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Spain 
DAY 122
Gibraltar
to Malaga, Spain
This
was May 1, Labor Day, and a holiday in Spain. The children were out of school
and it appeared that most workers had the day off. Only the restaurants and
service stations were open for business. The parking areas for the restaurants
were filled with cars so one popular activity must be to go out to dinner. Other
people had gone for a drive or for a walk in the countryside. At one village the
whole community had turned out for the celebration. There were guitarists
playing and singers singing and people were dancing. The music was
broadcast through speakers and was very loud. Meat and chicken were on the grill
and special foods were being sold at long tables as were alcoholic drinks, the
bottles standing on the tables, maybe so the customers would know what was
available. I was hungry but I didn’t feel up to the challenge of making my way
through the crowd and trying to make myself understood. Anyway I had just
arrived when it began to rain and before long to pour. The people ran for cover
and I put my boots on and pedaled out of town.
This
was the day we began to ride along the Costa del Sol. It is a very popular
tourist area and many attractive hotels and apartments have been built to
accommodate them. The four lane highway was good and the traffic fast, if we
could have stayed with it our ride would have been shorter. Apparently though
there is no coastal road going to Malaga that permits bicycles, and we were soon
on the back roads, climbing hills, and rattling our bikes to pieces on poorly
maintained roads. It was beautiful out there and I enjoyed the vistas, the birds
singing and the wildflowers. I had heard cuckoo birds, which sing just like the
cuckoo in a clock, in Italy and France, but I haven’t heard them in Spain yet.
The wildflowers were abundant, the ubiquitous red poppies were there but others
were too that I hadn’t seen like wild purple snapdragons.
Finally
I headed downhill and toward the coast, arriving at the Torremolinos Campground
at 6:05, the latest I’ve arrived in a long time but I was far from last. It
was a difficult DRG and several errors didn’t help, people were confounded and
lost. The sun was shining when I got in, the storm all over, but the campground
all wet. I had to pitch my tent on wet dirt, the whole campground is dirt.
Dinner
took forever, just about 2 hours, the restaurant overwhelmed by the number of
us. The last group was not seated until 9 p.m., after most would like to be in
bed. Would you believe we had spaghetti yet again! I have lost track of how many
spaghetti dinners there have been in Europe, but it for sure has been nearly
every single one. Enough already!
Adios!
Alice
DAY 123
Malaga
to Motril
Hills
and headwinds, another hard day on the road! But it was sunny and it did not
rain! What’s more, we were not served spaghetti for dinner! We
rode along the coast all day with the Mediterranean almost continually in view.
There were many sandy beaches and in other places the waves bashed themselves to
bits against steep, rocky cliffs. The area is very developed and the builders
are hard at work building more. Most communities are all white and red. Every
house or building is white with a red tile roof. They are adorned with fanciful
chimneys and ornate wrought iron. The landscaping is beautiful, all trees and
flowers seem to flourish. Roses grow with abandon. Those little rubber tree
plants that we cart home from the store and nurture in our living rooms grow
higher then three story houses here. People obviously take pride in keeping
their homes and property in good order. Over and over today I saw homemakers
with mop and pail scrubbing the walk in front of their homes.
Agriculture
seems to be important in this area. Sugar cane is being harvested now, it is cut
and hauled away without burning it first as it is done in some countries. There
were orange, apricot, papaya, and avocado orchards. The papaya trees look
peculiar. All the leaves and branches are gone, only clusters of papayas remain
encircling the trees near the top. There were acres and acres of greenhouses
with tomatoes growing inside. Roadside stands had potatoes and avocados to sell.
My
bike was cranky today, the gears slipping and the fender rubbing. I wasted a lot
of time trying to adjust it with little success. It needs a lot of work. Luckily
though I did not get a flat tire. I tried leaving behind (in my locker) several
heavy things: bike lock, tools and chain lube etc., and my precious jar of
peanut butter with chocolate chips. I thought I might just whiz along but with
the fender rubbing so much that the front wheel could not spin, all day was
uphill. I will have to change to narrower tires or a wider fender. My bike will
feel like a new machine after the makeover I have planned for it in Washington
D.C.
We
are camped again near a beach but the best thing about this campground is frogs.
The sun has set and the frogs are croaking. It is loud and lovely. So many
nights, especially in Central and South America, we had to go to sleep to the
barking of dogs. The croaking of frogs is much sweeter, at least to me. No one
should be bothered by a snoring neighbor tonight!
Adios!
Alice
Spain
Gibraltar Malaga
Italy
Marina di Camerota (Palinuro, Day 88) Temple of Athena (Roman)
Odyssey Riders
