After not having to play competitive golf anymore with Mark here in Spain, we had a decision to make. Either go back to London and stay with his uncle, or stay in Sotogrande (Southern Spain) in his uncle's summer house. Let's say it was an easy choice and weather had nothing to do with the choice.... RIGHT!! So we have been here for the whole week and will be until next Wednesday, when we fly out to London and then Thursday to Hong Kong for the final leg of my trip.
Andalucia, which is how this part of Spain is called, is very interesting as it has its own distinctive culture within the Spanish culture. In general, their accents are much deeper, the people are a lot more dark complexed, shorter, and darker hair. They are also very friendly and easy-going. I'll tell you about some of the places I've visited this past week.
... so, what is a chick like you doing in a place like this??? are you up for some monkey business??
Gibraltar
I am staying about 20 minutes away from Gibraltar. It is a peninsula with a huge limestone rock in it, and it pretty much controls the pass of all the ships from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice-versa. It is a tiny pice of land, which is not Spanish, to my surprise it is British! It was given by the spaniards to Britain almost 300 years ago after a war with France. So to get into Gibraltar you actually need a passport and go through a security check. Once you get in, you can feel some of the British aura going around, with the shops, the red phone booths, the cops and their ridicule hats, the bars with the fish and chips.. and of course the language (although most Gibraltarians speak the perfect definition of SpanGlish). They didn't switch the streets to "the other side", but you do find a lot of cars with the driving wheel on the "other side".
Since it is a little piece of land, the British built an airport and its runway in the entrance, on what seems artificial land... or landfill if you may. So there's water all around the runway, and you actually cross through the middle of it as you drive (or walk) in and out of Gibraltar, with some train-like barriers stopping traffic when airplanes take-off or land. Never seen that one before.
The Rock is huge and can be seen from far away as you drive the N-340 / E-15 / A-7 highway. It has a lot of dark green vegetation which looks great with the white background of the limestone. We took a cable car up the top, and to our surprise we found wild monkeys up there.... yes, wild MONKEYS running around everywhere and interacting with people and stuff.. Funny stuff.. I bet they hear the "look it's your brother" joke a thousand times every day.. Must get old.. Unfortunetly it was very windy that day, coming from the south, and it pushed the moisture from the Sea up the steep wall of The Rock creating a misty fog that didn't allow us to see much afar. This fog also turned into a very black cloud, and since The Rock was creating it, it looked (as we drove in) as like the top of the mountain was on fire and it was leaving this column of smoke behind. Really cool! So the fog didn't let me see Africa from up there, but I did see it other days as we drove around the highway. I heard sometime ago that you could see Africa if the day was really clear, which is a lie because you can see it very clearly and very close to you from several points in the highway. It was my luck of course that it was the foggiest when I had the best vantage point up The Rock. Oh well, stranger things have happened.
Tarifa
The southernmost point of Europe (or so they call it) is Tarifa. It is the point where actually the meeting between Atlantic and Mediterranean occurs. About 30 minutes west of Gibraltar, I thought I was going to find a busy port with lots going on. Instead, I found a surprisingly small town with barely anyone in it. You know.. one of those "what in the hell do these people do for a living?!" kind of towns. At the very point where both water masses collide there is a little island with a fort in it, and a little road that takes you there that divides both seas. Mediterrenean looked calm and easy with a couple big cargo ships going out, Atlantic looked choppy and rough with dozens of kite-surfers jumping up and down the waves. Very nice...Marbella
I've always heard about Marbella. It is one of those "where the celebrities go on vacation" spots in Europe. No glamour or famous people when I visited (except from me of course) and the town looked old to me. Clearly the building boom in that place took place in the 80's or early 90's... I mean, the architecture was very similar in all the buildings, and most of them had clear signs of time next to the sea.. you know, moisture, mold, rust, unkept balconies, and others. That was in the main parts of the beach, of course there were some incredible mansions a little further away with their mediterranean white walls, clay brick roofs villas. I bet that place is uncomfortably packed in summer.
Sotogrande
The house we are staying at is in Sotogrande. It has been a very "strange" week for me in the sense that it is by far the longest I've stayed in a place during this trip. I haven't had to wake up early or do a lot of chores (except cooking for us, which I really don't care, rather enjoy). I've joined Mark in his practice as well as he prepares for the Golf World Cup in China, allowing me to hit balls for the first time in..... forever it seems. I had forgotten how sweet it feels to hit a pure shot.. just magnificent!
... thinking how a pure shot felt like back then...
...and finally... well, for now...
I don't know when I will have something to write about again. At least not before Thanksgiving, so in case I don't have the chance to pronounce myself before then, I want to take the opportunity to say hi to my American friends that happen to read this. Many of you welcomed me in your house for your special family holiday and all of you made me feel like I was part of your families, and I will never forget that. Some of you might actually be happy that I am not there to eat all of your food, I know I have a voracious appettite sometimes, but man! the cooking was sooooo GOOOOOD!!! So Happy Thanksgiving and thank you again for the awesome memories!
Chile... I am almost there, I just need to go check out the other side of the world for a little bit.
keep in touch people!
M
