Explorando la ciudad

Now that we are becoming a bit more settled in our new home we are enjoying exploring the city. Yesterday we found a great new kids park just a couple blocks away from our house and today after my morning jog we went to check out the aquarium and then stumbled across a carnival parade and Sunday market. We were all impressed with how great the aquarium is for such a small town. They even had not one but two big sharks! They were chubby guys and looked pretty well fed. I'd hate to be one of the other fish in that tank.
John is sticking to his word and has become our official Spanish chef. For lunch today we had sauteed potatoes and chorizo. We are so happy to be able to cook at home now. Eating out can be a bit of an adventure when you are in a new place. Even if you understand what it says on the menu nine times out of ten what you get is a bit of a surprise and not always in a good way. A few days ago we went to a restaurant and John ordered a dish which was described to me in spanish by the waiter as "a couscous dish with fish and veggies." What john was given though was a plate of plain couscous and then another plate full of fried anchovies and jalapeno peppers. John was a trooper though and did his best to eat what he could. We are in fresh food heaven now. Downstairs from our apartment is a butcher shop and next door is a produce shop that also sells fresh bread. Everything is so cheap. I'm not sure we will ever be able to pay $3.50 for a baguette again now that we have become spoiled with paying only .45 cents.

Getting Settled

While it took a bit of effort to find a place that met all of our requirements (parking, walking distance to the town center/beach, 3 bedrooms,  not decorated to look like a low budget 80's porn set.... you know the usual) we finally found an apartment that fit the bill. The only downside is that it's barely furnished so we have been doing a ton of shopping. Fortunately, there are plenty of ceramic figurines here so we can check those off the list. My favorite thing though is the big patio where I envision us drinking many glasses of good wine and strong coffee. If you are interested in visiting us please let us know what dates you would like to come. The visitation calendar is filling up quickly!

The Adventure Begins!

I'm still not sure how we managed but we successfully packed up all of our belongings and hit the road from Seattle to Napa January 25th. After visiting with family a bit we caught a plane on February 2nd for Germany. I was nervous about traveling so much with a toddler but Zoe has been a little trooper. Thank goodness for ipads!
Our good friend Jan greeted us in Germany in our new station wagon with cold beer and fresh pretzels and took us to a beautiful spa with an amazing play pool for kids. Since it was only 8am in Germany we did our best to stay awake and adjust to the new time zone. He then brought us to our rental apartment and Zoe and I slept hard for over 17 hours straight. After recovering for a couple of days we headed to a cabin in the mountains in Austria with our other friends Jan,  Janina, and Ron. Poor John was sick as a dog while the rest of us had fun playing in the snow.
After returning from our snowy adventure we stayed a couple more days in Germany and then loaded up for the big drive to Almuñecar. We drove straight through France and made it here a bit dazed after three days and around 27 hours driving. Since arriving we have been renting a room while we look for an apartment.
Thankfully the hunt is over as John found a great place just five minutes walk from the beach! We sign paperwork tomorrow.  Both of us are eager to get a bit more settled. It is so beautiful here. Stay tuned for more photos and details about our new lives as Spanish beach bums....