sea salt and hotel candies.

Malaga, Spain (April 1-4): Yup, that was the surprise destination that Mark was taking me too. And it the journey started at 3:45 am to catch a 6:30 am flight! The Taxi driver who took us to the airport was hilarious blaring the music saying “wakie, wakie, time to wake up”! After the 3 hr flight, we made it to Spain and we tried to find the hotel on our own, walking to different bus stops but we finally just took a taxi which we should have done from the start. The hotel was amazing, very modern and you could see the ocean from the window! We went to the beach but could only sit for about 15 min because it was windy and sand was smacking us in the face. It just wasn’t our time to lay on the beach yet, so we walked on this beach front path and there were all these restaurants, they kind of all looked the same. Being daring we walked into one and sat down, the waiter didn’t speak much English so we didn’t really know what we ordered. But at one point the waiter brought a big plate of whole dead fishes trying to explain which was which for how much.  I thought I was going to throw up because the fish were all looking at me.  We got our food and mine was salmon and we figured out that Mark’s was muscles. He got me to try one and well I don’t care for eating a chewing muscle. Needless to say we didn’t really feel that great after that meal.  But we did go for the authenticity of it all! The first day was a little difficult; I was pretty tired from starting the day so early. But the following day we went to the beach again and this time it was so amazing!  We got to lie in the sun and be warm! We were actually getting pretty hot and Mark wanted to go to the water’s edge (Mediterranean sea). So we walked up to it and I was really nice enough to help Mark get into the water J.  But of course I followed in afterwards and WOAH it was salty. It was the first time I had ever gone into an ocean before and I well I didn’t know you shouldn’t open your mouth. It was so neat though afterwards because the salt dried white on my skin. Really neat experience! The sun was turning our skin red so we went back to the hotel and then for a walk. We saw crazy plants, eccentric birds, odd statues, an outdoor work out area (they were everywhere), lots of playgrounds and I got to go swinging in Spain! We also found a cute little place that had gelato and ate it in the sun! The sun was just so amazing; I have really missed it from being in Scotland. It comes through the clouds sometimes, which are lovely, but having a whole day of it was a blessing! Later we wanted to go get dinner but we didn’t realize that restaurants in Spain don’t open till late. At least that is what we came up with when every place had their doors closed.  At around 5:30 pm people were sitting at café’s having coffee and cake so we figured we could do that. But instead of coffee we decided to try the Spanish beer Cruz Campos and well I don’t like beer to begin with so this wasn’t that great, it was pretty bitter. But I’m glad I tried it!  One of the best moments in Spain was late in the night we went for a walk down by the beach and sat and listened to the waves.  It was so great being in a place you never thought you would ever go and be in that place with someone you really get along with! Our last full day, Friday, we ate the hotel’s breakfast, it was good but I don’t think it was as good as that hotel could have made it! But it was nice to have it there, because we had no idea where to go to get food.  The beach was calling for us to come out again and so well we did! And this time not expecting it, Mark picked me up and walked to the seaside and threw me in.  At first I didn’t exactly like the idea but afterwards it was so refreshing.  And to be totally honest I was a bit crabby and that kind of shook me up a bit and I started to laugh and smile!!  That moment has probably been the best time I have had being over seas.  It was kind of like a wake up call.  “So its been hard being in a place by yourself and the weather isn’t all that great and learning things about yourself isn’t always fun. Well, snap out of the soap opera and let life open your eyes to it beauty!” I haven’t been very patient with myself so that moment helped me relax a bit! Other things we did was go to a Spanish market, eat at a Cheers bar, see Real Madrid in their bus, watch fisherman fish, almost get pooped on by a bird, and we went to the Picasso Museum!  And seeing Picasso’s work was amazing, they even framed his sketches and I could literally see where Picasso scribbled something out or erased.  Again, my eyes were open to the fact that not even Picasso was perfect.  In my art classes I had been putting a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect and be this amazing artist when in reality that isn’t exactly possible.  Spain was a definitely a time to see that I can enjoy life and relax! The next morning, Mark went to double check our flight and realized instead of Spain being an hour ahead it was 2 hours ahead so we woke up in perfect timing because we needed to leave earlier! God was definitely helping us get on schedule there! But we did make it back to Glasgow just in time for some light rain and clouds!!!! Of course!