Ramble Seven (?)
Saturday the 20th: an update and a few verbal snapshots. Is has flown off to
They are a national police force who are assigned to work in pairs, in districts other than those from which they come. This was intended to avoid external pressures and corruption of individuals by peer pressure. It apparently works, as the force has been around, and respected (sometimes feared) for at least a couple of hundred years. I wonder if I can score an item of clothing, or at least insignia.
Back to our exciting introduction to Nerja. We stopped for lunch at a bistro where it turns out the waitress had an English accent. It was warm in the sun, the Peroni (Italian beer) was €3 (about $4.30), and the toasted tuna sandwich was nondescript. After receiving vestigial directions from our hostess, we headed toward the Hostal Meñas which was supposed to be on Calle del Barrio behind a church. Our borrowed GPS had already gotten us lost, headed us into dead-end mining complexes and switched genders and now we had to rely on it to find a roof for the night. After half a dozen roundabouts (almost every other intersection) we headed into a narrow street, the sign for which said something like “Authorized Vehicles Only” . Well, after the long drive and the Peroni, and knowing that I was heading for an hotel, I believed I was authorized. I didn’t give much credence to Is’ comment that it was a “pedestrian zone” as I saw a car parked in an alleyway. The next thing I knew, I was navigating past racks of T-shirts, shelves full of pottery and carousels of key fobs and Nerja bottle openers. I almost scraped the drivers’ side mirror on a stone wall as we edged past a bunch of tables occupied by patrons with surprised or annoyed looks on their faces. Party-pooper Is ignored my request to grab a few chips off one guy’s plate as we snuck past. With no place to turn around, I had to keep going, making a number of turns toward what looked like a real street until we wound up at a plaza (see U-Turn Plaza) in front of the hotel where we eventually found a room. It was quite a spectacle. We emerged from the alley (on the right, behind Is’ head in photo) and maneuvered around in the midst of gelato-eaters, watercolor-painters and amused pickpockets taking a break under a palm tree. Without further incident, we backed around as unobtrusively as possible and found our way back past the guy jealously guarding his chips.
Luckily we found a rare parking spot on the street and eventually walked to the Hostal Meñas, arriving at 1332, to find it being locked up by an elderly lady who told us that, “Yes, there are vacancies,” but “No, it is closed now.” Freaking siesta time! She suggested another place and left. So, we walked around checking out a couple that were in the anticipated price range of €32, but didn’t find one that suited our needs. We finally settled on one in the hotel I almost torpedoed turning our rented Mitsubishi. It was very nice, clean and warm-a big item for we fugitives from the Sierras de Baza. €43 got us lots of hot water, a room over the plaza, a TV we never turned on and a continental breakfast.
Dinner, after walking around checking out the options from Italian and Indian to Burgers or seafood, was found at what looked like a “locals” restaurant. It turned out that it was, and we were the only foreigners at the owner’s birthday celebration. Delicious rack of lamb after copious salmon & mustard starter. The house red wasn’t sold by the half-litre, but our waiter provided a bottle with the news that if I only drank half, he’d only charge for half. Sneaky fellow knew that I couldn’t stop at half-Is was drinking pineapple juice- so the €12 bottle was a sure thing. Is had sole baked in potatoes and cheese sauce after a starter of prawns in something-or-other. €61 (tip included) bought a thoroughly delicious and enjoyable meal-yeah, expensive when you convert to $ at 1.43, but then it’s only once a month.
The few other meals we haven’t cooked, have all been very good and quite reasonably priced. Last Sunday’s lunch provided us each with five large lamb slices- some of which found their way home to go into a stew that provided three meals. Lots of bread, potatoes and vegetables accompanied the beast, as well as a couple of beers and a bottle of soda; all for under €20.
What would you expect from a bottle of wine that cost $1.42? I had my wonderations when I picked up the bottle marked €0.99. Imagine my surprise when I found that it was better than a $5 bottle from Micucci’s in
The long drive and the delicious €1.15 bottle of Temperanillo are taking their toll and I must close for now. Tomorrow I’ll edit some photos to be posted on Monday. Cheers!
Monday, November 22, 2010
It’s not all sunshine and palm trees here. Remember, we’re in a Parque Natural in the Sierras de Baza (mountains), so the weather can be other than
There is a swatch of sunshine on the hills to the west, and I hope that it’s an omen. No matter. After lunch and a shower, I’m going to put on my cleanest dirty shirt (isn’t that from a Johnny Cash song?) and drive to Gor. Yaaaay! There’s heat in the car, and I’m going to the community center which is gorgeously overheated. There, I’ll hook up to the internet on a hard-wire and spend a couple of hours communicating. Jose & Eva’s grocery store opens up at 1700 and I’ll pick up makings for Tikka Masala.
Then it’s back to the cortijo and work on drawing and painting while watching old English “copper” or CSI re-runs. TV is varied here, but not a lot is of value to me. I watch the news a lot, BBC, CCTV (China-based news), Al Jazeera, EuroNews and sometimes Bloomberg. There are lots of African, Indo/Pakistani, Arab and Eastern European stations with a smattering of Welsh, German or Nordic ones-all of which are unintelligible. Radio is non-existent other than cable, and when I get a faint station in the car it is, naturally, in Spanish which is becoming more familiar to me with use. (A big “thank you” to you, Dyl, for convincing me to load music on my ‘puter-it is invaluable!)
As
Miss you all and hope that Fall is being kind to you. Dyl, Thanx for the videos of the Helena Show. She’s really coming along, and I wish I could watch her antics in person. I mailed a small watercolor to
Hasta Luego & love to all…
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