Día Dos
I slept like complete crap. You know those sleeps where it feels like you fueled yourself on a pot of coffee and you sleep, but your dreams are lucid and you toss and turn until you finally reach exhaustion and sleep heaven only to woken up by your alarm? Yes, that kind of sleep. I was not happy. I woke to the voices of my Aunt, my Cousin, and My mom chattering in the kitchen…loudly! My aunt was making breakfast, eggs, toast, and jamon with her delicious coffee. I had a nail appointment at 10am so there was a bit of a bustle and hustle this morning that I was not ecstatic about.
Once dressed and showered my cousin and I hopped on a bus and headed into the city where I found myself at Mara Nails. I was answered in English when I reached out to them before my trip, but unfortunately my nail tech spoke nada ingles. No problema! A friend had told me to get my nails done while I was here and I didn’t think about doing that, but was he ever right. I paid the whopping price of 30 euros to get my nails done and they are on point, no to mention you don’t tip here, which has always weirded me out. 30!!!! I couldn’t believe it.
Mis Uñas by Mara Nail Studio
I reunited with the ladies after and it was a nice opportunity to walk alone in the area. We then walked to the shopping plaza where you will find jewelers, fabric stores, art galleries, retail boutiques, and so forth. I walked into Galeria de Arte Alma where I discovered the artist, Paco Aguilar and now have a new art crush. There was also an illustrator’s work there that did these cool geometric birds, but the name escapes me and I will have to go back. The plaza we were exploring was in the Centro Histórico which is lined with stores and reminds me of NY in some ways and Paris in others. There are a lot of people right now because it is Resort Season so you hear many different languages and find people, including myself snapping shots all over.
My mom was quite tired and so she and my aunt went back to the condo while Nena and I decided to go to the Port where we found a lot of very large boats. Side note: I often wonder what the appeal of being on a cruise ship is. It seems so large, so over the top and if I wanted to go to a mall or visit shops, I would just do it on land. Perhaps it is my fear of vast things like the ocean, being stuck in the middle of the ocean frightens me way more than people’s fear of plane crashes.
As we walked towards El Puerto, we encountered the horse carriages. I’ve never been a fan of these. I feel for the horses as they carry tourists from place to place in the heat. I always see them standing on one hind leg as if to rest the other. I just don’t like it and think it a cruel practice. If you want romance in a foreign city, walk hand in hand or take a bike ride! The port is adorned with shops and cafes around it and is a nice place to walk and see the Mediterranean and to sit for spell as you sip on Cava and have a snack. Speaking of snacks…
Holy hell I never thought I’d say this, but eating in Spain is like sport. You wake, you eat. You lunch, you eat even bigger, most meals consisting of “courses”. You sup at 8-10pm and that consists of tapas and smaller, lighter portions. I feel like I’m eating all the time. For lunch we had “spaghetti” which was actually Lo Mein and then we had lemon chicken with either salad or fries. Such a variety of food and plentiful in portions. I still have dinner to go! It is all very good though and luckily my aunt lives near a lot of really great dining options. I would like to make my way to the beach this evening, but I don’t know if that will happen. As I said before, it would be helpful to have someone who is versed in venue hopping or art exploration. I always want to see the underground of a city. I just got started this go round though so we will see what I can discover.
I love watching the midnight blue swallows (golodrinas) at night circle around the building. It was particularly amusing to watch the seagulls chase a cat through the plaza though! There are flowers everywhere here and it is quite a vivid scene. I walked about five miles today in great weather, now I just want to siesta and then feel the sand beneath my feet. Til then, ciao.