Sunday at the Beach

It is truly the day of rest here in Torremolinos as well as in all of Spain. Here in Torremolinos there is a beautiful promenade, Paseo Maritimo, which goes along the water for miles and miles. There are spectacular views, seaside cafes and loads of tiny shops selling everything one can imagine. You can walk all day if you want to. Everyone is out...families (and I mean the WHOLE family), grandparents to tiny babies, joggers, tourists, lover, dogs and cats. We just stroll along with the rest of the folks enjoying the beautiful, sunny day. Afterwards, we went up to the apartment and did our wash in the bathtub. Can't find a laundromat anywhere. Jerry filled up the tub with soapy water (shampoo), imitated a washing machine by agitating the water with both hands and let it soak some more. Then he emptied the tub, filled it with clean water, added conditioner for fabric softener, agitated some more, then I put clean water in, rinsed and hung the whole lot out to dry all over the balcony. My underwear has a great view of the Mediterranean!

Yesterday we went to Malaga and really explored that lovely city on our own. It was very easy and we did what the locals did...strolled and ate ice cream and strolled down by the Rio Guadalquivir, the only navigable river in all of Spain. It was another magnificent day here in southern Spain.

The other night at dinner we met a British couple sitting at the next table who invited us over to their house up in the mountains for next Friday. We are thinking about it. The problem is that their accents are so strong that we can hardly understand them! It would be interesting, but who the heck knows anything about them and they want to pick us up and drive us there. Maybe they are weird. Who knows?

Olive trees everywhere. That's the thing about southern Spain. There are olive trees everywhere you look. One must love olives to live here. I do. Jerry doesn't. I eat his.

Seville, where we went the other day, was so different than I remember. Last time we were there was in 1992 for the World Expo, when everything looked old. Now, except for the old section, everything looked new. The people are pretty well off compared to we poor Americans. Our country is going to the dogs while the Europeans are living very well and the Euro is worth so much more. It's all Bush's fault and everyone here hates him, with good reason.

In any case, Seville is the heart of Andalusia and it still is the heart of old Spain, with strong influences of Catholic, Jewish and Arabic influences. The gypsy influence is very strong as well. It's the real melting pot. They have an open door policy and let anyone emigrate. They don't know what they are in for! We decided they should import people from Mexico. At least they won't have a language problem and want to work and they need manual workers here. It's the perfect solution!

Last night we saw a very lovely flamenco show. Tonight will be another one. I am learning the flamenco so hold on to your wood floors. There will be no stopping me.

Adios for now.