So the first week of my Andalucian adventure has been a success. Granada was beautiful, though cold and wet, but meeting up with Rica again is always nice. I leave here (Sevilla) tomorrow for Cordoba, then back to Madrid by the weekend.
To recap last week, Erica and I headed out to Costa del Sol in a little town near Malaga called Benalmadena on Wednesday and pampered ourselves at our la-dee-da fancy resort (thanks, Kristin, again and again!!!). It rained the first two days, but we were in love with our fluffy beds enough to not really care about getting up. Other than my fluffy bed, I also loved being on the balcony with my iPod, my Bible, my journal, and my pen. And of course a cup of coffee. We were one of three balconies facing the sea, so it was okay by us. The resort had an indoor pool and a hamam (Turkish sauna) that we definitely took advantage of. We didn´t meet many Spanish locals...just old (and cute) Spanish tourists and that was on our last day. But it was nice to have our own little apartment for a few days!
Saturday we stayed in the actual town of Malaga where we wandered the streets. Going back to a hostel from our frou-frou resort palace wasn´t as bad as I expected it to be.
Finding a hostel is a story in and of itsef, but I won´t get into all the detail here. We basically arrived into Malaga around 1, and didn´t settle into a hostel til 4. We were looking for the most elusive hostel ever and walked around with our 13 kilo packs for three hours. We made a ridiculous circle, and eventually gave in to a hostel we didn´t want to pay the amout they wanted at first (we had been looking for a hostel that was 2 euros cheaper).
Sunday Rica and I played at the top of the hill over looking the city where the castle is. That day was quite nice, and I had high hopes that my curse of bringing the clouds and rain to every city I go to had been lifted. I left that night for Sevilla, and the clouds had followed.
However, the clouds were not as cold as I expected, and I have learned to never complain about the cold after Paris. I fell instantly in love with Sevilla, just walking amidst the little town in the nice weather (climate reminds me a lot like San Jose...makes me even more homesick). Last night Rica and I went to a flammenco bar that only opens at midnight (I love this town) and watched guitar players and some impromtu dancing.
This morning, the international mix of travelers all mingled during breakfast time. The morning receptionist made an appearance and she is Kenyan, so it was nice to be able to say "Habari!" again. Then there is the Swiss guy and German-English guy who are even more of nomads than us because they have been doing this longer...our conversations are mostly in English. But then there are the Paris girls in our room who we sometimes communicate with in Spanish, but mostly English. But then there is the Italian girl from Verona who doesn´t speak English, so we all speak to her in Spanish. So many languages floating around, I love it. I love sitting on the balcony with my cup of coffee, my Bible, my journal, and my pen, and hearing everyone´s stories here and there.
Everyone has a story of why they are here, and what they are doing, and why there are doing this. The German-English guy said it best, "I don´t really know what I´m doing, but I know what I´m not doing, and that is NOT sitting in a London office behind a desk." Amen to that, brother.
