Motril, Spain, Tuesday December 24th

It was Bérenice's birthday so we wished her happy birthday before setting off to visit the Sugar Museum. Bérenice and Michel accompanied us and chatted to the staff, who they knew. Whatever was said, the result was that when we had finished reading the introductory information boards, we were given a guided tour in English of the rest of the museum by a well informed and charming lady. Sugar Cane was grown in India, and taken from there to Africa, then to the Motril region by the Moors. In the Middle ages it was known as 'sweet gold' because it was a luxury item that few could afford. There were heavy penalties for anyone caught in a cane field, to stop the illegal sucking of the cane stems. After the conquest by the Christians, sugar production increased to such an extent that the southern coast of Spain, including Motril, became monocultures and the mountains were denuded of wood in order to fuel the fires under the pots of molasses. In the cooking rooms the sugar syrup was reduced by boiling until eventually all the water had been eliminated. Materials such as ashes were thrown in to refine the sugar, with a froth being created which was skimmed off, the impurities being attached to that. Before the time of thermometers, the role of the sugar maker was an important one, which required a good knowledge of chemistry and the ability to recognise the exact moment at which the molasses would crystallise when cooled. The liquid sugar was poured into cone shaped clay moulds with a brown paper stopper over the hole in the bottom. After days or months, depending on conditions, the brown paper would be removed and the molasses which had not crystallised was now at the bottom and could drain out. A further process of whitening the sugar involved putting layers of white clay over the top of the sugar in the mould, which would be drawn down through the crystals taking any further molasses colour or syrup with it. The finished sugar loaf came in a few sizes and to eat it, it was broken off in lumps. Sugar is still available in sugar loaf form in Morocco today.

The museum was built on the site of a pre-industrial mill and had full scale presses in situ.

Maps showed the environmental change that had occurred, with the sugar industry hastening the erosion of the mountains and the creation of coastal plains which now place Motril quite far from the sea. The last sugar cane was milled here two years ago and tropical fruits and a wide variety of vegetables have taken over the old cane fields, along with enormous urban growth and speculative building.

On the way home, we stopped at a supermarket to pick up a little gift of nougat for Bérenice . The roads were very busy but the supermarket was not so crowded as those we have seen on Christmas Eve in Australia. The baskets were just as full of treats and feast foods and drinks as those back home would have been at this stage. We did hear Christmas carols in Motril, with Feliz Navidad becoming entrenched in my brain and replaying internally ad infinitum.
We had two emails when we checked. One from Joel saying to contact Rohan ASAP, but not because of an emergency, and one from Rohan saying that he was looking forward to talking to us on Christmas Day because he had some news. Unfortunately we no longer have a mobile phone that works, and it had not seemed important for the last few weeks. Now we were mightily intrigued and would have to wait until a respectable hour to ring. It was about 2 am in Australia when we read our messages. I speculated that Ro had won Tattslotto or had a manuscript accepted by a publisher, and Keith imagined other possibilities. Thank goodness Joel had written to allay our fears of accidents etc.
We spent a lovely afternoon with Bérenice and Michel, driving along the coast and walking in the nearby village of Salobreña. In one area, a wild storm had broken up and washed away the promenade beside the beach.

It is regular practice here to bring in truck loads of sand to replace that which is washed away each year. The waves were fairly strong and running diagonally rather than straight onto the beach. It was easy to imagine their strength in a storm.

We drove along the road that Bérenice and Michel often cycle along, being keen riders and this being a safe route. There is little provision for cyclists here but maybe that will change now that the councils are introducing the cycle hire system so common in other Spanish cities.
Michel parked at the foot of the rock upon which the castle of Salobreña sits, and around which weaves the old town. It is a pretty town in parts, and a regular daily town in others where beautification comes second to getting on with the process of living. As in all southern Spanish towns that we have visited, looking where you put your feet was essential since dogs are in abundance but not much catered for. The idea of responsible dog ownership and cleaning up after your pet is apparently unknown except to the council sign writers.
The castle was not open, but we were able to walk around it and truly to understand how impenetrable it would have been from the steep side of the rock. I have no idea how it was built since it rises from the very edges, and I imagine that builders would have plummeted to their deaths below.

A winding path with steps has been installed in recent years but it now has a derelict look; the gardens have been neglected, there is lots of rubbish and a noxious invasive plant has taken over. Springs at the base of the rock would have provided a good water supply, and there was once a path down from the top to them. I imagined that the Moors would have had engineers capable of setting up a more sophisticated system than that, but with no information boards, we were just speculating.

After a quick trip to the supermarket, we drove home and had dinner. The highlight was an ice-cream cake in the shape of a wine bottle, completely covered in chocolate and with a wine label on it, to celebrate Bérenice's birthday. We talked about their old house in Belgium, where Michel had dug a well and had free water for his garden. The new owners filled in the well; an inexplicably crazy action, which the old neighbours reported with amazement. Michel is very interested in economics and understood a lot about the crisis and its implications and roll-on effects. It was depressing to think that so many ordinary people who have taken care with their finances are paying for the actions of unscrupulous, careless and irresponsible people. We talked about our travels and our couch surfing experiences, which have been positive for us all. It turned out that Bérenice had contacted Chris when she first became involved with couch surfing, so she knew him and was interested to hear that we had stayed with him and Sarah and Oliver at Órgiva.
We watched the King of Belgium make his Christmas speech in French, speaking as slowly as is possible without the listeners going out to make a cup of tea between words. I wondered if all the royals making a Christmas address had been to the same school of speech making, with dignity rather than personality or content being the highest priority. We caught a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II of England and Australia making her speech, and it was pretty much the same, except that it was in English.
At last it was late enough to ring Rohan, and the big news was that he had proposed to his girlfriend Kerry on Christmas Eve in Australia, and that she had accepted. We spoke to them both and they sounded very happy and excited. It was great for us that we had met Kerry and spent two weeks staying with her parents in England this year. They have not made plans beyond being engaged. Ro emailed us some photos of the ring, which is very pretty and looked lovely on Kerry's finger. We congratulated them, and wished them every happiness and joy in their life together. We are looking forward to seeing them in about four weeks time when we can give them both all the hugs and kisses that distance prevents. With such big and exciting news, it was impossible to settle to sleep straight away. I was thrilled for them, but also knew that there would be some issues ahead in a marriage with families on opposite sides of the world.