Days 402-408, 19-25 July '15, "Pink Floyd" (The Other Side) at the Castle of Sohail (Castillo de Sohail).
In news just in, this is a brilliant, astounding, amazing, splendid and splendiferous show - like, really, really, really good - so if you see them advertised in your vicinity - well worth the pricetag of €38/A$60 odd. We feel like we deserved this show as it took a huge amount of effort to get the tickets... starting back in June when we were still in Ireland and couldn't get the internet site to work. Once on the Costa del Sol, we found out we weren't special - it wasn't working for anyone. Ended up cadging a lift to El Corte Ingles (the Harrods of Spain), which runs a ticket agency - and very efficiently too - took about 2 minutes to spend the dough. We got started on the night "early" - taking the bus downtown at 7.45 pm, hitting up our favourite pizza joint the second they opened at 8 pm and then walking down the promenade and settling ourselves, the pizzas and a bottle of cava onto the beach. The castle loomed above us and that was exciting in itself - first time visiting this ruined Moorish stronghold. Given the ticketing woes, we had wondered if we'd be the only two people there as we hiked up the hill at 9.45 pm. Nope - but our third row seats were fabulous - any closer and we'd have been in the band. The show kicked off on schedule at 10.30 pm (though it said 10 pm on the tickets... a cunning ploy to get the Spanish contingent there by start time). Didn't work mind you... people were still cruising in 20 minutes later. Did I mention the show was brilliant? James is lucky enough to have seen the real thing in concert and he has advised 'absolutely just as good'. And value. Did I mention the value? 3 solid hours with just a 15 minute drinks break. Yup - didn't finish til 1.30 am (who knew 1.30 happened twice a day!) After 3 incredible encores it was time to pack it in and we zig zagged down the castle hill and back to the beach before strolling into town and splurging on a taxi home. Suffice to say we were tired little bunnies later Sunday morning. Benefits of going to a massive tribute concert? Everyone in the audience was around our age or older. Everyone chilled out and remained in the seats until the last two songs. So a big night out but relaxing. Can't believe it's been 2 years since our last concert, Fleetwood Mac in Vegas. Next one? Already booked - 6 August for Bon Giovi (yup... ultra top-end Bon Jovi knock offs) up in the Mijas Auditorium. Woo hoo - should have 10 year anniversaries more often.
Moving along... Tuesday market was great value as always - spent about €6/A$9 and lugged home kilos and kilos of plums, tomatoes, peaches, cherries, avocados etc. It was about 40 degrees and our treasure was ripening continuously... and it turns out ripe plums are tender little things - many gave up and exploded en route. But when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. In our case, we threw them all in a blender, skins included and made thick plum juice. Soooooo sweet and good! From there it was but a hop, skip and a jump to this week's cocktail... Rum Plum Smash... self explanatory - crushed ice, plum slush, rum and topped up with club soda. Unusually for the coast, it's not only been hot (a given) but also humid - 70% vs. the usually 20% or so (not a patch on Sydney at 90%). But it's been hot. Too hot somedays. We chilled out "en casa" on Wednesday and Thursday and by Thursday evening both had a touch of cabin fever. In winter it's an easy 3-4 km walk downhill to town. In summer it's the bus for us. We enjoyed the promenade, now in the shade, and walked from the bus stop to Los Boliches to one of our haunts - D'como (aka - our chicken joint). It does a large roasted chook, stuffed with garlic and lemon, a bottle of wine, fresh cooked chips and a small salad for €10. And not an ounce of slaving over a hot oven on our part. And we usually get another dinner out of the chicken. Value indeed. We schlepped from the bus stop to the chicken joint in 40 minutes. Then, realising if we didn't hoof it back it'd be another hour until the next bus. Aargh. Made the return hike in 20 minutes flat. Almost carked it with heat exhaustion. But we made it. This leads me on to an unfortunate purchase last summer. I was wearing my favourite flip flops/jandals/thongs (right - everyone with me?), walking about the white village of Mijas Pueblo, and they were hosing down the area around the donkeys (Mijas is known for its burro taxis). The flip flops were on their last legs, I tripped, skinned and bruised my big toe and was thoroughly put out. So paid far too much for a pair of "leather" sandals in the pain of the moment. Gaaah! Comfy. Have worn them a lot. But not leather. As the heat has risen, my feet have been getting regular blisters on their soles caused by my synthetic sandals. So (long story even longer), we had a shopping list for this week's flea market. 1) leather sandals for me - worn in but not worn out (yes! €2 and the synthetics are off to charity), 2) new secondhand swimsuits x 3 (my flea market bikini from last year recently suffered a hull breach, my one piece is nigh on see through with wear and Jame's boardies/swimming shorts from Morocco are getting worn out too) - Success? You betcha. It turns out buying swimming costumes should not involve days depressing one's self traipsing about shops and arguing with mirrors after trying on loads of different versions. In fact, we got James a cracking pair of hibiscus patterned boardies (€1) and a nifty bikini for me (€1) from the flea market then spent up big time at the charity store on a Marks & Spencers one piece for me, in perfect condition for only €4. Other bargains from the market? A flowing cotton summer dress €2 and a shell necklace to co-ordinate with all of the above (though obviously not James's new shorts). So a massive shopping day all told. And everything fitted beautifully. We love full-price shops. They're great places for other people to buy stuff and pay a fortune prior to us acquiring it! Speaking of people who don't like to pay for stuff even more than us, we were perusing the "Sur in English", actually the name of our local weekly paper. A font of hard news and local happenings to be sure (Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria... believed to have posted selfies just a moment before, water restrictions, draught and restaurant ads too), but this headline caught my eye "Goatherd arrested over jewel theft". Turns out this fellow was simply not cut out for a life of crime. Police were investigating the theft of €150,000 worth of gold, gems and cash from a jeweller's car (let's not get into his professional qualifications... we don't even like leaving sunglasses in the car). Police retraced the jewellers route between clients on the day the stash went missing and eventually came up with a goatherd who had made a variety of expensive purchases, not least of which was a new industrial milking machine. The police have now recovered almost all the gems, €5000 in cash and the milking machine. We hope the goatherd hadn't had his new "Jewel Thief" business cards made up, as that would have been a waste of stolen money indeed. Had to smile further on in the paper as I was contemplating getting rid of my synthetic sandals purchased in Mijas - known for it's donkeys. Turns out Romera, a 7 year old donkey who escaped from her field last week has been found safe and well after a local farmer recognised her from one of the reward posters posted by the local donkey & horse charity. When Guaro farmer Jose Ona saw the €100 reward he knew exactly where to start looking as Romera had invaded his orange grove the day she disappeared. He had fed and watered her, but then she disappeared again. Following a trail of donkey droppings, Juan worked hard for his money and eventually tracked her to the Rio Grande, only two kilometres away, where she'd made herself a bed in the reeds growing on the river bank. Juan spent two hours on one of the hottest days of summer so far, searching the banks of the river before finding her. Apparently the €100 reward had everyone in the vicinity out searching. And given the minimum wage is around €600 (a month), we can see why. Romera is now at another temporary home, hopefully with a better fence, while her permanent adoption is arranged. We can only presume that Juan is safe and well also and enjoying his reward. (We know of a barely used milking machine that could be on the market...)
On that cheerful note we will leave you, hopefully with a smile. This week? Tuesday market of course, up to Mijas Tuesday evening for summer tapas promotion - €1.50 for a nibble and a drink and live flamenco music. If it's any good... and how could it not be... same again on Thursday night (with Caribbean music). Friday night - dinner at a beach restaurant for our anniversary. Saturday night - another visit to La Luna Mora - the candlelit festival of the Moorish Moon. Other than that, chilling out en casa. Adios amigos - hasta la proxima!