Donkeys and the Chocolate Factory

Today is our last day here in Spain so we spent the morning organizing everything so that it would be easier to pack later. After we organized we had brunch. Bruch is normally one meal you have between breakfast and lunch time that serves as both meals. This brunch was breakfast and lunch. We had my favorite breakfast with the yogurt as well as bread, cheese, and lots of meat with vegetable sauce. It was two meals at one time and I felt like I needed to get my elastic pants out.

After brunch Alonso drove us to the small town of Mijas where we got to see donkeys! I was very excited about the donkeys and I took selfies with a lot of them. Most of the donkeys look the same but I didn’t want any of them to feel left out to I tried to pet and take selfies with a lot of them. They were all dressed up and looked super cute! The best part was that for 10 euros we could ride a donkey all around the town. I loved riding my donkey and whether he knows it or not we are now BFFs. I think our donkeys were in the witness protection program because the guide wouldn’t tell us their names. Maria asked him if they had names and he said yes but didn’t tell us what they were. It’s ok the donkeys secrete is safe with me. The guide led my donkey first and Maria’s just followed. Every time the guide would let go of my donkey he would walk faster and veer off into fences. That just made me love him more. I could have hung out with the donkeys all day but it was time to explore the town.

The first place we stopped was a chocolate store. This ended up being one of the coolest things we saw this entire trip. The store was called Mayan Monkey Mijas (http://www.mayanmonkey.es/) and is home to the world’s smallest chocolate factory. For no charge at all one of the factory managers gives you a tour of the factory and tells you all about how the chocolate is made and where it comes from. It was all very exciting. Everyone in the shop was extremely nice and he even gave us the tour in English so I knew what was going on. We also got to try samples that were amazing. Since the chocolate was so good and it was made in Mijas we bought a lot of it. We continued walking around the tiny town and came across another Mayan Monkey Mijas so this time we got some homemade ice cream that was also very delicious. They stick a large piece of chocolate in the top of the ice cream for free! The lady who served us was British which just made everything that much better.

Once we left the beautiful tiny town of Mijas we picked up Clara from work and went out to eat. They ordered us wine and soda again. This time there was more soda than wine and it was way too fizzy for me. For lunch we had tapas. They just kept bringing them out and Alonso kept saying that we needed to try them because they were so good. Each tapa has a tooth pick in it and they have different sizes and colors of toothpicks for different foods. This is how the waiter rings up the bill at the end. When we were done we had 30 toothpicks. By this point I definitely needed some elastic pants. I thought I couldn’t be any fuller than I already was. I was wrong. Clara wanted to take us to the best ice cream shop in town. They are always treating us and making sure we are well fed. After our second ice cream of the day and 30 tapas between the four of us I was sure that we would not be eating or drinking anything for quite some time. I was wrong again. They took us to a popular place to get good wine in Malaga. It was a tiny bar and all of the wines were in big barrels. All of the bartenders were old men and they write your bill on the table with chalk. Picasso used to go there a lot. We had some entertainment while we drank our wine because there was a bachelor party going on. Their theme was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The groom was dressed as Snow White in a wig and a dress and the seven grooms men were the dwarfs. They were all drinking, singing and dancing and it was really funny to watch.

Our next great adventure was the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel was one of the first things we saw when we arrived in Malaga and we have been talking about going on it at sunset all week. Today we finally got the chance. It is the largest Ferris Wheel in Spain and it is right on the coast so when you are at the top you can see all of Malaga on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other. It was very beautiful and we took lots of pictures. We also had a Taylor Swift dance party in our little cart. Even though it is completely enclosed so nobody could hear us we got some strange looks from the people in the cart in front of us. Alonso and Clara were waiting for us at a restaurant but we wanted to get them flowers and a vase as a thank you so we ran all over down town looking for flowers and a vase. We didn’t want to keep them waiting forever but we didn’t know where anything was so we ended up taking over an hour to get back to them. I hid the flowers in my jacket and I looked crazy because it looked like I was carrying one of the large ham legs they have everywhere in my jacket. We finally got back to them and they ordered us a brownie and ice cream dessert. That was out third ice cream of the day. We took a few pictures on the pier to document our last night out together and then we went home to pack.

That brings us to now and I am blogging on my bed and looking out the window at a beautiful view of the city all lit up. I can’t believe that this was our last day here. In some ways it feels like we have been here forever and it others if feels like we just got here. It rained tonight for the first time since we got here and Clara said it was the city crying because it was sad that we are leaving. Clara and Alonso have been amazing hosts and it will be sad to leave them. The wifi is not working well tonight so I can’t add any pictures to this post. I also can’t contact my parents. I’m not ignoring you mom my messages just won’t go through. You can see a donkey picture on my Instagram (@emmats13). I will post todays pictures when I write my last blog post tomorrow night. It is 2am here and we are supposed to be leaving in two hours for the airport so I am going to try to get some sleep now. Next time I blog I will be in the United States… if customs lets me in. :)