This User’s ExperienceThe blog of Matt Henderson

The Rio Grande river begins its journey at the mouth of a cave near Yunquera, Spain, and makes its way down through the mountains and just by the Tolox venta where we like to have lunch on the weekends.

For quite some time, we’ve been wanting to visit the river source (“nacimiento,” in Spanish), having heard that it’s a particularly beautiful place. Unfortunately, however, neither the routes we’ve found in books, nor the ones we found on the web have accurately described how to find the place. On our first attempt, two weeks ago, we simply couldn’t find it.

This past weekend, we tried again, and this time we did find it. In this blog article, we’ll describe how to get there, and point you to the trip page we created at EveryTrail.com, where you can download the GPS track file, to ensure your own ability to find it.

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Although it’s still wonderfully warm here at sea level in Marbella, it’s quickly getting cold in the Alpujarras and Sierra Nevada, and so thought this could be our last weekend to try camping at the Siete Lagunas. Setting out early Saturday morning, we arrived in Capileira in time to catch the 3:00 PM bus up to the Alto Chorrillo, where our three-hour hike to the Laguna Hondera would begin.

With advanced reservation, you can catch the bus to Alto Chorrillo from either Capileira, or, as we did, several kilometers up at the Hoya del Portillo. From Alto Chorrillo, you can hike to the Refugio de Poqueira, down to the city of Trévelez, up to the famous peak Mulhacén, or over to the beautiful Siete Lagunas (seven lakes).

As is typical in Spanish national parks, the trails are not well marked. Although we asked several people for directions, we were led ambiguously towards the Mulhacén, instead of the Siete Lagunas, which we realized after speaking with some folks heading down. Rather than turning around, and hiking all the way back down to the Alto Chorrillo to start over, we decided to hike straight up and over the mountain ridge, to join up with the trail which leads around the other side of the mountain to the Siete Lagunas.

Contrary to what many told us, the subsequent trail that leads down to the Siete Lagunas is actually marked, by the largish pile of stones shown in the following photo. (Note that on my EveryTrail.com page for this trip, I’ve included the two Siete Lagunas turn-off waypoints in the downloadable GPS track file.)

Traversing the mountain on the Trévelez side of the Mulhacén, at about 3,000 meters of altitude, we began closing in on the hidden Seven Lakes. It’s a stunning view from here, looking down the valley towards Trévelez. (Turns out, we were actually lucky to even be here! There was so much fog at the Alto Chorrillo, that the bus driver strongly recommended we spend the night at the Refugio Poqueira, instead of risking not finding the lakes and getting lost. We had a GPS though, felt adventurous, and decided to head to the lakes. It was the right decision, since we ended up climbing out of the fog at about 2,800 meters into gorgeous and stable weather.)

At about 7:30 PM, we crested the final ridge, looked down the steep slope into the gully below the Mulhacén, we saw our destination, Laguna Hondera, the lowest (and largest) of the seven lakes.

Although we sort of expected it, we were caught a little off-guard at how cold and windy it was. It seemed that the natural gully channeled cold winds directly off the Mulhacén down the valley towards Trévelez. We bundled up, quickly pitched the tent, and headed off to bed.

The next morning, we woke up about 7:00 am to an absolutely gorgeous sunrise over the valley.

We had a leisurely breakfast while watching the early-morning wild mountain goats and deer having a drink by the lake, and the other campers (two groups) waking and stretching by their tents. After packing everything up, we climbed out of the gully, and retraced our path back up the mountain, and back down to the Alto Chorrillo, where we caught the 12:15 am bus back down to the Hoya de Portillo.

What I really noticed about this trip, was the affect altitude makes. We only walked about 7km on Saturday, and 6km on Sunday, but I felt exhausted when we got back to the car. Of course, carrying much more equipment than usual had something to do with it, but even more so (I believe) the lack of oxygen at that altitude!

And, of course, it wouldn’t have been a proper trip to the Alpujarras, of course, without a stop off at Casa Julio, in Pampeneira for a good old Plato Alpujareño (this time with migas, instead of potatoes.)

Resources:

• Flickr photo set.

• Full trip details, including downloadable GPS track and waypoints. at EveryTrail.com:

Feeling a bit knackered after yesterday’s 10km walk in the hot sun, we decided to take things easier today. Leaving Marbella at about 9:45 am, we drove up the Carretera de Ronda, stopping about 5km after the “Cruz de Hierro” at our favorite venta, La Navasilla, for some breakfast of toasted molletes with oil and tomato, and cafe con leche.

After breakfast, we drove back to the turnoff for Los Quejigales. We’d planned to park at Quejigales, and walk up to the lower peak on the route to the Torrecilla. However, about 5 kms out, we found the passage bar down, effectively shutting off the road. I guess the simply cut the access to the top in summertime.

After considering for a few minutes, we decided to drive down the dirt road to the right (where the Quejigales road was cut), and walk part of trail we’ve done in the past, Pinsapo de la Escaleretas.

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Continuing our exploration of all places Andaluz, we set off today to the Sierra Prieta, just behind the small pueblo of Casarabonela. Our plan was actually to climb up to the Sierra Prieta peak; however, driving along the dirt road up the mountain, we took one look at the exposed face where we’d eventually be driving, and decided to stop short about 3.7 km, and at least try walking towards what would have been the beginning of the trail.

Just a few hundred meters after the car, however, we spotted a turnoff towards a small peak, “Puerto Jacara,” and decided to shoot up to the top.

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The plan this morning called for an exploratory walk around the Refugio Juanar (about 20 minutes from Marbella, direction Ojén), to find and examine the trail that leads from Juanar to Istán.

Turned out that trail was very quick and easy to find, and after about 1.5 km, we decided to save it for another day, as the sun was coming out and getting hot on the exposed mountain over which the trail passes.

Turning around, we decided to return via the “Pico Juanar”, the second highest peak around here (after “La Concha”) at around 1,100 meters.

We’ve been to Pico Juanar several times in the past, but had nearly forgotten how steep the path is to the top. But it’s relatively short, and there was a foggy cloud over the mountain keeping the temperature down. Arriving to the top, the kids were quite happy to have made it (again). We snapped a couple of photos, and headed back down to the car.

Visit the Flickr photo set for the day.

View ALL the trip details at my EveryTrail.com page:

Pico Juanar at EveryTrail

The area around Yunquera, in Andalucia’s “Sierra de las Nieves” is famous (maybe even world famous) for its concentration of beautiful and majestic “Pinsapo” pine trees. Although we’ve been there several times in the past, we decided to head up there early this morning, to take in some of the cool mountain air.

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AFTER AN INTENSE WEEK OF WORK, my wife’s suggestion on Friday to head off to the Alpujarras for the weekend was music to my ears. We did some quick Googling, found a nice apartment for rent in Bubión, loaded up the Jeep and hit the road.

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This weekend we stayed again at the cabañas in Jimera de Libar, where, on Saturday morning, Pino ran in the first annual “Carerra de Alpandeire”, a 10 km mountain race. She finished 6th (in the female group), and had a great time!

Taking advantage of the Semana Blanca holiday here in Spain, we took the kids for a three-day trip to Granada, a get-away that turned out to be one of the most enjoyable in quite some time.

After the scenic 2.5 hour road trip from Marbella to Granada, we dropped our stuff off at the Cortijo Balzain enclave of rural houses, on the single-track road up between La Zubia and Cumbres Verdes. This is the second time we’ve stayed in the super-cozy rural houses for rent at Balzain, and it’s truly one of my favorite place to stay. The 300 year old little houses are fully refurbished, retaining their original rustic look and feel, while providing for all of the modern necessities (electricity, heating, water, fully equipped kitchen, heated floors, TV, etc.)

On Thursday afternoon, we drove down past La Zubia, and into Granada proper for an afternoon trip to the Parque de las Ciencias. Our children (and my wife and I) just love this place. It’s a huge science-themed parked, offering interesting attractions for kids and adults alike. We saw a dinosaur exhibition, a giant pendulum, rooms full of hands-on experiments demonstrating the principles of physics, math and science, an outdoor area full of “thinking puzzles” (remove the ring from the ropes. It’s impossible. Ok, it’s not impossible.), an outdoor labyrinth, and a greenhouse room full of exotic butterflies. And that’s just a small sample of what this place offers!

Before heading to the Parque de las Ciencias, we had one of the best meals of the trip, at the Fuente del Hervidero, a really old restaurant sitting just off the dirt road above Cumbres Verdes, heading into the Sierra Nevada national park. We sat on the sunny and warm terrace, and enjoyed some of the best cooked chicken and potatoes I’ve had in a long time. And what would be a country side lunch without wrapping things up with a home-made Crema Catalana, and Cafe con Leche!

Friday morning, after a pretty good breakfast in La Zubia, we headed up the 30 km drive to the Sierra Nevada ski station. We expected relatively few people, being Friday and not quite the weekend, but were we ever wrong. The place was packed. Unfortunately, and quite unbelievably, they don’t have anywhere at the lower levels for kids to play around in the snow. We ended up having to hire skis and boots for the little ones, and enroll them in a 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm ski orientation class for children.

All in all, we didn’t really enjoy the trip to the Sierra Nevada Ski Resort. There were just too many people, the place was kind of dirty, and as a family with small kids, we sorta felt unwanted.

Friday night we took a trip to the local Mercadona grocery store, and picked up some hot-dogs, buns, tiramisu, and wine, for a nice little cozy (and too easy-to-prepare) dinner at home.

Saturday turned out to be the best day of all. After a nice breakfast at the rural house, we took the car up the dirt road past Cumbres Verdes. At around the 1.5 km point or so, we parked the car, geared up, and started the hike up the trail towards the famous Trevenque mountain. The trail, which is wide and perfectly suitable for kids (at least as far as we got), circles the Trevenque, and forms a nice looping 11 km route. With the kids, we couldn’t do the whole thing, so we hiked up about 2 to 2.5 km, to a point where we could get a good look at Trevenque, had a picnic lunch, and headed back down.

During the hike, we were pleasantly surprised by a pack of wild mountain goats (or some kind of largish mountain animal) rushing down the mountain, and across the road.

On the way back home, we stopped just outside Granada, in Santa Fe, to pick up some those famous and incredibly scrumptious “Piononos”, from the source itself, the Pasteleria La Isla. (Thanks for the recommendation, Diego!)

Click here to view the trip’s photo gallery.

Today we met up again with the Senderitos.com folks, and headed down the highway, just past Nerja, where we parked the car just off the highway, to explore the trails and jagged cliffs of the Málaga coast.

We parked the car at the pull-off for the Playa del Cañuelo, and started down the steep downhill dirt roads towards the sea. After just several meters from the car, we detoured off to the left, and started walking a rolling path down towards the Playa de Cantarriján.

As we managed to repair the backpack, our little boy got a free ride again today, and daddy suffered. When we arrived to the playa de Cantarriján, I was good and tired, and very thankful to find a beach-side cafe serving some cafe-con-leche. As I drank my coffee, and looked around at the photos on the wall, I was kinda startled that many of the photos were of naked people. Turns out, the Cantarriján is a nudist beach, or “naturalist” beach, as the Spanish like to say.

Today, however, the wind and cool temperatures kept all but the most determined nudists at home, I guess. The beach was practically empty except for a few scuba divers getting thrown around in the rough water.

We had lunch just near the beach, and on the way back, our masochist leader Luis decided what we really needed to do (or what Matt really needed to do with a 15kg kid on his back), was march down the treacherous path to the rocky coastline. Somehow we made it down safely, and then hiked around to the Playa del Cañuelo, where we rested up before walking up the road back to the car. And man what a walk back it was — 30 minutes of almost vertical climbing. Ok, well it wasn’t that bad, and I was in good company with my new buddy Julia, who likes my little boy, and speaks Spanish and German.

That’s the report from this week!

Click here to view the day’s photo gallery.

Today’s outing took us on this gorgeous day to nearby (well, relatively), Pizarra. From Marbella, we took the Ojen highway to Coin, then on to Cártama, and then on to Pizarra — all in all, about a 45-minute drive. In the small town of Pizarra, we parked next to the “Recreation Area” (a small playground/park type thing), had a cafe-con-leche at the bar across the street, and then started walking up the Hacho de Pizarra walking route. Since my neck was a bit sore from jiu-jitsu this week, I didn’t take the child backpack, and our poor little boy had to walk. ;-)

The walk starts out steep as it climbs through the playground, and then eases off as it continues upward. The path winds its way through some very pretty trees and rocks. It was kind of slow going with the little one having to fend for himself, but we finally arrived to the point where the path enters a giant rock, in which some steps have been constructed, leading to a “mirador” (a look-out) at the top. We had a snack, snapped a couple of pictures, and headed back down to the car.

Lunch was at the incredibly busy “Venta Platero”, located almost at the entrance of Coin. We had some nice mixed salads, and rabbit in a garlic sauce. Definitely recommended.

Technorati Tags: family, hiking, spain

Once again we ventured out with the Senderitos.com crowd for a weekend hike, to the beautiful “Montes de Málaga,” about an hour’s drive from Marbella. And what a beautiful October day it was, sunny and warm, with a just a crispy hint that winter’s on the way.

From downtown Málaga, the never ending ascent to the Montes de Málaga park reminded me that I’ll be back here again early next year, for the annual “Reina” (Queen) early-season bicycle race up this very same peak. Anyway, we turned off at the top of the mountain, and parked about two kilometers down the dirt road, where we began the hike.

We hiked the wide, level trail, constantly looking out at the spectacular views of the Málaga/Granada area mountain ranges. Our daughter didn’t have such a hard time this week, since she we joined by a friend, and spent most of the day figuring out how to keep a stuffed teddy bear entertained. My back was quite thankful this week, as our little boy decided he preferred to walk (rather than ride in the backpack.) Maybe it was the presence of his big sister’s friend, or something.

Note to the regular readers and photo viewers (that’s you, Mom): I do wash these clothes from week to week.

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!.

Technorati Tags: family, hiking, spain

It’s pretty amazing what kids are capable of doing. Today, we went on hike, again with the folks from Senderitos.com, and watched a group of kids hike for over five hours, including a climb of nearly 800 meters!

Today’s trip was a little closer to home for us, just up the road to the Juanar area, near Ojen. After meeting with Luis and the Senderitos gang, we parked down close to the refugio, and began the five hour hike up, over and then down the Pico Juanar.

I just couldn’t believe how well our four year old did. Well, we did have a small crisis at the steepest point of the climb (Can’t. Go. Any. Further. Daddy.), and that’s when we discovered the secret to getting kids to march indefinitely — scary stories. We went through vampires, mummies, werewolves, ghosts and “Evil Queens”, on route to the 800 meter peak. Daddy had the 14 kg younger one on his back all day, and did noticeably worse than the four-year-old.

For those of you familiar with the area, we took the backside trail up, turned left at the split off to La Concha, and then took the steep switch-back trails back down the front. All in all, a very nice day!

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!.

I am constantly impressed with the variety of interesting places to visit available in southern Spain. This past weekend, we joined Luis and a group of families from Senderitos.com, and took a day trip out to a place called, “El Torcal,” about an hour’s drive from Marbella, and had a fantastic afternoon walking and climbing through this beautiful natural park.

The El Torcal Nature Reserve is located about 30km north of Malaga, near the city of Antequera. Once you arrive to the small town of Villanueva de la Concepcion, you continue on — up, up, up the winding, twisting road to some 1,300 meters above sea level, where one finds the entrance of the 17 square kilometer natural reserve. Over the years, the erosion from the wind and rain have created some spectacular shapes, formations and landscapes within this ocean of limestone. (Be sure to walk through the photo gallery below!)

The park used to offer four hiking trails, but in the interest of preservation, only two are now offered — the “green” trail, and the “yellow” trail. Our group opted for the yellow trail, a circular route of 3 km, perfect for a half-day out hiking with small kids. The trail, well marked with sign posts, snaked its way through the rocky labyrinth. Walking through the odd rocky formations gave me the impression of exploring another planet. It took a long time to get through the 3 kilometers, mainly due to the fact that for the kids, this place looked like one gigantic playground, where everything in sight needs to be climbed and conquered. We also stopped about three times for water and snacks.

Senderitos.com is a website run by a guy from Malaga named Luis, dedicated to the organization of outdoor activities suitable for families with small children. A public forum on the site creates a virtual community, where people swap stories, ideas, and general get to know each other. Except for the hottest months of the year, the group gets together each weekend for an outing. This week’s hike at El Torcal was the first of the season, and we look forward to getting involved regularly with this group.

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!

This weekend (well, Sunday through Wednesday), we decided to take a few days and go on a short vacation to the Alpujarras — the mountainous region south-east of Granada that we discovered a week or so ago. In particular, we visited the valley of Poqueira, leading up to Sierra Nevada, and the highest point in the region, Pico Veleta. There are three Galician-named mountain pueblos in the valley — Pampaneira, Bubion and Capileira — all of which offer some interesting hiking, visiting and culinary options.

Day 1: Balcon de Pitres.

We left Sunday afternoon from Marbella, and headed up the coast, turning inland as we did last time at Salobrena. Entering the mountains in Lanjaron, we began ascending the small and winding road leading up to the valley of Poqueira. Rather than staying in one of the valley pueblos, we decided, after reading our Lonely Planet guide, to stay close to the lesser known town of Pitres. This turned out to be a great suggestion, as Pitres is just as beautiful as the other towns, but much less touristic.

Some four hours after leaving Marbella, we arrived to the Balcon de Pitres, the rural campsite where we planned to stay each night. The Balcon sits just outside Pitres, and offers camping and bungalows year-round to travelers. The four-person Bungalow we rented was small, clean, very rural, and offered more or less the bare necessities — three small beds (later, upon checkout we learned there was a forth hidden in a wall), a tiny kitchen and a bathroom.

I highly recommend the Balcon de Pitres. I don’t know whether it was just good luck, or characteristic of the place, but the travelers we met there were all really, really pleasant. Next to us was a group of German/Austrians on an ad-hoc spanish language course, a retired British couple, and a family of Spaniards from Alicante.

Although we didn’t eat there, the camp’s restaurant made some of the best coffee I’ve had in a long time. Their Rancilio non-electric espresso machine must be 50 years old, and creates its pressure using long pump arms. It takes a minute or so to make the coffee, but man it’s worth the wait! (By the way, the espresso machine I have at home is a Rancilio Miss Silvia — and is probably the finest home espresso machine on the market under $500.)

After getting setup in the bungalow, we decided to drive into Pitres for some dinner. We found an absolutely fantastic vegetarian restaurant named El Jardin, run by a British lady. We shared a stir fry with chinese noodles, quesadillas and humus with bread and raw vegetables. And, of course, the beer of choice in this area is Alhambra, from Granada.

Day 2: The hike up.

Monday morning we took the car early, and drove up the valley through Bubion to Capileira. We discovered why Pitres is such a good choice, as the valley towns of Pampaneira, Bubion and Capileira are just a bit too touristic for our tastes. They are beautiful, no doubt, but the Bavarian-looking painted signage and bad/expensive food left (literally) a bad taste in my mouth. In Capilleira, I had the worst breakfast and lunch I’ve had in a long time. (If you visit, don’t go the the Mameira pizzeria.)

After breakfast, we drove (as recommended by the very friendly Dutch lady working at the tourist office) 12 kilometers up the tiny, windy dirt road to the point where the road is closed, called Hoya de Portillo. We left the car, and started our three hour hike through the shady pine forrest to the Puerto Molina, where one has an almost 360 degree beautiful panoramic view.

On the way up, the backpack in which I carry our two-year old son broke, and I had to carry him part of the way up (the only non-shaded part, of course) and all the way down sitting on my neck. As a result, I’ll probably be visiting the chiropractor when I get home. My wife found the price of the cheap-o backpack quite attractive. I hope some day she comes to realize you get what you pay for.

Fortunately, we later found a hardware shop in Pitres, and I had the lost screw nut replaced, and then, in a moment of revenge, led my wife on for several minutes that I’d paid 10 cents for the nut, and 10 Euros for labour to have the man install it. When she started off towards the store with a tire iron in her had, I had to come clean. My back didn’t feel much better, but somehow I did. :-)

Day 3: The hike down.

We began Tuesday with some breakfast at the bungalow — cocoa krispies and milk, much better than the rock-hard toast I had the day before in Capileira — and then took the car back to Capileira to do another hike. This time, however, the hike was downhill, towards the river at the bottom of the valley. We walked for about 45 minutes before the nicely prepared path turned into a steep, snaking single-track trail. With a 15kg child in the pack, and a slightly aching back from yesterday, we decided to call it quits, and sat down under a shade tree for a snack. I must say that the valley was really beautiful — much greener than the high-mountain terrain we’d seen the day before.

We climbed the path back to Capileira and took the car down to Pampaneira, where we explored the town until lunchtime. A coke, nestea and two juices set us back eight Euros — most definitely a tourist town.

After lunch we made our way back to the campground, and headed down to the restaurant for some refreshments. We sat out on the shady porch and talked to our British neighbors who’d just bought a lot nearby, on which they plan to build a small farmhouse. (They need to talk to us at Henderson & Henderson, through I’m not sure our subs would travel that far. :-) The kids, in the meantime, chased a family of cats around the terrace garden.

Around 7:30 pm, we decided to check out some of the really isolated pueblos on down the road from Pitres. I was simply amazed at the beauty of this area, namely Mecina and Busquistar. I think if we ever look into a weekend getaway, this will be the place.

For dinner, we couldn’t help ourselves, and just had to return to the vegetarian restaurant in Pitres, “El Jardin.” The menu tonight included crepe with mushrooms, and (one of my favorites) Pimiento del Piquillo. For dessert we had a rasberry crumble pie, that was out of this world. We talked to the owner afterwards, and found out that she’s closed during the wintertime, since (a) the whole town is deserted, and (b) it’s far too cold to sit in their terrace. She closes in late October, and we promised to be back before then.

Day 4: Back to Marbella.

Leaving for home on Wednesday morning, we decided to take the “long way”. We first drove up to Trevelez (just to say we’ve been in the highest town in Spain), and then back down the way we came, arriving to Orgiva. In Orgiva, instead of heading back directly, we detoured over the mountain pass. That was one heck of a long, hair-raising (due to the sharp drop-offs), but very pretty drive.

Final note: One nice thing about the area we visited, is that there’s surprisingly good Vodafone coverage, which, through a GPRS connection from my Powerbook via a palmOne Treo, allowed for anytime internet connectivity. I know there’s a lot of people that would consider it heresy to connect to the net in a place like this. But, to be honest, I found it very convenient. Such access instantly turns a remote location like this into a feasible get-a-way work place.

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!

This past weekend, we decided to stay a bit closer to home, and take a little tour through the local mountains. We started the day by heading down the coast towards Estepona (about 15 minutes away), and then turning inland to climb the towering mountain of “Los Reales.”

When the Vuelta de España cycling tour passes through here, this mountain is categorized as a first category climb. It’s big. There’s 20 km from Estepona to the top of Los Reales from the main road, and then another 5 km on a tiny road to the very top, where there’s a small “Refugio” built. I’ve climbed this mountain on a bicycle before … once.

About 2 km before the refugio, there is a footpath known as the Paseo de los Pinsapos. The path goes out and back, through some beautiful forest of Pinsapo trees (evergreens, like pines) and is about 3.5 km long. We walked this with the kids for what seemed like forever, but when we got back to the car, I checked the map, and it looks like we did about 1/10th of the path. Oh well.

We then drove the last 2 km to the top, where we found a small group of British painters who’d come up the mountain for some landscape painting. Rare for the summertime, there was a lot of cloud cover, so the Brits had to be content painting pine cones.

My big disappointment of the day came with the discovery that the kitchen at the refugio was closed. Last time I was here in the wintertime, it was open and was serving some hearty potato soup, iberian ham sandwiches and the like. With limited options, we sat down at one of the massive wooden tables, opened the cooler, and had some homemade sandwiches and fruit.

After lunch, we decided to head down the opposite side of the mountain (inland), and worked our way down to the mountain village of Jubrique. The scenery in this area is absolutely spectacular. Leaving Jubrique, the winding road eventually heads up an unbelievable climb to the small town of Algatocin. (Just outside Jubrique, we passed the Venta San Juan, where we should have eaten. We stopped for a coffee, and man did that barbecue smell good!)

From Algatocin, we continued upward to Gaucin, a bigger (though still in the category of “small”) town, which seem to be oddly populated with foreigners. We stopped at a park in Gaucin, where the kids played, and Daddy smashed his head on the top of a swingset that was just under six feet tall. (Don’t they have standards or something for this kind of thing?)

Leaving Gaucin, we worked our way down and around towards Casares, a “mountain” town one arrives to about 10 minutes from the coastline. We stopped off in Casares for another coffee, and let the kids spend some quality time terrifying some poor cat.

By this point in the afternoon, I was pretty tired, but we decided to stop in Estepona, and let the kids play on the massive playgrounds they’ve constructed along the boardwalk.

Just when I thought we were finally going to head home, my wife got the idea that we should make a final stop at Agro Jardin — sort of a Home Depot of gardening located between Estepona and Marbella. The kids joined in, and quickly let me know I’d have a mutiny on my hands if I didn’t stop.

In addition to plants, terrace furniture and garden tools, Agro Jardin also sell all sorts of living things — dogs, fish, mice, lizards, scorpions and tarantulas. After scaring off an iguana, and then getting terrified by a giant squawking exotic bird, the kids went off to play on the two-level enclosed indoor playground. (The playground is situated next to a bar. Agro Jardin make sure there’s plenty to entertain dad and the kids, so mom has all the time she needs to buy boatloads of plants.) It’s interesting to observe the social rules and patterns that emerge when about 15 kids of various sizes and ages end up together inside an enclosed plaything like that.

Got home around 8:00 pm or thereabouts, eventually put the kids to bed and sat down to decide between GTD planning, or watching some tube. The TV won out.

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!

This weekend’s day trip led us to the water producing city of Lanjaron, Spain, near the mountainous area of Sierra Nevada known as the Alpujarras. We’d actually planned on visiting Trevelez, supposedly the highest village in Spain, and famous for its cured hams, but we left the house a bit late, and, really, from Marbella, Trevelez would be better made as over-night trip.

From Malaga, we took the costal highway, passing cities such as Nerja and Almuñecar. The coastline in this area is spectacular, as the mountains come right up to the sea, forming some beautiful drop-offs to the clear blue water.

Near Motril, we turned right to head inland, and found ourselves behind a lunatic and his girlfriend puttering along on a 50cc scooter. After about 15 minutes, there as a queue formed behind them, led by us, of about 50 cars. After what seemed like an unbearably long time, we finally arrived at the turn-off for Lanjaron. (The scooterist had mercifully turned off a few kilometers earlier).

Lanjaron, the city where the famous mineral water by the same name is produced, was a 6 km drive from this turn-off. According to our Lonely Planet Andalucia guide book, there shouldn’t have been much to see or do in Lanjaron, but we found it to be a nice, clean and lively little town — full of people at the morning streetside markets. (Mind you, our guidebook is five years old, but the wife refuses to upgrade…)

About a kilometer outside Lanjaron, we passed a really nice looking restaurant, “Venta El Buñuela”, and since it was 1:30 p.m., and with hopes of arriving to Trevelez at a decent hour growing dim, we decided to stop and eat, and then return to spend the afternoon exploring Lanjaron.

The highlight of my day was lunch. We had as a starter Pimiento Piquillo Relleno con Bacalao y Gamba (Piquillo peppers stuffed with bacalao and shrimp), followed by a Ensalada Buñuela for my wife, and grilled Merluza fish for me. We had some tinto verano, and, of course, Lanjaron water. We finished off lunch with flan and natillas for dessert, and a cafe-con-leche. Oh man, was it all good.

The kids entertained themselves playing around the fish pond, and, after lunch, the small playground next to the restaurant.

We eventually headed back into Lanjaron, and began the search for a place to park — “free” parking, mind you, as my wife simply can’t enjoy herself with the knowledge that we’re being subjected to a running parking meter. I really wish I’d taken a picture of the treacherous incline where I had to leave our car. (My wife, of course, had exited the vehicle with the kids long earlier, to help “direct” my parking.)

We walked around town, checking out the shops, and visiting what seemed like sort of a cross between a municipal park and a zoo. It was all quite nice.

Finally, on the trip back home, we decided to stop off for a quick visit to the Nerja cave — definitely worth a visit if when you’re in the area.

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!

Today we took a trip to a day trip to Ardales, Spain – about an hour and a bit from home. We’d hoped to visit El Chorro, home of the (in)famous Camino del Rey. Unfortunately, the road to El Chorro was cut, and, being Spain, without any notice of why or how long it will remain so.

So, apart from driving around, we visited nearby Ardales. Note to self: Never Visit Ardales in August. It’s actually a beautiful place, but in the middle of Summer must be the hottest spot on the planet. No kidding, even the breeze was horrible.

The park at Ardales was full of local Spaniards camping away their Summer holidays. We ambled down the hill at the park, and let the kids splash around in the lake, which was sadly almost empty. After 15 minutes, Daddy couldn’t take it any longer, and we packed up and headed back to the air-conditioned car. (Thank goodness Hondas are the most reliable cars in the world.)

The highlight of the day came at lunchtime, when we had a wonderful meal at the Restaurant El Cruce, in downtown Ardales. Lunch included some Gazpacho, a chilled tomato soup dish that must be the most delicious and refreshing thing one can eat/drink on a hot summer day, some grilled rosado (fish) and lamb.

As usual, I snapped some photos, so be sure to check them out in the photo gallery!