Día Tres y Quatro
The time is going by quickly here, more so than I’d like. I’m currently looking down at the people below playing with their dogs, picnicking, and walking to the beach. Yesterday was another “dead” day. The highlight was walking to the grocery store and seeing how healthy their selection is. My mom literally wanted Coffee Mate and was surprised she could not find it. How we grow so accustomed to our bad habits, no? My Spanish is getting a little better, it always takes me a while, but having my family correct me has been a special bonus on this trip.
It has been an especially calm trip. I do believe that tomorrow I will venture somewhere and explore something new. Today, my cousin and I went to Castillo de Gibrafaro. I feel like I’m missing something in my writing about this particular trip. From the time I wake to the time I sleep I am with people and that could be the result. It is about to turn 8am and when I am alone here, writing, I think about what other people are doing. I think about my reset. i think about how I want to live my life and what I want in it, how will I make it grow. I am often asked when I come here, why do I want to live in America. I’m met with conflict on this retort. I think if I was younger, there would be no doubt in me about where I’d want to be. Sometimes I feel like I discovered things later in life, that if I had been more adventurous, I’d still be on a path of unexpected delights. I don’t know. I look at my cousin and my aunt and they look so young, so happy living and it makes me wonder.
Today we celebrated my mom’s 70th birthday. After Nena and I walked up and down through the fort, we had to go and catch a bus back for “lunch”. We were an hour and half late because the bus took forever. Luckily we got to explore a little neighborhood with very large homes that overlook the sea. Beautiful. As we sat on the bus back, I people watched and listened to the din of conversation in different languages. People here are a little like New Yorkers, they may bump you and may be in a bit of a hurry to get passed you, but there isn’t the hustle and bustle that is a city. There’s a flow to it, where people seem more relaxed. I have seen a lot of women wearing animal prints and nobody is shameful of body image here. People just do what they do and move on. I think because Malaga is such a resort town, and depending on the time of day, you see young and old, but I haven’t seen a lot of middle aged people. The streets do crawl with all kinds though and since I’ve been here, tattoos are more visible in the scenery, which before it was rare to see.
My Aunt has made lunch for us again. She enjoys cooking a lot and she is a fantastic cook. Today for mom’s birthday she has made a pumpkin based soup followed by appetizers, jamón ibérico, langostinos, and sweet potatoes with cinnamon. We then had a main course of salmon with an orange citrus sauce, potatoes, and bread. Finally, we topped it off with mom’s birthday cake which consisted of a light cake topped with caramel, and layered with chocolate and vanilla light fluff and cake. Wow. I love how the desserts here are delicious but light and not sugary.
I am now writing this as the sun goes down and think I may want to go to the ocean and look out for a bit. I still feel like i need to reflect on some things. Tomorrow I am hopeful to do something more active.
