Goodbye Spain - Hello Ireland

Thoughts on Spain from Janice:
Today is our last day in the country of Spain. Joel and I have decided to do what ever we feel like today as it's our last day. For me it will be organizing our suitcases, making sure that we leave nothing behind, have a special Spanish lunch or early dinner. Joel will do what he does best as well as the beach is calling his name one last time.  I have done everything I've wanted to do, so doing just this is great for me.

Ah Spain!  What made us choose this location to come all the way from the west coast of the United States to the south eastern part of Spain? It was a total of a 11-hour flight. I must really like to travel if I'm willing to spend that much time in one small seat on a plane. Well that's the answer to the question. We do love traveling together and to experience other cultures. And adding to that the area we choose here in Spain has miles and miles of beaches. Warm weather, relatively warm water, and sandy beaches. Well two out of three is not bad. The beaches had many pebbles and a little larger rocks in many places. We could still walk the beach, but needed to either wear our sandals or carefully watch where we walked. 

Some of the favorite memories I will take from here is the enjoyment that each Joel and I felt about being in this location. Many days we did no more then walk the beach, lay and read, swim a bit and go out for a bite. The warmth soothed these aging joints, etc. This seems to be important as people get older. We feel the extremes of temperatures more.

I'm not as much a lover of Spanish food as I thought I might be. I was disappointed here. Grant it, I'm not too much of a fish eater and they serve a lot of fish here and a big variety of shell fish. I also thought we'd walk into places and hear a lot of Spanish music. There were absolutely NO places we walked in that had music other then maybe a local radio station that played music from the U.S. This was a disappointment.

The sights were wonderful, we loved our road trips with the rental car we had for awhile. I especially liked the little hill towns. I liked walking around up and down the very narrow streets poking my head in the shops [Joel would immediately go find a bench]. I spotted some places that had varieties of spices and will be coming home with spices that are hard to find in the states or very expensive.  I bought quite a bit of saffron. Just about 1/3 of the price from the states. What I also enjoyed was going into some of the old buildings and imagining what it might have been like 1,000 or so years ago.

As much as I like entertaining, I managed to have 2 different couples over for tapas and had fun with that. I try not to put other peoples names on our blog, but you know who you are, and we really enjoyed your hospitality to us in your adopted town. Thank you and we hope to do the same if you choose to come to Mazatlan some day.

I was able to dabble in art while here. I took pads, pencils, water colors and instruction books and studied and painted or drew what I saw. I really enjoyed this. I also continued to collect more Sea Glass from this area. Joel even found me a coveted deep blue piece of Sea Glass that I will use as I will be trying my hand at making Sea Glass jewelry that I’ve collected in Mexico and Spain. I’m hoping that Irelands seashore will also have some treasures for me on it’s beaches.

Every city and country we've been to has it's pluses and minuses and overall, we were very happy here and feel a bitter sweet about leaving Torrox, Spain. I don't know that we'll ever return as there are so many other places to explore. However, one never says never. Adios Espana!


Thoughts on Spain from Joel:
I have thoroughly enjoyed Spain and the Costa Del Sol. It has been relaxing with occasional bursts of history and sight seeing. Two places I always wanted to see were the Alhambra in Granada and the Kasbah in Morocco. We got to visit both of them. We also got to see white washed hill towns and multiple tapas bars. I enjoyed being able to go into a place around lunch time and order drinks and free or very cheap tapas, (appetizers). Often three or four of these made a nice meal at minimal costs. I found myself comparing Spain and our adopted country Mexico. Spain appears to be what Mexico will be like in 30 years if they choose to progress. The European Union has resulted in Spain leaping forward. There are many of the same problems, but Spain seems to be addressing them. Their road system is first rate and they have crime, but they actually make arrests for the crimes. They have corruption, but also make arrests and publicize them. One thing I noticed is that the Spanish are getting more European and often it is hard on first look to tell the difference between a Spaniard, and Englishman, or a German.

With the European Union making citizenship common there are now, over a half million English, over a half million Romanians, and many Germans living permanently in Spain. Just on the Costa Del Sol there are 40,000 English with their own newspapers, clubs, etc. Their expatriate community is much more organized than the smaller U.S. and Canadian expatriate community in Mexico. There are very few north Americans here. The cost of living here is lower than the U.S. Some things such as wine, beer, and some meats are cheaper than Mexico, produce is about the same. Gas and rents are higher than Mexico. That being said, both places are much more affordable than our state of legal residence, Washington. We will be heading for Ireland and from what we are told their cost of living will be as bad or worse than Washington state.

We have enjoyed interacting with the Spanish and English on the Costa Del Sol. A couple of other difference between the Spanish and Mexicans. You occasionally see beggars in Spain, but they aren't Spanish. Also, street vendors, beach vendors are non-Spanish. This is due to a pride factor. Spaniards pride also leads them not to seek tips for the services they provide. I have learned to appreciate the Spanish, but I still love the Mexicans of Mazatlan where we live, warts and all.
The next communication will be from Ireland. As always "La vida es buena". Spain was a great place to celebrate or 20th anniversary!