My little donkey (Semana Santa, pt. 2)

Saturday

After waking up, having a bit of breakfast on the balcony, we were joined by Luisilla, and then piled into her van for a trip to the beach.

Luisilla's van is decorated throughout with small toys, photos of friends and family, Tibetan prayer flags, magic-markered quotes and sentiments, mirrors, pillows, scarves-as-curtains, jugs of water, plastic bins with on-the-road clothing neatly folded inside, and a combination flamenco doll/disco ball arrangement hanging from the rear view mirror. Plus her two sweet dogs Ari and Bacco. I kept thinking, what a great life for dogs, to always be comfortable at home while also always being "out". Southern Spain is very dog-friendly, they're everywhere and well accepted in the homes of others, and restaurants and bars.


As far as I understood, the plan was we'd spend a little while on the beach and then return home, and there was not any specific talk or decision about whether we'd go to the barbecue party later that day. Thing is though, I've got that language barrier thing, so either I got it wrong, or we were kidnapped, but the end result was after picking up another friend, and food for the beach, we ended up at the party site, without a detour to the beach. I wasn't really quite sure at any point what the plan was, that's clear, but the day was beautiful, and the houses and grounds where the party was being set up were interesting, to say the least. For one thing, there was a donkey, in a little stone pen right below the hill that the house and yard were on.

Check him out - our greeter for the hipi hee-haw:

So, the day proceeded without much event, really, we sat on our blankets in the sun and snacked on the foods we'd picked up at the super market, and later in the day, Luisa, Jelen and I took a walk to the beach, after Jelen consulted with some local people about how long it might take to walk there. The response was 30 minutes but, true to the way things go, after an hour of walking we still weren't there.

Just about when we were ready to bail, we encountered an old man standing at the side of the road, who confirmed that it was a bit further, and also made some kind of joke Luisa wouldn't repeat. We trodded on a bit longer, got a quick view of the sea, then headed back to make it to the party ranch (La Luna) before dark.

As we passed old funny man again, this time with a red-faced younger man, they both laughed at us and old man made another joke, this time Luisa semi-translated it as having something to do with how we should have taken an ass along for our three asses. Ok! Next time we'll keep that in mind.

Back at the party, just turning dusk, we headed up the small hill overlooking the backyard and stage, and waited while the band continued (as they'd been doing for maybe 5 hours) to tune up and fiddle with knobs. The hill was set up with numerous old sofas, beds and chairs, in a makeshift auditorium that gave a great view not just of the party, but also the sunset and hills. Earlier that day we'd had a photo of the four of us taken by another guest, and Luisa recognized its potential, and shopped it up like so:

Grecas?

We spent a little while longer on the hill before it got too cold, and after the band started playing, we hung out in the van for a bit to listen but also stay warm. We drove back in the dark, me stretched out on the bed in the back of the van, thinking about D. Boon and hoping for the best. It all worked out.

Got home, met Cristóbal for the first time (he´d been with family in the North until that night), and enjoyed some tasty, and definitely picante, delivered pizza. Tomorrow: The Beach.