A Day Trip to Ronda

Today I decided to strike out on my own and go on a little Spanish adventure. The place I decided to travel to was the town of Ronda, which is the largest of the white hill towns of Andalucia. The day, luckily, was without incident and I´m glad I went on the outing by myself.

But before I get to Ronda, let me pick up the thread from last night where I went out for a night on the town with Tim the Weatherman. The most interesting part, aside from exploring the random streets, is just how much our ship has invaded the town. As we wandered around to find a pub, we kept on running into gaggles of cadets all of whom know Tim. Personally, I think Tim and I made a rather incongruous couple, but a night out was good.

Of course, we happened to find the only ¨Irish¨ pub in Malaga so we had to stop in. Tim offered to sing Irish songs and dance, but they politely declined as I shuttled him out. This was the beginning of the evening.

We then proceeded to the heart of the historic district where we found a catedral. Near there we planted ourselves for a couple of hours at a table as people passed by. About every five minutes or so we would see groups of cadets who would salute Tim. The librarian apparently gets no salue. But Tim´s from NOAA so he shouldn´t get one either... bah... they just like him better because of his ebullient personality mingled with his gregarious Kris Kringle look.

Anyway, we headed back to the ship just as all the cadets who were on liberty were coming back. I believe they found it funny that two of the officers were walking back with them. As I said, it is about a mile and a half walk from the entrance of the port to the ship itself, so we got to hear plenty of stories that while I would love to share them with you, would probably be best not to consign to written word. Sorry!

On to Ronda!

If you ever get a chance to go to Spain, go to Ronda. The scenery alone is gorgeous. Ronda is the largest in a series of fortified towns in the mountains and probably the most awesome in its location being set upon a gorge that is crossed by a cliff. The town itself was about an hour and a half bus ride out of Malaga and it goes straight up into the winding hills. This town is known as the birthplace of modern bullfighting, an inspiration for Hemmingway, and also where Orson Welles had his ashes scattered (random fact). Pictures of this will be forthcoming, I promise.

I spent a great part of the day in the town, wandering the streets, hanging out on the bridge over the gorge, and buying a present for Michelle (local artist) when at 1500 (3pm to civilians), I went to call Michelle. Of course I didn´t realize that siesta was still a heavily followed custom in Spain, thinking it was as passe as bell bottoms, but all the locuterias (internet/phone cafes) were closed till at least 1600. So I passed the time at a local cafe enjoying assorted fried fish (which included anchovies!) and a couple of local beers until it was time. I made my call and proceeded to la estacion del autobuses.

To demonstrate the serendipity of travel, or perhaps the fact that Ronda is well touristed during the day, as I waited for the bus, I overheard an Irish man, and a Korean gentlemen speaking in ENGLISH! With my cup overflowing with my limited Spanish, such as... ¨¿Lo siento, no hablo espanol, habla Ingles?¨ or ¨¿Donde esta el bano?¨ I immediately gravitated toward them and struck up a conversation. It is funny to see how that happens overseas.

In anycase, it was meant to be because not only did they speak ENGLISH, but both of them separately took Kung Fu! We spent the trip talking about the differences between various martial arts with of course an exposition into the different animal styles... I mean, come on... we all know that Drunken Leopard style *is* the best style.

As it turns out, the Irish guy lives in Dublin, so we exchanged information, so I may be meeting him again in Dublin. The Korean was on his honeymoon (his wife didn´t speak English) -- and not to sound overly gossipy, but he got married after three months! He did seem a bit nervous.

So anyway, the trip back was without incident and I made my way to the internet cafe to do a post. I also put in a call to mom, who was too busy to talk to her son because she was taking dance lessons. I see how it is.

Tomorrow, I´m off with the tour to Granada which will be a full day outing and then back to the biblioteca.

Vientos justos y mares de siguiente,
Jose