Adieu Spain x

Today is "beautiful Annie's" birthday and it is to be celebrated all day long, La Garrofa style. Firstly breakfast in Roquetas de Mar with balloons, special pressies and Annie's perfect breakfast - mushrooms, onions and bacon?? Wash this down with gallons of salty coffee and tea and this is the best start for anyones birthday.

After the birthday breakfast Gary and I decided to walk back along the sea front to Aguadulce (a few kilometres from La Garrofa) via the Roquetas local weekly market. This is a great market that sells everything from fresh foods to clothing to household goods to shoes etc etc and covers approx 5 acres from the Grande Plaza to the sea. Here you can also buy, squashed into a foil bucket, one whole, smashed, rotisseried chicken covered with mixed, roasted peppers and stuffed with a swag of yummy chips (post smashing of course) all for the low, low price of 8 Euro. Absolutely delicious and piping hot.

Having bought a couple of warm longsleeved tops for Gary and a few cheap gifts we headed on to Aguadulce by foot just happening to stumble over a rather lovely tapas bar on the way. In this region of Spain tapas is included with every alcoholic drink and although they may vary in quality it is a lovely touch and can eliminate the need to cook anything for dinner. We took advantage of this hospitality quite regularly and sourced the tapas bars that were most generous. Never miss a trick us Kiwis!!!!

Arriving, finally, in Aguadulce (I say finally here not only because of the tapas bar detour but also because it is a long walk) we jumped on a bus to La Garrofa amazed at how easy it was for us to get around this region second time round.

The birthday afternoon soiree was in full swing when we arrived back and this extended into the evening where Jesus (pronounced Hey-seus) had prepared great platters of a hot traditional chicken and vegetable meal for Annie to share with her friends. Altogether the day was perfect and Annie had a wonderful time - spoilt rotten by Tons (her husband) of course - and for us? -we were just so happy to have been priviledged to spend it with her. We love you Annie and Tons and hope our paths cross again some day.

Great times were spent at La Garrofa once again although the dynamics of the camp had changed from our first time round. Karaoke - not too sure about this though - was in full swing each Saturday evening; a gastronomic club had been invented and was going well and a pool table had appeared - although this I believe was minus a few balls, had two blacks plus a few technical issues?? We had a lovely curry evening where several really delicious curries were brought forth and last but not least, the finals of the Australian Tennis Open was on the TV - we were wrapt.

Gary and I found some amazing walks into the barren hills around this area which still show interesting signs of how the shepherds lived here with their goat herds. Small caves were set up as abbatoirs and the remnants of herding pens are still to be seen. There are also many skeletons and ear tags scattered around??? Walking in these hills is so very peaceful and therapeutic and although the weather was not always great at La Garrofa we were still able to take some long walks.

Deciding to stay on for Mo and Jim's (Geordies) 40th wedding anniversary, once again we were becoming La Garrofered so decided to put Gary's La Garrofa song in a frame and hang it in the bar. However, with all the Karaokeing going on (oh boy some of it is bad) (not you Mo you are the karaoke dancing queen) we are not too sure the glass won't be cracked by now. Lol.

So, Jim and Mo's wedding anniversary was to be 1975 style - the year they were married - and Annie and Tons, Gary and myself decided to make dressed, lifesize dolls of them and put them outside their camper in the early hours of the morning of their anniversary. Shopping for this was so funny. Grey wig, tattoos, microphone for Mo, tights to make the bodies, faces, boobs, gloves, balloons etc etc. A couple of stolen cigarettes, some clothes (super trooper T shirt for Mo - think Karaoke), boots, crocs and a colourful ley completed the ensemble. Putting them together was another story. There were times when the belly laughing went on forever and there was concern that knickers would be wet by the end of it all but eventually two very lifelike almost full sized dolls emerged. It is easy to cross a leg and angle a foot to take on a lifelike portrayal and "Mo and Jim" - well it was uncanny seeing them sitting there fully finished.

Up early on the anniversary morning and in the cold and dark we struggled to string the balloons and place our new Mo and Jim outside their camper - we struggled because of the laughter more than anything else but we also knew Jim was likely to come out early morning for a cigarette if he was unable to sleep. However all was done but to this day we are still unsure as to whether they really had no idea. Some strange things happened whilst making these "people" in Annie and Tons awning - eh Annie?

The anniversary celebrations were great with all the 1970's food - sandwiches, cheese and pickles on sticks stuck in foil-covered cabbage, mini sausages on toothpicks, quiche etc etc and the next morning we moved on heading for Mazarron.

It was quite a sad farewell and other people were in the process of leaving too. There had been a little tension in the camp this time round over an incident and the camp was quite divided which we found very hard. We were not involved and sat in the middle of it all but the tension was like sparks all around us and it was unable to be avoided.

Whether we return is uncertain but the old addage keeps coming to mind. Never visit a place twice!!!!

We hope people will keep in touch - our La Garrofa times hold such sweet memories.

Travelling to Mazarron was like travelling through a continuous sand/gravel pit up on the Spanish plains between huge mountains. It wasn't a sand/gravel pit of course it was just the nature of the land which was occasionally broken up by the first signs of Spring - blossoming fruit and nut trees.

We were in fact making our way towards Benidorm - a must see after that horrendous TV programme - but when we arrived at the campsite in Mazarron it was full so we continued on and decided to freedom camp above a beach as by now it was getting quite late. However we got cold feet being in Spain and limped into a neighbouring campsite with our tail tucked between our legs parking right next to a van beautifully painted with Marilyn Munroe, Bing Crosbie, James Dean and many others of that era. We have freedom camped in many countries but we felt Spain was pushing our boundaries just a little far.

Next stop on our way to Benidorm - Crevillent where we spent 5 nights. What an amazing site tucked in behind an hotel. Free washing machine - modern front loader too - free wifi very strong and efficient. Large well maintained private sites with modern facilities and plenty of hot hot water. There was even an ironing board and steam iron as well and close by a cheap Chinese restaurant. This was Camping Las Palmerous - peaceful, quiet and very sunny. Thoroughly recommend this site although there is little to do in Crevillent itself.

Next stop Benidorm via Alacante. On the way there Molly seemed to be filling up with what we thought was either gas or exhaust fumes which we seemed unable to clear. Fearing the worst - that our new exhaust had somehow developed a problem - we started sorting out in our heads how we were going to get round this new issue in the never ending saga of Molly's silencer. Between Crevillent and Benidorm there are upteen roundabouts which we thought must have put extra pressure on Molly so imagine what utter relief we felt when, and I am not sure how, we discovered that it was not the silencer at all but, would you believe, very ripe cheese in the fridge!!!!!! Fabulous cheese but not for our consumption after causing us soooo much stress.

BENIDORM - love it or hate it!!!!

Benidorm is definitely cheap. Food beer and wine especially so. It is very busy, full of British tourists who seemed in general to be very loud - especially the men. They all seem to be very big too and a great majority use mobility scooters for some reason or other.

We actually enjoyed Benidorm for its difference but it is not Spanish at all - it is purely Britain in Spain - and this of course brings me to what I need to say next. The British have taken over Benidorm by sheer mass and dominance. Some might say that is good because Benidorm is busy and thriving where other parts of Spain are not but, is this not what is happening, exactly the same, in Britain with other cultures dominating? - the British do not like that at all. Confusing I say. My theory is that this is the difference between a traveller and a tourist - travellers embrace the culture, tourists want to change the culture to accommodate them.

I had the most amazing haircut in Benidorm though - yes I took the risk and was glad - cut by a young Spanish lady who lives outside of Benidorm. Whilst I had the haircut Gary took himself off to the seafront to read a paper and this time he says was most possibly the highlight of his stay in Benidorm. He watched a 50plus, beautifully tanned, shirtless man "dancing on the beach like no one was looking" to the music coming from the pub across the road. He was mesmorised by the dancing and the lack of inhibition - yes Gary you could do that too.

We walked a lot in Benidorm - finding the huge market and the Old historic town. The campsite was well placed for this - great location - but to be honest we could have been in a terraced house on Coronation Street and that is all I will say.

From Benidorm we headed just north of Valencia to Torre la Sal passing through Calp, Denia, Gandia and many other places - one large town seemingly rolling into the next - skirting round Valencia along the Autovia del Meditteranean to the campsite at Torre la Sal where we stayed for 3 nights recuperating from Benidorm before heading to Barcelona. At this campsite the first night is free, wifi is free and although it is large it is very pleasant as it has been divided into separate, small campsites and is situated on a very straight, windy beach. There are no British at this camp it is literally full of Germans with a few Dutch and French thrown in. We had amazing warm sunny weather and spent our time rebooting our tan but with absolutely no one to talk to - the Germans were very unfriendly even though we flew our NZ flag on our GB camper - and having never come across this before after 3 nights we headed for Barcelona.

You may be getting the feeling that this part of Spain holds very little interest for us and you would be correct in that assumption. It is busy, crowded and not what we have experienced anywhere in Spain so far. There is also a fixation for roundabouts hereabouts and you really cannot travel much further than a couple of kms before hitting another one. Another strange phenomenom in Spain, is that they put pedestrian crossings just on the exit of a round about and...a judder bar!

Anyway Barcelona or rather the journey to firstly.

We travelled on a Sunday, 5 plus hours, but with little or no trucks on the road the journey was not too bad. We have moved from the orange grove areas of Murcia and Valencia back into wine country and vineyards are en mass. Coming out of winter the vines are bare but the wealth is apparant. Arriving at camping Barcelona we look forward to our free bus ride to and from Barcelona - a good 3/4 hour trip to the immediate centre - and we are not disappointed. We choose the hop on hop off bus when there to see this sprawling city and to view the architectual influence that Gaudi has had here and is still having. Barcelona is lovely, huge, extremely busy and bursting with people. We walk partway down the famous centralised Rambla, eat tapas and drink wine in the window of a cute restaurant. Barcelona seems to have got it and done it right and there is so much to do here - they have managed to blend old with new buildings extremely well and they sit side by side not only supporting but complimenting each other. It is sprawling, it is massive and we do not have the time to see it in any depth so we satisfy ourselves looking arround a huge department store on the Rambla whilst we wait for our return bus and we manage to change Gary's Uno de 50 wrist band which has been malfunctioning - an absolute added and unexpected bonus. We are happy with what we have seen and done in Barcelona but we are also happy to move on.

Tomorrow it is Adieu Spain - Bon jour France.