Saturday

I was feeling much better on Saturday; Larry went down to reception and asked about the open air markets. The one we had heard about was not nearby at all; the gal told us to go to one in La Cala Del Moral. This is not a huge market, and Saturday was not the Big Day. Still, we checked out the yummy smelling spices we could not take home, the rugs and the tablecloths, the fresh fruit and the candysellers. There was overpriced costume jewelry, and stockings and clothes, and beautiful tiles. I wish I had got the one that said, "Beware of the cat" in Spanish. Darn! We did buy several scarves, fun and cheap. The pashima scarves are soft, but the ones in the bags smell funny. We looked at leather, because Andulasia is famous for leather. It is also expensive, but the sellers are very honest and tell you which is leather, which pleather and which plastic, or made in China. Although one seller told us lambskin was antelope. Not bad for broken English. And "boool" is cowhide. LOL. I found a triangular-shaped bag with a zipper strap that made either a backpack or a purse. I could wear it across my body, so everything I had was right in reach. It has a flap across the front with zippered pouched under, and a zippered compartment on the back. It was perfect, I made Larry carry it most of the time! You will see it in later pictures. One man selling baby sweaters asked Larry is he were Canadian. We just don't look American!

Next we went to Marbella, downtown, but missed Old Town as the tourist info was closed. Still, we found what we were looking for, the Dali statues. First we had to stroll along the boardwalk, dodging post-siesta strollers and street hawkers from Kenya. Most shops were closed, and the beach was dark and stormy. There were fiberglass statues of elephants on the beach, I have no clue why. We passed a man and his friend who had a giant sand sculpture.... they had tarps to cover it at night, and a blanket with a basket for coins. Very cool. We tossed down some Euros, and took a couple pictures. In a group of British tourists, one lady was digging in her purse. "My camera's gone!" As we walked away, I could hear her friends asking her where she had it last. I hugged my new bag tight to my body, remembering all the pickpocket warnings. I felt bad for her. Lost or stolen, either sucked.

Then there it was ... a promenade from the sea to the old park, full of Dali sculptures. Right there, where you could walk around them, touch them, get silly with them. I have few words to describe them, I was so awe-struck; they were wonderful! I want a Cosmic Elephant for my yard! That would be the Dali elephant, not the beach elephants. I took so many pictures, they have their own album on Facebook. It says the link is public, I don't know if you have to join to look at them. Let me know, m'kay?

http://tinyurl.com/ad9tmy

After supper in the room, a nice omelet with tea, we walked down to the row of tourist bars and restaurants for a drink. We found the Harp Bar, a little Irish place. Very Irish and homey and friendly. The folks who ran the bar were definitely from Ireland, and many of the regulars were retired and living in Spain, or worked in the tourist trade there. I had a half-pint of Guiness and Larry had a pint. Real Guiness, on tap, flown in fresh, tasty and dark and yummy! There was Irish music and darts and biliards in the cellar

Pictures: The ice cream truck, open air market (I never did get a really good picture), the sand castle, Larry in the park, the Dali sculptures. As I said, all the Dalis are on Facebook, plus a Marbella album.

Tomorrow: Gibraltor and the Barbary Apes.

Friday Morning

We woke in the morning, still off schedule from jetlag. The floors were cold, so I sniveled about my sore knee and made Larry get up to make breakfast for us. The swelling in my knee had gone down, leaving a lovely bruise and some scuffing which eventually formed a scab. Mmm-mmm, good.

Breakfast was tea with milk and sugar, toast and eggs and bacon and juice. The hot water kettle heated water in a flash, but if you got any moisture down in the plug or socket on the base, the breakers would flip. Too much water in the kettle would boil up over into the handle and down into the plug. Not all that safe, but great otherwise, LOL.

I mentioned I had cold sores before I left. I did, three of them, one on each side of my upper lip, and one below. The Zorivax seemed to be helping, but then I was using Abreva, so I am not certain. What I do know is that I shouldn't have been using Zorivax while traveling. It messes with my system. That, and we'd been drinking tap water from the Madrid airport, not suggested normally. After breakfast, I was not in good condition ... I was very glad Larry had picked up some Imodium at the SLC airport. I'd forgotten to pack it. I feel as if I were being punished. But the medicine, some tea and the bidet set me right. By noon I was up for a little exploring.

We drove up and down N340, mostly checking out what was in the area. There are old stone towers up and down the coast, faros ... I do not know how old these are, I need to do some research. I tried and tried to get a good picture of one, but they're all fairly inaccessible. The one you could get close to was on a roundabout and I was too close to get a good picture!

We found access down to the beach; the wind kept snatching my scarf off my head. Two guys were fishing and catching small fish, but big enough to eat. We scrounged for beach glass and I found a bit of nifty sea-buffed blue and white on red clay tile. I will make a pendant from it! I took a lot of pictures, but had the camera on normal instead of landscape. All my outdoor shots had a blue tint. I've tried to fix it, but not with perfect success.

Next we found a little grocery store, LIDL. We never did figure out how to use the shopping carts; they were all chained together. I think you had to put a coin in. We did have the foresight to carry a shopping bag, our big Ikea bag we'd picked up in a thrift shop. You have to pay for your plastic bags if you do not have your own bag. We purchased water, wine, jam, mustard, lunchmeat, eggs, gouda and ... pads. Yes, Aunt Flo paid me a surprise visit. Oh yay. I had some supplies, I always carry them, but geeez, falling down, cold sores, the runs and now this? Argh.

Grocery stores ... we went to the LIDL a couple times, and to the nearby and much larger SuperSol. The Supersol is perfect for picnics; it has a deli and a bakery and a nice selection of take away snacks and fresh produce. The LIDL had a larger store, but we only went to the small one. LIDL is cheaper for water and wine, a liter brick of red table wine was Eu69. That's a buck and it lasted all week! G00d stuff. Larry got some "sidre" ... basically hard cider, but it was a little skunky and old.

We decided dinner would be simplest right at the resort. There was one other table with guests. The off season can be very, very slow. We had red wine with our meal because you cannot get a glass of water. Water and wine cost about the same thing. We had delicious calamari to begin; I had chicken curry with "sultanas" (raisins) and Larry had pasta. His was shrimp in a cream alfredo sauce made with sherry. Oh yum. The food and service were very good. Not cheap, the bill ran to Eu28 and then there was a tip. We asked and the waiters shrugged. Whatever you like, they said, this is not like America. Although they only knew we were Americans as they had already asked Larry if he were Australian!

If it seems as though I am fixated on money, indeed I am. We both were concerned for the first couple of days, the dollar is not strong and the tourist and airport facilities are not inexpensive. Once we began finding our way around and shopped locally, we felt a bit better. If we had to pay full resort prices for meals, we'd not have any money leftover at all!

Pictures: a brick of wine, Larry making breakfast, the view of vacation villas from our balcony, us on the beach, a fisherman, LIDL grocery store. I ended up filling my memory card and did not bring a spare. I was smart enough to bring a voltage converter so I could charge my camera battery! I do plan on putting more pictures up on Facebook in albums, and maybe Flickr if I can scrounge up my password.

Tomorrow: the open air market, Dali statues in Marbella, dinner in.

Arriving

The Ford Ka.

One thing about the Madrid airport is that it is sprawling. We arrived to rainy skies and a chill wind. You could feel the plane wiggle sideways as it landed.

We had our Air Europa reservations, but needed to check in and get our boarding passes. They sent us around to another section of the terminal, quite a hike and you could only take the little luggage carts part of the way. We found the desk and checked in easily, then hiked back to where we started. ARGH. I was glad we had a good long break between flights, but it was a little much. The meals in the airport were ludicrously expensive, MyLarry rustled up some water for our camelbak bottles (actually our cheap knock-offs, we left the good bottles at home.) we dug into our granola bar bag. Larry found a better exchange rate and changed the remainder of our vacation dollars.

Unfortunately, our gate was right next to one of the smoking rooms. They are enclosed, but there are no doors. If the smokers go all the way in, there's no problem, but the carts aren't allowed in there. A group of expensively dressed young women were standing in the door so they could dig into their bags on the carts. Their cigarettes weren't in the room with the fans to suck the smoke away. It kept drifting over to me. If looks could kill, I'd be doing life. I detest self-entitled bints.

After much milling about, with more and more people jockeying for a place near the front, the gate opened. Larry and I were near the front. As I walked down the breezeway, I stepped in some water which had snuck in and slipped. Smack! Straight down onto my left knee, all my weight. Larry and another man picked me up and set me on my feet. I got onto the plane and it was rapidly apparent I had really smashed my knee hard. Finally, after we were in the air, the attendant brought me a sick bag full of ice. Geee, thanks. You know if this had been an American carrier, I'd have had a wheelchair at the far end. Yes, it was that bad initially.

The flight was short, and Malaga is not a big airport at all. We found the car rental desks easily, even if they do call them car hire. The agents spoke English, and all the signs were in Spanish, English and German. Larry's license was gladly accepted. We paid for a full tank of gas (Eu35) , plus glass and tire insurance for Eu20. The car was a tiny, and I do mean itsy-bitsy, Ford Ka. Standard. Larry missed gears at first because it was so different from his semi. Ya think? we headed out into the night, it was cold, dark, rainy and windy, but warmer than Utah!

The driving directions to the resort weren't the best, but also not the worst. We were to take A-7/N340/E-15 to the Sitio del Calahonda. What we didn't know was that we had to be careful not to get on the toll road, AP-7. We did. That was alright, the toll is an exit toll and they don't count how far you've gone, so it was just Eu2.35. Not too bad, but if you're on a ramp/road entrance that is marked "pease", that's the toll road.

We got to the resort area just fine, but the directions weren't clear where to turn. We asked directions at a police box (that's what they call them in Japan). Soon we were checking in. The keys had tags on them that you slipped into a reader when you entered the room. This turns on the electricity while you're in. The fridge is on a separate breaker, but you must have the key to have power. It is quite common to pay a set fee for electricity when you check out, our fee was Eu21.

The rooms were nice, we had two bedrooms, two baths, a small kitchen, and a living room. The balcony was spacious, it was bigger than half the condo! I was happy to see a bidet in the master bath. Still, for size and furnishings and extras, our Worldmark/Wyndham resorts are much, much nicer. The difference was that the Crown Resort has a bar and restaraunt, plus pools and a spa, workout room and even babysitters. There's entertainment during the peak season. Worldmark has the pools and gyms, but not all the extras.I thought I took a picture of the resort, but there's so many shots I can't find it quickly!

The floors were tile and very, very cold. There were three little oil-filled heaters which we cranked up right away. We'd ordered a "welcome package" because I knew we'd be in late. That was OJ, margarine, six eggs, a small pack of bacon, milk, instant coffee, tea, sugar, and some of the most wonderful malted whole grain bread ever. English brand of bread, simply heavenly. The milk was EU in origin, which means it comes from almost anywhere in Europe. Whole milk, wow! It was so rich it tasted sweet, but there was nothing added. It almost tasted like coconut milk it was so flavorful. Oh, this was not free or a gift, it cost Eu22.

Tomorrow, my horrible first morning, driving around and finding the grocery store, dinner at the resort.

There and back again.

Our trip to Spain began in Salt Lake City, Utah. Delta, in partnership with Air France, has direct flights to Paris. The flight out was long, with hard bumpy jolts. The winter weather is rough, with a ton of turbulence. The flight was almost empty, and we had a middle row to ourselves. The food was passable, although you cannot order a non-nightshade meal; we got lucky and one of the entrees was edible for us. Hint: pack power bars. The screens were up above and the earbuds were free. Hint: bring your own. The free ones hurt my ears to no end, and you can get an adapter if you ask. Between movies and TV shows and advertisements, the GPS tracking was up; we had a tailwind of over 200 mph. We got to Paris early.

We made a three point landing under cloudy skies. At Charles De Gualle, they do not taxi the plane up to a breezeway. You deplane down wet steps, in a cold wind, and get on a bus. It seems as though they drive forever, crossing runways, circling the terminal. Finding immigration wasn't too bad, and if we cleared customs, I did not notice. There are not many signs; I read French enough I would have spotted them. Immigration was empty, we were about the only passengers transiting. They barely glanced at my passport and only stamped Larry's. Head of hosuehold or some such. We were at the top of the escalator when the guard called us back. What? We had that moment of panic, but it was alright. They were simply curious about Larry's full beard, and wanted to know if he were Amish.

We wandered into the airport and found a place to change our dollars. Next hint: change only a minimal amount at Charles De Gualle, and do not use the American Express kiosk. We managed to find the worst rate and a fee on top of that. Change enough to get by until you hit Madrid. We finally found our gate after a long trek and another pass through security. It is much the same as security in the States. We marvelled at the airport prices, ouch. Saw a designer baby sweater on sale for Eu90. What's that? $120?

Our gate was tucked a level below the nice gates on the concourse level. A cold little room with hard seats and $2 bottles of water in a machine. I felt like we were in some type of ghetto. I'd planned plenty of time between flights, it was January after all. We tried to nap, but it wasn't happening. We were the only ones down there for quite a while, until a lovely young woman from Lebanon came and sat near us. She was headed for Nice, to study and work on her PhD in advanced mathematics and special mechanics. Or the other way around. She spoke English, French and Arabic and shared a very delicious chocolate wafer sweet from Lebanon with us. Hot and smart and kind. I could see the papers she was studying, wow, just like the white boards on big bang theory.

Eventually it was time to board the bus, they double-checked our boarding passes and passports. Out to a plane in the rain and up the wet steps. The flight to Madrid was not full. The attendents were lovely and stylish, as was every gate attendent in the terminal. I felt overfed and under-dressed. I was greeted in German repeatedly, I guess I look more German than American! The lemon cookies we were served with our beverages were yummy; the coffe was instant Nescafe. That'll make you sit up and whistle Dixie! More turbulence, and clouds below, the landing in Madrid was rough too. At least it was notably warmer.

Next stop: the Madrid airport, domestic flights, smoking rooms, and renting a car in Malaga.

This n that.

Got the financial stuff almost resolved. Now to deal with Tricare, lucky me.

Larry is taking huge amounts of antibiotics, but it seems as though he will have surgery on his sinus cavity next week. Totally blocked! Poor guy drove all night last night, came home around seven in the morning and is zonked now.

Got the Christmas stuff down. Now I have to see the containers get put away. Still have a few odds and ends to take down and store. I certainly do it up right.

My couchsurfer never materialized; I think the giant snowstorm ate him.

I gave in and joined Facebook. Not unlike tribe, but I've not found groups to belong to much. That's alright. I did post a ton of photos, and found Megumi! Yay!

Furious

The jewelry store was supposed to arrange 0% interest on a purchase MyLarry made for me for Christmas. They have not, we made payments to them thinking that was the way it was ... and now wham! 21% and late fees and overage fees and our good credit rating shot. DAMMIT! I want answers!

Ow........

Not sure what I got into over the holidays, msg in Chinese food? too much homemade cheesecake? ... but every one of my joints hurts. Nasty spiteful spikes. Even my jaw and the joints in my skull hurt. Head to toe misery.