Spain - Life is a Beach!

Hola senors and senoritas!

** Upon finishing blogging, I realized how ridiculously long this post is but found it hard to cut any parts out b/c that would require me to rewrite the entire paragraph, so just a forewarning that you may need to either take bathroom breaks or block off a large amount of time to read!

Another country, yet another language! Dear heavens, by the end of this trip I won't know what language to speak! It has been really fun to try and learn the language of each country I've been in. French is so beautiful and sexy, Italian just makes intuitive sense because the words can be read phonetically, Spanish is very provocative and emotional but I didn't pick up much of it b/c T & P were so fluent, I relied on them to communicate :S

As previously noted, I was greatly spoiled in Spain! The food, the resort, the people, the weather, just everything! Don Carlos, the resort we stayed at was very posh and my initial reaction, just to the lobby itself was disbelief. The decor was very contemporary; factoring in of course, the gruesome places I was staying at before made this place even more a haven! The lobby was littered with hot pink Calla lilies (my all time fave, roses are SO overrated!), leather couches with supremely colorful pillows and an array of art pieces. Upon arrival at our resort we were greeted by our personal assistant who gives us a brief tour of the resort (this place was a maze) and handed over a cell phone that we could use during our stay. The idea of the cell phone was great but the fact that everything was in Spanish and there was no tutorial on how to use the cell phone (T and I struggled to find how to scroll down for a good 15 minutes; no we are not tech challenged, this thing was just tough) it negated the entire point of having it in 'case of emergencies.'

The Arrival - astonished and semi-tanned
The tour the assistant gave was brief as she could tell by our faces, we were tired. Our villa was everything I imagined my own place to be - granite floors, stainless steel kitchen, blue / green (like the Ikea closet color) walls, flat screen tvs, basically the works. My room was located on ground level while T & P were upstairs. It was very nice to have a closet large enough to unload my clothes and everything else I would buy to fill it ;) It was an obvious suggestion by hotel management by offering such a large closet that it should be filled. And filled it got! We spent the first day just unpacking and walking around the different areas of the hotel. Had a nice dinner at the main restaurant (I can't even remember what it's called) of the resort and called it an early night. We did get up at 4:30 am afterall.

It seemed quite odd to me at the beginning of the trip that the Europeans have dinner so late in the day and it never occurred to me until P mentioned that ppl usually have dinner when it's dark out and b/c there days are longer, they eat later. Hmmm. Such a simple explanation to something that had me stumped for the last 4 weeks. Thank you for the insight, P!

Day 1 - the darkness begins
We asked the cleaner to come at 10:30 to ensure that we were able to still kind of sleep in but make it in time for breakfast (my fave meal of the day .. Well brunch but same, same!) I sleep in way past my alarm. T & P being too polite to wake me, probably b/c T being a Quach herself knows what one is like when woken (it's not a pretty sight!), I am woken by the doorbell. I jump out of bed and get ready just before 10:30. This kind of set precedence for the remaining breakfasts we had so instead of breakfast we have brunch (yay!!!)

Brunch was crazy! You've got your cereal station to the right, churros and pancakes at the front, a meat and cheese station in the middle, fruits at the back and most importantly, muffins and other pastries right in the middle of the walkway. I have to walk around twice to figure out what I should have. During my second round of surveying the food, the internal debate started - do I try and stay healthy and eat modestly or do I let myself eat whatever and just attend more activities and do a extra few laps in the pool?! Decisions, decisions! Admist this internal battle, there it was, a miniature pain au chocolait sitting next to a double chocolate muffin. All bets were off. I'd worry about it later. I took pictures of every dinner we had, from appies to wine to dessert, now the only probably is remembering which day I ate what and from which resto!

We head to the beach to make use of the beach club passes we received (it was a members only beach) and again, shocked! There were at least 200 people on this beach. How was I supposed to tan?!! Granted, it was a Sunday and it appeared all members of the beach club were there to take advantage of the rays on the weekend. Fair enough, we head to the pool and kick it there for a few hours before we have yet another late dinner. I have Gazpacho to start which is a cold soup with a tomato base. It was different but very refreshing. I'm still torn as to whether I like it or not. You get so used to how something 'should be,' ie: soup being hot that when the concept changes, it is hard to incorporate this new view in the original definition of the item (I'm going on a tangent here, I know!) Anyhoo, I ordered the duck breast for dinner and it was delish! P ordered pork but it came out more like a pig trying to imitate a cow? Lol, it was obviously beef but the waiter swore to his death that it was pork.

Day 2 - adventurous and bronzed
We look for some activities to fill our day. Surely, we had to do something besides, eat, tan and swim. We speak to reception about any classes they may be offering. We get a sheet that outlines the day to day activities. Monday, Yoga at 11. Sounded like a good idea. The itinerary says 'Garden' for the location. Hmmm okay. The whole place leading from reception to the beach club, to the tennis courts to the soccer field is a garden. One giant freaking garden! This was going to be impossible to find. Somehow, we found the events coordinator and the yoga instructor admist all the plants and trees (I'm just trying to be comical. I really enjoyed all the greenery they had. Made the place even more beautiful). No one else seemed to know about yoga, so there we were in this massive garden having a private yoga lesson. Gosh! I could get used to life like this! We head back to the pool to debrief about the yoga lesson and T and I decide we were unimpressed. I am unflexible (or is it inflexible?? I'm too lazy to google) so I start to giggle when the instructor and T are putting their heads to their knees b/c this is obviously an impossible task for me. Wrong! The instructor gets up (maybe she was offended by my laughing??) and pushes my head to my knees. Mother F! I thought I was going to cry. That was the last of our private yoga lessons. And a lesson for me not to laugh!

P suggests we explore downtown Marbella so we head out around 8 to have dinner and see the sights. Marbella was such a cute little town. Each house / apartment had flowers that grew from the balcony and gripped along the walls like claws, extending into the neighbours property. The roads are very hilly and the houses remind me a lot of Venice, located very close together and again, I forget that people actually live there and aren't just there to visit.

Some shops were still open so we decide to shop a bit before dinner b/c as per custom, 8:30 was too early to eat. I'm looking at souvenirs, T is looking at dresses and I believe P was having a smoke. I'm thinking of which bracelet to buy when suddenly a loud gasp interrupts my thoughts and I see T stomping down the street in a hurry. Was she hurt?! Did she get robbed?! Did someone get shot (this is obv a very NE Ctown mentality!)?! She left her camera in the taxi!! I didn't know whether to laugh out of relief or cry b/c she lost her camera. Luckily when we got back to the hotel, they were able to contact the taxi company and get the camera along with credit card back. Time to buy a lottery ticket!


We have dinner in Orange square which get its name from the orange trees that grow in the square (creative, ci?) T and I share a mixed seafood and meat Paella which is a very saucy rice and a Spanish specialty. Reminded me much of fried rice but with a lot more sauce and meat. It was delicious! The waiters there are very friendly and even pose for the pics that I take of them serving our food. Unlike the service we received at the hotel, which was slow and apparently a norm, we were served quickly but not in a rushed fashion. We walked back and caught a cab back to the hotel, fingers crossed that someone had returned T's camera which you already know, they did :)

Day 3 - tan achieved
After brunch we run into the events coordinator (Isabel) who reminds me that there is Pilates at 11 and H20 workout at 12:30. Hmmm which to go to? I decide to attend both. I arrive on the beach 10 minutes late for Pilates. Oops. I look around (now that it was a weekday the beach was not busy at all, thank goodness we can finally get a seat!), no instructor in sight. I go back to my beach chair in an attempt to even out my tan. Halter top bathing suits are biotch I tell ya! Soon we see a few guys on the beach selling dresses, tshirts, handbags, you name it, they had it! T and I being ones to never miss a shopping opportunity, end up spending nearly an hour shopping at the beach and bargaining with these guys. How much easier can life get? We don't even need to leave our beach chairs to shop!

I head to H20 workout at 12:30 to find again, that there are only again myself and another attendee. Whatevs, I am a fan of private lessons. We start working out and a couple women begin to join in. The entire time we are 'working out' I am thinking what a great workout plan I could devise for underwater workout. I wonder how much trainers get paid on resorts? A career change perhaps?

For dinner we walk down the hill (the dreadfully steep hill!) to the local market and find a nice restaurant, Eliviria. This place was a new restaurant and the food was amazing. To start, I had the lobster soup - apparently soup here just doesn't come hot b/c it was lukewarm but I loved it regardless. I then had the beef stroganoff for my main dish. I know what you're thinking, beef stroganoff in Spain?? C'mon! But I saw it earlier as the waiters walked by and it looked too good to resist. By the time dinner was finished, it was completely dark out and we walk up the hill, complaining and laughing about our noticeable laziness the entire way. It's funny how the mind adjusts so quickly to 'vacation' mode, making small decisions such as 'what shall I eat today?' seeming like such a chore but going back to the reverse,like making real life decisions so difficult! I mean, it's obvious when I'm even too lazy to think too long or google if I spelt Meditteranean correctly.. Sigh, going back to reality is going to be a struggle!

Day 4 - It's official, I am dark!
Instead of going to another painful yoga class, T and I decide we would take it easy and go to the stretching class instead, in the garden. Again, no instructor in sight. This is becoming a pattern. An annoying one at that! Finally the instructor comes and we begin our class. The instructions are vague and some of the stretches are so ridiculous, I burst out laughing mid stretch. I guess I didn't learn my lesson the first time... Good thing there were only the two of us or I would have made an ass of myself. I think the instructor dude thought I was crazy. Whatever! I am the only one going to your class! I feel much more relaxed after class. I don't know how much more relaxed I could have been but somehow that's how I felt.

P surprised us with reservations at a Flamenco club back in the town of Marbella. The plan was to chillax by the pool for half the day and then head back into town earlier so we could do some more souvenir shopping before the show. We have dinner at the Orange square and the food is again, amazing. I order Sangria at the Flamenco show, another delicacy of Spain and it doesn't taste like booze at all. A little too sweet for my liking but delicious nonetheless. Not sure of whether or not Sangria is considered wine or hard liquor by Canadian customs so I didn't buy any to bring home so as not to hinder my ability to bring home wine from France :) Although I didn't understand what the Spanish men were singing about during the Flamenco show, I still really enjoyed it. The emotion and passion were not limited to the words of the song but were conveyed through the passion and emotion in the dance and the tone of the singer's voice. I felt captivated by each new song and dance; when one ended, it was like a spell was broken. Eventually the wine and sangria took a toll and we left the show. T, flamenco dancing all the way to the taxi!

Day 5 - practically leather
I review the pictures from the previous night over brunch. I'm sure most people would agree that when you see yourself everyday in the mirror (or even other people) it's very hard to notice any change in weight, color etc. I knew I was getting dark, 5 days in the sun will do that to ya, but I didn't know I was DARK! Like I have been working in the rice fields for 14 hours a day, borderline (I have a hard time admitting this myself) leather lady dark; minus the wrinkly skin of course! As we hung out on the beach, it being our last full day in Malaga and all, I tried my best to hide in the shade. It proved ineffective as I somehow burn the bottoms of my feet.. Wth?! How does that even happen? I struggled to walk to H20 workout but I told Isabel I would be there and over the course of the 5 days, she had a great tendency to come find me and remind me of class.

I get there and again, only two of us. Suddenly, from the left, the instructor appears with Hottie McHot. I'm talking 6 pack, defined pecs, bulging biceps, HOT. The resort was doing a horrible job advertising their activities which was evident through the lack of attendees but this was an effective ploy. When hottie jumped into the pool, women - both young and old, started flocking from all directions. Participation went from 2 to 12 in less than 5 minutes. Talk about maximizing on sex appeal! Again the workout was not much of one but it was still fun.

After dinner, I dropped off some postcards at the front desk and decided to peek into the piano bar upstairs. It was filled with quite a few hotel guests, jamming to old school 1980's dance hits. It was really pretty inside and cool to see everyone dressed up and not in their swimming gear. I failed to have my camera with me but I said hi to a couple of guests I recognized and went back to the villa and started packing for the flight home.

The finale - it's official, I'm not even Asian anymore!
The last day was spent poolside before our flight in the afternoon and in recognition that I was no longer Chinese anymore, I hid in the shade or in the pool. Isabel had stopped off at our table during brunch to see if I would be attending pilates.. Either I was her best client or this was the greatest insult and blatant attempt at calling me I'm fat. FML. Regardless, I told her I would most likely go but it was already 1045 (class was at 11) and I didn't think seeing my brunch in reverse was how I wanted to remember my last day in Spain. She came by later trying to find me but I swam away. I am not a good swimmer to say the least but to avoid her, I had to! I should thank her b/c her presence really put my ass in gear! The remainder of the morning was spent packing and triple checking if I left anything behind. I didn't want a repeat of Rome.

After landing in London, we realized that the keys to the flat were left in Spain, like I said, never a dull moment. We wait for the cleaner to come and open the door for us and of course, it was raining so we huddled in a corner outside and I must say we were probably the best dressed 'homeless' people I have ever encountered! I I spent less than 24 hours in London and am currently back in Nice for the night, leaving for Athens tomorrow morning! 4 flights, 4 days. I'm pooped!

My last night in Nice was memorable. ML picked me up from the airport and we had dinner and walked on the promenade one last time. I'm really going to miss the ocean and the array of activities to do here. Just tonight, we walked by break dancers, a jazz festival, bikers and rollerbladers stunting, not to mention some hardcore beach volleyball despite the lack of light. Calgary seems tame and lame in comparison! I'm going to suffer some sever reverse culture shock! To finish the night off, I got to drive Grover the Land Rover around - yes, me practicing driving stick in France!

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long and detailed post. I loved Spain so much I didn't want to miss any details. It was an awesome detour filled with great food, great company and many laughs. Thank you again T & P!

Only a week left of my vacay. As much as I miss the fam, the friends and all that I am dreading coming home. If I can't withstand the rain in London, how I am going to survive Calgary?? Eek.

J

PS - these are just a few of the many great pics I got of Spain. Just didn't have time to sift through them all. Hope you still enjoy them!



On the way to the airport


So happy and dark!


The beach


Part of the beach club - best place to nap!


I <3 these things!


Private pool


Relaxing poolside


Where we had H20 workouts


French Riveria, one last time