WEEK TEN…last of Portugal

March 3, Sun. Another lovely day today.  10:00 church and  an English breakfast. The beach was so nice and a low  breeze had me thinking Beach Day!  After breakfast I  gathered  up my stuff and headed  down to the beach.   I  didn’t sleep much last night so of course a nap down there was in order as well as some reading.  Bill joined me after a couple of hours as he was ready for that afternoon beer. I have never seen drink so much beer in all of our years to- gether. We met a woman today from Toronto that is a con-struction manager and chatted with her over Bill’s beer.  I  cooked spaghetti for dinner and then three loops around  the  street for evening walk.

March 4th- Mon-The morning started off cool and rainy.  We hung around  the flat for a while then headed off for a short walk while  the laundry  was running.  A nice breakfast spot and bakery is just a ten minute walk away.  It was sprinkling so we  ducked in.  Nice selection of goods.  I grabbed a bite and  some coffee.  The place was packed. A tuna sandwich for  lunch and some reading time while waiting for the landlord to come and change out or empty gas tank on the heater.  Took an afternoon  walk and Bill’s beer. Left over  spaghetti for dinner and another walk. 

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March 5th Tues- Another load of laundry in before the water went out. Our building and maybe the district? You think we do a lot of laundry, however I will remind you that the capacity on these machines is very small. We had Chinese out as the frig is whittled down to bare bones for breakfast bite on Thurs. We got the good news that despite a “medical emergency” Eric and Lori have been cleared to join us in Malaga on Thurs. night! So happy. So excited to have new faces to pal around with. So great full that the issue came up before Eric came to Spain and that he is getting things straightened out and is able to travel!!!

March 6th Wed.-we packed up our bags, took a last walk around the beach view walk, packed our bags up. Albuferia was nice but it’s time to move on.

March 7th Thurs- On the road again! A 2:00 a.m. wake up call for a 3:00 airport shuttle pick up. Yuck! Shuttle was exactly on time and “rushed” us directly to the airport.We were there in 35 minutes. Of course no traffic at 3:00 either. At 3:45 .am nothing is open yet, so why do they want you there 2 hours before your flight? No one would know if you were there then or not. The short hop to Lisbon was good. We were suppose to have an hour layover but we JUST had time to visit the restroom when they started boarding the bus to transfer us to the plane. Perhaps the “layover time” meant wheels to wheels because that would have been closer to the case. Any who, all went well on that flight. Upon arriving in Malaga however was the snafu. Our luggage didn’t make the short layover. Ok, next flight was coming in about 8:00 and we would be back at the airport then to pick up Eric and Lori. So, no big deal. Our new land lord, Alejandro picked us up and greeted us with a huge smile and a hug. Alejandro’s story is- he is Argentinian. He lived in London for two years prior to coming to Spain. He is studying to be an engineer. 28 years old, and expecting his first child in six months. Very nice young man. The “apt” is more like a house it is that large. Seriously I could live in this place. I would say it’s about 1,500 sq. ft. 3 bedrooms, two baths, large sun room, laundry room, huge living room with formal dining area, couch and tv in the kitchen. Third floor with an elevator, very nice. We will be staying here for the next 19 days or so. Just enough time to get settled, do some shopping, and check out the beach before Eric and Lori’s flight was to come in. We got our fist drink on this beach and I found a dumpster again. Of course I couldn’t resist and, bingo! More tiles.

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Alejandro lives just in the next building and picked us up to go to the airport at 6:50. The flight was only ten minutes late. We hung around to see if our luggage was going to be in, but we didn’t want to make Alejandro wait around for us. So, we came “home” knowing the bags would be delivered in the morning. We took a short walk on the beach after I made some dinner for Eric and Lori. We all were a little tired and turned in early.

March 8,2019 Fri. Everyone up fairly early considering the long day we all had yesterday. Bill headed out to find another grocery store Alejandro told us about. After breakfast we headed to the grocery store so Eric and Lori could stock up. Eric made a fabulous spinach salad for lunch. Then a nice walk along the beach up past a small marina to see if we could peer around the point. Nap time. Dinner was amazing. Eric wanted to start out his Spanish adventure with some grilled sardines. We also shared a HUGE red snapper. It was suppose to be for three but we literally brought half home. Lori had a nice fire grilled steak.

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March 9th Sat.-We tried to start the washing machine. I don’t know what we were doing wrong but the three of us couldn’t figure it out. After much frustration and searching the internet we decided to leave it for later. Lori was excited to get to the Malaga Fresh Market so we hopped a bus down there. About 35 mins. We were in front of the marina when I went up to ask the driver if I should get off. He said yes, so I moved to the center of the bus to exit and yelled to the other three to get off. The driver wouldn’t open their door. People on the bus were trying to help get the door open to no avail. So i watched as the bus took off with Bill, Lori, and Eric inside. They got off at the next stop and met me at the market. Lori and Eric had fun looking at all of the goodies. It really is quite the sight. We had fun eating our way around the stalls. Then Lori and I got our Churros and chocolate. Thank you Dani for showing me the place when you were here. Lori was in heaven. Next up lunch. Eric got a curry bratt and Lori a nice salad, while Bill and I split a burger. We walked around trying to find the resale shop I had bought my sweater in back in Jan. only to find it wasn’t open. A little sit at the Roman Theater to listen to a flute and guitar playing. The flute was very good. A nice breeze blowing almost made it surreal. Time to head back to the flat. I cooked mixed veggies and chicken fajitas for dinner. A walk to the grocery store for a couple of things to make fish tacos on sun with our left over snapper. Quiet time.

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