MMM Oil!

Tarifa...still here :)

The girls were supposed to catch an early bus from Malaga to Tarifa today and at this point we should have been in Tangiers and well on our way to finding a train to Casablanca...

But surprise surprise plans have changed! They girls are on their way and we will either stay here tonight or catch a ferry across and stay in Tangiers. It depends on what time they arrive...

So - that isn´t a big deal! I figured another nice relaxing day at the beach would be nice. The sun was shining this morning so I even managed to convince Maria to not go to Sevilla today but rather stay another night and leave tomorrow. So after waking up and having some breakfast Tim, Ellen, Maria and I headed off to the beach!

(Tim and Ellen are a Danish-Norwegian couple staying here to kite surf! Super nice people! And fun that I get to speak Danish :) I also found a Danish book in the hostel that I will take with me and leave somewhere in Morocco!)

The sun had sort of been shining earlier but once we got to the beach all the clouds from yesterday returned :( We decided to swim anyway but about halfway into the water we noticed the surface was covered with a shiny substance....mmmm OIL!

Apparently, there had been a crash between two ships in Gibraltar yesterday and we think the oil is from that. It was really really gross. As it washed in you could smell it wafting over the beach. Our feet are completely black from the oil...luckily it isn´t on the rest of our bodies!!

So...no relaxing beach day today :( But relaxing at the hostel on the terrace is still nice everyone is very friendly and chill so that makes it quite cozy!

I really like Tarifa. There isn´t a whole lot to do so it forces you to just relax. I can´t feel guilty about not sight-seeing because I have already seen the sights :)

Last night was lots of fun too! The hostel common area closes down at midnight so we took our little party to the pubs! If you ever have a chance to taste a Capriniska (or something like that)..DO IT! Tarfia has quite the nightlife and enough bars to sustain hundreds of surfer people in the summer. Makes for an interesting night out!!! :)

It was an interesting little group too; Aussies, a Swiss-Kiwi, a Finn, a Belgian, a German...lots of nations represented! The Aussies especially seem to be world travellers.

More to come from Morocco...

Gibraltar and Tarifa...rain and wind :)

This is Satu and Maria! My travel buddies in Malaga

This is from Alcazaba Castle/fort

Malaga!

Me!

The gardens in Alcazaba...amazingly beautiful!

I might one day have to get married here...but only if my husband-to-be is a billionaire...:(




View from the pathway up to Gibrafaro Castle...(zoomed in a little)





Satu and Maria...drinking morning coffee and people watching!

Me again!


Pretty park like place in Malaga where I was pooped on by pigeons...twice

This picture is going to go with my bike picture from Amsterdam!





I don´t know...don´t ask...but behind the octopus is a Roman arena that they have just unearthed...


(These are not all my pictures but given how long it takes to upload, these are a few selected ones to share! More will eventually come.)


So - we made it to Gibraltar but very unfortunately did not get to see any monkeys :( The weather was terrible yesterday. It was gray, chilly, a bit rainy, and so windy the cable car to the top of the Rock was shut down. Given that we did not want to pay the 80 euro fee to take a taxi/tour up the rock we decided that we would admire it from below and one day return to see the monkeys, tunnels and caves that are on the Rock itself.

It was still a neat trip. It felt so bizarre to go from Spain (where people barely speak English) to...well...England, where everyone speaks English.


I was convinced that the lousy weather we had was because we were in fact in England and that once we returned to Spain it would improve. My theory is partly true because the weather is certainly improving today. The sun is out and there is at least no rain. Still quite windy though..


So what we ended up doing in Gibraltar was mostly walking around. The town itself is much like any other European town with cobblestone roads and narrow streets! We walked all the way out to the tip of Gibraltar. That was an adventure that included walking through a loooong dark tunnel that we weren´t sure ever ended :) It did though and we saw the lighthouse. Given the wind though we couldn´t walk right to the end...we would either have blown away into the sea or gotten thoroughly soaked. Both options didn´t seem so ideal...

That was Gibraltar...defintely worth a visit if just to see how bizarre it is. I know I would like to go back one day (when the sun is shining) to actually go up the Rock and see the view.

Oh - and after you walk across the border (also a fun experience) you then walk across the run way...there isnt enough space on the little stretch of land to put the runway anywhere else. We definitely took our lives into our hands crossing that open stretch with the wind so strong! I was sure we were about to take flight...

We were safe, however, and after a short bus ride made it to...Tarifa!

Tarifa is a city that claims to be the southernmost tip of Europe. I am not sure I believe it but it is certainly the southernmost tip of Spain! That means that you can walk down to a point and see both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic at the same time.


It really is a summer town and walking along the streets now they seem a little deserted. But in the summer months there would be tons of people here enjoying the beautiful weather, gorgeous beaches, and fantastic waves. People come here to wave surf, kite surf, and wind surf!


It is quite small and there isn´t a whole lot to do other than lay on the beach and walk the streets. We spent today doing just that. I even swam in the ocean :) It was COLD!

The plan now is that I am meeting Annie, Raph, and Genet tomorrow and we are grabbing the ferry to Tangiers. At that point we will somehow find the train station and take a train to Casablanca! That should get us there in the late afternoon/early evening and we will find Lenny at the hostel she is staying in. I am hoping we get to stay a day in Casblanca (mostly just for kicks) but we might move on to Marakesh fairly quickly to catch up on a bit of lost time!

That is the plan of course if the ferry is running - which is hasnt been all day today or yesterday

:( So cross your fingers for us!!

Alright - I am off to the grocery store to by some food. Maria and I cooked delicious pasta and sauce last night and now we need to pick up some food for tonight.

We also had some amazing wine from somewhere in Spain. Wine is so cheap here! I am quite impressed and appreciative :)

Malaga...still

Day...I have lost track...

I may have become permanently stuck in Malaga. Well, not really but it feels like it. This will be my 4th full day. I suppose it is okay but I feel ready to move on...

Which I will be doing...tomorrow. I had a number of options and after much deliberation (and most of you know how bad I am at that) I decided to stay here for one more night. Then tomorrow Maria (the Finnish girl) and I will travel to La Linea. From La Linea we are going to walk across the border to Gibraltar. I really wanted to see it even though I have heard it is not spectacular. It is still kind of a neat place to say I have been. I want to see the monkeys :)

On the same day we will bus to Tarifa, which is the southernmost point in Spain. Apparently the beaches are beautiful and the people super nice. We are going to stay there until Sunday and which point (hopefully) I will meet up with Genet, Annie and Raph in either Tarifa or Algeciras and we will ferry across to Tangiers...bus down to Casablanca and meet Lenny! Finally all five of us will be together and the trip south can begin...

Phew...this seemed to be the best option despite not being able to spend time in Tangiers. Although that just means I have to come back one day :) Oh darn...

Malaga is a really nice place. I think I would come back here and stay longer at some point in my life - perhaps to learn Spanish :) Which I have officially decided I have to do!

I have been spending time at the beach (I even went swimming!), the Picasso Museum (thought there would be more things), visiting the castle (my calves are uber strong now) and enjoying relaxing and sitting on the terrace with a good book! And obviously meeting cool people from all over the world. Hostels are amazing places. What better way to meet people than living with them :)

Hope everyone who reads this is well and good!

More updates and eventually pictures to come...I hope! Really...I do!!

Malaga - Day 2

Day 2 in Malaga:

I have succeeded in putting pictures on this computer. Unfortunately the internet is being weird and I cant seem to upload them on this website. I will try again later...they are on the way :)

So..
Last night as I was getting ready to go to bed my roomies returned from their day adventures and I got to meet them. Two of them are sisters from Finland. The older sister is going back to Finland on Thursday and the younger sister is spending the month travelling in Spain and Portugal. The third roomie is from Switzerland and is travelling around in Spain...and has been for a long time.

The sisters from Finland are super nice. We started talking about travelling alone and how hard it was and they invited me to go to the beach with them today. The weather was a bit cloudy (still hot) so we skipped the beach and instead spent the day in Malaga.

We had coffee at a little cafe in a nearby plaza and watched people go by and chatted! Then we went to the local mall so they could do some shopping. Walking back to the hostel again we stopped at a restaurant and ate Tapas. Which is not actually a specific dish but rather refers to eating your meal in several small dishes. Almost as if you are having a bunch of appetizers. It was very tasty and topped off with Sangria it was very nice!

Even though we didn´t do anything to amazing it was nice to be with people. We all really got along and it was a lot of fun!!

I also heard from Annie. She is getting a temporary passport to replace her lost one and will get a proper one in a few months. The temporary one should be good enough to get her down to Senegal. She expects that latest Oct. 9th she will have everything sorted out. That means that on Thursday (I hope) Genet and Annie will come down here to Malaga and we can get started on moving down to Casablance for the 10th or 11th. That way Lenny wont be waiting on her own for too long.

This means that I have booked another night at this hostel (tomorrow night). I was thinking I would leave tomorrow to explore some other city but now that I have met these Finish girls I think I will stay here and likely hit up the beach tomorrow. I think that would be more fun than going to another new city and again not knowing anyone. It feels much nicer to be doing things with people and it feels like I am here with friends!!

So - life is good. I have mildly guilty feelings being here and lounging around with no particular agenda. I need a to do list or something...I feel like I am slacking when really I should just be enjoying the holiday!! Yikes...I hope this isn´t a sign of some greater problem meaning I will never truly be able to relax....I guess I will find out, eh?

More updates to come on what I am doing and where....

Malaga

I took lots of pictures today in the hopes of being able to post them but it doesn´t look like this computer has a program for me to upload photos...

So I will get to that as soon as I can!

For now: Malaga is a nice little city. I walked around a lot today, exploring! Tomorrow might mean more of that or it might mean a day trip to the rock of Gibraltar. Annie and Genet are in Madrid (or on their way) and hopefully I will hear from them tomorrow about the time-line for Annie getting a new passport. I hope it is quick. As much as it is fun being here I am ready to start the journey south and feel a bit at a loss just waiting around...

Maybe I will move on to another city just to keep things interesting if the delay is going to be long...I feel really bad for Annie! I do not envy the stress of losing all your important documents...

Today was spent walking around and looking at people and buildings! I had a nice chat with a man from Ghana...was almost robbed in a scam by a lady selling flowers (she wanted to dig in my wallet for the appropriate change...luckily I kind of figured out what was going on but she wasn´t impressed that I foiled her plans...a nice man came up to me afterwards and warned me to watch out because he had been watching and could see what she was trying to do!!)...I also had a nice chat with an older American man staying at the hostel. We talked about the state of world affairs and environmental activism. He was a little odd but super nice!!

Oh and the best part...I was pooped on...TWICE! It was while I was eating my lunch (luckily it didn´t touch my food!). I can´t say I was impressed :( But maybe it is a sign of good luck!

That was today...

Stayed tuned for follow up days and more pictures...

Alright - I have made it to Malaga safe and sound!!

The trip was fairly uneventful. Except for a really nice guy in Barcelona who gave me a free fruit salad because I didn´t have enough euros to pay for both the sandwich and the salad. So I paid for one and then he just motioned to the salad as if for me to take it!! That was really nice...

I also got on a different bus then I had planned so the driver didn´t go to the exact place I wanted but he was really nice and let me off where he thought would be best. It turned out it was really close to the hostel and after asking a few people for direction clarifications I made it!!


Right now I am staying in a room with three french guys who all just spent two months in Morocco. One of the guys has Moroccan parents. There is also a guy here planning to bike to Senegal :) I definitely need to talk to him. How perfect is this??

Already meeting cool people makes me feel much better and less alone!!

I just got an email from Annie and her purse was stolen in Valencia. Everything of importance was in there so YIKES. They (Genet and Annie) are coming to Malaga tomorrow to go to the canadian consulate, so I guess I will meet them here and not in Granada.
It also makes me realize that I need to make photocopies of all my important documents so that in the event of loss...recovery is faster and easier!! I would not like to be stuck somewhere without a passport.

This is today´s update ;)

Family in Danmark

Sunday morning - departure day. It is the first morning that I have woken up to dark grey skies and rain. I think it is a sign that it is time to move south to sunnier places :)

Today I am flying from Copenhagen to Malaga...with a short 3 hour stop in Barcelona. I would have liked to have prolong the Barcelona stop to a few days, but that didn't quite go as planned. Although, apparently the plan now is that I am catching a bus from Malaga to Granada tomorrow (Monday) to meet Annie and Genet. Raph sent us a note saying she was delayed in her plans and would try to catch us in Morocco! Hopefully that works out! Lenny we are meeting as planned in Casablanca on the 9th.

I don't mind going to Granada...that just means I get to see a bit more of Spain while I am in the region.

My wonderful visit in Denmark finished off nicely with lots of family visiting. I visited my Farmor (grandmother) - which was nice and sad as it usually is. She is 95 and a bit cluttered in her head. She did eat the entire Flødebolle kage that I brought her which is basically whipped cream, with the consistency of melted marshmallows, dipped in chocolate and piled on a cookie dipped in chocolate! WOW it was a lot of sweetness at one time. She enjoyed it though so that was nice...

I then visited with my aunt and uncle for a few days. That is always nice...they feed me lots of good food :) My aunt also took me in to Køge (a nearby town) and we saw some art work in the art gallery...bought some candies (mmm) and went for a nice walk around town. Those of you not familiar with Danmark, small towns are incredible because they have beautiful old buildings, cobble stone roads, tiny alleys and much much more! My uncle and I also went for a beautiful bike ride that included a stretch through the woods!

Saturday was the COUSIN day! We spent HOURS at the science centre (that place is so not just for kids!!). We had yummy thai food for dinner and we chilled at a pub and chatted. All in all a pretty nice, relaxed last full day in the country.

Here are pictures:

My aunt and uncle's flowers!!

Their house from the backyard where all the flowers are....

Me! Jørgen and Grethe (my aunt and uncle)

BUBBLES! They are amazzzing...we went to a bubble show...who knew you could do such cool things with BUBBLES.

The cousins!

Pretty windmills in the water. The cousins (from left to right): Sofie, Jacob, Anders, Asger