Beach Time: Week 2

Monday August 11th. Sometime since we had arrived the sink water was backing up into the diswasher and making a huge mess. I now remember that made getting for company the night before very difficult because we had a huge pile of dirty dishes we had to scrub in the washroom sink which is really small. So early in the morning the plumber came, which was also difficult since we had people over till who knows when the night before. Then after he left we got ready to go to Malaga for a few days. When we got there, we stopped by Victor's place and then headed to the mall so I could shop at H and M and look for the sunglasses I had been searching for all summer. They obviously werent' there since over 3 months had passed since I had seen them, but we shopped all around and I also looked for a watch I wanted from another store. We ate lunch at the mall and watched the Olympics on tv. Then we headed to the city center and got an ice cream from a really good place. Then we went to another store where I had seen the watch I liked and it was there and I got it. I was glad it was still there. Then I tried on swimsuits and bought a purple one, my favorite color. Then we met up with Wali and Fabiola, the main reason we had come to Malaga. We kept shopping and walking around and ended up meeting with Kike, Wali's brother and their other friend for tapas. It was a long day and evening but fun. Then we all went to our respective homes and went to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep. It was really hot in Malaga and uncomfortable. On top of all that, the toll of a month of island hopping, beach living had taken a toll on my ears. I had the most horrible pain I have even felt in my life. I don't think I had an infection but it was so bad that I was crying and wanted to go to the emercengy room. I had been feeling uncomfortable all day and before that but this was the absolute worst. I think I took about 4 Advil and somehow managed to fall asleep.

Tuesday August 12th. Victor's roommate Jesus is a doctor so we were going to ask him to look at my ear before he went to work and sent him a text message so we could talk to him before he left. He left anyway and when I woke up I felt better but went to the pharmacy to get some medicine. It helped but not too much. We also went to the post office so I could mail a suprise home to my mom and sister. Then we went and picked up Wali and Fabiola and went to lunch at a very famous place in Malaga, El Tintero. It is famous because you go and sit down and all the while waiters are walking around with their arms loaded up with plates of food, shouting what they have. So octopus guy walks around shouting, "Octopus! I've got octopus!!!" If you feel like a plate of that you flag him down and he gives it to you. This goes on with salad, lobster, shirmp, fried eggplant, the works. Then at the end when you and your party have had your fill, the guy with a notepad who has been walking around yelling, "I'll charge you! I'll ring you up!" comes by and counts how many plates, pitchers, etc. you have on your table and charges you for that. Back in the day when the beachfront resturant had a sand floor, people would hide the plates in the sand to get a free dish or two. Unfortunately now its a regular floot and we had to pay the full, rather expensive price. Kike had met us for lunch too and afterwards we all parted ways. Kike had to go back to work and the four of us headed back to the beach. We went straight to Almuñécar to drop them off and ended up changing and going to the beach there with them and their friends. Dani had also gotten to La Herradura that day and caught a bus over to Almuñécar and hung out with us. After a while the girls all went to a girly store and I went with them for a while. The boys went to this place where they played flamenco music. Then Victor, Dani and I went back to La Herradura, stopped at the bakery, cleaned up, had dinner and later Dani and Santi came over. I don't know if we went out or just stayed in but we did something with them according to my notes. I think we probably went out and got a bottellón against my will.

Wednesday 13 August, I got up and went for a run before breakfast. Then we went to the beach. Then we went home for lunch and I think I made chili. That was from another special spice packet from home that I combined with Spanish beans and tomato/vegetable mix in order to made some really awesome chili. We ate it in chilitos (burritos made with chili) and it was really good. Then that evening after our normal schedule of LOST and the beach we probably went out in the evening and followed the normal schedule.

Thursday 14 August, I woke up and went for a run again and then we went to the beach. After Floren left, Santi, Victor and I went and got a few tapas. Santi then went home for lunch and we went to our favorite bar and ordered a rosco for lunch. We had gone to Almuñécar and made a huge purchase the week before, but now all that food was gone. We hadn't really bothered to restock because Pepa and Emilio were coming that day and I knew she would bring lots of supplies. So we just bought lunch and watched LOST. We didn't stay too long because we knew Victor's parents were on their way to rain on our parade and take their house back. We headed to the beach and hung out with the gang till really late. Even when everyone went home we shoppped around a bit because we just didn't want to face the reality that Pepa and Emilio were waiting for us back at home. We finally could avoid it no longer and headed home. We said hello and had to shuffle stuff around as Emilio took over the master bedroom and Pepa took over Victor's room. After cleaning up we had dinner all together. It was a little awkward, but as predicted, Pepa brought tons of delicious food, stocked us up and we talked about the menu for the rest of the weekend. After dinner we got ready and went out. Tonight for some reason there were a ton of people in town and we all went out together. They were mostly Victor's old friends and I didn't really know them that well but it turned out to be the best night of the summer for me. At La Cochera there was a concert and while the boys were on the beach botellon-ing I went inside and listened to the concert. The group was this really cool rock/ska group that had such a unique sound and I loved it! They also played some really great and popular cover songs. It was so good and after a bit some of the guys came in to listen too. Now thing thing I like about going out is not the dancing in and of its self. I've never been a good dancer. But what I do love is singing my favorite songs and dancing around with friends, just being crazy. This band was the perfect music to do so to. It was really fun and funny and I spent most of the evening trying to get Victor's shy friends to go and talk to girls, being the ultimate wing woman, and making Victor, and equally bad dancer, dance with me. It was amazing night and we closed out La Cochera. Then we headed home and stopped by the bakery for delicious treats and went to bed completely content around 5AM.

Friday 15 August I woke up to the sound of Victor's niece, Adriana running around the house. Raul and Patricia had come for lunch and I stumbled out of the bedroom to say hello. We had Pepa's favorite, paella, for lunch and then hung around a while visiting. Then Victor and I went to the Cochera beach and hung out with the gang. Then back at home we had dinner, showered and went out again till 5AM. It was fun but nothing compared to the day before.

Saturday 16 August I slept in again until lunch time. Pepa made a delicious baked fish with potatoes and shrimp and deliciousness. It was really good. Then I fell asleep for a little siesta and Victor and I went down to the beach with Pepa. We were supposed to go with her in the morning, but we were sleeping and she didn't wake us up. So we all hung out on the beach and chatted. Pepa also treated us to an ice cream and later Dani came and hung out with us too. We were there for a long time, Pepa went upstairs and we stayed even longer. Finally we went up and ate dinner and showered and went out again.

Sunday 17 August I slept in again and woke up when Raul and family got there. Today we were having Cuban rice, which was white rice, fried eggs and tomato sauce all mixed together. It sounds gross as I write it but it is one of my favorite dishes. Then after lunch and naptime, Pepa, Patricia, Victor and I went and got an ice cream. Then Victor and I went up to his friend Ana's house. Ana is nice, but not my favorite person. Regardless, she has one of the most impressive houses I have seen in my life. Her family is from Madrid and her dad spared no expense to build his dream house. Its huge, amazing and has everything you could dream of. We hung out there for a long time, because since it is up on a hill, the pool gets sun till about 10PM. Then we went back down and had dinner with Raul and Patricia and Pepa and Emilio. We had roscos and then Raul left. That evening we went down to the beach with Dani and he played guitar.