Week two... Winter in Spain

 "Regular" life in Spain...

So... Norma and I have been here for one full week as of today, and so far, we are enjoying "semi-retired" life very much! After a week of running errands and getting out of twon to see a few interesting spots this week while we had a car, we drove back to Malaga yesterday and dropped it off at the airport and took the bus back home to Estepona.  We are now officially pedestrian, bicycle,  and mass-transit users only for at least a little while.  While in Malaga, we walked along the port quayside, and then in and around the old city center, which was first built up in Roman times (there is even an exensive Roman amphitheater that's been excavated right on the edge of the downtown).   We stopped for a nice light lunch and some sketching at a cafe in the "old town" where we once again were floored by how inexpensive things are... Cafe con leche (made with a double shot of espresso) was only $1.50, and my bacon and cheese sandwich on a perfect baguette was $2.50! Much as I love Starbucks, this was far superior ;-)

How long will we go without a car?  We're not completely certain, but Norma has been digging on line and found a local company (purplecars.es) that rents "well used" but mechanically sound cars for as little as $249/month.  As soon as one of their cars gets returned, they are supposed to call us and perhaps we'll get a "cheapo" reantal for a couple of months to get around & do the grocery shopping :-)  More on that when we actually hear back...

As noted, we have been getting out an about pretty regularly for exercise.  Scott has taken three pretty good bike rides up into the mountains (up to 3500' today), and the two of us have been walking several miles a day, and often more.  Over the weekend, we took a long hike up the service road that goes from the Puerto de Penas Blancas (the mountain pass directly ubove Estepona), to a "refugio" that has a small restaurant operating Friday to Monday for hikers and campers.  We each had a bowl of the most fantastic home-made tomato soup we've ever tasted!  It might have been partly due to having walked 4 miles to get to it, but it was damn good even without the walk :-)  Here's some picures of the views along the hike...

One of the things we really enjoy about living abroad is getting to do all of the routine things we do at home in a whole different setting.  Stuff like grocery shopping takes on a whole new shine when everythings looks, smells, and tastes a little different.  Even when some things are the same (we have found the local Aldi supermarket-- which even though I love our little Aldi in Cazenovia, is FAR superior here in Estepona).  Maybe it was the $3.00 bottles of brut champagne, or the chesse section that runs about 30' long, or more than likely, the boxes of heavenly dark chocolate truffles for $1.25... yes, we really need all that walking and cycling so we can still fit on the plane to fly home in May :-)  

Tonight we celebrated our first week in Spain coming to a close with the "great truffle taste-off."  The afore-mentioned truffles from Aldi's, matched up against the $1.00 truffles from the Carrefore market, which we stumbled on coming back from this afternoon's walk.  While it was a tough one to choose, I definitely leaned toward the Aldi truffles...  

That's all for now...  Time to settle in with a glass of wine, truffles, and a nice wood fire in the fireplace... Cheers!