They do some mighty fine sand sculptures here. The artists have to have a lot of patience. When it rains – their art gets wiped out. Even dogs and wild kids can destroy them.
More sand art.
Sand art.
So here we have a bunch of seabirds just standing around on the beach. Is there a show going on? Why are they all aimed in the same direction? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is that they are facing the wind.
Not to be totally outdone in Christmas Lights by their neighbor Malaga to the north, this is a tall ‘tree’ in one of the plazas here in Torremolinos.
What? Looking skyward from inside the huge metal christmas tree in a square in Torremolinos.
I love playing with all the flat rocks that are in with the sand on the beach.
Just a couple miles to the south of where we live is the largest Tibetan stupa in Europe. It sits high above the coast and twice a week they have meditations there.
When their wings are up, you can’t tell they have a beautiful blue color in the inside of those wings. From inside the Butterfly Preserve near the Tibetan stupa.
We saw a lot of these blue butterflies in the Amazon rain-forest in Ecuador. It was nice to see them again in the Butterfly Perserve.
These moths in the Butterfly Preserve are from India and they sleep all day. Big. About 5 inches across.
Monarch butterflies are exotic here in Europe. They are flourishing here in the controlled environment of the Butterfly Preserve. No Monsanto Roundup to kill off all their food supply.
A small (dwarf?) wallaby living in the Butterfly Preserve.
This iguana is enjoying the tropical atmosphere in the Butterfly Reserve. Favorite food is veggies, not butterflies.
Some beautiful flowers with very tasty nectar for the butterflies.
That’s the #2 triage room in the university hospital in Malaga. It’s Saturday night and it’s busy. Charlotte had been having four days of on and off again chest pains and we wanted to get her checked out. They did an EKG and determined her heart was ok. That put us down the queue as far as emergencies went and a few hours later we got to see “Dr. Jerry”. He believed her issue was high blood pressure and gave her medicine to bring it down. A couple hours later it was lower and he released her. The next day we got an appointment with the doctor at our apartment. He believed it was acid reflux and prescribed medicine for that. She is better but not right yet. We’re thinking more tests might point to a ulcer brought on by years of ibuprofen. It’s an ongoing story…
This is our favorite local health food store.
And this is the great staff at our favorite health food store here in Torremolinos.
Our Happy New Year (Feliz Ano Nuevo) picture on a pedestrian street in Torremolinos.

Malaga

The crew assembling the street of lights in Malaga a couple days before the big event when it all gets turned on.
The crowd of thousands starting to get excited about the street of lights about to be turned on in Malaga – after it gets a little darker – and all the officials have given their speeches.
A huge and beautiful stained glass wall at the huge farmers market in Malaga. You almost don’t notice it because there is so much wonderful vegetables and fruits and nuts to grab your attention.
This is the square in front of where Picasso grew up. He learned to draw pigeons here.
With our friends from Western Canada. We were neighbors at Apartamentos Bajondillo. Spiritual seekers and very kind. We showed them around Malaga and they used their rental car to take us to Rondo up in the mountains!
Antonio Banderas, pretty famous actor, was with us in Malaga for the turning on of the street of Christmas Lights.
We have seen a lot of messages on t-shirts and they are usually in English. Loved this one.
The Bull fighting ring in Malaga. No longer used for killing bulls.
A really cool roof above where you buy tickets for the Picasso Museum in Malaga.
My mother would freak out. 3,000 pieces! She and her friends don’t even like 1,000 piece puzzles. Cubist cruelty.
After a day in the Picasso museum this seemed like a self portrait.
Brewery and restaurant in Malaga. They have tastings and tours.
At The Factory in Malaga. We tried some of their craft beer. Not bad.
Some of the beer tanks at the brewery/restaurant at The Factory in Malaga
If this was an ordinary sized doughnut, that one bite shrank me hugely. But it was just a really, really big doughnut. We fed most of it to the pigeons.
This is the huge ferry that crosses the Mediterranean every day and goes to Morocco. I was struck by the Minnesota Twins logo on the side. In case of an extreme flood it could be used as an ark to rescue those at Target Field.
A salvage barge in Malaga.
A school of fish in the marina at Malaga. They are each probably about a foot long.
Yes, this is a full scale sea worthy Spanish galleon built less than twenty years ago. It’s been to all five continents. Yet to be captured by pirates. Slowly paying for itself by letting people on board for 7 euros each.
A big anchor, Charlotte is hoping it doesn’t drop just now.

Rondo:

Setenil de las Bodegas. Setenil de las Bodegas is a town (pueblo) and municipality in the province of Cádiz, Spain, famous for its dwellings built into rock overhangs above the Río Guadalporcún. According to the 2005 census, the city has a population of 3,016 inhabitants. Many thanks to our Canadian friends, Ahmed and Suzana, for taking us along in their rental car.
The city of Rondo is high up in the mountains and built on cliff edges.
From the top end of Rondo.
A city that has some pretty good natural defenses. Rondo.
More cliffs of Rondo.
This is the new bridge (only a couple hundred years old). Built by the same architect that built the famous bull fighting ring in Rondo (which you will soon see,) as well as the cathedral in Malaga.
From the other side of the bridge.
The old bridge. This one is probably at least 500 years old.
The main church in Rondo.
Rondo Bull Fighting Ring. They quit doing bull fights here a couple years ago.
On the way back down from the mountains we stopped at this lookout for a small lunch.