Sav´s travels

humpf!!!!

After a serious update that i have been writing for the last 30 minutes, my computer turned on me and now there is nothing!!! I have no idea where everything went!!

Hmmm...well the wind has been taken out of my sails...so the best i can do right now is something in point form...

- my friend Alex is visiting...
- we went on a journey up the mountains today to some mountain villages...Bubion and Pampaneira....we nursed Alex who survived a vicious hangover and some of the planet´s windiest roads to have him almost fall off the bus as white as a ghost...
- we have two more nights in Orgiva before we head off to Sevilla (most excited!!), then Valencia (home to the world´s best oranges...they can be yours at your local grocery store too!), and then to Barcelona...I am saving up my energy for the high-life here and relishing a bed and clean clothes for these last two days as well...
- I caved!! I bought mitts and a scarf.....my pride is too strong to tell our landlords that we are out of wood for our stove after we told them that we are hardy Canadians and we will be just fine...brrr...
- hmmmm...sigh, I know there was more, but for anyone who is checking up on my blogs, I make a pact right now to update them every 7-8 days to allow for good stories to build and exciting travel advice for anyone who just happens to stumble upon them and is coming to Spain...it will be much easier for both of these things to happen once we are on the move and out of our cozy little house!

- I will miss Orgiva, and i honestly didn´t think i would say this for the first two weeks...but every small town in the world has its characters and these just happen to be extra colourful in my opinion purely because they are Spanish and I can barely understand a word when they come up and clasp your hands and continue to speak when you make it known you don´t know what´s going on...somehow it makes them that much more interesting to me!

- also, Shiloh and i have apparently broken into a sacred boy´s club in town, much to the surprise of our landlords...my favorite tapa place in town is very male-dominated and it´s not lost on me that they wouldn´t exactly turn away two blond foreign females...but, i guess it´s not typically easy to feel welcome there, and I feel like this is where we have made some of our more interesting friends...their reception has been less and less frosty to us each time and I think it´s because we could care less what they think! We just want our cheap beer and home-made tapas! That´s one for the girls!

I have to sign out now...this is a little more than my pathetic budget will allow! But, check in in about a week´s time and we´ll let you know how our ´drifters´ travels are going! Also, I should have a bunch of pictures to post for next week too...I´m ready to kick things up a notch after this month long resting period...

Adios, and talk to you soon...

Savannah

Savannah

I opened my shutters today to find sun and a blue, blue sky...a nice change from heavy clouds and non-stop rain yesterday...although, it is very needed here because of the drought and it was refreshing for awhile...I think it´s just because our house is always colder than outside that I long for sun constantly here! And not to mention that Shiloh and I really haven´´t mastered building a fire that lasts more than 5 minutes without stoking...so much for my training in the Yukon!

Today is market day in Orgiva...yaay! Once you get passed all the people selling purses, old-lady bras and Nike shoes, the vendors selling produce are the real treasure! I walked away the other day with a kilo (6 good sized tomatoes) for 75 centimos...and we, awhile back, bought a bag full of sundried tomatoes for 5€..something that would have cost probably btw. 15-18 dollars at home...people go home absolutely loaded from the markets! It brings the whole town out and it feels very alive all day, even during siesta...

I had my first (and hopefully only) experience visiting a doctor the other day....the service was great and the doctor would so be mine in Edmonton if i could fit him in my suitcase...very efficient, thorough and patient, my poor translator had to learn about how the human skeleton is constructed and relay it back to me in detail...so, because i am not a Spanish or even an EU citizen i had to go to a private clinic....70€ later!!! I can certainly see what entices govt´s and doctors to sometimes want a two-tiered system...the efficiency is great...but I am still thankful that Canada is choosing to steer away from that...it seems very wrong to have to pay for basic healthcare quite simply...but i can now sleep a little better at night knowing that i have two floating ribs crossed over each other and inflaming one another and not....???? something worse I guess!

I am covered in flea chemicals and dirty dog from giving some TLC to my beloved stray Brown-Dog....ahhh, it´s heaven to me!

Shiloh and I are heading into Granada tonite to check out a funk-jazz band with our landlord Wes and friend of his...if all goes well we´ll be able to visit our sister Pam after the show while we´re there...there is definitely no such thing as an early night in Granada...early means before 3 am...if you plan on coming to visit I recommend this...stay up all night for maybe about 4 days, drink lots...pickle your liver in preparation....and start to love seafood...you´ll have the time of your life then!

I have to run...that 70€ gone keeps haunting me! Take care anyone reading this, and even if you´re not!

Hasta luego!
Savannah

Well Orgiva is coming to a close...I´m kind of sad now actually! The quiet (and cheap!) time is about to come to an end...but i am actually quite excited for what´s on the agenda...this Friday, Shiloh and i are heading to Malaga to meet a friend flying in...from here it´s a bit of a mystery...i have the mini-itinerary that i posted in my last entry about what i think we´ll be doing for the next month or so...hope it all works out!

The last couple of days in Orgiva have been mucho Spanish...as in lessons and homework...my head is on fire, as a Spanish lady said to me who was learning English...it´s such a beautiful language...if i can´t get a grasp on it here, and actually, even if I can, i plan to continue it at home...i am no longer scared of learning it, so i definitely can´t give it up now...

also, and i swear, it´s a case of someone/thing placing us in the right place at the right time, we spotted a cat on the roof of the library who had a plastic bag wrapped around its head...we were shocked and anyone who knows us, knows how we must have panicked.."We must save the cat!!" So we went to the Guardia Civil and told him in our broken Spanish and lots of strangling noises what the situation was...he laughed, which didn´t surprise me, and said they didn´t have a ladder...i was starting to scope out ways that i could climb onto the roof...so we went to the police and he came out with us and was actually a little bit concerned! So he called the City Hall and by now, there were people stopping to see what the mini-commotion was all about...so the guys from the city came and slowly got out there ladders, chatted a bit and went up the roof to the cat...they took a long metal thing and bounced it off the cat´s head a couple of times (while we looked on thinking, what the...??) and the bag came off...we cheered...
It´s been twice now that we´ve rescued an animal here that was caught up in a bag..the other was a pigeon that flew right to us and sat on a fence where we were...he sat there while we untangled it from his wing and flew off again...these two things made my day...sigh, how boring I know...where are the crazy travelling stories...they´ll come...this past month has been for unwinding, learning, sleeping and dealing with culture shock i think...also, because i told everyone that i would be gone for at least 3 months (with not a lot of money), being holed up in the mountains has allowed me to stretch that out and for the next month and a half, I´ll blow the rest of my money and say, " I made it!"...

I am being kicked out..it´s siesta time!! Wine and sleep!

Will finish this off tommorrow, hope everyone is doing well!

Ciao

Hi there...

Well, just a quick update on life in Órgiva...I am really starting to like this little town (about time!)...I am finding more and more the Spanish flavor of it after feeling for so long that it is overrun by expatriates...Shiloh and I found a perfect tapas bar, which I think I´ve mentioned, and it has become a regular haunt for us...the eggplant tapa is the best! And 1€ for a beer suits me fine too...Shiloh and I have also made a very Spanish friend in the form of a 50-year old man who was at one point going to be our landlord...we did find a better deal for rent...but Juan is great..he speaks no English, yet we can have the best conversations and understand each other...I´ve noticed that one on one, language barriers here haven´t been hard to deal with and actually can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience..this man, Juan, seems grandfatherly but we ran into him the other day, a bit drunk, (him not us this time ...and it´s been one of the highlights of my time in Orgiva...lots of laughing as he was trying to explain to us his morals on kissing women...and no, it wasn´t creepy, just fun...

Our Spanish lessons are finally coming along...we have found the perfect teacher, this time in the form of an English woman who has been here for 25 years...a pioneer expatriate...I finally feel with her help and tips that I can have a basic conversation with someone...she obviously remembers what it felt like to be in our shoes...

I´m very excited to have some Canadian friends coming out to visit us! We are tentatively planning to go to Granada, Nerja (on the coast), then to Morocco, then to Sevilla and Ronda and then to Malaga...after this Portugal and then my dream is to somehow make my way thru Spain and then to Berlin! Ha, we´ll see if the money gods allow this, but I am willing to do the whole eat-bread-sleep-in-doorways thing to accomplish this goal...I know that eventually work will figure into this plan too...

Nothing to do with my trip, but just to have it logged for future when I decide to read this again, my favorite song right now is James Blunt´s "You´re Beautiful"...does anyone else love it??

One major accomplishment for me this week has been that i think i can finally say goodbye to the worst of homesickness...i really hope so, because Spain is much more alive to me now, or maybe it´s the other way around...but i won´t kid myself, leaving a comfortable life and having no real plans in place for the new country OR home when I go back is a tad scary at 28...but starting to love it, and recommend it to anyone regardless of their place in life..it´s a good shake-up...

Today is a lazy day..in fact that could be the title of this series of writing...lazy days are a staple in my life right now (for good or for bad)...I wrote in a mass email to the girls at work one time that i had found the perfect falafel...I take it back, I lied..it´s in Orgiva, not Granada...Tessa, I wish I could wrap it up and send it to you! For the rest of the day I plan to read the Guardian, which is the best newspaper, and follow up with my Spanish homework..and um, that´s about it I think...

So, will keep this more up to date..thanks for the kick in the butt Lindsay..

Until then..

Well, I have finally decided that Órgiva is a very interesting little village...I am glad that I snapped to this realization before leaving here in two weeks from now! Shiloh and I have discovered a wonderful little tapa bar, a true tapa bar on a side street...I have also discovered that if you´re looking for any real experience for tapas and interesting conversation (even if you can´t understand it) then, head to the side streets even if they are out of the sun..this is in Granada too! This place that we found is largely male dominated and mostly older gentlemen...but if you can pretend you´re not listening and just eavesdrop, it´s a lot of fun...and the best tapas!! We have had fried eggplant, potatoes and garlic mayonnaise, calamari and tasty salads....and a quirky bartender who delivers it all with that sly Kevin Spacey style smile...and 2.5 hours later, it only cost me 3€ to be full and well, full of beer too! Well worth the $750 plane ticket! hint, hint...

It´s been sunny and we attended to our harem of dogs, feeding them the blood sausage, the only tapa I wasn´t prepared to eat today...I am going to search out the possibility of sending one of these dogs home...crazy I know, but I am in love with him...

We also had a lesson today with a British woman, en español of course! It was our second today and really helpful...I feel like there´s a chance yet!!

Other than this, it will be more reading, I have to take this chance while I have it and 8 days from now, I have a friend coming to visit, so that will be a trip to Malaga...from here, a trip to Granada which I couldn´t recommend more to anyone reading this...after this, it will be Morocco and then Portugal...my only thing left to wish for is a trip to Berlin...I could actually fly home at that point, content to possibly leave some sightseeing of Europe for another time...although, it´s getting harder to think that way...

Adios!
Savannah