Impressions of Spain

Well, we don't speak Spanish. It's important to know how to say 'Hablo oosted Anglais?' (No idea how to actually spell that in Spanish, so that's phonetic.) At least then you can say you tried to lead with Spanish, right? Since most of the Costa del Sol caters to British tourists, most people could help us. Here are our favorite highlights from our trip:

1. The signs are different. At least, they are spaced differently so you don't have much warning when your exit is coming up. Plus, our hotel didn't seem to believe in signs (at least no signs at the front entrance!). Roads are not clearly labeled, if labeled at all. Mike did a fantastic job driving, considering these challenges! We didn't get lost once. Meaning we did get lost every other time, there was only one time when we didn't!

2. The beached were surprisingly topless. So was the pool. Surprising!

3. There was a Scottish guy at our hotel wearing a Papelbon jersey! Go Boston!

4. We explored the small hill town of Mijas, a maze of small narrow streets between whitewashed houses. It was gorgeous, very Spanish, and more like what we were expecting to find on this trip.

5. Gibraltar is awesome! You can see Africa, it's not very far away at all!

(The front rock is Gibraltar, the mountains behind are Morocco!)

6. Mike was attacked by an ape. It jumped in his face and bared its teeth. Otherwise the apes all over the Rock of Gibraltar were amazing (they beg worse than Sassa, though, mom!) 7. Saint Michael's Cave is a giant natural cave full of stalactites and stalagmites and folklore has it that it's bottomless. People believed that the apes arrived on Gibraltar by travelling through these underground caves from Africa. They have now built a concert hall amongst the natural rock formations. Talk about good acoustics!

8. We ate a big fish, a rodaballo comidas in Spanish. We selected the whole fish that we wanted to eat and it was then skewered and roasted over an open wood fire. It was served with pan fried potatoes, onions, and peppers, DELICIOUS! We ate on the beach at sunset, what could be better? (Well, it was perfect in retrospect. At the time, we had no idea what we were doing and we had our fingers crossed that we could figure out how to eat the fish! Luckily, our waiter filleted it right at our table for us!)

9. Malaga- a beautiful old city. There was a great deal more Spanish and a great deal less English. There were whole string quartets of street musicians. We had paella and sangria at a cafe outside of an incredible old cathedral. We saw Picasso's birthplace, too!

10. We met 'Spanish Elisa' (our old landlord). The woman had a fruit stand. We tried to buy two yellow plums, but the woman kept winking at us and telling us we wanted a whole kilo because they were so sweet and delicious. They were, too!
All in all, a great trip. No sunburns, no food problems, and a lot of excellent exploring. Go Jimas!