Aste la Vista, Malaga Meltdown, (…and I’m not talkin’ Gelato) Baby

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We started today in the Lido, I had some muesli and Sharon had waffles. We went into the Showroom and the tour dispatcher was trying to get people to sit down. Many were milling in the exit where we’ve been departing for tours on the portside. There was some murmuring when he announced that we would be departing on the starboard side today because they are replacing a window on the port side.



We left the ship and were confronted by a rainy day. Our daily planner suggested partly cloudy. Well, there is no “partly” about it today! We got on a bus and were greeted by a woman speaking heavily accented English. She apologized about her accent, saying that she learned English from someone with a heavy French accent, so we got stuck with the result. We’re going to see the Picasso Museum today because Sharon thought that I liked Picasso. There actually is one Picasso that I really do like (“Don Quixote”). Sharon evidently equates cubism with impressionism. Our guide was telling us that when we get to the Picasso museum that we would be divided into two groups. She wanted those of us who spoke with an American accent to follow her colleague there. I was beginning to feel that she may have gotten some negative comments from Americans in the past. I was beginning to get the feeling that she was headed for some more, especially when she snapped someone’s head off for straying a bit from the group to take some pictures after we got out of the bus… oh, that would be me! We followed her to a corner where we regrouped. About eight of us didn’t see her leave down a cross street, and we didn’t see the other group arrive from the other side. We were now mingling with the wrong group. When that guide finally started talking in German, we knew that something was probably wrong. Our group was nowhere to be seen, but correctly figured that it must have gone down a side street. When we came to the end of that approaching a major boulevard we spotted a group of tourists boarding a bus similar to ours to the left; and, another group walking away from us two blocks away. I spotted the Holland America tour guide number briefly shoot up into the air, and I zoomed in on it with to camera zoom. It was “6”, and that is what we needed to see. We rushed to catch up. I think she was sorry she hadn’t lost us, admonishing us that we need to keep up. From that point on the Holland America escort who joined us on this cruise did a great job of helping people keep up and remain with the group.



Malaga was founded by the Phoenicians. It is the capital of the “Sunny Coast”. My friends Ron and Linda and I came here back in 1995 and spent a week using my uncle’s timeshare on this coast. Our bus passed by a tropical garden. Our guide was talking about ham, and the importance of ham in this area. She noted how Serrano ham, which has a much higher international renown than the local hams, has just 20 varieties. Here she said, here we love ham, or “gamon”, and that’s no bull. We passed over an empty concrete river right out of the Los Angeles basin. She said that climate change has meant much less water, along with irrigation that has diverted what water there might have been. She noted that in this part of Spain 60% are employed in the tourist industry, 20% by the government and 20% don’t work. There is no industry here and no factories. What agricultural work there is occurs on local family farms that go back generations. The population has good access to education, where health care and education are provided by the state, but there just aren’t any jobs in this area needing most types of degrees. These people either become the unemployed (or underemployed) or they move to places like Germany to find work. She postulated the question, where do you suppose the money comes from to pay for the health care, education and other services provided by the government. She said someone once answered America, heh-heh. No, not this time. She declared, “The tay-suhs”. At first it sounded like “Texas”, but she was saying “Taxes”. Here in Spain people pay between 40% to 45% in taxes!

She didn’t seem too thrilled about paying taxes for those who feel no need to work and just let the state take care of everything.



There were several places where we spotted Andalusian horses and drawing carriages for hire. They are beautiful white speckled creatures. We walked to the house that Picasso had been born in, near a small piazza in a corner building. We took some pictures then headed across the piazza to go down another narrow walkway to the museum. This is one of four museums dedicated solely to Picasso. It contains his works belonging to his granddaughter (daughter of his son with his first wife). Picasso grew up in Malaga and studied conventional realism here. At the age of 10 he painted his first piece of the bull ring of Malaga. At the age of 20 he went to Paris where he founded the cubism movement along with his friend George Black. At age 25 he moved to Rome, where he met his first wife, they had a son and he commences his “Blue Period”. His work was influenced by Chagall regarding geometric design; and, by Matisse for color. One piece on display in this museum showed his early cubism in a picture of mother and child, his wife holding his son. The baby at first appears extremely chubby, okay, you think that this must be the fattest baby… ever. You can see that this is the “cubism” at work, where he shows the nonvisible shaded sides of a figure, just as you see both eyes of the mother (when you really wouldn’t from the angle). The guide said that this was the best and most important piece in this collection. I did walk through both levels of rooms on display in this courtyard palace, and I would have to agree, it was certainly the most interesting piece.



Sharon went to the cafeteria for a soda after seeing the mother and child in the second of about twenty rooms. There were many milling around in the assembly area outside of the museum who were not happy with this guide. I left to walk around on my own when Sharon went to the cafeteria. One problem was that this tour wasn’t using whisperers, you couldn’t get close enough to hear this guide who didn’t have a good speaking voice, and if you were close enough to hear her you really couldn’t understand what she was saying. She bit off one women’s head for asking her to repeat something with the answer, “You must pay attention to what I am saying when I am speaking…” And proceeded to leave it at that and not repeating herself. It felt like being back in kindergarten. I’m thinking Holland America is going to hear about this tour, and I’m thinking the guide isn’t going to like Americans any more after that happens.



Back on the bus again, the daily drizzle had turned into rain. Our guide clarified for us, that “Today, is the rainy season in Malaga.” She said that it really takes a week to see this area, and explore the interior of Andalusia and the sunny coast. When I was here with Ron and Linda back in 1995, we also spent a day visiting Gibraltar and another day on a ferry trip to and from Tangiers that counts as my 3 hours on the African continent. I didn’t know then how much fun I would have holding that seventh continent over Sharon… I think it really bugs her that I’ve been to all of the continents, and she hasn’t! The guide also said that the best way to get to Malaga (from the states), is to fly non-stop on Delta from DC. It was now in the 2 PM to 4 PM siesta time.



We were dropped off in time to get poured on in a downpour. The lines from a returning cruise ship twice the size as ours was mingled with a third cruise ship that appeared to be boarding here in Malaga, and we waited and we got (very, very) wet.



I made it up to Crow’s Nest by 4:30 and ordered a Happy Hour Sambuca. The bar and lounge were packed and I had a hard time finding any place to sit. I did find what I can only describe as a corner cushioned section without seatback. It wasn’t obvious if you’re supposed to sit on it which is why I suppose it was available. I sat on it, and soon saw Lucia… she walked by not seeing me even though I smiled and waved at her… she didn’t recognize me without my hat. I flagged down Jim, and she came back and we made do at our seats without tables. I grabbed a drink menu to use that for my clipboard.

The British couple who have played with us soon joined, and it was quickly 5 PM and time to play. I explained that Sharon was at mass. Lucia suggested the right answer to what organ’s capacity is measured by a spirometer. It is the lungs. And the Brits knew that the body of water between Poland and Sweden is the Baltic Sea. We were pondering over the first monarch to inhabit Buckingham Palace. The Brits seemed trying to remember as if they were there, and saying, was it George, no maybe Vickie. And I knew, that was it: Queen Victoria. Vickie!?! Who would have known! Jim knew the dog that was native to Croatia, and I’m sure I’ve heard this one before; but, just failed to write it down: the Dalmatian! I was beginning to feel useless writing down other people’s answers. Everyone knew “Ace” for the tennis question; only, I knew that the question as worded really wasn’t an ace. Mike asked, “What tennis term is used to describe a serve that can’t be returned.” Technically, it’s a serve that the returner doesn’t touch with their racquet (and of course it’s pretty hard to return the serve if you don’t even touch the ball). Jim knew which Aussie bird has a loud laugh… the kookaburra. And he also knew what nation was the first to issue a postage stamp with the image of Albert Einstein on it. Many thought Switzerland. It was indeed Israel. Everyone got the bonus question right (for a change). “Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994?” Well okay, Mike did give us a hint, “…saying, that she wasn’t worthy of the honor; but, that she would accept on behalf of the poor.” Mother Theresa. We came up short by three points of the leaders who had one playoff questions. I would have been off by one year for that question… the winners got the exact year! “What year did Lewis and Clark first see the Pacific Ocean?” The other team answered 1688! I hope there weren’t any Americans on this team. The winners correctly answered 1805.



For dinner I started with the lamb kabob with tzatziki sauce, and followed that with the three onion cream soup. My entry was the curried vegetarian cutlet; which, I enjoyed but there was so much that even I couldn’t finish it all. Sharon had the roast turkey dinner. We both chose the double chocolate tortchen with no sugar added. I asked for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The man next to me had the same thing but asked for chocolate ice cream; but, the server wasn’t sure they had that available. When desserts came Sharon and I both got ours with vanilla ice cream. Then the server snatched hers away before Sharon could take a bite, because the man had okayed vanilla if chocolate wasn’t available.



Tonight’s show was a reprise of The Flyboys though with a different show. This time they sung live with the band instead of recorded tracks. They sang full volume and captivated us with the strength of their combined voices and melodies.

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