We arrived in Spain on April 23rd. We flew into Barcelona for a short stay before heading off to our long term sit in the small pueblo of Ojén, just outside Málaga. I was excited to get back to a Spanish speaking country. We had left Panamá at the end of February, ending a 4-month streak of living in a Spanish speaking country (1 month in México and 3 months in Panamá). I was looking forward to using my Spanish again and seeing how much of it I retained. I was also interested to see how I would adjust to the “Spanish Spanish” as opposed to the “Latin American Spanish” that I was taught and was familiar with.
“Spanish Spanish” has two distinct differences from Latin American Spanish. The first is in the pronunciation. In Spain, they have a “th” sound that takes the place of the “s” sound. For example, “gracias” becomes “grathias” and “Barcelona” becomes “Barthelona”. The other main difference is the use of the “vosotros” verb tense (I’m not going to go into what that is here).
When we first arrived, everything seemed “off”. Street signs and advertisements just weren’t making sense to me as they had in Mex and Panamá. Listening to people around me talking, I couldn’t pick up as much of the conversation as I could before. I chalked it up to jet lag and tried to enjoy myself. I figured it would be back to normal the next day.
We only had 2 days to explore Barcelona, so we headed out in the morning looking forward to what the city held in store for us. Still, the Spanish just wasn’t coming to me. I started using my Google translate app more and more and there were many words that would not translate. WTF? And then, “DING!!!”. It came to me. Not only were we in Spain, but we were in Catalonia. I then did a quick internet search and learned that the Catalonia region of Spain has 2 official languages: Catalan and Spanish. Not only that, but all government signs and local media are in Catalan. At this point, I changed my translate app from Spanish-English to Catalan-English and, voila, it worked like a charm.
Barcelona is a beautiful city. We only had two days to check it out. We decided to take it slow and try and enjoy ourselves instead of creating a spreadsheet and frantically trying to see every possible sight. The result was that we spent our first day simply walking around in a relaxed state of mind. We walked along the famous walk street “La Rambla”. At one end we checked out the harbor and at the other end we checked out the aromatic and always bustling “La Boquería” market. The second day was a bit cool and called for light sprinkles so we booked a ticket on the hop-on/hop-off double decker tour buses to check out the rest of the town beyond our walking radius. We went to a high hill above the city for a fantastic view of Barcelona and the harbor. We also drove past, and stopped to check out, many tourist sites including Basilica Sagrada Familia and Camp Nou (the home of the famed Barcelona football club).
One of the most interesting things to see in Barcelona was the remnants of the recent Catalan push for independence. There were Catalonian flags and political signs posted on close to half of the balconies on buildings we passed by. Yellow ribbons representing solidarity with the independence movement were also displayed on clothing, balconies, stickers, etc. Currently, there are several politicians and activists either in jail or in hiding, including the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, who is currently in exile in Belgium.
After a couple days checking out Barcelona and getting rid of our jet lag (9-hour difference) we were excited to fly from Barcelona to Málaga and then head an hour further south west down the “costa del sol” to Ojén where we had a house sit scheduled for around eight weeks.
We were super excited about our upcoming sit in Ojén. I have always wanted to go to Spain and Ojén seemed like a great place to experience the Spanish culture. It is a small town of only a few thousand nestled into mountains just 5 miles (8km) inland from the coastal Spanish resort town of Marbella. It is a gorgeous “pueblo blanco” nestled between some hills. The winding, hilly streets – many of them pedestrian only – combined with all of the buildings being painted white, made it seem like it would be a charming mixture of Greece and our favorite Mexican town of Guanajuato.
As we pulled into town for the first time, our view of Ojén did not disappoint, It really is a neat, sleepy little town with a lot of charm. Our first few days we enjoyed walking the streets and visiting various cafés with outdoor seating. We took advantage of the perfect weather while trying out different tapas and adult beverages. We also enjoyed taking the dogs that we were looking after for walks in the nearby hills where, on clear days, we could see the rock of Gibraltar. Some days we could even see all the way across the Strait of Gibraltar to the mountains of Morocco in Africa.
Only about a week into our stay one of the dogs, JJ, developed a case of what we believed to be “kennel cough”. His cough developed on a Friday, and by Sunday we decided we needed to take him to the vet. Normally not a fun thing to do but, when you are in a foreign country, things you don’t like to do at home somehow seem more interesting – at least to us. So, Monday morning I called the vet at 9:30, when they opened, and was able to get an appointment for 11:30 (pleasant difference from the States #1). So, we set off for Hospital Veterinario Lauro in the small city of Alhaurín el Grande. It was only about 10-15 miles away but it took about a half-hour to get there winding our way through the Andalusian mountains – it was a pretty drive.
The vet checked out JJ and then confirmed our suspicions: JJ had kennel cough. The vet then gave JJ an injection of an anti-inflammatory and 2 different meds to thin out his mucus. I asked about an antibiotic but he said “no, he has no fever” and we should give JJ’s body time to conquer the illness on its own (refreshing difference from the States #2, where vets and doctors throw anti-biotics at pretty much everything).
While we were waiting for the vet to get the meds and prepare the paperwork, we discussed how much a visit like this would cost in Phoenix. We agreed around $120. We then estimated what it would cost here. I guessed 40 Euros. I was close: 44.5 Euros which is around $52 US dollars - so less than half what it would have cost at home (refreshing difference from the States #3).
We’ve been house sitting for almost a year now and, slowly but surely, we are starting to get a little savvier about things. One of the biggest dilemmas is deciding WHEN to book a sit. Booking far ahead has its advantages. Primary among them are that you can book sits back to back to avoid long periods where you will have to pay for your lodging. Another key advantage is, if the sit is geographically far away, you can book transportation earlier at often substantially lower costs.
There are also disadvantages to booking far in advance. One is that it cuts into your flexibility. Once you commit to a sit, you can’t back out. People are counting on you and have probably booked a vacation at significant cost. You really can’t let them down. Another disadvantage to booking far in advance is that circumstances of the sit can change. This is what happened to us relative to our sit in Ojén.
Our sit in Ojén started on April 26 but we booked it on January 15. A lot can happen in 3 ½ months. One thing that happened with this sit is that construction started on a remodel next door. When I say next door, I mean on the other side of the wall of the master bedroom. As you can probably tell from the photos in the “Gallery” section of this website, houses are compacted tightly together in Ojén and usually have shared walls on each side of the home and maybe there will be people on a floor above or below you. Every weekday morning at 8:00 the workers would start. Often using loud equipment including running a cement mixer and cutting tiles just 5 feet outside the kitchen window. This can get annoying after a while and can definitely make it difficult for me to conduct my online English classes.
The other thing that changed over the 3 ½ months from when we booked the sit to when we arrived is that the owner’s 18-year-old dog “Rex” became incontinent. When we booked the sit, the owners told us it would be for 2 or 3 dogs as they weren’t sure if Rex would still be around. He was getting frail and his old legs couldn’t take the stairs anymore. When the owners picked us up at the airport, I asked if we would be looking after 2 or 3 dogs. To which the reply was 3 dogs (which I was glad to hear – I wouldn’t wish anyone to lose a pet – and we have a lot of experience taking care of older dogs). Then the owner added in his South African/Irish mixed accent: “we call Rex ‘Piddlin’ Pete’ now”. I thought to myself “Uh-oh”. BTW- 18 is 126 in dog years!
Neither of these things ruined the sit. I would be lying, though, if I said we never became exasperated. At times, one of us would be “so done” but, luckily, I don’t think we ever both had that feeling at the same time. We tried to maintain a positive attitude and look for the silver linings. For example, the construction workers seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was fun to listen to them laugh while we were secretly testing our Spanish skills trying to figure out what they were saying. We also got a kick out of one guy that was always sneezing - he always sneezed in 3’s.
The biggest saving grace that made this all bearable was the use of the owner’s car while we were in Ojén. The owners, Tony and Kathy - a delightful couple, gave us permission to take the car all over. They said they were fine with us taking road trips to Granada, Ronda, Córdoba, Málaga, Gibraltar, Tarifa and even Seville which was 2.5 hours one way. So, explore Spain we did!
On May 14, we had one of our best days ever since we started this crazy lifestyle. We went on a great day trip into the depths of old España. We did a 123-mile (198km) loop with 3 stops on the itinerary - although just driving through the Spanish countryside and enjoying the stunning mountain and valley views would have been sufficient. The landscape is breathtaking and reminded me a bit of the mountainous areas of central southern California. We broke up our road trip by making stops in 3 very different and very cool places.
From Ojén, we drove about an hour and a half, leaving the province of Málaga and entering the province of Cadíz. There, we visited the town of Setenil de las Bodegas – one of the famous “pueblos blancos” (white towns) of Andalucía. It is a small town of probably less than 4,000 and it is famous for its dwellings built into rock overhangs above the Río Guadalporcún. We arrived relatively early and beat the large tourist buses that would descend upon the tiny metropolis later that morning. We walked the streets, admiring the homes and businesses that were literally built into the sides of mountains, in many cases, taking advantage of natural cave formations. We finished our visit with a breakfast in the sun at an outdoor café. We enjoyed tea/coffee and a breakfast sandwich with incredible bread and some of the “jamon curado” (cured ham) this region is famous for.
Our second stop was to check out the ruins of the ancient city of Acinipo. It was a beautiful sunny day around 75f (24c) and we had the entire place to ourselves. Acinipo is believed to have been founded by retired soldiers from the Roman Legions more than 2,000 years ago. The main draw here are the ruins of the Roman theater. The amphitheater stands at the highest spot and provides glorious views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.
For the third, and final, stop of the day, we returned to the province of Málaga and visited the city of Ronda. A city of around 37,000 people, it is absolutely bursting with history and natural beauty. Perched on an inland plateau, it is divided by the 2,500ft (750m) El Tajo gorge. Ronda is situated in a superbly dramatic location and it is considered the most impressive of all of the pueblos blancos. Steeped in history, its origin goes all the way back to the 9th century BC. It provides a wonderful mixture of primarily Spanish, Moorish and Roman cultural influences. It is also considered the birth place of modern bull fighting. Just as Wimbledon is the hallowed ground for tennis, Manhattan Beach the hallowed ground for beach volleyball, Ronda is the hallowed ground for bullfighting. Both Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles spent considerable time in Ronda and some of their works include references to bull fighting.
Three exquisite bridges, Puente Romano (Roman Bridge), Puente Viejo (Old Bridge) and Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) span the canyon that separates the two sides of Ronda. Puente Nuevo is the most impressive. It is the tallest of the bridges towering 390ft (120m) above the Tajo Canyon floor. The name “nuevo” (new) is something of a misnomer, as the bridge is from the 1700’s. Construction of the bridge began in 1751 and took 42 years to complete!
We made other trips as well. We went to Granada and checked out the famous Alhambra palace/fortress. We went to Málaga and Marbella. We went to Córdoba to check out the Great Mosque of Córdoba. We drove an hour away to hike the “Caminito del Rey” which is a 7k walkway that is 330ft (100m) high, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge over a river.
We were getting into a good rhythm of around 2 road trips per week when our journeys came to an abrupt end. We had parked the car on a local street on a Friday evening. When we came back to the car on a Monday morning to go to the grocery store, we found that someone had side swiped the car. There was a huge gouge on the passenger side of the car all the way from the rear panel to the front wheel. I opened the damaged passenger door and was pleased to find that it was still in good working order. “OK”, I thought, “this sucks, but it is only cosmetic”. But when I tried to drive the car, I quickly found that there was more than just cosmetic damage. The car would not drive and when I got out to do a more thorough inspection, I quickly noticed that the two front wheels were pointed in opposite directions. The front passenger wheel was pointed to the right while the front driver’s side wheel was pointed to the left.
Like the visit to the vet, we again found ourselves with unpleasant things to take care of but, being in a different country, it would be interesting. I ended up speaking with a police officer that spoke no English, a Spanish car insurance company, a tow truck driver that spoke no English and a mechanic that spoke no English. The fact that I was not the owner of the vehicle made things even more complicated than they normally would have been. All in all, it was quite simple to get the car fixed – much easier and less expensive than it would have been in the states.
The consequence of the car getting damaged is that we were stranded in Ojén for the last two weeks of our stay. We never got a chance to check out some of the other places we wanted to go to – primary among them being Tarifa and a bull fight (well, I would’ve gone to the bullfight by myself – Janne had no desire to go). Oh well, next time.
We did manage to get out a little bit after we lost the car. Our new friend, Abi, took us to the beach and the grocery store one day. And she also took us to the neighboring community of Coin, where we enjoyed a morning walk and coffee in an outdoor café and then spent the afternoon poolside at the house of a friend of Abi’s.
All in all, we enjoyed Ojén. It is a charming little pueblo with narrow winding walk streets and a quaint central plaza with outdoor cafés and a church built in the 1600’s. While we made several friends, none of them were Spaniards. They were all expats from different places around the world. I was disappointed that we did not make friends with any Spaniards. While we can’t make a judgement about the people of an entire country after only 2 months in a single region, we did find the people of México to be much more open and welcoming than the people of Spain. This is not to say the people of Spain are unfriendly. I would say they are on a similar "level of friendliness" as people from the USA. For sure, part of the reason we didn't make friends with any Spaniards was our own fault. It was easier to hang out with the expats we met than "working" at meeting locals and going to places where only locals hang out, Another challenge to making Spanish friends was cultural. By the time they are ready to start the evening and have dinner it is 9:30/10:00 and we are about ready to go to bed. Yes, we are old. Even though we didn't make any Spanish friends, we did enjoy Spain and we would definitely come back to Ojén and/or another area of Spain to do more exploring. ¡Viva España!
You can find many more pictures from our time in Spain in the "Gallery" section of this website. You can also sign up to receive an email notification when a new blog is posted. Just scroll to the bottom of the "Home" page and subscribe.
Adiós Spain – next stop: Denmark.
Comments