Once we returned to Spain we settled into life at the molino pretty easily. Paul and Dawn were out of town, and so we housesat for them. Life was quiet; we put in our hours of work, ran errands, played music, and enjoyed the warm sunny weather.
On Saturday night we walked up our nearby village- Gauín - about 1-1/2 hours up old donkey trails. When we got there we found the place fully decorated with French and Spanish flags... We'd heard there was to be a re-enactment celebration of the battle over Gaucín between the French and Spanish, and that is would be quite a spectacle.
And the locals were all dressed up...
We fell in behind the marching band for a while and walked through the village...
The French invaded!
There were running street battles between the French and the Spanish bandoleros, and the Spanish weren't faring too well....
Quite a number of them were captured and "executed." It was clear this wasn't going to end well for the Spanish... Would Gaucín be in French hands by the time darkness fell over the village?
After much "bloodshed" the Mayor (he is the actual mayor of Gaucín) pleaded for a surrender deal with the French commander. Why should more villagers die? Why should more bandoleros be sacrificed???
The French talked a wee while....
And agreed to a cease fire.
The Mayor surrendered himself, and was locked away for the night in the carcel while the French hoisted their flag over the cobbled streets of Gaucín.
The next morning we returned to the village for coffee and breakfast. And, Look!
The French army is joining us for coffee!
But, wait! What's the ruckus? Is that gunfire? And the battle cry of the Spanish?
It's the bandoleros!! Charging through the fog of war, the smoke and the flames! They've come to retake Gaucín from the French!!
More street battles ensued. Some French soldiers were captured and "executed," and the bandoleros made their way through the village, valiantly mopping up resistance and pushing the French back.
Even the children got into it... and with glee! Look at the smiles on their faces as they go to battle!
They finally ran the French all the way out of town. Then the Mayor was freed!
The French flag was pulled down...
The Spanish flag raised again...
..and Gaucín was once again in Spanish hands! Hurrah!
Then came the time for the French and Spanish armies to retire to a bar and party hard for the rest of the day. Seriously, that's what they did.
All the while the well-dressed donkey looked on and wondered why there was such a fuss.
This re-enactment happens every year, and is quite a big deal in Gaucín. The "French" soldiers are part of a re-enactment group from France, and loads of locals get in on the Bandolero army. The celebration is a remembrance of the battle in 1808 when the French invaded, and began a rather dark period In the history of the village. And it's just as much a celebration of the good relations between the two countries now. And a good reason to have a drink with the guys you've been shooting at all weekend. Why not, right?
(By the way, if you want to know more about our local village, look it up on Gaucin.com - fascinating history...)
One day we went to the coastal city of Estepona and visited the botanical garden.
It's a really nicely done building, very modern and very organic feeling.
Beautiful pitcher plants that trap and digest bugs... Ewww!!
Lovely orchids!
Sand sculptures on the beach in Estepona ....
And a killer-big chess set! Here's boB wondering what the heck he's supposed to do next...
We came across some excellent murals in Estepona:
And some excellent art from the streets of Sabinillas, a nearby coastal town:
Quite a number of streets are named after Spanish artists, and had fantastic tile murals!
We had our last (well, last for now) traditional Spanish breakfast...
Toasted bread rubbed with garlic, drenched in olive oil, sprinkled in salt, and doused with fresh tomato sauce. And a café cortado to get fired up. Yum!! (And you kinda can't beat garlic for breakfast. Stays with ya all day and fights vampires!) And all for about $4.50 in US dollars for two people! That's a deal! Spain is a very affordable place to live!
We had a revelation that morning while we were having our wee brekkie in Estepona: we suddenly realized that we were just back from Morocco, having breakfast in Spain, planning how to get to Ireland in a few days, and then considering our plans for Scotland in July.
Ans this after we had lived such a settled and routine life in Montana for years?
We can't think of anyone else we know who has had the opportunity to live his kind of life. And we really appreciate that we're able to. It sure is hard being away from friends, family, and home. And it's hard to live on a tight budget for an extended period of time while sacrificing careers and savings. Even so, it's quite amazing to live this adventure.
We encourage anyone able to travel to a foreign land to take the leap and do it! To see how other people on this planet live leads to many meaningful realizations about world, culture and self. It's mind-expanding to see that there are other ways of living, and to be humbled with the realization that the way we've always done it isn't necessarily the best way. We are then no longer trapped by the cultural constructs of our mind.
It's a big world out there. Go see a small part of it, if you can. We're grateful that we are able to, and we hope you appreciate that were trying as best we can to share a small part of it on these pages.
Anyway, soliloquy over. Thanks for listening.
And now for some grocery shopping...
Would you believe that you can buy white bread with the crust removed? Well, we didn't (buy it, that is), but I'm sure someone else did. It is very popular here.
And wine! Cheap!!! boB's looking pretty happy! We bought a bottle to make sangria with. Tasty!
And one final shot...
...of Roman, the guy who also works at the molino. He's from Ukraine, lives in Gaucín with his wife and two kids, and works hard doing all sorts of odd jobs around the molino.
We worked quite a lot with Roman, and he's a super neat guy. Great sense of humor, hard worker, and quick to smile and laugh. And he loves fires, especially the big ones. We'll miss Roman!
And dear Frankie!
Good old lady cat. What a sweetie! We became attached to her, and we will miss her too!
And we'll likewise dearly miss Paul and Dawn. They're such great folks, and we had a great time getting to know them.
Early on the misty morning of the day we left the molino, we went up the hill to revisit the firebreak, in the rain. We were impressed by the large area that the firebreak covered- and we reminisced about the fun (and the pain) of this experience.
The picture is awfully dark, but boB has a pretty content look about him. It was a job well done, and we're proud of it!
Leaving the molino is bittersweet for us - we have to leave a magical place, but at the same time we launch forward into yet another adventure.
We hitched a ride to Estepona with our neighbor, Kit, picked up our repaired bicycles from the shop, and caught a bus into Málaga. We'd have preferred to have biked to the Málaga airport, but it would have taken three days to get there, and it had been raining cats and dogs for a week straight with no signs of stopping!! Who ever would have figured it? We arrived in Spain in the rain, and we're leaving in the rain, too!
Despite the rain, we had an excellent day in Málaga before catching the flight to Dublin. We took a guided tour of the city, visited the Picasso museum, as well as Picasso's childhood home.
Málaga has some cool street sculptures...
If you walk around this one you can see several different faces emerge and morph.
Picasso is a big deal here in Málaga (he was born here).....
And he works the street café scene selling tapas, too!
Here's boB giving him an earful...
...and Melinda listening attentively.
Have you ever seen those people who paint themselves silver or gold and stand really still to look like a statue?
This guy held those pose for MINUTES until someone dropped a coin for him. Then he ever-so-slowly moved through a tennis swing. Amazing control! and he can make the ball move backwards too!
On our walking tour we went past the Alcazaba (Spanish for the Arabic 'Al-Qasbah'- meaning fortified city), which is a restored Moorish fortress. The views of the city were amazing from its walls.
And the magnificent unfinished cathedral:
You can see the unfinished Romanesque columns in the upper right. Due to financial constraints, the cathedral was never finished, and it is affectionately referred to by Malagueños as 'La Manquita' (The One-Armed Lady). According to Jávier, our tour guide, even as recently as last century, the people of Málaga were asked if they wanted to invest in finishing the cathedral they said No! They'd rather have a unique unfinished cathedral than "just another" grand and beautiful well-proportioned cathedral!
Here's the cathedral from the back side. Like so many other Catholic churches and cathedrals, it was built over the site of a Muslim mosque. Part of the original mosque wall was preserved, but it's only a tiny fragment of the grandeur of the original mosque.
These plates were embedded in the sidewalk at La Plaza de la Constitución:
They commemorate the Spanish Constitution that was written in 1978, after Franco died and the King ceded power to the people to create a democracy.
We visited to Pimpi bodega and caught a glimpse of the cubist cask art a la Picasso:
And received a wee sample of the famously delicious sweet desert wine of Málaga, poured in the traditional way:
Per Jávier, if you ever want to order a coffee in Andalucía...
The graphic shown above will help you navigate!
Speaking of navigation...
You know you're in Spain.....
when you come across this many flamenco dresses in one place!
On our very last night we went to a wee flamenco show in a tiny bar.
Unfortunately, the music was canned and the sound system was so bad that the music kept cutting out! The talented dancer did her best and carried on gamely, but of course it left us hungry for more. Ahh, how can you have dance without the treasured guitar? It's just not complete! Perhaps that is how it should be for now - we are leaving Spain hungry for more, and fully aware that there is much more to see and do here!
Viva España!
Thursday morning, May 12th, we packed up and headed for Ireland. When we got to the airport we had the bikes shrinked-wrapped:
How nifty is that?
For now, it's on to the next chapter in the adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment