Angie's update

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Hello to all my friends and family! It’s been three weeks on the go, and we’ve seen, experienced and learned oh so much! Here’s a summary of my highlights and observations: Our first stop Roquetas de Mar, a sleepy little town on the Costa del Sol, where we all went to language school for 2 hours a day, became good friends with the family who runs the escuela de idiomas, played on the beach (it was a bit chilly), Keenan asked how many years she was in Euros, the kids laughed and laughed over the thought of how to use a bidet (we are still not sure), played some tennis (the boys played some kids who didn’t speak English or they Spanish in an impromptu tournament… it was fun to watch them work through the discomfort and make friends), we drank lots of sangria and sampled many tapas, futbol games on TV to wrap up every night, the kids lobbying for the Spanish bed times of 12:00 (but they never learned to take siestas), churros and chocolate were a favorite breakfast for the kids, the kids all play futbol non-stop on the beach…Keenan can hold her own! On Palm Sunday we went to Almeria, a neighboring town, to watch our first procession: amazing and moving. The boys climbed up a tree for a better view. A perfect and small start where we could build familiar routines.

Granada: We stayed in an amazing place called Casa del Aljibe in the Albycin, an old Moorish quarter that only has one road, all others are by foot, and it’s over 400 years old. Our modest hotel turned out to be a spectacular find, with tremendous views of the Alhambra, renovated about 20 years ago with old church doors, light fixtures, and windows that the gypsies brought to the renovators (presumably stolen) and oh, so cool! We explored the barrio Sacromonte, an area of caves that the gypsies lived (a still few live there), had a drink with our new friends David and Maria Puente, saw a procession (spectacular) and then had tapas at their home nearby..fun to see how people really live and enjoy good company! Our last day we visited the Alhambra, everyone should try to see it! The lesson we learned here was: avoid any large tour with kids… unfortunately their attention spans were spent before we started the cool parts. What a bummer!

Morocco: We then drove 3 hours to Tarifa, the Hawaii and surfing capital of Spain, the most beautiful coastal views I’ve ever seen! Although the guide and hotel that I had made arrangements were not available, we lucked into a hostel, caught a ferry to Tanger in the morning and found a guide in the port who toted the five of us around all day by private car for under $100. This was the part of our trip that I was most excited about, only to learn that Fes, our original destination was a four hour drive! We found the markets in Tanger to be amazing…. the Berber women who sold vegetables and let us take pictures as they believe it captures their soul, the live animals because the Muslims need to kill their own, the open fish markets with tables and tables of the freshest fish there was almost no smell… tuna, octopus, eel, swordfish and so many I couldn’t name, the meat markets that sold almost every organ imaginable…that made our boys cross their legs!

I think my most favorite part was the call to prayer five times a day that resonated through every winding street and woke us at 4:30 am… the morning prayer translation was: prayer is better than sleep (2x),there is no God but Allah (4x), Mohammed is his messenger (2x).. the Arabic language is so different and we were so conscious of our color and customs. I was amazed that as a port town, how many tourists there are, how much I felt like an outsider, yet that I felt relatively safe (the guide helps ward off many hasslers). We decided our comfort level was good and to stay another day, venturing into a mountain village by taxi, past boys riding donkeys, fields of couscous, almonds, olive trees, the road side dotted with poppies and yellow flowering trees, Berber women in traditional clothing working in fields and later leading their modernly dressed children home from school, As you can see, we had quite an education and I loved the way it made us think and feel. I only wish we had more time to go deeper… did any of you catch the travel section of the NYT last Sunday? I heard it was pretty cool!

Portugal: We started with an exhausting late drive to Sevilla, where you laugh we drove into a nice truck stop hotel at 2 am desperate to find a bed and the five us shared 3 single beds… we can laugh now and makes for a good story, but we wanted to drive as far as we could… the kids had their interview at school, we made our final arrangements of bus and uniform, and off to Portugal… a 2 hour drive to the Algarve. Interestingly, there were no customs as we drove in, much different than our 3 hour process of leaving Morocco to Spain!

The Algarve, famous for beautiful beaches and chosen by us for the consistently perfect weather and promise of good tennis. EXCEPT: we hit a rainy cold spell and were limited to tennis and a few hours of the beach. Our first day the boys found a pickup futbol game on the beach with a bunch of Brits. The boys were quick to make assumptions that the kids from London were mean and cheaters, the kids from Manchester are really nice. I quickly reminded them that people may make the same judgements about Americans from their behavior and to set a good example! we were able to squeeze in tennis everyday and enjoyed our spacious condo. We found our new favorite place on the Algarve called Salema, a little unspoiled fishing village where we extended our stay because of the beautiful weather and relaxing environment. There we found octopus traps (clay pots), saw eel skins drying in the sun, tidal pools where the boys teased crabs and fed sea anemone dead crabs that they quickly closed on. They were mesmerized by the sea, and we by the tranquility, vino verde, fresh seafood, and the constant lapping of the sea that lulled us to sleep. TJ is dreaming to go back!

On my next post I'll tell you about Sintra and Coimbra; until then, my friends!

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