PHOTOS: Views from our roof terrace and 'party time'!Tuesday 6 Jan
We've had the time of our lives since our arrival in El Higueral 3 days ago - was it really only 3 days ago?
Our planned departure from Mijas Costa hung in the balance at the prospect of transferring so much 'stuff' from apartment to car in such torrential rain. However, Saturday morning the rain had stopped. We developed a very efficient removals system: I filled the lift on top floor, sent it down to Michael on ground floor to empty and send back. This resulted in virtually filling the entrance to the apartment block by the time the last load was down - much to the amusement of folks going in and out - I guess the apartments are either occupied by residents or holiday makers who just travel with a suitcase or two! Weather again deteriorated and much of our journey was through heavy rain with the prospect of unloading the other end and everything getting very soggy (actually it kindly stopped whilst we unloaded). The road from Iznajar to the village proved an interesting drive! The torrential rain of the last few days had resulted in water pouring off the hillsides bringing mud and stones/rocks down onto the road resulting in a few worrying moments when Michael had to pick his way through - there was only one ominous clonk underneath the car but no harm done.
Our excitement waned a little as reality dawned - external blinds combined with internal shutters and curtains made the house very dark (actually no way of discerning night and day whatsoever) and having been empty for a few weeks in temperatures somewhat lower than the coast, the house was very cold! We soon discovered out of the 3 gas heaters we expected to find, one was unusable, another was out of gas, which left just one which we decided to place in the lounge so at least one room was warm! Michael did manage to get the gas fired water heater going so at least we had the promise of a hot shower! So, having donned a few more layers, we set about familiarising ourselves with all the rooms since our bedroom and lounge were the only ones revealed to us as B&B guests last year (though we have since had a brief tour of the entire property). The house is on 3 storeys plus a further set of stairs leading to the roof terrace - with outdoor kitchen/laundry facilities. Ground floor has lounge/diner and kitchen; first and second floors look identical with their 4 rooms either side of the landings. 1st floor: bathroom and 3 guest rooms (2 en suite), 2nd floor: 3 bedrooms and study - quite a challenge to heat!
We decided on one of the bedrooms on the top floor which offered the maximum wardrobe space - which meant Michael hauling the 2 large and very heavy suitcases up 3 flights of stairs! We had left a little electric heater on in the bedroom for a while to warm the room before I returned to unpack - sadly the heater had made virtually no impact on the chill! With no natural light (on the advice that the external blinds remain through the winter months as is the custom in these village houses) I soon became frustrated locating light switches and which lights lit which floor! How amazingly quickly irritation levels mount with even the simplest task of finding a light switch - you're cold (and thinking back to the warmer temperatures and ease of life just an hour and a half back down the road), forever going up or coming down stairs shifting gear, trying to decide where on earth is the most appropriate place for everything in a house so unfamiliar!! However, irritation soon gave way to giggles as we learnt more about this dear house that is to be our home for the next few months. The study proved an interesting room with its one single electric point sited alongside the light switch just inside the door. Plugging my laptop into the extension lead under the desk I realised that not only would the extension plug lead trail right across the doorway, but worse, because of the close proximity of socket and light switch the plug top pushed on the light switch and - off went the lights! Fine, if you don't mind fumbling around at your desk in the dark!! I found a tiny desk lamp which overcame that problem but it was so very cold. Solution: set up the spare oil filled electric heater - great! Ah, that's just too much I'm afraid - it blew the lot!! So, it's down to the lounge with my laptop and forget the study - at least until warmer weather when we need no heat and take the blinds down and use the daylight! Then there was the confusion as to which floor I was actually on when trying to open the bathroom door and finding it locked and getting no reply from Michael inside the bathroom, then realising I was on the wrong floor and trying to get into the bedroom directly above the bathroom (being used as store room by owners and locked!) - oh what a silly fool I felt - but giggly!
In the midst of all this, a couple who own a house in the village, whom we had previously met up with back home and were over with some friends for a few days, rang to suggest we all met in the local bar - that seemed the best idea of the day - we were off. Few chaps sitting quietly over their beers when we arrived but place soon filled up and I became aware of something else going on around us - bingo!! Yep - Spanish bingo - little well worn cards, sunflower seeds as counters and 1 euro a line to play! Well, we'd all downed a drink or two by then and feeling pretty happy (and warm!) felt up to the challenge - we had 2 cards between the 6 of us to give ourselves a chance of translating the numbers and placing our little sunflower seeds in the limited time allowed between calls - we won 2 games, 60 euros and a bottle of wine - not bad going considering the most we paid out was 12 euros!! We had such fun particularly as the locals seemed much entertained by these 6 English folks joining them in their bingo - which only goes on during the Christmas period up to 6th Jan - so no chance of becoming a hardened gambler there! It was a great night and our first opportunity to be introduced to some of our Spanish neighbours.
Sunday morning - difficult to see what the weather is doing through the blinds so it was up to the roof terrace to check out the weather - cold and very poor visibility but eerily beautiful and so peaceful - low cloud hung over the ridges of the hills of olive groves and the mist crept down to the village - the hush only broken by a crowing cockerel and a dog barking in the distance - at that moment I didn't want to be anywhere else in the world. And though we may have had cause to question the sense of moving up to the village at the beginning of January (folks on the coast thought we were crackers!) it was certainly well chosen in respect of an important date in the Spanish calendar of fiestas - as we were to discover! 6th Jan is the Feast of the Epiphany when the 3 kings arrived in Bethlehem. In Spain, this is a celebration day known as Los Reyes Magos and a very important date in the Spanish diary - particularly for children as this is the day when they receive most of their presents! On the evening of 5th January the Kings parade on huge, decorated floats throwing sweets for all the children waiting excitedly and it all ends with much partying. We had noticed too that the shops and supermarkets were full of the huge donut-shaped cream filled cakes known as Rosco de Reyes - how we wished the bakers produced small versions just for 2 - not the enormous family sized beautifully decorated versions we found!
We ventured to the one of the 2 little local shops for some fresh bread for breakfast - another opportunity to exchange a few words with the owner who was most patient with us and encouraging in our language attempts. On our way back to the house we noticed a chap who appeared to be checking our car over so we thought we should introduce ourselves as the owners. He didn't speak a word of English and seemed totally oblivious to our extreme limitations with the Spanish language. He was very keen to know how much we'd paid for the car, how old it was etc etc - eventually M decided to politely withdraw suddenly aware that in ignorance of much of what this chap was saying he might find he'd sold him our car!
We set off Monday morning in search of a garage in Rute where we'd been advised we'd be able to purchase gas cylinders. We fell in love with this area when we first visited last year - such a dramatic panorama of undulating hills of olive groves - resembling sleeping giants all around us covered in bobbly green blankets (no apologies for my rather childlike imagination!) - then the dramatic mountain ranges beyond. However, we had missed the treat of the run through from the village to Rute where the road goes up higher and higher presenting even more breathtakingly beautiful views. Incredible to think we have all this on 'our' back doorstep! We failed to get the gas - all closed for the holidays until Wednesday! Ah well, at least we did a big shop in the large Mercadona supermarket so we have a full fridge and larder - we can eat to keep warm! No sooner were we back and we were off round to Jane's who was going to introduce us to her neighbour Maria and her husband Isidra. Jane was very keen we met Maria, a very kindly lady who has helped her so much with her Spanish - though Maria has no English! Sitting there in Maria's lovely home attempting conversation in Spanish supported very much by her encouragement and patience (and I must admit to feeling quite surprised and rather pleased as to the progress we have obviously made so far) it struck me that this was it - what has been awaiting us - a glimpse and taste of the ordinary day to day life in a little Spanish village. We left with an open invitation to visit whenever and as often as we wished. Early evening this little village held their procession - 3 local children appropriately dressed in their finery and towed through the main street on a decorated float up to the village hall at the top of the street. Later that evening, we headed up to the village hall to the '5th Night 'party - what a party it was! 2 brilliant musicians plus singer belting out all the best Spanish music for dancing - and how wonderfully refreshing to dance to real music with the tempo such that you just can't sit down! We discovered some real fun group dances - including something akin to the Conga (years since we've done that one - the younger readers of this blog may not have the remotest idea of what I'm talking about - you missed out guys - believe me!). Everyone was up dancing - little children through to the grannies and grandads - it was pure joy to see families having such fun together. How I admire the way the Spanish still celebrate Christmas in much the same way as generations before them, maintaining traditions and not fretting about perfect recipes, colour co-ordinated decorations and dashing madly around the shops! Some of these fiestas are known to go onto until breakfast time but by 2.30 folks were beginning to drift away and the music came to a close.
Tuesday morning our dear friends Jane and Paul were returning to the UK but not before dropping by with one of their gas heaters so we could have 2 heaters! Just as well, since our one and only had just run out of gas! First thing tomorrow we shall be off to get some gas!
Postscript:
Wednesday: we now have 3 gas heaters on the go which have definitely made the house more comfortable and to completely make the day we enjoyed blue skies all day and were able to sit on the terrace and enjoy the sunshine this afternoon! By around 4 o'c it does get very cold again but what joy to enjoy that sunshine!!
Then we received some really exciting news this evening: Sam and Sarah have booked their flights to visit on 22nd Jan and we can't wait to see them!! It will be such fun sharing our new life here with them for a few days.
Our planned departure from Mijas Costa hung in the balance at the prospect of transferring so much 'stuff' from apartment to car in such torrential rain. However, Saturday morning the rain had stopped. We developed a very efficient removals system: I filled the lift on top floor, sent it down to Michael on ground floor to empty and send back. This resulted in virtually filling the entrance to the apartment block by the time the last load was down - much to the amusement of folks going in and out - I guess the apartments are either occupied by residents or holiday makers who just travel with a suitcase or two! Weather again deteriorated and much of our journey was through heavy rain with the prospect of unloading the other end and everything getting very soggy (actually it kindly stopped whilst we unloaded). The road from Iznajar to the village proved an interesting drive! The torrential rain of the last few days had resulted in water pouring off the hillsides bringing mud and stones/rocks down onto the road resulting in a few worrying moments when Michael had to pick his way through - there was only one ominous clonk underneath the car but no harm done.
Our excitement waned a little as reality dawned - external blinds combined with internal shutters and curtains made the house very dark (actually no way of discerning night and day whatsoever) and having been empty for a few weeks in temperatures somewhat lower than the coast, the house was very cold! We soon discovered out of the 3 gas heaters we expected to find, one was unusable, another was out of gas, which left just one which we decided to place in the lounge so at least one room was warm! Michael did manage to get the gas fired water heater going so at least we had the promise of a hot shower! So, having donned a few more layers, we set about familiarising ourselves with all the rooms since our bedroom and lounge were the only ones revealed to us as B&B guests last year (though we have since had a brief tour of the entire property). The house is on 3 storeys plus a further set of stairs leading to the roof terrace - with outdoor kitchen/laundry facilities. Ground floor has lounge/diner and kitchen; first and second floors look identical with their 4 rooms either side of the landings. 1st floor: bathroom and 3 guest rooms (2 en suite), 2nd floor: 3 bedrooms and study - quite a challenge to heat!
We decided on one of the bedrooms on the top floor which offered the maximum wardrobe space - which meant Michael hauling the 2 large and very heavy suitcases up 3 flights of stairs! We had left a little electric heater on in the bedroom for a while to warm the room before I returned to unpack - sadly the heater had made virtually no impact on the chill! With no natural light (on the advice that the external blinds remain through the winter months as is the custom in these village houses) I soon became frustrated locating light switches and which lights lit which floor! How amazingly quickly irritation levels mount with even the simplest task of finding a light switch - you're cold (and thinking back to the warmer temperatures and ease of life just an hour and a half back down the road), forever going up or coming down stairs shifting gear, trying to decide where on earth is the most appropriate place for everything in a house so unfamiliar!! However, irritation soon gave way to giggles as we learnt more about this dear house that is to be our home for the next few months. The study proved an interesting room with its one single electric point sited alongside the light switch just inside the door. Plugging my laptop into the extension lead under the desk I realised that not only would the extension plug lead trail right across the doorway, but worse, because of the close proximity of socket and light switch the plug top pushed on the light switch and - off went the lights! Fine, if you don't mind fumbling around at your desk in the dark!! I found a tiny desk lamp which overcame that problem but it was so very cold. Solution: set up the spare oil filled electric heater - great! Ah, that's just too much I'm afraid - it blew the lot!! So, it's down to the lounge with my laptop and forget the study - at least until warmer weather when we need no heat and take the blinds down and use the daylight! Then there was the confusion as to which floor I was actually on when trying to open the bathroom door and finding it locked and getting no reply from Michael inside the bathroom, then realising I was on the wrong floor and trying to get into the bedroom directly above the bathroom (being used as store room by owners and locked!) - oh what a silly fool I felt - but giggly!
In the midst of all this, a couple who own a house in the village, whom we had previously met up with back home and were over with some friends for a few days, rang to suggest we all met in the local bar - that seemed the best idea of the day - we were off. Few chaps sitting quietly over their beers when we arrived but place soon filled up and I became aware of something else going on around us - bingo!! Yep - Spanish bingo - little well worn cards, sunflower seeds as counters and 1 euro a line to play! Well, we'd all downed a drink or two by then and feeling pretty happy (and warm!) felt up to the challenge - we had 2 cards between the 6 of us to give ourselves a chance of translating the numbers and placing our little sunflower seeds in the limited time allowed between calls - we won 2 games, 60 euros and a bottle of wine - not bad going considering the most we paid out was 12 euros!! We had such fun particularly as the locals seemed much entertained by these 6 English folks joining them in their bingo - which only goes on during the Christmas period up to 6th Jan - so no chance of becoming a hardened gambler there! It was a great night and our first opportunity to be introduced to some of our Spanish neighbours.
Sunday morning - difficult to see what the weather is doing through the blinds so it was up to the roof terrace to check out the weather - cold and very poor visibility but eerily beautiful and so peaceful - low cloud hung over the ridges of the hills of olive groves and the mist crept down to the village - the hush only broken by a crowing cockerel and a dog barking in the distance - at that moment I didn't want to be anywhere else in the world. And though we may have had cause to question the sense of moving up to the village at the beginning of January (folks on the coast thought we were crackers!) it was certainly well chosen in respect of an important date in the Spanish calendar of fiestas - as we were to discover! 6th Jan is the Feast of the Epiphany when the 3 kings arrived in Bethlehem. In Spain, this is a celebration day known as Los Reyes Magos and a very important date in the Spanish diary - particularly for children as this is the day when they receive most of their presents! On the evening of 5th January the Kings parade on huge, decorated floats throwing sweets for all the children waiting excitedly and it all ends with much partying. We had noticed too that the shops and supermarkets were full of the huge donut-shaped cream filled cakes known as Rosco de Reyes - how we wished the bakers produced small versions just for 2 - not the enormous family sized beautifully decorated versions we found!
We ventured to the one of the 2 little local shops for some fresh bread for breakfast - another opportunity to exchange a few words with the owner who was most patient with us and encouraging in our language attempts. On our way back to the house we noticed a chap who appeared to be checking our car over so we thought we should introduce ourselves as the owners. He didn't speak a word of English and seemed totally oblivious to our extreme limitations with the Spanish language. He was very keen to know how much we'd paid for the car, how old it was etc etc - eventually M decided to politely withdraw suddenly aware that in ignorance of much of what this chap was saying he might find he'd sold him our car!
We set off Monday morning in search of a garage in Rute where we'd been advised we'd be able to purchase gas cylinders. We fell in love with this area when we first visited last year - such a dramatic panorama of undulating hills of olive groves - resembling sleeping giants all around us covered in bobbly green blankets (no apologies for my rather childlike imagination!) - then the dramatic mountain ranges beyond. However, we had missed the treat of the run through from the village to Rute where the road goes up higher and higher presenting even more breathtakingly beautiful views. Incredible to think we have all this on 'our' back doorstep! We failed to get the gas - all closed for the holidays until Wednesday! Ah well, at least we did a big shop in the large Mercadona supermarket so we have a full fridge and larder - we can eat to keep warm! No sooner were we back and we were off round to Jane's who was going to introduce us to her neighbour Maria and her husband Isidra. Jane was very keen we met Maria, a very kindly lady who has helped her so much with her Spanish - though Maria has no English! Sitting there in Maria's lovely home attempting conversation in Spanish supported very much by her encouragement and patience (and I must admit to feeling quite surprised and rather pleased as to the progress we have obviously made so far) it struck me that this was it - what has been awaiting us - a glimpse and taste of the ordinary day to day life in a little Spanish village. We left with an open invitation to visit whenever and as often as we wished. Early evening this little village held their procession - 3 local children appropriately dressed in their finery and towed through the main street on a decorated float up to the village hall at the top of the street. Later that evening, we headed up to the village hall to the '5th Night 'party - what a party it was! 2 brilliant musicians plus singer belting out all the best Spanish music for dancing - and how wonderfully refreshing to dance to real music with the tempo such that you just can't sit down! We discovered some real fun group dances - including something akin to the Conga (years since we've done that one - the younger readers of this blog may not have the remotest idea of what I'm talking about - you missed out guys - believe me!). Everyone was up dancing - little children through to the grannies and grandads - it was pure joy to see families having such fun together. How I admire the way the Spanish still celebrate Christmas in much the same way as generations before them, maintaining traditions and not fretting about perfect recipes, colour co-ordinated decorations and dashing madly around the shops! Some of these fiestas are known to go onto until breakfast time but by 2.30 folks were beginning to drift away and the music came to a close.
Tuesday morning our dear friends Jane and Paul were returning to the UK but not before dropping by with one of their gas heaters so we could have 2 heaters! Just as well, since our one and only had just run out of gas! First thing tomorrow we shall be off to get some gas!
Postscript:
Wednesday: we now have 3 gas heaters on the go which have definitely made the house more comfortable and to completely make the day we enjoyed blue skies all day and were able to sit on the terrace and enjoy the sunshine this afternoon! By around 4 o'c it does get very cold again but what joy to enjoy that sunshine!!
Then we received some really exciting news this evening: Sam and Sarah have booked their flights to visit on 22nd Jan and we can't wait to see them!! It will be such fun sharing our new life here with them for a few days.
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