Salí mi corazon y mi alma en Nerja

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The following weekend we went on another beach trip. But the experience was very different The Lago’s motive was to sleep as little as possible, meet as many people as you could, and emborracharse every night. Party at night, eat some crepes, sleep on the beach, wake up, jump off some cliffs and start it all over. The week after Portugal I was studying for my end of the month exam. By Friday, after still trying to show Megan around, and studying until wee hours in the morning, and an 8 page exam, Nerja, in the south of Spain, was a much needed break.
I have never been to Hawaii, but now, I don’t think I will ever need to go. My ideal vacation spot is not complicated. Typically, all I want is to go somewhere hot, with cool, clear water, clean beaches, not a lot of people, minimal English speakers, you can drink on the beach, cheap food, a hot tub on top of my less than $20 hostel, and all you can eat paella. I’m really not that hard to impress… Thankfully, this place exists and its only a 2 hour bus ride from Granada.
Spaniards rave about Nerja. As they should. Typically, when the Spanish travel, they don’t go more than an hour or so from their home towns. I’m not exactly sure, maybe because they also like to plan things at the ultimate last minute and an hour away is as far as they can get, but at the same time, I don’t blame them when they can go to places like Nerja. Situated on the Mediterranean Sea, Nerja is a dream. The beaches are pristine and clear green, and divided into separate beaches by rocks that if you swim or crawl through put you in caves and alcoves where you can pretend no one has discovered them except you. Even more amazing, there really is a place that you can get all you can eat paella for 6 euro, under a huge tent where people have to hover like vultures to snag an empty seat. The camereros would put 4 plates of paella on each arm and then run from one end of the tent to the other at full speed, not losing a single grain of yellow rice.
We were all (Megan, my 2 roommates and I) on budgets at this point in our travels, as our amazing 3 months in Spain is starting to come to a close. Nonetheless, money did not deter out trip to Nerja. Every morning, we started at a café called Anahi, built on a cliff over the beach with spectacular views of the Mediterranean and spent 4 euro for a whole breakfast and a coffee. I guarantee Hawaii would have charged $30 for the same meal. We had a market around the corner from our hostal where we bought supplies for dinner and had a feast on the rooftop that we could call ours, because the entire weekend, nobody else came up. We dined in the Spanish style, drinking wine mixed with lemonade, called Tinto de Verano (red wine of summer) or calimotos (red wine and coke) and of course didn’t start cooking until 9, eating at 10. I’m starting to become a 1 euro bottle of wine aficionado because by now I know which ones are standable and which ones taste like vinegar. Don’t know where that skill will get me in life, but I’m doing well here in Spain. After dinner on Saturday night, in the midst of silence around the table probably induced by a food coma, a flock of flamingos flew overhead. No, we were not drunk, and no flamingos is not a typo for pigeons, they were actually flamingos. I had no idea they could fly, probably because I have only seen them in zoos, (which I tried to spell ‘zooz’… my English is diminishing the longer I’m here), but the bright pink and the long necks brought me back to the days in Ms. Trapps 2nd grade class who was weirdly obsessed with flamingos, so I will use this as proof. Following me…?
Anyway, on Sunday, my roommate convinced us to go see the Cave of Nerja, and I honestly have no idea how he managed to convince 3 girls to leave the beach and hang out on a dark, damp, cold hole in the earth, but he managed by golly, and I immediately felt duped when I got in. First off, when you spend 8 euro at a restaurant on an amazing salmon dinner, watching the sun set over the Mediterranean, spending 8.50 to look at a rock just does not seem worth it. Granted, if you have never been to a cave, go to one. They are amazing and indescribable. But after you have been to one, don’t go to others. They are all the same. However, this particular one is said to have the Guinness Book’s largest stone column made of stalactites and stalagmites so I drug myself through.
Unlike Lagos, in Nerja I was asleep by 11 most nights, only talked to Megan and my roommates at the hostel, and instead of conserving energy during my day to make it through a night in Lagos, I climbed rocks on the beach and attempted to swim to Morocco from Nerja. I think I will leave my weekend journeys to the memories of the beaches that I have been blessed to see, and for the next 18 days, spend my time saying a slow goodbye to Granada. I don’t see myself staying away for long, but my mother is right, there is a whole world I haven’t seen, so I have no idea when I will make it back, probably not soon enough that Maria (my intercambio) will extent an invitation to stay in her house, or to know who has the best hora feliz (happy hour) depending on the day. Nonetheless, the ebb and flow of a once familiar city can be as fascinating as visiting it for the first time. Well, for now folks, you may be jealous of my weekend getaways, but now I have to deal with Spain’s craziest landlady who I think dislikes me because I won’t have dinner with her son. If it is mysteriously going to cost me my deposit, then I think I might have to go… I will be sure to update you. Love you all.

Yours,
Nunia

PS
Forgot a part, but couldn’t figure out how it fit it in… after a relaxing night in the hot tub, I turned in for the night, and was awoken by a crash of water the fell through the ceiling into the shower from a hot tub drain clog on the roof. The bathroom was soaked, but I went back to bed anyway and by morning pockets of water were hanging from the ceiling. The next day was check out day, and we were not to blame for the mess, but I tried to explain the situation not knowing the words for drain, ceiling or hot tub, so I don’t really know what they thought I was saying, but I’m sure they found my gestures pretty entertaining.

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