The Carthaginian Rose: Vol. 2‏

Hello again everyone!

Today I'm writing from Seville-Jennifer and I traveled here this morning from Malaga. As I recall, I left off after the trip to the Alhambra. That was such a great day!

Anyway, so after the Alhambra, Jennifer and I left Granada via the evening bus to head to Malaga. We felt very brave and non-touristy taking the bus. It was a great, and cheap way to get there. Malaga is a town on the Mediterranean that I think I can say has seen better days. We were picturing something a little less run down, I have to admit. Plus, our hotel, The Carlos V, left a little to be desired in the way of charm and a working elevator. So, we decided to take the bus again the next day for a little day-trip to a nearby (and much quainter) town called Nerja. We got a taxi from our hotel and asked to be taken to the bus station. He asked us where we were going, and we told him Nerja. After unsuccessfully trying to get us to let him drive us all the way there! he dropped us off at this bus stop. We were like, um...OK. But, he reassured us that we could buy tickets there to Nerja and the bus ran every hour. So, we went with the flow, bought round-trip tickets, and caught the bus in time.

Nerja was beautiful, simple, and just as quaint as promised. We got off the bus, walked across the street to a grocery store to get some supplies for the day, and then walked about 5 minutes to the beach. (I should also mention that while we were in the store, Jennifer and I both got some apples to eat. When we got up to pay for everything, it turns out that you had to have some special ticket for the apples, telling what kind they were and what their price was. I saw nothing in the way of a sign telling this back in the produce department, but whatever. Plus we couldn't really understand what the woman was saying to us, so she had to get one of the other checkers to run back and get the tickets, leaving a long line of people behind us mumbling, undoubtedly, about stupid foreigners not knowing that OBVIOUSLY you have to have a ticket for your apples!!)

Anyway, the beach was of the pebbly rock/sand variety, so it wasn't very conducive to actually walking around on, but we laid down beside our meager supplies and spent the rest of the day basking in the sun, enjoying the view, and eating the aforementioned apples. I finished my book and Jennifer got hers started.

It wasn't until we were leaving around 5:30, that we began to realize how seriously sunburned we were. I mean VERY SERIOUSLY. I woke up this morning and it felt like my entire body was on fire. When my brother (Captain Pasty White Skin at the time) fell asleep on the beach in San Diego, and got sunburned so badly that he came home and punched a hole in the door because of the pain, I didn't understand it. Now I do. I simply do not know how Jennifer and I made it here to Seville today. We were both two wretched specimens today. I am feeling moderately better after a dinner at a Chinese place tonight, but honestly, we're both a wreck. I'm hoping right now that when I wake up tomorrow, I'll be a little better, but who knows? Right now, if everything burned was sunTANNED, I would be as dark as I was after sitting out at Katie's pool all summer. Isn't that scary??!! And pretty fucking stupid too!

Anyway, here's another little tidbit, and then I'll leave you. Tonight, we ate at the Chinese place and then we wanted to take a taxi back to our hotel. Well, we walked down to the taxi stand and got into one The driver, who was smoking and chatting with the other drivers, looked like he couldn't believe he was going to actually have to get into his car and drive people around. The nerve! Anyway, after we were in the car, he made a face and started saying something to me, and pointing to the door. Jennifer and I both agreed that we thought he was saying that the door wasn't closed hard enough. So, naturally, I opened the door and slammed it closed again. He made an even bigger face and said something else and pointed to the door. So, I opened it again and slammed it again. He looked like he was going to explode, but after making some noises, he just asked us where we were going. I showed him the little piece of paper with the name and address of our hotel, which, admittedly, was a 5-8 minute walk away-but we were both in pain and suffering! Well, after he saw where we wanted to go, he lost it. He started pointing and yelling and saying god knows what, that our hotel was just a few blocks away or something. So, I just opened the door and said GRACIAS really loudly, and got out of the car. He got out too and kept on yelling at us. So I just screamed MUCHOS GRACIAS!!! and made a sort of up-yours gesture with my arm. He kept yelling at us as we walked away across this busy square. It was horrible. I was so fucking mad that I wanted to turn around and scream FUCK YOU!!!, but he looked like the type that enjoyed slapping women around, so I opted not to. :-) What a bastard. In retrospect, I'm sure he was chastising me at first for slamming the door too hard to begin with, which is amusing considering that I responded by slamming the door even harder TWICE after he said not to close it so hard. He deserved it, though.

OK, my time is almost up at the internet cafe, so I"ll let you go. I hope you're all doing well and I'll see you soon!