we were supposed to go. So we ran to the line up…waited there somewhat impatiently, got our stamp and continued the race. It actually felt like we were on the Amazing race or something because everyone was cheering us on and helping us out and there was a definite sense of urgency. The customs/ferry guys were giving us directions, we’d run up to them and say “Ici pour Tarifa?” and they’d point the right direction and off we’d run. We burst out the doors and took the stairs down two at a time. Little kids on the side of the road were yelling and gesturing and cheering us on and the bus driver was waiting for us to give us a ride back. We sprinted to the bus, jumped through the open doors and he floored it back to the Ferry terminal. Sean and Karen were waiting there for us and I couldn’t help but notice the look of disappointment on their faces when they realized we’d actually made it and they’d have to give us back our camera and backpack. It really was that dramatic! Well, except for maybe the bus driver flooring it, he did pull out quickly but it’s pretty tough to floor it in a bus.

- Hmmm, what else did I love? Well the resort was pretty great. Oh! I loved the shower! Hot water and more pressure than a glorified eye-dropper!

- The hotel pool was wonderful. I even enjoyed the freezing cold outdoor one for a few lengths. Or more accurately I enjoyed the feeling of blood returning to my limbs afterwards.

- The Secret Santa exchange was terrific. I thought it wouldn’t be quite such a “secret” Santa since we planned who would give to whom, but then my parents surprised us by sending gifts for us to Scotland for Sean and Karen to bring to us, so it was more secret than ever.

- Endless episodes of 24.

- Good conversation with good friends.

- Hanging out with other people who would be away from their families at Christmas… (selfish of me I know.)

- Our exceptional navigation and Sean’s stunt driving around narrow cobblestone streets and parking garages

- The dinner on our last night with Millers, especially the host/owner who looked just like someone we know back home.

- Watching the monkey with the tumerous butt climb on top of Scott’s shoulders in Gibraltar.

- Las Tablas

- The fact that all of us had forgotten that Gibraltar was not actually part of Spain.

- Sangria

- Watching Scott act as our interpreter all week

- Getting lost in innumerable small towns

- The excellent Spanish road signs and highway signs

- The photogenic Millers.

- All the places I found that I could go back to.

- Many other things I’m sure but that’s enough for now except for something I enjoyed more than anything else and that was being able to be with friends at Christmas when I couldn’t be with family.