Home Is Where the Waves Are

We started toady off with my favorite breakfast. If any of you are trying this breakfast out at home I strongly suggest that you skip the step where you pour the yogurt by stabbing the bottom of the cup. I stabbed myself today. Don’t worry, I’m ok mom. Maria and I were on our own to explore Malaga again today. After our very long day yesterday we were ready for a chill day to do some shopping and exploring.

Centro Histórico De Malaga

We first went walking downtown on the rich street with all of the fancy stores. At the beginning of the trip we had a lot of self-control with making purchases… now that the trip is coming to a close we pretty much don’t have any self-control when it comes to spending. It is very easy to say that we might never be able to buy it again and that we will regret it, so we buy everything. Going down the expensive street probably wasn’t the best idea but it was really pretty and we didn’t spend too much. Maria did by two coffees…. Maria is Colombian so she speaks Spanish a little differently than the Spaniards and even though I can’t understand either one of them it is funny to watch them talk to each other because Maria doesn’t always know what they are saying and Maria says things they don’t get. Apparently in Colombia when you order food you ask for it as a gift. She doesn’t actually want it for free that’s just the way Colombians say it. This is not the same in Spain, so every time she orders they look at her like she is crazy and their eyes get big. It’s funny to watch and then she has to explain herself.

Mercado Central Atarazanas

We finally found our way to the market where we got Alonso and Clara some peppers and apples since we had eaten all the ones they had the day before. The market was a really cool place and was full of all sorts of fresh food. They also had a lot of spices that drove my allergies crazy. After seeing (and smelling) lots of fish and meats we decided we had had enough.

Arabesque

Our next stop was out favorite store, Arabesque. It has a gypsy Arabian feel to it and they have a lot of really cool clothing, jewelry, and handbags. This was our third time going to this store because we love it so much. Today I got the earrings I have been thinking about all week. We also took a picture because we probably won’t be going back. I ended up going through most of my Euros today and we still need to pay Alonso back for the tour tickets he bought yesterday so I found an ATM to get some cash out. I have used an ATM machine abroad twice before. The first time in Germany it took my card and I couldn’t get any money and the second time in Ireland it worked perfectly so I was a little worried to put my card in the machine. The first time I put it in everything was working perfectly until it got to the amount that I wanted to take out. I think the machine was broken because where I was supposed

to type it was already filled out with a string of 4’s and it wouldn’t let me change it. After canceling the transaction and getting my card I was really scared to put it back in and try again but Maria convinced me to. It did the same thing the second time so we went inside the bank to see if we could talk to someone but the line was super long and someone told us that the machine had taken her card. We ended up going to another bank and that one worked on the first try but it still took a while and Maria and I both thought it wasn’t going to give me the card back. It was terrifying but it all worked out. Since things were going well I bought a chocolate pretzel pastry to eat on our way to the beach. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it was yummy.

Once we got to the beach we changed into our awesome gypsy pants so we could have a Mediterranean gypsy photo shoot. We looked absolutely crazy in our gypsy pants, sneakers, backpacks, and shirts that didn’t match but we didn’t care. The beach is so beautiful and there is one part that has a strip of rocks in the water so we went there to take all of our crazy pictures. After spending about an hour and a half taking pictures and enjoying the sound of the waves on the rocks it was time to head back to the apartment for lunch. We didn’t have time to change back into our jeans so we had to walk home looking crazy. The walk was about thirty minutes and we stopped multiple times to take more cool pants pictures. We are obsessed with the pants if you couldn’t tell. Right now all the garbage pickup workers are on strike so dumpsters are overflowing and tons of trash is piled up around it and it is really gross. While passing one of the many trash piles we saw some flowers in perfectly good condition on top. Naturally we picked them up and took lots of pictures with them.

For lunch we had fajitas and they were delicious. Alonso makes sure that we eat everything we can possibly eat and then one more serving. I always feel like I am going to explode when I am done eating. I ended up having three fajitas and a huge bowl of strawberries. Apparently I am an expert fajita folder so Alonso had me fold his and show everyone else how it was done. I liked being good at something since I never know what is going on.

After lunch they took us to the train station to buy out ticket for tomorrows adventure and then to a big grocery store to buy our favorite wine to take home to our parents. The store sells ham by the leg with the hoof and everything still on. It really disturbs me and they have an entire section for this. They also have this in small stores all around town. It makes me want to become a vegetarian. When we went to check out, Alonso wasn’t happy with the price of the wine so he got the manager involved who confirmed that they were charging twice the listed price but that they weren’t changing it. Apparently we can buy it somewhere else so we just left. I also noticed today that I am starting to be able to hear the difference in the Spanish accents. I have heard that Spaniards have a heavy lisp when they speak but I just started actually hearing it today and I noticed how different it is than when I hear Maria, Clara, and Alonso talk together.

 

For dinner we went to Antonio’s pizza. Alonso is very good friend’s with Antonio and has been talking about his pizza all week. Antonio is very famous in the pizza world and has won many competitions for all things pizza related. He is an expert pizza tosser (I don’t know if that’s a word but I’m not sure what else to call it) and has pictures of himself competing and tossing a circle of dough that is probably about as wide as he is tall (he is pretty tall). He also sculpted a full sized dragon out of pizza. He is pretty talented. We got three personal pizzas that were definitely not personal size and when I was done I wished I was wearing my elastic gypsy pants. Alonso and Antonio decided that we needed two desserts even after we insisted that we were already to full. The two desserts were Semifreddo De Kinder Casero and a Nutella Calzone. I could only eat half of the first one because I was so full. I also had an awkward bathroom experience because my day isn’t complete without at least one awkward moment. I walked into the bathroom and it had a sliding door that wouldn’t close all the way and then the light wouldn’t turn on. I went back to the table to get my phone so I could use the flashlight. Back in the dark bathroom I saw that there wasn’t any toilet paper or paper towels and there was a sign on the wall above the toilet that I couldn’t read. I decided that I didn’t need to go to the bathroom.

Trash Flowers

You might not have needed to know that story but Maria wanted me to include it in my blog.

Our quote of the day is, “And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling.” –Shanti

I can guarantee you that my feet are dirty from the beach and my hair is such a mess from the wind that my brush broke when I tried to untangle it. It was like the scene from The Princess Diaries except I was able to fix the brush. My eyes are figuratively sparkling as I recount all of these fun memories for you at 2am while listening to One Direction.