It was a good idea to have a leisurely morning and farewell everyone, except Oliver who was already at school, properly. As often happens when you have lots of time, suddenly you have less than you intended for the walk up to the bus. We marched up at a fine old pace. There were several people already at the bus stop and a queue of others buying tickets in the office. Keith went in and I minded the bags in the morning sunshine, watching the people greeting each other and chatting. Three generations of women, their genetic heritage with variations showing in their faces, were deep in conversation until the eldest was lovingly seen off on the bus. A woman came and talked to me, and I responded with nods and 'si' or 'no' until I explained that I could understand a bit but not speak. Luckily Keith arrived at that point but she had finished her chat and that was that.
We drove back into Grenada, and I looked out for the memorial near a dry river bed that Pete had told us about, where, after the Civil War was over, 5000 people were rounded up from the mountains and were taken to be shot. Roses are often left there. He said that many people in Spain simply ´disappeared' during and after the Civil War and that Órgiva, like many other towns, had a dark history. We had not spoken to any Spanish people who lived through, or whose parents lived through the Civil War, but given that the Franco regime continued until his death in the 1970s, there must be many people whose lives have been greatly affected by that time. The Civil War and its aftermath are more topics for us to explore when we have the time. Being here has made me intensely curious to know more.
We had a while to wait in Granada for our connection to Málaga. We would be right down on the Costa de la Sol and in the land of the holiday maker, and hopefully in the land of blue skies and warm temperatures.
We enjoyed the walk from the Málaga bus station to our hostel. The streets were very busy and full of interesting sights to slow down our progress. One sculpture of a man on a bench was added to by the real men who were resting along with him.
A woman in bobby socks told us that she needed fifty cents for a phone call. We gave it to her and were quite amazed to see her go to a phone box, such has become our low expectations of the begging fraternity. Glimpses of the Roman theatre, the castle walls and the cathedral told us that there was a lot to be investigated, along with the Picasso Museum that we had down as a ‘must do.’
The hostel had a kitchen and a common room, and it was great to have some conversations with other travellers. Our private room was at the end of a dormitory, so to go to the toilet, have a shower, eat etc, we had to cross the area where eight others lay sleeping. This was not the best, but the young people who were in there by the evening were not stressed by us barging through. It was quite late for a siesta but I really felt that I needed a catch up, bus travel being so physically demanding, and I fell asleep immediately. Keith stayed up and made use of the wifi in the common room and met some of our fellow residents.
Awake and feeling so much better, we set out on a walk back to the bus station to check times, since we had received a message that Jane and Brian, our next hosts, were feeling much better and we could come as planned. The streets were aglow with the most amazing displays of Christmas lights- shooting stars, rocking horses, bells, lollies and trees wrapped in fairy lights as if they were wearing fishnet stockings on their branches and trunks. We recalled being told of a town that had voted to employ two extra people as civic cleaners instead of having Christmas lights in the streets, and it seemed to us that all this town's unemployment problems could have been solved if they had done the same. It was over the top and an obscene use of power.
Having collected our bus timetable, we followed the sound of chanting, drumming and whistles into the main pedestrianised shopping mall. A demonstration was underway which seemed to have united many different causes and provided the opportunity to protest on a scale that would be noticed. The issues were local (eg selling off the region's history), national (eg different treatment of people in the north and the south of Spain and relating to the EU (eg racism in employment).
We toyed with the idea of eating out but the vegetarian restaurant was quite expensive for us and we decided that we valued the time to catch up on a little blogging more than a meal which we will be able to have lots of in 2009. I also was waiting for an email (that never came) from my school, which was on the last day of the year. Eventually I started writing an email to a friend in Australia and when I pressed 'send', one from her popped into my 'in' box. We had been thinking of each other on opposite sides of the world so we then had a lovely little back and forth chat. We are looking forward to catching up in the flesh soon.
The hostel had a kitchen and a common room, and it was great to have some conversations with other travellers. Our private room was at the end of a dormitory, so to go to the toilet, have a shower, eat etc, we had to cross the area where eight others lay sleeping. This was not the best, but the young people who were in there by the evening were not stressed by us barging through. It was quite late for a siesta but I really felt that I needed a catch up, bus travel being so physically demanding, and I fell asleep immediately. Keith stayed up and made use of the wifi in the common room and met some of our fellow residents.
Awake and feeling so much better, we set out on a walk back to the bus station to check times, since we had received a message that Jane and Brian, our next hosts, were feeling much better and we could come as planned. The streets were aglow with the most amazing displays of Christmas lights- shooting stars, rocking horses, bells, lollies and trees wrapped in fairy lights as if they were wearing fishnet stockings on their branches and trunks. We recalled being told of a town that had voted to employ two extra people as civic cleaners instead of having Christmas lights in the streets, and it seemed to us that all this town's unemployment problems could have been solved if they had done the same. It was over the top and an obscene use of power.
Having collected our bus timetable, we followed the sound of chanting, drumming and whistles into the main pedestrianised shopping mall. A demonstration was underway which seemed to have united many different causes and provided the opportunity to protest on a scale that would be noticed. The issues were local (eg selling off the region's history), national (eg different treatment of people in the north and the south of Spain and relating to the EU (eg racism in employment).
We toyed with the idea of eating out but the vegetarian restaurant was quite expensive for us and we decided that we valued the time to catch up on a little blogging more than a meal which we will be able to have lots of in 2009. I also was waiting for an email (that never came) from my school, which was on the last day of the year. Eventually I started writing an email to a friend in Australia and when I pressed 'send', one from her popped into my 'in' box. We had been thinking of each other on opposite sides of the world so we then had a lovely little back and forth chat. We are looking forward to catching up in the flesh soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment