Hola!

What a week it has been, so much packed into the last 5 days that we feel changed. Changed from the ups as well as the downs, and there was one big down amongst it all - the loss of our luggage between Thailand and Spain. Well not really lost, it just went on a holiday of its own.

The flight across had been effortless, we really had quite a fun time of it because if we weren't relaxing on the flight watching movies, eating or sleeping, we were lounging around in the local BC lounge trying all the local delicacies. It was only when we arrived in Malaga that things took a turn for the worse;  No luggage, but luckily there was a very helpful lady from Swiss Air that spoke good english. Unsure about what to do, we decided to stay in Malaga that night instead of hopping in a car and driving to Olvera. Maybe the luggage would magically reappear on the same flight the next day. I couldn't find the rental car anyway, so that was one complication out of the equation.

Georgia, unfortunately found the whole thing incredibly stressful, which in turn made me quite stressed and it all ended with a few tears. However, we eventually made our way to a nice hotel in Malaga, despite it being like a ghost town on a Sunday afternoon. Thanks Maccas WIFI !!   Once we hit that hotel room, it was lights out for both of us.

The next morning was a whole other story, we were refreshed and Malaga looked alive with people buzzing around. We spied a double decker tourist bus with an open top so we hopped on an explored the local sights, some of which are below, like the Alcazaba on top of a hill - magnificent views. Some of the streets are lined with orange trees, heavy with fruit. Pic of that below also.
One of the last stops was the Cathedral and since we were staying very close to it, we went back to check on our luggage.

"Si" said the Swiss Air man, "your luggage will be on the flight this afternoon"  Great, so we checked out and headed off to the airport again (via a department store to get Georgie a coat since we had $250 to spend from delayed luggage insurance).

I don't know why I was so trusting, nothing is a certainty when luggage is floating somewhere in the ether. It didn't arrive, of course but we were promised it would be leaving Rome for Madrid that night via an Iberian Airlines flight and would be delivered the next day.....or night. No use hanging around on a promise so we hired a car and headed for Olvera, our home base for the next month.

Our luggage did turn up but not until midnight on Tuesday. A big thanks to our host, John, from www.olverarentals.com . Without his help the bags would have headed back to Malaga because our mobile phones were inside our bags.

Driving on the wrong side of the road Vs My brain.

My brain does not like doing things back to front. Driving was hilarious because the gears, windscreen wipers and indicators are all in the wrong spot. Round-abouts frighten the crap out of me and I find myself crawling around them, if any car looks like entering at the same time as me, my response has been to just let them go in front until they get out of the way. Defeats the purpose of a roundabout really, doesn't it? The first time I encountered one of these, I had a handful of chips that I was trying to stuff into my mouth so I could change gears with my right hand but it was my left hand that instinctively reached for the gears while my right hand turned on the windscreen wipers at full speed. Chaos.

Two days went by before I dared to get behind the wheel again, but the second time was easier than I thought. Georgie and I drove from Olvera to Ronda to pick up Maddie and Billy (daughter and friend of my good friend from work, Trish) and did it really well without any pre planning; only one or two wrong turns and we made it there and back, and only turned onto the left side of the road once! Yay me. 

We love Olvera. It's real Spain with hardly any foreign influence. There are only 18 English couples living here, hence hardly anyone speaks English.  Georgie and I are starting Spanish lessons this afternoon; Georgie asked at the Bibliotechi (library) and we found a lady named Inma who will come to our house (starting today @ 5pm) and teach us for only $10 ph.  If we have have a few lessons a week we should be able to communicate to get by, and it will give Georgia a head start for when she starts Spanish language next term through Brisbane school of distance ed.

So that'll do for a start. Have a look at some of our pics taken in the last 5 days. There are several from Malaga but the majority are from Olvera. Our house patio has a fabulous view of the church and castle....they're magnificent - and date back to the 1100s. T are only outdone however, by the stars that light up our sky at night. 

Gotta love the pic of Georgia with a lollipop. Tears of frustration at losing our bags were useful while trying to change a hundred euro note to get the train into Malaga. My first request to change was met with refusal, then the woman spied Georgia crying, etc and not only did I get a pocket full of coins, she got a lollipop!!

In the pics, the glitzy looking place is Malaga, the white village where we're staying is Olvera (including pics of our house), castle and church (11th C) above where we live, also some taken from the Alcazaba and tourist bus in Malaga. 

At the end is a pic of nice tavern in Olvera, "Taberna Juanita Gomez". They serve yummy tapa like prawns wrapped bacon and deep fried seasoned roe (lunch today)  Maddie, Billy, Georgia and I also went back for dinner that night (nobody eats here before 9pm)and ate so many new yummy things. I only wish I'd got a picture of it all. BTW, each tapa is only 2 euros. There are 122 bars in Olvera! We're doing our best to work our way through them.

Enjoy!