We-a-speaka-no-Spanish

Ahhh... how beautiful the Mediterranean is!  After getting off the train in Malaga we rented our car and started off for our timeshare.   According to MapQuest it should have taken us 33 minutes, as it was a little over 40 km away.  Apparently MapQuest didn’t take into account that you have to be able to read Spanish.   3.5 hours and a realization that the A-7 and the AP-7 were two entirely different freeways, we got there.  (And no there were no GPS’ to rent).  Our resort was in a small town on the Mediterranean called Calahonda.  The resort was small (maybe 50 rooms total?) which was nice as we didn’t have to fight anyone for beach or pool chairs. 

The first day we were there we spent on the beach and the next we went to Gibraltar.  Although Uncle Phil and Auntie Elaine told us its not the most interesting place (and really – all it has is a giant rock and a bunch of monkeys) we had a lot of fun hiking the rock and enjoying fish and chips (you actually cross out of Spain and it’s a colony of the UK  - I think that’s how to explain it – so everyone speaks English and there are fish and chips pubs everywhere). 

After spending another few days on the beach  we headed to a small town north of Calahonda called Ronda.  At the resort we were told that, while only 45 km away, the road was windy…. and we realized that not only was it windy but up hill the entire way.  That meant that most of the time, there was a cliff on one side (and the drivers are nuts)  After talking to a couple later, they said that its much better now as the truck drivers now wear glasses.  At one stop, I looked over the edge to see a rusty old car.  Anyways – we made it there and back safetly.  Ronda claims to have the ‘oldest’ bull ring in Spain.  It also has a beautiful bridge.  We decided to hike to the bottom of the bridge, enjoy the waterfalls and then hike back up.  It was great until the hike up when we realized it was like being in the Sahara desert.

While we were at our resort it was nice to be able to cook our own food and not eat out all the time.  We made tacos one night and realized that their beef isn’t quite the same as ours (it has a pink hue to it that does not go away even when you burn it… luckily we are still standing).

  At night we would head into the small town next to Calahonda called Puerto Cabopino to (as Travis called it) “the best restaurant he has ever ate at”.  The first night, however, we didn’t eat there and instead walked past it to keep looking. We instead chose a restaurant on the beach (for the atmosphere) and ordered.  Lately I had noticed that avocado and prawn salads were on a lot of the menus so seeing I love both I decided to order one; Travis got spaghetti bolognese.  When we got our food I looked down and laughed.  Travis got exactly what he had ordered and I suppose I did too, but not what I had been expecting.  On my plate was a full avocado, cut in half with 4 shrimp on it.  Covered in ‘Mary Rose’ dressing (aka thousand island).  Anyways – we didn’t end up going back.  The rest of our dinners were spent at a delicious restaurant in the harbor where they made all their pasta fresh (Reba I thought of you) and their seafood was from a few feet away.

We really liked Calahonda.  It was a lot different than Madrid but are ready to go back to sight seeing….

So we are now off to Barcelona for a few days and then off to Nice, France (just when we were starting to learn a bit of Spanish).