Puerto Banus - Family Christmas

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Friday 17th December – Wednesday 29th December 2010

Due to the generosity of a friend offering the use of his villa over Christmas we move the few km to Puerto Banus. The following day we had a major storm with thunder and lightning for seven hours – quite spectacular. The electricity supply failed just as dinner came out of the oven so we ate by candlelight. Could have been worse we could have been camping !
Sam finally joins us at the third attempt after his original and following flights were cancelled due to lack of cabin crew caused by bad weather.
The following few days were spent preparing for Christmas - Presents, Tree, Decorations, Food and Drinks shopping.

Wednesday 22nd December
Bill and Carole came over for El Gordo ( the fat one ) the mega Spanish Christmas lotto draw - Lotería de Navidad - organized every year since 1812 and the biggest in the world. This year’s prize total being €2,320,500,000. Tickets are sold in decimos i.e. one tenth of a billete or full number. Bill and I each had a decimo. These cost €20 making a full number cost €200.
Due to the number of prizes the draw itself takes about 3 hours the climax being the moment when the Gordo is drawn ( in 2010, 3 million euro for each of the 180 billetes, or €300,000 for each of the 1800 décimos, sold with the winning number). Sadly we didn’t win a bean but it was fun taking part.

Thursday 23rd December
A trip down to Puerto Banus itself to check out how the seriously rich live – its another world. Max fancied some Jimmy Choo shoes but I had to remind her we had not won El Gordo – maybe next time ?

Friday 24th December
A drive up to Ronda in the mountains where the temperature was noticeably lower than on the coast, 16 deg there only 6 deg in Ronda. The town built astride a deep gorge is the home to bullfighting with the oldest bull ring in Spain. The streets were busy and decorated for Christmas, the air crisp and clear in the sunshine.
At lunchtime we squeezed into a local bar/restaurant and had a selection of tapas whilst locals popped in for a Christmas eve drink with friends making for a great atmosphere. Christmas Eve is important in Spain it is when families traditionally get together for a meal before attending midnight mass.

Saturday 25th December
Christmas day – and yes Father Christmas managed to find the boys this far from home.
A superb beef rib for lunch with all the normal xmas trimmings including crackers and mince pies thanks to M&S Marbella. Musical interlude courtesy of the Morris family recorder trio playing - ‘Little Donkey’ which they had been practicing in secret for weeks. Skype with family and friends followed by the not to be missed Dr Who Christmas special – a very nice day.

Sunday 26th December
Boxing Day - Sunny and warm enough for a spot of sun bathing and swimming in the outdoor pool with a lunchtime BBQ. Fabulous !

Monday 27th – Wednesday 29th December
A couple of days spent relaxing at the villa before Sam returned to UK and we relocate back to Camping Cabopino.

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