Adios Orgiva

The last couple of weeks in Orgiva were spent trying to stop time. Leaving was becoming a reality, it seemed that only moments ago the whole trip was just words and plane tickets - and now we were packing. We had a frenzy of catch ups, dinners and bar nights with our multifarious group of friends - I have since thought of how integral all these people are to the memory of our time in the Alpujaurra's...whereas we have been a momentary fragment of their lives in this wonderful place - time and place are indeed strange things.

Me, well I had a little lump in my throat as I pushed the boys on our swings in front of the house for the last time. We had landed in the perfect place and a sliver of us will stay in the olive trees and the mountains. For Amber and me it will always be remembered as a time we spent together as a family and for the boys, who knows...but somewhere inside part of the people they will become has been shaped by this adventure.

Was it luck we landed here or would have any place done? - we will never know, but fortuna has smiled upon us.

We stood by the non accumulation pact and left with our original four bags, everything else we had bought from rastros (garage sales) or one euro shops - and that went back to whence it came.

So with heavy hearts we said goodbye and left for our 1000km drive back to Barcelona.

I cannot finish this post without thanking friends for making our time so memorable - Bernie and Kay, Sven and Nadine, Mike and Grecha and Georgie, Diet and Piluka, the olive crew, los alemanes, and of course Gabi who embraced our family, befriended us and helped us so much during our stay. We will miss you all.

Ye Old Country

A 1c flight from Malaga got us to England's sunny shores for a week with the Price family in Quy, a pub and post office village just outside Cambridge. We were met by Bryn the Bernese Mountain dog, Gareth, Jane, Tom and Andy. We were very excited about visiting, especially Angus who was hoping to pop in for a tea with David Attenborough - after all he is from England!

So the agenda was a long weekend in the Lakes district and a lot of tequila. Apparently there was hope of a repeat performance of my infamous (accidental) tequila inhalation trick which left me gasping on the floor (dont try this at home!) Gareth had assembled 16 of his friends to join us. Last time I was here with Gareth was 20 years ago -ouch! - but who's counting.

We headed to the dogfree Cockermouth waterwheel YHA and shown around by Ray the caretaker, who was subsequently introduced to Bryn - 'I don't see a dog' - so all was cool. Phew!

The next morning the fog was thick and it was cold so we drove out along the hedge lined lanes to find a nice fell walk. As we drove up a pass the sky turned purple then brilliant blue as we emerged through the fog. Apparently it was the first sunny day since Christmas...

Now thats a bit of luck!

The climb up was great, all 21 of us got to the first peak and the view across the heather covered hills was stunning. Its really beautiful. The kids had great fun hiding under ridges and rolling down the steep grassy slopes (Andy Price was presumed dead by Archie and Angus for some time though his twin brother Arthur made a mysterious appearance)

The stone walls, hedges and narrow winding roads made it feel like we were really in England (a far cry from the M1 in a peasouper - fun....not)

We got back down for a walk around the lake and a homemade icecream. The boys thought that was good reward for getting to the top. We on the other hand got back to HQ had a few 'slammers' and followed by some limbo variants and charades. Some ripped pants and pulled muscles from the oldies put us out of contention pretty quickly - the winner was Tom Price!

Next we ducked into Cambridge for the afternoon one day, it is nice to finally see the things that I had heard of so much - the Cam and the punts and of course the colleges and bikes. Archie consigned his future to ANU after having a wobbly at of the sign in front of Kings College - 'Please respect the people who study and work here by being quiet'! I suspect Angus wont get into the Kings College choir either if he inherits any of our singing talent. But nice to look anyway.

The Almond Harvest

The boys love harvesting almonds from the trees around the house so we made a little movie...from tree to stomach. Click twice on the play button. There is sound too. Hasta Luego.

A Sojourn

It was a spur of the moment decision to take a trip down to Tarifa, a small town right at the bottom of Spain on the Atlantic. 'So you're going on holiday?' asked our neighbour. !!!

Driving down the Costa del Sol is a clear indication of what uncontrolled development does to a coastline - incredible really. Thousands of cloned half completed condos competing for views of the Mediterranean or one of the multitude of golf courses. I wonder who buys them?

Tarifa was in a condo free enclave and surrounded by lush hillsides and grazing cattle. The tops of the hills were dotted with wind-turbines, hundreds of them, catching Tarifa's famous winds. The beach is clean, white and huge and is world renown for windsurfing and kiteboarding. The town has a prominent surf culture evident with the multitude of surf shops and hip cafes. Nice...

Our first day was windless so we managed our first swim in the Atlantic...brrr - a little chilly, but it was the best beach we had been to in southern Spain and great to get into the water.

Looking across the ocean Africa loomed close. The Rif mountains are only 14km away and the fast ferry beckoned us. So the next day we hopped on the boat for our first taste of Northern Africa - Tangiers. As warned we were surrounded by faux guides the moment we got off - right pesky and I fear there was almost a brawl between drivers at the taxi stop to get our business. Funny really because we later found we only had to travel 500m to the medina! Anyway that was it for the hassling, the rest was a captivating wander through the muddle of narrow streets and lanes of the souks. It is lucky we have no room in the bags, Amber was in agony as we passed lamps, jewellery, carpets and leather - it was a treasure chest of knick knacks...

But she had a camel ride instead, much to the boys amusement!

Naturally we stopped for a sweet mint tea on a little terrace to soak up the atmosphere, and decided that Morocco needed more time. Unamimous vote. Next stop Marrakesh and the Atlas mountains in a few weeks time.

Driving home we passed Gibraltar and mere mention of the word 'monkey' has the boys pleading to visit. So after passport control there were round red letter boxes, bobbies and lots of '£' signs - and corresponding prices!

The rock however is quite a sight, the surrounding land is almost flat and it rises 426 metres out of the ocean. It is apparently one of the most densely populated territories in the world and had traffic to match. However it was monkeys we were looking for and that meant a 16 quid trip (ouch!) to the top of the cablecar. Sure enough there they were, Barbary Macaques Angus informed us.