Phil's visit

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Phil came to visit me for almost two weeks here in Malaga. We were able to travel around a bit and got to do a lot of fun things. It was the best vacation. We called it our honeymoon vacation because it was just so perfect. We completely spoiled ourselves, going out to eat, taking naps, giving/receiving massages, chilling on the beach, etc. I feel like we deserved it though because this long distance thing is really hard.

He arrived on Thursday, the 15th of May in the afternoon. The next day we took a bus 4 or 5 hours northeast, up the coast from Malaga to the Natural Park called Cabo de Gata. The first bus took us to Almeria and then we got on a second bus that brought us to a little resort town called San Jose that was in the heart of the natural park. We spent the weekend there and it was the most romantic weekend of my life! We went scuba diving (the water was really clear cause it's all protected land and water, but pretty cold!) and we even went into a cave underwater - which we're not certified for but who cares, it's Spain... and we rented mountain bikes and rode along the coast on this gravel road that led to private coves with big cliffs surrounding the beaches. We had our own private beach! The waves were huge, the water freezing but the sun was nice and hot and the countryside was absolutely untouched.

Then I had to come back to Malaga to take a final. But I got it over with and enjoyed the rest of the time that Phil was here. We took some day trips, hiking in Ronda, this small town in the mountains behind Malaga that has a huge gorge. We went to Torremolinos (by accident, we were actually trying to go to a different town where we could rent kayaks but got off at the wrong stop and gave up and just chilled on the beach). We also went to Sevilla with my program group the second weekend. And I showed him around Malaga quite a bit.

It was a lot of laughing, having deep conversations, sharing a bottle of wine and making a picnic with cheese and olives, star-gazing... it was honestly a dream.

Phil just left early this morning and it was one of the hardest goodbyes of my life.

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