I suppose a better title for this story would be 'Tales from Málaga' but it wouldn't be as interesting as the current title (and let's be honest, suck you into clicking on the link) and it also wouldn't describe what I did while in Málaga. Yep, I drank. I drank a lot. Not that I believe that you need alcohol for a good time, but man, it was the contributing reason as to why I had such an awesome time in Málaga.
I don't mean to diss Málaga, because it was an interesting town. But only interesting in a kind of vague, dull way that when you think about it, isn't actually that interesting. I'm sure it would be great in Summer, but obviously I was there when it was a damn sight chillier. Málaga has a number of things going for it: it´s Picasso's birthplace, it has a beach and lovely pockets of green parks all over the place. But the problem is that the city is under construction and from what I gather, has been under construction for some years now and many more to come.
For my three days in Málaga I was planning on wandering around a bit, but mainly relaxing. My ankle wasn't at it's peak (see previous story) and so I really needed to take it easy. But then I met a bunch of strangers and ended up having a great time.
I had been making friends during my trip, but mostly people that had been in my room or that I had been introduced to by the people in my room. However, in Málaga the woman in my room was this annoying Austrian lady (I say lady because she was clearly on the home stretch to 40 and really shouldn't have been wearing those skinny leg jeans) and so I wasn't going to hang out with her. So I headed down to the bar of the hostel to get a cerveza and see if there was anything interesting to read.
Nothing much was happening at the bar, but I did see the very, very, very hot South African guy, that I had met earlier. (Yes, he was very attractive of face and form, but what made him even hotter was that he had spent two and half months travelling on his motorbike along the west coast of Africa, from Capetown to Tangiers - I know, I know, how cool!) The South African, Luke, was chatting to a couple of guys, and so because I wanted to hear more about his travels and also just get a closer look at his hotness, I walked over to this bunch of strangers and asked if I could join them. I had not done anything like this so far in my travels, and so I shocked myself when my mouth opened and I said the words.
It ended up being the best thing I could do in Málaga, as these guys (Luke, an Englishman called Edward, a Swede called Eric and a Canadian) were so much fun. On the first night we went to a local bar and saw some free flamenco dancing (when they say 'free' they actually mean that everyone needs to drink at least three beers before the dancers come out). The next night the Canadian, AJ, taught us a drinking game and we got very drunk on cheap, bottled Sangria. It was filthy stuff and made even worse because we couldn't fit it into the communal fridge and so had to drink it warm. We then decided to go out to a tapas bar, as it was 11pm and the Spanish had only just started eating dinner. That is when I went to the toilet and rolled my ankle as I drunkenly tried to open the door (see previous blog). It hurt a lot and normally when I roll my ankle I hobble around for about an hour, trying to get it to work properly again. However, since I had consumed so much bottled Sangria (I think this brand was like the Spanish equivalent of Peach wine) I clearly wasn't thinking when I grabbed a bag of ice and announced that I was good to keep going. I know, I know, obviously a very stupid thing to do! But I figure that since I have already damaged my ankle on this trip a number of times, waiting a couple of hours before resting it was not going to cripple me.
In conclusion, feel that I learnt two things while in Málaga.
1. If you want to have a great time with no social hassles while travelling, find a bunch of guys. They don't need to have a twenty minute conversation with you about what brand of straightener you use and whether Johnny Depp is still attractive now that he is mid 40s (what kind of a question is that? Of course he is!) before they invite you anywhere. They just see that you drink beer and welcome you along.
2. Never drink warm Sangria.
