Maro, On the Move Again

Well, I had a lot of help from angels and got myself packed, moved and unpacked this week.  I really appreciate how handy having  two working legs is and won't take that for granted ever again!!!  I said good bye to Frigiliana for now, but had a chance to make a new friend there today over coffee. She said I MIST be here in late August for the Tres Cultures Festival, a five day event celebrating the three cultures--Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. 

I ventured around the corner in Maro for a bit of lunch and admired the scenery from the balcon.  My injury is a talking point around town and a perfect icebreaker. Not that I would choose this form of introduction, but I'm making the best of a bad situation.

Goodbye Frigiliana

Hello Maro

The Balcon and Bougainvillea

Righties only, for now

Maro, Today not Tomorrow

Well no surgery today, but packed my bags and headed to Maro, which will be my home for the next month or two. It's a VERY small village right on the coast. I won't have much to distract me while I heal, which is probably a good thing because I'm finding it very difficult to get around on the crutches. Especially now that I've changed environments, I have to learn all over how to get around. Very humbling. 

Anyway, the apartment is perfect, compact and efficient. Much more Spanish than the one in Frigiliana. It's actually a hotel run by a German woman, Katarina. Living with her is her partner, Eric, from Holland and Katarina's 11 year old son Nicolas, who was born in Spain, feels he's Spanish, but looks very German.  What a cosmopolitan group--I feel like a member of the family already. Oh, I forgot to mention the three dogs--Nacho, Goofy and Bambi.  I think I'm in heaven surrounded by all these dogs, and there's a cat in the mix somewhere. Katarina casually asked, "I hope you're not allergic to dog or cat hair". I reassured her I was not. 

   View from the patio overlooking the sea

             Lovely patio garden

         My front door--love the colors

            Goofy or something Dutch

        Nacho taking a siesta 

                    Bambi

A New York Minute

In a New York Minute

Everything can change
In a New York Minute

Things can get a little strange

In a New York Minute

Everything can change

In a New York Minute

     Lyrics by the Eagles

Well that's exactly what happened at noon yesterday. I was looking forward to a river hike and we had just started our descent into the barranco when my left foot slipped on the scree. In a New York minute I felt a snap and down I went. I knew instantly that this was no ordinary sprain. I immediately popped an Ibuprofen and John applied an ice pack. Luckily there is cell coverage and he called 211. It took some time for even John who speaks Spanish to get the message that I needed to be evacuated.  They were able to get our coordinates from his phone and then we waited, not knowing which direction help would come and in what form. Within an hour, we heard the sound of a helicopter, but it cruised on past us. John was wearing an orange cap and he decided to climb up higher where he could be spotted. On the next pass the helicopter appeared to spot us, or so we hoped. Then the copter disappeared. In a short while, we heard voices above us. They had dropped two guys down for the rescue. They are part of the Guardia Civil,  much like our National Guard, and provide search and rescue along with civil defense. They became my heroes as they informed me I would need to be carried to higher ground. Yea, right. I was bigger than each of them, but they gestured that they were up to the task, showing their meager biceps.  I said a silent prayer as they each took turns carrying me on their backs while John made sure my protruding left leg didn't get caught on anything. They had my leg immobilized up to the thigh and we must have looked a sight trudging up the steep incline. Finally we got to a spot which was clear enough for the copter to make a one point landing. They gavē the pilot the go ahead and told me they wanted to load me back in first. The pilot made a gentle touchdown and I almost blew over from the draft it created.  I managed to get on board and as the copter lifted off, we waved goodbye to John who wasn't offered a ride. He had the two hour hike back to Frigiliana where he'd pick up the car and meet me at the hospital. The flight down was easy and fast, quite fun to see the mountain from that vantage point. An ambulance met us at the helipad and after taking my vitals and verifying my identity, we took the half hour ride to the hospital in Velez-Malaga.  I have to say they were very efficient getting me x-rayed, diagnosed with a fracture of the fibula and casted. I barely had time to squeeze in a pee before John arrived.  An hour later they discharged me with prescriptions and informed me they would call the next day to schedule surgery.  Amazingly, up to this point I wasn't in much pain but knew the Ibuprofen would wear off soon. The pharmacy was just down the street, where I also picked up a pair of crutches. My head was already spinning with how I was going to manage the streets of Frigiliana, getting in and out of the apartment. Plan B was to move to a ground floor apartment, but where?  John called his brother Graham who lives in Maro, a really small village on the coast, just east of Nerja. He knew just the place, a hotel converted into studio apartments.  We drove by there on the way back from the hospital and from the outside, it looks ideal and has easy access to the main square with a restaurant and market.   it's available for immediate occupancy, so for now, that the plan.
Stay tuned. 

                 All is well---

                Down I go---

A little messy and heavy!!

Tarifa

Tarifa is the southernmost point in continental Europe at the confluence of the Atlantic ocean and Mediterranean sea. It is teeming with life and I went there to experience the whales and dolphins. With a bit of research, I discovered a foundation called firmm, Foundation for Information and Research of Marine Mammals. This organization was started by a Swiss woman in 1998, when she discovered this amazing natural resource was in  danger due to ignoranc and lack of awareness. In the ensuing years,  Tarifa is now considered at the forefront in marine biology and conservation of this region of the world. I heard a sobering statistic that since 1950, 90% of all marine life has been reduced through pollution or over-fishing. 

I did get to experience the whales and dolphins, but did not take ay photos.  it was very difficult to maintain my balance on the boat and hold the  camera steady while waiting for that perfect photo opportunity. You can go to fimrm's website and see some amazing videos of the sperm and pilot whales. 

Because of it's location, Tarifa is also the go to place for wind  surfing and kite surfing.  it was a perfect afternoon to catch this amazing sport in action. Aside from the old part of town, the rest of the development along the coast is very tacky and thrown up without any thought to aesthetics.

From the bus towards African coast

Moorish Castle

Ferry boat to Tangiers

Wonder what he's digging for?

Gibraltar

What do people who live in Gibraltar call themselves?  Gibraltarians--try and say that ten times really fast. This is a really strange place for a number of reasons. In terms of geography alone, it is one big rock that has been developed by dredging the coast in order to put up high rise apartments. Land is at a premium and Wikipedia claims it is the most densely populated piece of land in Europe, even though there are only 30,000 people.  Gibraltar is a territory of the UK, so everything here is British--the currency, the language, the electricity;  but they drive on the right side of the road.   And they pay no taxes to the British government. So, its considered a tax haven by most residents.  They've had a long history of resentment by the Spanish, especially during Franco's era. The British captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 and there's been animosity between the two ever since.   At  one time, Franco closed the border between Spain and Gibraltar, which must have made getting supplies in and out very difficult. The bus to get here drops you off at the Spanish border in La Linea de la Conception, then you walk across the border and go through passport control and immigration. After leaving immigration you take a long walk on a tarmac strip, which had the feel of an airport runway. Well, that's what it turns out it is!!!!  about fifteen flights a day, I'm told. I'm actually staying on a boat in a marina just south of the airstrip, so we watch the planes come and go. No flights at night--what a relief. The captain of the boat, Johnny Horn, turned his boat into a bed and breakfast about three years ago.  It's quite quirky, but a fun change of place. 

I spent the day exploring Gibraltar on foot--climbed as much of the Rock as I could discover, including the St Michael's caves and the Mediterranean Steps, built into the eastern edge of the Rock, with great views of the Mediterranean and the North African coast, only 8 miles across the Straits of Gibraltar. The Barbary macaques, the only species of wild monkeys in Europe occupy the Nature Reserve and are a protected species, as is all the flora and fauna of the reserve. 

In plane sight

View off Main Street

Beautiful marina susnet

Jasmine Coral Jay B&B

View of runway from atop The Rock

View of Africa in a cloud

St Michael's Caves

\

How the heck will I get around that!!!

Monkeys napping

View from the gondola platform

Sevillana Lessons

Since I arrived, I have wanted to learn Flamenco dancing; however, most of the classes are in the late evening in Nerja or too advanced for my beginner's feet.  Our Spanish teacher has agreed to teach a few of us a variation on Flamenco, called Sevillana, which has more structure and form to it.  Unbeknownst to me, Flamenco is fairly loose and there is no set choreography and considered more difficult to learn.  Sevillana is considered a traditional folk dance of Andalucía and has four parts to it--very easy to learn, so I'm giving it a go.  I watched a couple do it on Tuesday night and it looks like loads of fun and very sensual.

Lesson  1 is complete and about half the class dropped out and will not continue for the next lesson. We spent the hour just learning the steps--next week the hands. Although the moves are not complex, since I have danced all my life I am pretty comfortable with the pattern. More later

May Festivals in Spain

Remember dancing around a Maypole on May 1st?  Or giving May baskets of flowers and candy in school?  Breaking piñatas on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo?  I'm revisiting many of these festivities this week.  I learned that in most of Europe, May 1st is a holiday called International Worker's Day, begun under communism.  How it proliferated into Western Europe is anyone's guess. Another excuse for a holiday off from work, I suspect. Anyway,   I saw  no evidence of worker's  dancing around a Maypole.

May 3rd in Spain is Dia de la Cruz, the Day of the Cross.  I Googled it and discovered that this is the day that Constantine found the cross on which Jesus was crucified.  So, to commemorate this day the Spanish decorate crosses with flowers and display them around the village.  In the evening musicians and dancers visit each cross and perform and then receive food and drink afterwards.  So, I spent Tuesday night following several groups through Frigiliana.  It was quite festive and many locals came out to celebrate. 

Singing Spanish folk songs

Dancing the Sevillana--like Flamenco