Week 3: The End

Monday 18 August, since the night before had been an earlier one, I woke up early to say goodbye to Pepa and Emilio, who were going to eat with Patricia and her parents before heading back to Granada. We were happy to have the house to ourselves and ironically celebrated by spending all day on the beach. In the morning we went snorkelling with Santi and Floren. It was really cool especially because Santi caught an octopus for us to see. We were there a long time and later went to get some tapas. At tapas we ran into Walli and Jose El Mei. They had been out diving all morning. Mei is almost a professional diver. He and his whole family are really into it. He can hold his breath for 4 minutes, go down really deep and fish all sorts of animals out of the ocean with his hands. So Victor, Walli, Mei and I all went out swimming and looking at stuff. we saw an octopus, but the main objective of our mission was to hunt currucos. I have no idea what they are called in English, but you hunted them by swimming way down to the bottom of the ocean where its sandy, then you see the little holes where they are breathing from and stick your hand into the sand and get them out. That is if you can stand the water pressure, cold temperatures and hold your breath for long enough. Still trying to not get anymore ear infections, I wasn't even trying to get them but did swim all the way down once just to touch the bottom. Between all of us, we got about 20. Thankfully, we also had 2 - 8 year old tag alongs with us who were in love with Mei and his diving knowledge who were also the nephews of the chambao we usually got tapas at. So the kids took our catch and since they have all the waiters and cooks at their beck and call, ordered them to cook them up for us. Unfortunately they were disgusting and full of dirt. I still ate like 5 just to make sure I didn't get a wrong first impression. The cleaning and cooking process says a lot for currucos. Then Victor and I went home and had a snack and headed back to the beach in front of La Cochera. Then that evening we ate a delicious potato salad that Pepa had made for us. Then we went to the outdoor movie theater at midnight. We saw WallE the Pixar movie. It was fun because I had never been to an outdoor theatre before and that had an intermission, which I thought was funny. After that we went and hung out with the gang on the beach for a while. We were tired so we went home early, but Victor's friends Walli and Hori had asked to spend the night, so they wouldn't have to go back to Almuñécar that night. They called and woke Victor up at 5AM or so to be let in and then woke up really early to go do stuff and woke us up too. It was pretty funny.

Tuesday 19 August since we had been woken up early by Walli and Hori, but it wasn't a good day to go to the beach because there were huge waves. So we finally finished up Season 3 of LOST. I was sad that we didn't have anymore to watch, but at least they lasted us 2 weeks. Then after that we ate and went down to the cochera to use the internet. Then we drove to Almuñécar to go to the aquarium. It was a really cool aquarium, especially after doing so much snorkelling and recognizing a lot of the animals we had seen in the wild. Then we went on a search for a magnet. For all the times we had been to the pueblo, I had never bought a magnet. There wasn't a lot of good selection, but Victor was really patienet with me and I finally found one that I liked. Then we stopped by a craft market thing and then went and had some tapas for dinner. Then back at home we cleaned up and Floren came over and watched tv with us. By now a lot of the gang had left and nobody wanted to go out as much.

Wednesday 20 August I went grocery shopping in the morning and then Victor and I headed to Las Cuevas de Nerja, or Nerja Caves. I didn't really know what to expect but we encountered a magical, enormous cave that was a combination of The Goonies, Disneyland, Indiana Jones, and all the awesome cave movies you have seen in your life. It was so surreal because I had never seen anything like that in real life, only in make believe books and movies. We went all through the cave and then I bought a magnet. Then we went to this special beach called Cantarriján. You had to hike down a hill for 1.4 KM to get there. It was really cool and special. The water was still pretty choppy but it was a nice afternoon. We also ran into Ana and her cousin there which was slightly awkward. Then we had to hike back up the huge mountain to get back to the car, but it was good. Since we had exhausted our LOST supply we went and rented 2 movies for the evening and ate dinner. We rented "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" and "Habana Blues." We hadn't even finished Chuck and Larry when the doorbell rang. Floren and Nacho (Dani's little brother, not Victor's) came over to play. We just hung out and played cards till they left. Then we finished the movie.

Thursday 21 August after breakfast we headed to the beach and I did some snorkelling. I found a little clam shell and made a suprise for Victor with it. After a lovely morning, we went home and I made spaghetti for lunch. We watched Habana Blues and then went down to La Cochera with Floren. Alicia had come to the beach with the kids so after a while we walked down the beach to look for them in front of Alicia's parent's house. We found them and it was a really sweet reunion. Nachete went running into his uncle's arms and started to play with him instantly. Marina on the other hand didn't recognize her uncle with 3 weeks worth of beard on his face and clung to me because she was scared. They were all so cute, blonde and tan after a summer on the beach. Then we went back home and had dinner and watched Camera Cafe with Dani who came over. Then later we met up with the gang but left them and went and got a drink with Alicia, who had put the kids to bed and got her mom to watch them. I probably hadn't seen Alicia since May so it was really good to catch up with her. The conversation went a little South though when she asked me why I was leaving?, when I was coming back?, and told me I had to come back, no matter what. All in all it was good to talk to her after so long and once again we closed out La Cochera. Then Victor and I kept talking as we walked home, took a midnight swim, stopped by the bakery and finally called it a night.

Friday 22 August in the morning Victor and I started talking about what Alicia had said and we both got really upset. We cleaned the whole place from top to bottom to put Pepa's hosue back in order and headed back to Granada early. Although our last day of vacation in La Herradura was rather tramautic, it was ok because it wasn't our last day ever. All in all it had been a wonderful 3 weeks of vacation in paradise.