Quick update

I know I have been terrible about updating. I'm too busy having adventures. But here's a quick update to let everyone know what I'm doing. I'll fill in the details later. After leaving Málaga, I spent one night in Órgiva to try and visit La Jimena before leaving Spain but without any luck. I had emailed them before and not heard from them and I didn't want to arrive without warning. So I donated some clothes and my old luggage to the women's community, packed everything in my new backpack (much easier to carry around), and headed to Granada. There I stayed at an awesome hostel in an awesome part of town and met some awesome people, went to the Alhambra and had a great time. Then, on a whim, I went with some of the people I had met at the hostel to Madrid where we stayed for a few days and visited the Reina Sofia. It was in Madrid that I lost my camera, which means there are no pictures of the Alhambra or anything since Málaga. Then I spent the night in the Madrid airport after missing my flight to Frankfurt. But I eventually caught my flight, called Kim, and met here by train in Kaiserslautern where we spent the weekend. Monday I met Nici in Munich and spent the next day touring the city, which is beautiful! I also think I have cold and haven't been feeling well but am still having fun and look forward to meeting Nici's family in Memmingen. Then I'll be heading back to meet Kim and we'll go together to Paris with our friend Stella!

Last week and a new start in Málaga

Tuesday was Mike's last day of work. We went through all the lemons again and picked more. I did learn that lemon trees produce all year round, they grow very quickly (sometimes the branches faster than the fruit), and one day can make all the difference, so after two days off there were more to pick. That evening a new wwoofer joined the farm, Sanders, a Harvard literature undergrad from New Jersey who was also fluent in Spanish. He seemed very nice but I spent the evening just listening to everyone chat in Spanish, most of which I picked up on quite easily, but being the chicken-shit I am, I did not contribute. I was also quite exhausted and not in the best of moods. It was the end of the week I planned on leaving, heading first to Torre del Mar and then up to Granada. The rest of the week was really quite pleasant. Sanders is a nice guy and was good company after Mike left (he headed for Morocco Wednesday morning). It rained one day and we stayed inside and cleaned in the morning and weeded when it got nicer in the afternoon. I tried my hardest to stay positive and talk about pleasant things so as not to sour Sanders' experience. My last night I got a few travel tips from Jeannette, had a nice time playing with Alicia, and packed my things and cleaned my room in preparation for departure. Saturday morning I said goodbye to everyone and Poli dropped me off at the bus stop where I hopped on to Torre del Mar. I found an internet cafe and plopped down with all my luggage with the intent of finding a place to stay in town. Unfortunately there were no hostals and no couches to surf (I am a member of couchsurfing.com and had looked earlier in hopes of finding a friend or place to stay), and after a lonely lunch I decided I would probably have better luck in Málaga. So I hopped on the next bus and found a beautiful, cheap hostel right next to the coast! There I met Lauren, a plucky American studying for the next semester in Granada, and enjoying a little vacation before her classes started. We hit it off and walked down the beach together, grabbed some drinks, and together enjoyed my first taste of paella! And let me tell you, sitting in a sea-side café watching the Mediterranean waves roll in, eating delicious paella, and getting quite drunk on sangria, it was a fantastic start to some new adventures. The next day Lauren and I went and chowed down far too much churros con chocolate. Then I went on my own to the center of town to look around. That day some of the historical sites had free entry so I went to La Alacazaba, my first actual castle! Again, I took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately Gibralfaro was closed by the time I got there, but I got a lovely view of the city and could even see the inside of the bullfighting ring (I find the whole sport disgustingly intriguing to tell the truth but I don't think I will pay to see the actual event). After a long wait for a bus that never came, I walked the long, long way back to the hostel where I met up with Lauren and we went out for dinner. Now here I am, sitting in my hostel, trying to make plans for the next month. After not hearing back from La Jimena or Nici I have given up on them, imagining that fate has decided that those places and people need to remain a beautiful memory. But Lauren has headed back to Granada after telling me about all the wonderful places to see and things to do there, and after hearing my old buddy Nicos from my brother's co-op will also be in Granada soon, I will be heading there within the next week!

Lemons and caves

By the end of the week we finally got to pick lemons! All the weeding and bad weather had been leading up to this epic event... that lasted all of two days. Poli's brother, Cristobal came to show us the ropes and after maybe two or three hours of work we had gone through all the lemon trees in the campo. We couldn't really do anything else until Poli came with the van to load up the lemons and take them to the warehouse to sell so we... sat around. I explored some waterways and took a nap in the sun. The next couple days we had off and Mike and I both took our computers to town to do some travel planning on Saturday night. We walked all the way back and stayed up until about 2am just chatting, sharing beer and chocolate, and I fell asleep in the guest house. The next day I woke up late and went back to town for more planning. That evening I went back to the guest house to hang with Mike and we tried "miracle fruit," which is actually a berry made into a pill that is supposed to change the flavors of certain foods. I was quite disappointed, probably because I eat whole lemons anyway, but Mike said he thought they tasted much sweeter with the berries. *Shrug* Monday we decided to head to Benamargosa and catch the bus to Nerja, a little coastal town not too far away that we had heard has gorgeous caves. We stopped in Velez-Malaga for some tortilla española and then continued on our way. We were surprised to be dropped off at a rather built-up, touristy looking entrance with a lame gift shop and a rather high entry fee. But we had ridden all the way and wanted to see some damn caves! Oh... my... gods! I don't know how long I was walking through those caves but they were phenomenal! Huge and lined with the most intricate formations that Mike appropriately compared to draping fabric. I took so many pictures and had to stop several times just to sit or touch or write. For me it was more divine than visiting a cathedral and as orgasmic as any sexual encounter, it was the essence and inspiration of primitive, earth-bound religion that is more beautiful and spiritual than anything else I've experienced. I was completely overwhelmed. By the time I got toward the end I could barely breath and I rushed out for fresh air and sat looking out at the sea, alone, until the bus came to take us back to bitter reality.