Some observations:

1) Spanish cars run on diesel. At least that is what Karen told me. Because of this, the cars seem to rumble a bit more while riding in them. Anyway, every Spanish car also need its brakes checked. There are many little plazas with one way streets connecting to them. Drivers then have to circle around the plaza, sometimes at a pretty tight angle. And every time they do, their breaks squeek something awful. Hah! As I was writing this, a car had to stop because of traffic outside, and I was again subjected to that abominable breaking sound. Karen says that she thinks this is because of the change in temperature, waht with it being Spring now. Considering that it changed from "a little cool" to "a little warm", I don´t think this can explain everything.

2) When meeting Spanish women, you kiss them on their right cheek, than their left. This is something that took me by surprise the first time I met one of Karen´s friends. Luckily, you can just shake hands with the men.

3) Spanish sidewalks are usually made of tiles in lieu of concrete. The trouble with this is that they often become slippery. I´m wearing my shoes from work, and sliding all over the place, especially when there is an unexpected drop. I also believe that the costa del sol is covered in an invisble layer of dust, thus making already slippery sidewalks even slicker.

4) I met a man who went to the bank to -buy dollars- because the US dollar is so weak now. *sigh*


--

Okay, so I have to share a couple more pictures from Semana Santa, if only because the costume the Penitents wear has different connotations in the US. So, Sunday, we got to see some adults carrying Thrones (the official name of the floats). These thrones were a bit larger and more elaborate than those carried by the children.



This is the beginning of the procession.



Here is a closeup of the pentitents. These ones apparently did not put the cones in their hoods. The parade moved incredible slow. Generally, it took them an hour to go down a street. They´d move forward a few feet, then pause for five minutes. As such, some tweens/teenagers would go out into the parade as it paused and talked to the people they knew.



Here is picture of the Jesus throne, and the people carrying it.



Children holding long candles followed the Jesus throne. Children in the crowd with foil balls would then walk out into the parada and have the children holding the candles drop wax onto the foil balls and light them. Unfortunately, I do not know the significance of this.



Here is the throne of Mary.

The throne of Mary was the last in the parade. A band followed her, with strangely empty streets behind. As you can see from the first picture to the last, several hours passed by the time the whole parade went by.

On Monday, Karen called a friend in a nearby town, Neraj. Her friend, Rocio (or Rocia, I´m going to have to find out), came out to Velez and picked us up. We went back to Neraj and had lunch with Rocio and her husband. They chose a fish place "La Marina", and ordered several plates of food that we all shared.

Mussels - not really to my taste. Mostly because, as I cracked one open, I could pick out appendages in detail, and couldn´t help but imagine the little tentacles / tendrils / arms as I swallowed it. I... could not make myself eat another.

Croquettes - traditional Spanish food. I believe it is a fried potato ball with meat mixed in. Apparently Jaquin, Rocio´s husband, said these were very low quality. Karen agreed, and told me not to give up on them until I tried some homemade croquettes.

Gambas Rebozadas - fried shrimp. These were quite tasty.

Some little fried Calamari things - they tasted okay, but I don´t know how much I like the salty fried taste combined with chewy squid.

Pollak - very delectable fish.

Bequerones - little fish with a light breading. You just pop them in your mouth holding while holding the tail. I liked them well enough, and tried not to imagine them as fish.

Berojenas w/ sugar cane honey - I guess this is a desert dish. Fried slices of eggplant that you drizzle sugar cane honey over. It was also very good.

It was also during this lunch that I told Karen not to tell me what anything was until well after I had swallowed it.

After lunch, Jaquin went back to work, (he was on siesta, hah!), while Rocio took us up to the Cave of Neraj. This is Nerja´s tourist trap, I suppose. It´s one of the largest calcium caves in Europe, I guess, and, deeper in the cave, has neolithic cave paintings. Alas, more than two thirds of the cave is closed to the public. However, what is open is impressive. However, as they told us not to take pictures, what with the flash damaging the stalagtites (i believe), I have none. It was a -bit- disappointing since so much of the cave was closed, but... ah, well.



Rocio led us to a community of houses overlooking the sea. It had a little flowered path that led up from the beach, complete with pools and waterfalls. Here is a picture looking up at some of the houses.



Here is a picture of Neraj from the "Balcony of Europe". It was named this by some visiting Spanish king, I believe. It´s a piece of land that juts out into the Mediterranean.

Rocio dropped us off right near Karen´s salsa class so that she catch the last fifteen minutes of class. After they were finished, one of the women served Empanadas, Galician style. These were also excellent, though my stomach was very full by the end of the day.
--

The next day, we went to Malaga to check out the Alcazab (Moorish Fortress) and the Pablo Picasso Museum. The museum, alas, did not allow photography. However, the main thing I took away from it was that Picasso had many children with many women.



Cathedral in Malaga. Most impressive, though we did not go in. We were running late, and I figure I´ll get my fill of cathedrals in Italy. Also, Karen had been in it before.



This is the Alcazab, taken from one of the lower levels. The Alcazab is my favorite of the things we´ve seen so far.



Karen resting in the Fortress.



Malaga, its bullring, and the Mediterranean.



The Alcazab has several sources of water, with channels carved into the rock that lead down to a central fountain. You can follow the trail of water from the left to the right of the bottom of the picture. It then falls down a hole and enters a channel on the lower level, from which it curves around to the right, circling the central square, until it flows into the center from the right. You can´t see it going around the perimeter because of the walls, but the water approaching from the top right of the picture and going left to the fountain is the same channel that started at the bottom of the picture.



This is one of the many gardens inside the fortress.

So, anyway, that´s what I´ve got for now. Tomorrow we plan to head up to Córdoba to see the Mezquita.