Days 283-289, 22-28 Mar '15, Owners Home, Outings, Travel Day to Alhaurin el Grande, exploratory excursion to Estepona. Well that may well sound like pretty disparate stuff - and you'd be right. After getting blue prints, wood and nails ready for building a new Ark, the rain finally stopped on Tuesday - just in time for our lovely owners to return from their cruise vacation. We picked them up at Malaga airport and headed out for a late dinner in Calle Moncayo - Fuengirola's "Fish Alley". Even by recent standards it was late - past 10 pm when we sat down, but not too late for dinner in Spain. Last in, last out - we probably finished up at close to midnight... It's been a long while since James and I were in a restaurant at closing time. The week has been a lovely, jubbly blur of social engagements actually. Wednesday we were taken to a beach restaurant for lunch and tried some local delicacies - including tiny, delicate, whole squid. At a maximum of two inches long we're not even sure they're legal, but so teensy and tasty - the funniest description was "a bit like eating kittens". Moving right along, we hit the pescaderia (fish counter) at the local supermarket and stocked up on giant prawns, mussels and a whole sea-bass (in Spanish, "Lubina"). Our hosts whipped up baby green peppers fried in salt and oil for a starter to take the edge of the G&Ts and we whipped up our standard seafood fiesta - mussels with onions, garlic & white wine, prawns in sweet chilli & soy, whole baked bass stuffed with lemons and onions and lashings of garlic bread done under the grill. Another 2 pm night (morning?) Thursday dawned all too soon (but thank heavens for block out shutters). Our pick up for the trip up into the hills to our next housesit was put back from 11 am til 3 pm, so there was really nothing for it but a final jaunt into town and a farewell drink and tapa with our current hosts. Made it back to la casa at 3 pm and our new adventure began - off to Alhaurin el Grande, 1000 feet above sea level and nestled into the side of a mountain. Not super-hilly - but definitely hillier than dead-flat Fuengirola on the coast. Also a bit more expensive and a bit less English spoken here. Good chance to conserve funds pending our plans for the 3 weeks between 8 April and 30 April when we fly to exotic Morocco. There may be another house-sit to come in a charming Spanish finca 10 minutes from the beach in Estapona. We took a drive there the other day to meet the owners and the two dachshunds (one of whom is descended from the Royal Family of Monaco... obviously the doggy branch of the family tree). Our dates aren't quite a perfect match, so we figure we've a 50/50 chance of spending 3 weeks lazing by a pool. It was however a lovely couple of hours swapping stories. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, we are enjoying Alhaurin el Grande. We spent Thursday evening with our new hosts, getting to know them, the family, the dogs and then went out for dinner at their local bar/restaurant. They're off on a cruise in the Caribbean for a couple of weeks over Easter and they headed off at 4 am on Friday (thereabouts anyway). We on the other hand are enjoying our Spanish village townhouse with a balcony over the Main Street - perfect for setting our chairs on and watching the processions, sounds and spectacle of Santa Semana - Holy Week / Easter. Unlike Australia, where the Easter Eggs were in the shops on New Year's Day, there is very little commercialisation of the festival here. There will however be many processions - including life size crucifixes and miserable looking blokes hauling them on their shoulders. The beating of the drums and the bands practising at the moment are sure and certain indicators that Easter itself is going to be a big deal. Pictured is our local Church - San Sebastián, just down the road - gloriously lit up by night and since this photo was taken, beautiful draperies have been hung during the day (see album). Who knows what this week will bring? Almost definitely a drive somewhere in the vicinity - perhaps even glitzy Marbella for a look. The rains have ceased and the sun is blazing down... but we can't see it being warm enough to jump in the pool here before we leave... Perhaps our next house!