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hello all,
Well, yet again the irony isn't lost on either of us that we're writing this blog in the uk. We're back for a few days before connecting to our flight to johannasburg on sunday afternoon, to have a chance to see everyone, tie up a few last things and more importantly celebrate my 30th (once again!!)
Sorry it's been a while since the last update, internet access, along with the energy required to find internet access, has been limited!! Carol says it's me that has no energy, not her!! I'll accept all blame....
As you all know carol came back for the Big Weekend and says it was well worth both the money and the effort as she was SO happy to see madonna in maidstone! I stayed in Spain for the weekend and it rained, 😞 my supposed travel raincloud caught up with me, so i had to suffer it by making trips to and from the local bars, it was hellish.
When Carol got back we went straight from the airport up to Granada to see Kisha's mum and dad. Carol was suffering from a severe lack of sleep, but she battled through the
Los Canos De Meca
Loo, Bedroom and Shower!! car journeys and we had a lovely day with Les and Corin who fed and watered us well. Carol spent the next few days recovering from her er....jet lag!
The next week we borrowed Kisha and Daniels car whilst they returned back to the Uk (thanks guys!!) and decided on a road trip down the coastal roads to Marbella Old Town, Puerto Banus, Gibralter, tarifa,Los Canos de meca, Trafalger and Cadiz, all in all about 1000k
We hit the road with Carol at the wheel doing a splendid job of first time driving a foreign country. It all went well, mainly cos I could now navigate and it was fun to watch carol cursing the inadequacies of spanish drivers and road signs, most of which i missed. They seem to have a sign approaching junctions, and then have no signs at the actual junction, causing a bit of a probelm if your not paying attention. Which is most unlike me.
Marbella Old town was pretty cool and we stopped overnight in a back street hostel which was nice and cheap, surely the most important bit! Turns out that this was the same place Kisha lived for three months
Carol and Rich
Ok, well my cousin too....what are the chances. After a helpful trip to Tourist Information (our fast becoming new best friend), we found the Andalucian Dancing Horse Show and carol being a horse lover we decided we'd have to go. The show was really cool and for an uneducated horse person like me i had no idea horses could do that. With guidance from Carol the show made more sense though, especially when the horses started jumping in the air! Check the video's out!
The next morning we headed to Puerto Banus for a traditional english breakfast and to check out the large scale of the boats. When you see small boats ejecting from the back of the yachts you get an idea of how much money is there! We had planned on moving on to Cadiz the same day but whilst on the road we saw the Rock - Gibralter. Now we didn't have much of an idea of what was there (ok, we know it's a bit of England) so we had a moment of 'Shall we - Shan't we' and decided on parking the car up somewhere close and going over.
Our Impressions of Gib was that it was like
Our Pad
Kitchen and Living areas, pretty cool! 70's britain, luckily we got a bus from the border straight to the cable car going up to the peak of the rock. we spent the afternoon laughing at Barabary Macaques (tailless Monkeys) attacking dumb tourists. We were lucky (and clever enough) to outwit the monkeys. The views of Morrocco and the Atlas Moutains were pretty stunning as it was a clear day.
We checked out St Michael's Caverns under the rock, they were some pretty cool rock formations, they even have an concert hall down there which has some spectacular acoustics. Ballets and concerts have been performed here. Beats a tent in Mote Park.
We kicked on from here towards cadiz with the intention of going straight there, however we were both knackered and Carol wasn't feeling so good so we pulled of the main road to find some sort of accomadation. We stumbled on a jem of a place called Los Canos De Meca which was on a nature reserve, a minute from the beach and about 1km from Trafalger (as in square, nelson, british victory, and naval superiority!!)
The place was really bohemian, full of character and was our favourite accomadation in spain (apart from of
course La Mela!!)
We were really looking forward to a beach day but unfortunaltely the weather wasn't so good....and it started to rain so we kicked on towards Cadiz. Where it continued to rain. Our entry in our diary was as follows
'RAIN RAIN ANGER CADIZ RAIN ANGER SLEEP HAPPY' A nice summary i feel. Cadiz probabaly had a lot to offer but we found an Irish bar, followed by a local bar, that was enough for us!!
The weather was still pants in the morning, so in the hope of finding good weather we started to drive, drive, drive!! We didn't find any though and in the end arrived back in La Mela, late afternoon.
From this point on we rented a flat above the best bar in La Mela for a week. A lovely place with everything a backpacker dreams of ie a washing machine, TV, and excellent shower!! Not to mention good bar, good food, and takeaway service downstairs!
We picked up Daniel and Kisha and spent the next few days enjoying daniels holiday by going to the beach and generally enjoying the good weather and having a few Vino's.
About 9km down the mountain was a
horsey place which carol had been eyeing up for a few weeks. Fancying myself as a bit of a horseman, we popped in to see what the deal was. The guy running it explained that he hadn't fully set the business up yet but he would be willing to take us out on a hack if we donated some money, DEAL! Carol also agreed to come down and work whenever she had some spare time, which was received with much thanks and Carol being labelled an Angel. Our trek went really well, I think I'm a natural!! Was early evening so nice and cool and we rode for about 2 hours, with a short break. The scenery was dramatic and the sun set so we were lucky enough to also enjoy a moonlit ride. All good.
Next few days I wasn't feeling so good which was pain but of course I soldiered on as my Brother and his wife (Stuart and Jo) arrived to help me celebrate my 30th Birthday. We had more good weather so another beach day was called for so we went down to the Caba De Gata, relaxed on the beach, inflated the dingy and
went off for an hour in the sea exploring the coast and having a good swim. We wasn't lost at sea, much to the girls disappointment!
For my 30th we recruited a babysitter and went down to Aquadulce, where daniel works and has office/flat, free accomadation for the night, result! I still wasn't on top of my drinking game due to a stomach bug but struggled gamely through mojito's and various drinks with red bull to keep going. We went for a meattastic meal in a cave restraunt down the coast (nice for the veggie daniel!!) and it has the largest wine celler in andalucia. The setting was lovely, company great and the food tasty! Then out for more drinking and celebrations of me making it to 30!!
Next day we recovered and after seeing Stu and Jo off on the sunday we headed off on a 12 hour overnight bus to Barcelona on Monday night. We only had the day/night there but made the most of it, seeing pretty much all of the city on an open top bus tour. We rambled along the ramblas, ate in the Bocharea Market, went to Puerto Olympic, Saw the Nou
Camp, Visited the Gaudi Buildings (now there's some fancy buildings!), and finished with a stroll along the beach.
We spalshed out on a 3 star, yes 3 star hotel, and just as well as we were shattered after the bus. After only 1 drink we headed off to bed, before an early wake up call, we caught the Metro to the Airport for a return home.
Spain DONE!
Best Thing............24 hours now until South Africa, primed and ready to go!
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Karen and Ross
non-member comment
nice blogging
great blog you guys, am liking the pics and the video!! Excellent blogging skills already!!! Can't wait for more installments as i sit back and expand in every direction! Take lots of care and can't wait to hear from you soon xxxxx