September 24, 2011
            We arrived at the Barcelona airport and retreived our luggage from the lockers and checked in, went through security and found our gate area for the flight to Malaga. We did have some wait time so we watched the world championships of the team acrobatic events. We boarded our plane and found our seating to be sardine style, the tray table could hit your chin if you were not to careful, and you did prayed that those sitting in front of you did not recline their seats. Fortunately it was only a two hour flight so that allowed me to remain civil to a degree. Spanair knows how to pack you in.
            We arrived in Malaga around 9:20 pm and got all of our stuff and caught a cab for a 45 minute ride to our condo. We had called ahead to notify Pamela, our contact, that we were on our way. She met us at the front door to the condominium unit and assisted us to the second floor and to our home for the next four weeks. It is a bright and cheery place. Yet we were a bit tired so we thanked her for her assistance, keys to the unit and keys to the car and found the bedroom to get a good nights rest.

September 25, 2011
            We took our time in the morning, looking through the condominium and getting a feel for our place for the month. There is a balacony off the living room and on that is a circular staircase that leads to an upper deck with outdoor furniture and the clothes washer and dryer and sink. 
 







             We looked out from our balacony and saw a series of pools, a large one starting near our complex and then an area of a fountain which runs into a circular pool, then a splash pool for kids, a series of run offs emptying into a large pool down the grade at the end of this condo complex.
   
                The next adventure was finding the car in the basement garage and learning to run the garage door to open and time it so I could get out of the narrow parking space, turn sharply without hitting garage columns or cars and then getting out as the door starting closing. At least I have driven a stick shift two seater before so that phase of the driving skill was not problematic.
 
  
                Driving in the complex was easy however the major freeway next to our complex has stop signs and no ramps to enter the freeway. In a small two seater there is a blind space to the left and it is extremely difficult to see on coming traffic which is going at 80 kilometers an hour. Fortunately, so far I have only had one horn blast, but no screeching brakes as I enter.
            Coming down the road from our complex I noticed a golf course hole and decided to check it out.   I meandered up the ridge and found the clubhouse of the Cabopino Golf course and asked about tee times and rates. I scheduled a tee time for Wednesday at 8:00am and knew that this course would be interesting.   The entire course is built on a high ridge an the holes go up and down the ridge.
             Sheila and I decided to get some light shopping done and explore south towards Gilbraltar.  There was a haze in the sky which seemed to be more intense as we drove south. The area reminds me of the Florida beach coast, only multiply the Florida condos and apartments by 100 and you have the Costal del Sol. Also, during our drive it became apparent that the economy did effect this area as there are structures not completed that stick out everywhere.   I am sure that the boom of sales in the area have been slowed, but judging from the traffic on a Sunday morning, there are still a lot of people who are hear as residents and tourists. We were not sure where we were headed so we decided to stop, turn down a road to the beach and check it out. We found a large path along the beach and found a beach shack restaurant and ordered a late breakfast/lunch. 
   
                     






                There was only one waitress and after we arrived the place started to fill up with people walking along the beach. We ordered Spanish Omlettes, not knowing what that meant locally. I was surprised that it was simply eggs and potatoes, no topping at all. We ate a little enjoyed the water and sin alcohol cervesa and chalked it up to a new experience on our travels.
            We returned home and got more settled in to start our new explorations of Spain. We are interested in visiting Seville and Granada so we will look into the travel distance and days which will work with our schedule.

September 26, 2011
                We reviewed the information in the area and decided to go to the marina in Cabopino. It looked simple enough. On the day before I had tried to find the marina and came up short. I got as far as a gate which cost 8 euros to go beyond and I decided that I would not go there. Since the directions at the house seemed simple, I did not realize that this was in fact the entrance to the marina. So we tried many different roads that all dead ended and were not near the marina where there we all of the restaurants that we mentioned in our information at home. Finally, frustrated and unsure as to how to get to our destination, I parked near a road that appeared to have beach access and we walked down to the beach. The marina was visible but it did not appear to be accessible from our location.   We did find a bar at the beach called El Realejo and we sat down for lunch, a hamburger for me and Sheila had white asparagus and a sauce, The beach was very warm and there were a number of people taking in the sun on rows of beach chairs with rows or umbrellas.   We were going to walk down toward the marina, however it was getting hotter and we decided to proceed with our shopping in Fuengirola. I have forgotten to mention that our sports car's air conditioning is not working, so the fan brings in more heat. I suspect this is one of the reasons why driving is a little difficult, as even in leather seats you begin to stick to the seats and gasp for air.
                We did get our directions to the shopping center and made all of the correct turns, well almost. I missed the turn into the parking lot, but I found a service road that gave me a second chance to make the appropriate turn into the parking area. From the outside the Plaza looked like a four story office building, however inside was designed like most malls in the U.S. We found a meat shop that had legs of ham hanging all around the store and we asked to have some sliced Jambon, (parma ham).  We stayed clear of having a large serving as the one we picked was 69.98 a kilo. It was deliciouis and a great snack to stave off being hungry in the market called Euroski.  I was somewhat suprised to find the markets here almost identical to those we shopped at in southern France.   They all have groceries, clothing, and everything else in one store. Not a Costco style but more like a target or kmart with a larger grocery area.   We did find our supplies and headed back to our condo.
                When I turned into our kitchen to unload the groceries I noticed that the floor covered with water. I went over to the counter to check the sink and I noticed the water dripping from the hot water heater over the cupboards to the right of the sink.  I turned off the water to the heating tank and unplugged the electrical, got some towels, found a mop bucket and began to swab the kitchen down. Sheila called our contact and she said she would contact the owner and the plumber and get back to us.   We did get the call and the plumber would be here the next day to let us know what would be done and by when. 
                After the initial turmoil settled we decided a night was an excellent idea. We decided to go down the road to the restaurant Da Bruno, which we were able to confirm reservations.









This restaurant is in Cabopino, but on the other side of the freeway, which makes it almost feel isolated from the marina. We found the restaurant, which I had passed at least four times, but I just never saw it.   We sat in the open area and ordered our meal, Sheila had parma ham and lasagna bolognese and I had a rocket salad and risotto with prawns and lobster. Here we are in Spain and we go to an very good Italian restaurant.  Our food and the service was really good and we both agreed that this restaurant was worth a return. Tomorrow we will await the arrival of the repairmen for the dishwasher, which sort of limits our travel plans.

September 27, 2011
                The repairmen arrived at 10:00am and informed us that they had to order a new tank and it would be installed on Wednesday. I have heard from a few that manana was a useful phrase around getting work done even in Spain. We hung around most of the day, but we took advantage of the pools in our backyard. The water was wonderful cool and a great way to escape the heat and humidity of the day.
                    We ate in for dinner that evening and were able to amuse ourselves with the BBC show 'Pointless'. They noted that they were celebrating their 200th show and would be inviting back all those who scored the maximum of 200 points which kept any of these contestants from staying on the show. The 200th show is scheduled for Friday evening. Truly something to look forward to.

September 28, 2011
                I was off early in the morning for my round of golf. I knew that I was paired with someone so I felt good that at least he would know the course and that would make it easier to play. There have been times when I haved played a new course and got lost going from one hole to another, evening reading the course map. I met Jose, who did not speak any English, but I could tell that he was an avid golfer. We exchanged bits about ourselves as we played. Fortunately, he is a regular at Cabopino Golf course, so he not only knew the course well but knew all of the secrets for hitting and placing the ball. The secrets would have very helpful if my shots had gone where they were intended.  I had a hard time with my swing because, for the first time in over a year I was hitting a draw instead of a fade. ( A draw is ho0king the ball to the left and a fade is hooking the ball to the right.) I had been trying to compensate and now I had over compensated. In addition to being left instead of right the course is metric, without clear markers so I was hitting the ball longer than I thought. Jose had the patience of a saint and we smiled and laughed a lot during our round.  Some of the holes looked like you were near the green because the elevation was so high from the tee. Other holes were low tees to elevated greens. Therefore, I spent most of the round trying to find the right club to hit the ball. Fortunately, my score was 103 and it could easily been much worse.   Jose asked if I was going to be back manana, and I said no, but would definitely try to pair up with him again. By the end of the round through word and jestures I really began to understand what he was saying.   Once again, the game of golf has a way of enabling people meeting for the first time to establish a relationship, and in most of my experiences to form a bond with someone. When we play again, I will remember my phrase book so I can learn more from Jose.
                The workmen were in the kitchen when I got back from golf.  The old tank was removed but the new tank was a different size so they had to reset the brackets to support the tank and modify the cupboard frame to make it all work.   Needless to say, the project took up most of the early afternoon. 
                After the workmen left I decided to run the dishwasher. Much to my surprise, it did not work. I thought it may have been something with the change in the water heater, but I could not find a line that had not been turned back on. Also, the machine kept giving me a beeping noise and would not get out of a second cycle. So we called our contact and she said that she would have a repair man come tomorrow. 
                Just to get out after they had finnished we decided to go back to the Cabopino Marina and see if we could find Los Javieres Taberna Restaurant.  It is still is difficult to interpret what was written about a place and its location and then do it. I am totally aware that I am a visual person and unless there is a clear map, all the instructions in the world are not going to get me to a new destination or location. We drove down to the marina and began looking for a square that was really a circle. We discovered after I asked a woman at the farmacia that it was not directly in the marina area, but up above it in a plaza. Once we climbed some stairs we say a posted sign for the restaurant and went in to see if they were open because it seemed very quite.   The gentleman told us they were open and did we want to sit inside or in the rear courtyard. This was yet again another area in a maze like complex, that I would not have found if not directed.  
                Sheila and I selected the restaurant because it was know for tapas and it was time for a lighter meal. We ordered four different tapas, crab salad, meatballs, sausages and paella. They were good, but not what we had in the back of our minds as tapas. The price was right so that made it a bit better.  The ambiance was great and there was no crowd, only one other couple so that was good.   We walked the marina in the evening and took a couple of pictures of night lights.  




September 29. 2011
                We did get word that the repairman for the dish washer will come on Friday. The morning was a late one and when we did get ready for the day we decided to have a lunch before we did some shopping and could cook in for the evening.    In addition we started to look at the other areas we had planned to visit and check out days and travel plans for the next two weeks prior to Sheila's daughter Catherine and her sons, Ryan and Connor, arrive to stay with us the last week we are here. Fortunately for us the boys have a school break and mom and the boys were able to come to Spain.
                We went to the marina one more time to explore more of the beach area. We also got some shots of the marina and the beach that is on the west side of the marina. It was another puzzle peace for us to complete, as we took what appeared to be an entrance to a restaurant, which it was in addition to being the access to the beach and more beach front restaurants that we had not been able to find.  







                


                We walked back to the La Despensa restaurant, another Italian cusine place on the warf.   I decided to be un-original and order a hamburger and Sheila had a pizza.which was separated in four sections, one with aritchoke, one with mushrooms, one with a red pepper and another with parma ham. The food was good and it is worthy enough to come back and maybe with our grand kids. It is easy to see how people return to the marina, with the bright sun, side walk dinning, a lot of boats and two beach area with extensive seats and umbrellas to make the area one of rest and pleasure. It is almost in walking distance from where we live.   The heat makes the breeze at the beach a welcome experience in the day of leisure.
                We had a light dinner at home and got to see our show Pointless and continue to make plans for Granada and Seville.  

September 30, 2011
                    Friday became a work day. Sheila was going to be here with the repairman and I decided to take the car to the Puegeot Dealer to see if there can be something done about the air conditioning in the car. I had hoped it was simply a task of putting in a cannister of gas to enable the system to work. I arrived around 9:45 aware that there was a two hour break at 2:00 pm, I took it to the repair area and they were very helpful and provided the paperwork and told me it would take about an hour. Well one hour became 2 and a half with a final estimate of replacement of compress, valves etc. Obviously the owner was not going to be to happy to hear about the car following the hot water heater replacement and the dishwasher repair.   This has been an unusual exprience in all the times we have done house exchanges. The good forutne is that these have not cost us anything but time out of the days we are here. The dreaded things coming in threes has never happened before and I am glad they are out of the way for our future exchanges.
                    When I got home Sheila informed me that the dishwasher was fixed following the repairman's need to pull it out and turn it over. Evidently, a glass had broken and gotten the drain clogged before we had arrived.  
                    In all of this I had not gotten anything to eat so I went to the local chinese restaurant at the bottom of the hill and got some fried rice with almond chicken.   The surprise was that the food was quite good. I have had chinese food in England, Scotland, and Wales and it has never been as good as I have experienced in the San Francisco Bay area and New York City.              
                  In the evening, Sheila and I decided that we had been so suspended by circumstances beyond our control that it would be great to celebrate by returning to Da Bruno restaurant.   We hopped in the car and arrived without a reservation on a Friday night. We both decided to have a lamb entree, Sheila a shoulder roast and I went with the rack of lamb. Our appertizers were great, tomatoes/mozzarelle for Sheila and I had a mixed salad. We sat back
 enjoyed the piano entertainment and had a long relaxed, delicious dinner to end a weird day.,

October 1, 2011
                    It was an easy morning, the haze a little high, and the temperature a little lower in the range of 79.   We were ready to get on the road for some exploring and knew that we had some shopping to do, so we headed toward Fuengriola.   Sheila said that there was a market day in La Cala so we decided to check that out before we went to the Eroski market.   We passed an exit that gave notice of the market so we had to find a crossover to come back for the market. I told Sheila that with all of the quirks that we have encountered finding places I only hope that the market is possible to find. I love eating my own words, because as we pulled off on the exit on the opposite side of the freeway (A7) we pulled right into the market. Also, we were forunate that it was early, as the crowd was just beginning to build.   It was relatively large in its layout but merely a triffle compared to the one in San Miquel de Allende, Mexico. At the very beginning of the lane of tents was a hamburger, hot dog stand.   Sheila took a picture of one of the tents with strickly womens wear.    There were some interesting tents and I wound up buying a pair of shorts for a few euros. the question becomes, how long will they last. He even had a changing room, a small tented area at the back of his van. We walked the length of the market and picked up some fruit and vegatables and decided to get going, as now the parking lot was becoming jammed and the crowd was very thick. In the parking lot Sheila spotted a complex on the hill in Mijas and could not resist taking a picture.   This is simply one of many that cover much of Costa del Sol.








                 On our return to Las Champas, another name of our area, I told Sheila that I would like to check out the El Rancho Grill for lunch. It is a place we have passed often and I noticed that in the evening it looks quite crowded. Also, I have hoped that with a name like El Rancho Grill that it may be Spanish food.   Well it may well have been a Spanish name but the food was the same as everywhere else in the area. We had an ok meal, with Chicken Tika for me and Sheila had the Rabbit stew. The meal certainly was different and the food was good. My appetizer Gampas Pil Pil was delicious served in a sizziling plate were my shrimp and a spicey sauce.
                Following our "light lunch" we decided to check out the other shopping center near Marbella called La Canada.  We got back on the road heading southwest and this time Gussy our GPS led us right to the center, which was a huge complex. The size so overwhelming that we lost any desire to check out the interior stores.  As we drove in we noticed a road sign to Ojen and village off the coast and in the foothills. In the spirit of exploring we drove north and found the village, actually we could see it some distance away as we drove some intense switchbacks to get there.   We say the hillside covered with white washed buildings and were intrigued with the bright reflection it gave even in a hazy day of weather. 
 
                   We took a road that led to the north side of town and begin to encounter the narrow streets, like the ones in France, and I decided to turn around and head back down the mountain. The switchbacks are one thing, but add to that narrow roads in the village which are also switchbacks became too much of a test of my ability to drive a two seater with no air conditioning. As were were waiting to pull back on the road going south we did spot an interesting cave higher up the ridge. 
 







                On our way down the mountainside we ran across a structure that appeared to be either a bridge or raised platform that appears to have been hit by the recession here in Spain. There were concrete sections lying on the hill with weeds and grass entwined. 
 
                We drove back home and had snacks for dinner and an easy evening inside.

October 2, 2011
               We decided to get active on establishing our plans for this coming week so Sheila worked on getting reservations for Granada and Alhambra. The hotel was helpful by doing the tickets for Alhambra for us.   We also discussed our desire to see Seville and Sheila reviewed the informatiion on a two day trip there. We are interested in visiting some of the smaller towns along the way, which had been recommendations from friends. Since we were having our kitchen cleaned we decided to go out for breakfast, so we went to Alberts in the Cabopino Marina. We arrived five minutes before they opened at 9:30am.   This was listed in our home exchange book as a must see, and they were purported to have English beakfasts. While neither of us are at all interested in English breakfasts, we thought that they may have other breakfast options. We were correct to a degree. There were two distinct options on the menu, English Breakfast and Classic English Breakfast. The distinction between the two was the first did not include potatoes, and the second had two of everything.    Another option was for the individual to pick from the English breakfast items to create your own breakfast. We took door number three and outside of overcooked fried eggs the breakfast was fine. I did not have the courage to order wet eggs since there was a language issue and it was our first time to dine at Alberts.  The boast of Alberts is twofold, one: they had nightly entertainment and two: they had a dinning room that was victorian with a movie and film accent. We I walked inside it was quite a sight, completely packed with victorian furnishings everywhere. I had a flashback to England in a restaurant near Covent Gardens in the theater district where Sheila and I stopped to have a drink before seeing a play and the restaurant was complete with stage sets from plays and they were primarily victorian stage sets. Alberts definitely lived up to its boast and is in fact "a sight" to see.
                We did not feel up to any new adventure so we did some local shopping and spent the afternoon reading and some household things. I prepared a light dinner of pasta and sauce with Chirozo sausage for our evening repast.

October 3, 2011 
            I played golf at Cabopino Golf course. Unfortunately, Jose my playing partner from last week does not play on Mondays.   I was a little shocked when I paid the green fee and it was double because it is now high season. I was allowed to play the round as a single so I had an opportunity to look more closely at the yardage booklet and think about what clubs to use. It did help my game as I shot a 90, dropping my score 13 strokes from the week before.
             Sheila and I decided to go to Fuengirola to do some shopping and have a late lunch. We got to the shopping plaza and went to the food court. I was not surprised to see Burger King, KFC and Subway. We did check out a spanish restaurant but it was late in the afternoon and there was one server who was not in a hurry to provide service so we walked across to the Hollywood restaurant. The food was a popular mix for teens and we had a reasonable lunch and went down stairs to Eroski Market. I keep thinging that the name Eroski seems out of place in a town called Fuengirola.   We had to run the town name through google translate so we could attempt to pronounce it let alone a store that hardly seems to be a Spanish store. It is obvious that the European Union has brought a lot of changes to Europe.
            We decided to begin to pack and follow up on some of the reading for Granada and Alhambra so we had a light dinner in and enjoyed the air conditioning at home.

October 4, 2011      
            Sheila and I had a easy relaxed morning getting our clothes washed and dryed for our trip and Sheila confirmed some of the reservations for the trip to Granada and to Seville. The weather was still hot so we were not too inspired to do too much until the late afternoon.  
             We decided that we should try to explore more of Marbella. Up to this point we have only driven through the city on the main boulevard and some some impressive shops and hotels. I checked on the internet for maps of the old town area and came up with one that was not really helpful for directions. I am amazed at how many times I have looked up area maps and they show areas, but do not give directions as to how to get there, or on a map which has arrows that come from specific major roads to the area you want to find.
              We arrived in Marbella in only 15 minutes, however we spend a lot of time trying to find streets that were named and signs that led us to old town. We had the beautiful print out of old town but could not find it by driving around. At one point we thought we were on the right path and the next thing I knew I was on the freeway heading back to Cabopino. I did find a turn to get back to Marbella and we started looking for signs to a tourist office. After another half hour with no luck we decided to head down to the beach area. I, at least, knew what direction to take and we wound up along the a road up from the promenade along the beach, and right next to a tourist office. We were concerned that we may be too late and sure enough the tourist office was closed. We looked at the sign on the door and realized that it was actually supposed to be open for at least another hour. It would have been very easy for me to have a stream of paranoid thoughts at this point, but what the heck we were at the beach and a stroll along the beach was a good misdirection from our weird trip to Marbella.





















Best of all there was a Da Bruno Restaurant right in front of us so we sat down to have a drink. After 26 years of sobriety I was tempted to order a good malt scotch, but I did settle for a sin alcohol cerveza. The beach front is beautiful and is was pretty crowded. We sat along the promenade and order some appetizers, and did some people watching. One gentleman and his dog walking along with a leather tan.
 
                As the sun began to set we went back to the car and had a slow ride home. We agreed that the old town did exist and that we would find it eventually.