We drove to Nerja on Sunday, June 14th. The plan was to spend some time on the beach and go out for a nice dinner. We tried out Playa del Carabeo this visit. It is yet another beautiful Nerja beach. Unfortunately, it was pretty windy and the water was a little rough. We tried a larger beach but that wasn't much better.
Several of the shops were open on this visit, so the girls and I popped in a few. One was filled with fancy dresses and pretty jewelry. Haila just had to go in, and it was right up her alley. The shop owner had made some child-sized masks, so I let each of the girls pick one out. These masks go over the ears and are easier to get on and off than the homemade t-shirt masks that they were using. They have come in handy.
Shawn chose a seafood restaurant for dinner. It was a 10-minute walk from the apartment we had rented for the night. When we arrived, there was one occupied table inside. We opted to sit outside, and we had the patio to ourselves. The menu was quite impressive, and we ordered too much food. I was stuffed when we left, but the girls still had room for ice cream.
On the way to the ice cream shop, we passed a store called Lori. Right next to it, was a store called Miss Coco. That reminded me to explain the name of this blog. The Spanish to English translation for Los Cocos son locos is the coconuts are crazy. However, in our case Coco is a last name. Aliah has a stuffed unicorn named Uni who has her own language; it's Uni language of course. Uni calls me Lori Coco. Lori sounds more like Lordy, and Uni sings my name to me at night. Our nephew Emerson also has a song he made up with a line "the Conleys are a little crazy". So... the Conley translation for Los Cocos son locos is The Conleys are crazy. With what has all transpired on this sabbatical, the title seems like it was a good fit for this adventure.
The plan for Monday was to hike the Rio Chillar. People generally hike up the river from Nerja, walking in shallow water through a gorge to a pool with a waterfall. It looks like an amazing experience. Our rental agent told us that the access point from Nerja was closed, but that we could still do the walk from Frigiliana. My friend Lisa had sent me an article entitled "The Dreamiest Hidden Villages in Spain", and Frigiliana was one of them... so why not?
I had found some directions online explaining how to get to the river from Frigiliana, so we set off wearing our water-friendly shoes. We had water bottles, our lunch in a backpack and photos on my phone with the directions. We thought we were good to go. Things started out well. We followed Rio Higueron to a steep trail, climbed uphill and walked along the top as directed.
We were supposed to go over two valleys and then drop steeply down a valley to the Rio Chillar. This is where things got a little dicey. We came to a spot that looked like it had a dry river bed below, but Shawn didn't think we had gone over two valleys yet. We kept walking. After another hour, we were pretty sure we had missed our turn. But what if it was just around the next bend? Shawn and Aliah waited in the shade as Haila and I kept walking. We walked for another 20 minutes before deciding it was time to turn back.
By the time Haila and I returned to Shawn and Aliah, we had been walking for over 3 hours in inappropriate footwear. She and I already had sore feet, and we had another 2.5 hours to walk back to the car. Aliah had blisters, and I still have bruised toenails from this hike. To top it off, we had already drank all of the water we had carried with us. Needless to say, the girls haven't wanted to go on a hike since. We had considered hitting the beach after the hike, but we were all exhausted and had a long drive home. You can bet we all slept great that night!
Our next big adventure was scheduled for Friday, June 19th at 10 AM. El Caminito del Rey was once the most dangerous catwalk in the world. It was originally constructed as a path for maintaining the channel that feeds a hydroelectric power station. The path runs through a gorge north of Ardales and was recently rebuilt. It has been open to the public since 2015. The website said we needed to arrive several hours early for our hike as you can't park nearby. We decided to drive up the day before to get the lay of the land and to check out the nearby reservoir.
Once we got our bearings, we decided to go for a swim in an inlet. The water was crystal clear and warmer than the sea. We stayed for a few hours before heading to our hotel as the girls wanted to check out the rooftop pool and hot tub. As I have mentioned before, pools are not heated in Spain. Apparently, neither are hot tubs. That didn't stop our girls from getting in either. Although the receptionist told us that other guests were staying at the hotel, we never saw anyone.
We went out for dinner in Ardales that evening. Restaurante Falco had outdoor seating and seafood, our favorite combination. Shawn had an amazing tuna steak, and I ordered the eggplant with honey. Everything was excellent, including the service. We ended up returning the next night as well.
You have to purchase tickets in advance to walk Caminito del Rey. Walk times start every 30 minutes beginning at 9 AM. Guided walks are available starting at 10 AM. We chose to pay for a guide, and I am grateful we did. We learned a lot of interesting facts along the way. Masks were required whenever you could not maintain 2 meters of social distance, so we tried to hang back from our group whenever possible. It was a great experience, not at all scary, and I am so glad we were able to do this. The trail was closed for three months and had just reopened at only 20% capacity.
We saw a couple of mountain goats on the walk. The guide said we might encounter some wildlife. She was quite excited when we saw the goats, so I don't think it's super common to see them. We thought they looked a lot like deer from this distance.
You can see the old walkway in the next photo. Believe it or not, people used to walk along this crumbling ledge and jump across the holes. It was incredibly dangerous, and hikers occasionally fell to their death. After a particularly tragic accident in 2001, the area was closed off so that the trail could not be accessed from either end. Eventually, the new walkway was constructed and access was restored.
There is a clear platform near the bridge that can hold four people. We are standing on that platform in the next photo.
A suspension bridge was constructed over the original bridge. It was a bit windy by the time we made it to the suspension bridge. For Shawn, this was the scariest part of the walk.
Our guide had explained that the vertical layers you see in the next photo were once at the bottom of the sea. There is a fossil on the surface which proves that fact.
After crossing the bridge, we had to walk another 2 kilometers to the bus stop. We took a bus back to the parking area and stopped at Restaurante El Kiosko for lunch. I wasn't sure what to order, so the waiter recommended the fish platter. The girls were a little shocked by the tiny fish teeth. Once again, we ordered too much food. It's hard to know how big the portions are going to be.
Haila thought ribs sounded good, but they weren't what she was expecting. Aliah ended up eating them instead. We tend to do a lot of swapping and sharing at our table.
After lunch, we went for another swim in the reservoir. This time, we rented a paddle boat with a slide for a little added fun.
Sunday, June 21st was Father's Day in the U.S., so we celebrated then too. The girls made a sign and served Shawn breakfast in bed. He wanted to go to the beach as it was going to be blazing hot in Alozaina. We found a great restaurant on the beach for lunch and then hit the waves with our pool noodles. That was the most crowded we had seen the beach, but there was still plenty of space.
I had been leery about our rescheduled flights being cancelled for about a week at this point. I had noticed on June 13th that our July 22nd flights were no longer showing up as an option on the Aer Lingus website. The first date that our flight numbers were available for purchase was August 17th. That was worrisome. We were willing to stay a few extra weeks, but none of us wanted to stay until mid-August.
I had called the airline to find out why our flights were no longer showing up and was told they were limiting the number of passengers. I was skeptical. Our original flights were no longer showing on their website for about a week before we were informed that they were cancelled. I decided to start looking into other options. Most European airlines were still grounded, but it looked like a few airlines were going to resume some flights out of Malaga the last week of June or the first week of July. I started watching Ryanair and Air France to see if they were flying as scheduled.
As you may remember, we applied for our resident cards as required by our visas at the end of January. We were planning to pick them up in Malaga on March 20th, but we couldn't due to the lockdown. I was concerned that we might need them to get home, so we decided to pick them up on Monday, June 22nd. We had been told when we were approved that we could pick them up anytime after a 35-day wait period, no appointment needed.
We got on the road early that Monday and headed straight for the national police station. There were quite a few people outside when we arrived. There were three lines and a number of people who were just waiting on the periphery. One of the lines was for questions. We thought we were supposed to be in the police line, so I sent Shawn to wait in that line while the girls and I waited in the question line. When we got to the front of the question line, Haila showed the official our paperwork and asked which line we needed to be in to collect our cards. He said we needed to be in the passport line. Really?
We weren't sure he understood that we had already been through the paperwork process and were just picking up our cards, so we got in the question line again. This time, he told us that we needed an appointment to pick up our cards. They had changed the rules after the lockdown. We asked how to make an appointment, and he pointed to a sign on the wall. We needed to request an appointment on their website and be sure to choose this location.
I had to use the website to request our original appointments, so I was familiar with it. We weren't sure what type of appointment we needed this time, so we got in the question line again. The official told us which type to choose, and we stepped away to finish. When we got to the point where you choose a location, this location was not one of the options. We waited in line again, brought the phone to the official and showed him that this location wasn't an option on the website. He thought we chose the wrong type of appointment, so we started over. Again, this location was not one of the options. The official was baffled. He didn't know what to say. He called over another official.
At this point, I was kind of hoping we would be told (since we were already present) that we could get in line and wait. No such luck. The second official repeated what the first official said and when we told her we tried all that with no success, she walked away. Haila and I are standing there clueless. Where did she go? Is she coming back? Is she getting someone else?
She did return, and she handed us a small piece of paper. She had handwritten the type of appointment we needed as well as the name of the location. She told us to try booking on a computer instead of a phone. Why would that make a difference? I didn't think it would. I also had Haila ask how far out the appointments were booking. When we made our paperwork appointments, there was a three-week wait. The official said that we might be able to get same-day appointments, but we had to book them online.
OK, let's try this again. Maybe we'll be able to get our cards today after all.
I decided to repeat my google search for the website and chose a different link this time. The site that loaded looked exactly like the site I had been using, but it must have been different. After selecting the type of appointment and entering Shawn's data, I went to choose the location. This time the correct location WAS one of the options... Yippee!!! But the first available appointment wasn't until Thursday. I guess that means we'll be back. I had to book an appointment for each of us. Shawn and I got appointments at the same time and the girls appointments were both 15 minutes after ours.
This whole process of asking questions and booking appointments took about an hour and a half. Again, I was very grateful to have Haila by my side. None of the officials spoke English, so it would have been next to impossible to figure this out without our favorite translator.
We had met another American family in Ronda just before lockdown and had kept in touch via texting. They had planned to go to Morocco at the end of March but got stuck in Spain instead. They ended up spending 3.5 months in a large rental home in Almunecar and had invited us to come visit once we were allowed to travel. Since Malaga was half way to Almunecar, we told them we would stop by after we finished at the police station. Their rental home was just up the hill from Playa Cotobro with a pool and a large balcony overlooking the sea. I have to admit, I was a little envious of their location once I saw it. They had told us it was a sweet spot to be during lockdown, and I would have to agree.
This was our first time socializing post-lockdown, and it was odd but truly wonderful. The kids swam for a bit and listened to music while the adults sat on the balcony and chatted. Although we kept our distance as required, it felt like an amazing treat to be in the presence of humans other than my own. Since both parents are originally from Wisconsin, it felt a little like being home.
Tuesday, June 23rd was my 50th birthday. We had planned to go hiking and then out for lunch, but we didn't get moving fast enough in the morning. Plus, it was another very hot day. We switched gears and decided to go out for lunch and then a swim. The girls made me a birthday sign and brought me breakfast in bed. We packed up and drove to Carratraca.
Our British friend Jon had told us about this restaurant in Carratraca called Casa Pepa. It has been open for over 50 years, and it's like stopping at your grandma's for a home-cooked meal. You are literally served whatever they decided to make that day, they use local produce, and it is all you can eat (plus all the red wine you can drink).
The owner was sitting at a table in the entryway peeling potatoes when we arrived. It felt like we were walking into someone's home. We were seated in the main dining room, although there are several other rooms with tables as well. The main room is filled with family photos and tchotchkes, as you can see below. I suspect the owner lives upstairs as the bathroom had a shower that looked to be in use.
I think this may have been my favorite meal in Spain. The first course included three types of soup, and they were all amazing. Next they brought out chorizo and meatballs with fries. A bit later a large plate of curried chicken arrived, and finally a platter of fried eggs was delivered. To top it off, we were offered dessert. Everything was delicious, and the price was unbelievable... a mere 10 euros per person.
We decided to visit the garden bar for a birthday drink. There were trees shading the garden and a cool breeze blowing through. It was the perfect spot to let our tummies settle. It wasn't until we went back out on the street that we remembered how hot of a day it was.
We returned to the reservoir we had visited the week before and swam for several hours. I definitely enjoy the sea, but this area is just so relaxing and pleasant. There is plenty of shade, and the water is crystal clear. I was grateful we had rethought our day. Although I enjoy a good hike, as a Cancer, I love to be in water.
When we got back to Alozaina, we passed by the Maleni house on our way home. Papa Maleni (owner of the pizza place) stopped us and asked when we were heading back to the U.S. At that point, we weren't entirely sure when we were leaving. He told us to wait a minute and returned to our car with a jug of extra virgin olive oil from his personal stash. He told us he pressed it himself. Now that's what I call liquid gold. I put a standard size bottle of EVOO next to his in this next photo so you could see what a wonderful gift this was.
We returned to Malaga on Thursday to pick up our resident cards as scheduled. We got in the passport line when we arrived at the police station. When it was our scheduled time, the official called Shawn and I into the building. We thought they would allow the girls in with us as they had previously, but they didn't. The girls had to wait outside in the line. I should have scheduled one child with each parent, but I didn't think about it when I booked our appointments.
We could see the girls through the glass doors; both of them looked like lost puppies. Shawn and I were trying to figure out how we were going to get the girls their paperwork and passports, when the official who gave us the handwritten note earlier in the week realized we had been separated. She enquired to be sure the girls had appointments and then waved them through.
We waited as a family for our turn at the window. When they called us up, we each had to provide our paperwork, show our passport, and get our index fingers scanned. Within a few minutes, we had our resident cards in hand and were back out the door. I wasn't sure if we were going to need these or not, but I felt better having them just in case. We were now welcome in Spain until 1/1/2021.
My three favorite residents of Spain...
After we left the police station, we headed to an aquarium I had hopes of visiting. They had reopened the day before. I could buy tickets online, but I wasn’t sure how crowded it would be or if there would be a long line to get in. We decided to just go check it out. We could always buy tickets once we arrived.
We found the SeaLife aquarium pretty easily and found a parking spot right across the street. Most of the shops nearby seemed to still be closed. We had packed a lunch, so we quickly ate and headed for the entrance. We walked right into the place. There was no line. We paid for our tickets and went inside.
Much to our surprise, there also was no one inside other than the employees. We literally had the aquarium to ourselves. It was great! They had jellyfish, sharks, sea turtles, stingrays, tropical fish, sea horses... all the sea creatures I was hoping to see. There was even a tunnel through one of the tanks. It wasn’t a very big place, but it was well worth the stop.
My favorite creature at the aquarium was the octopus. It was clinging to the glass when we first got to the tank. We moved to the other side of the tank to get a different view, and the octopus followed us. Haila and I spent quite a bit of time just watching the octopus as it seemed to be watching us. When we made a second pass by, the octopus was all curled up in a jar. I was so glad we got to see him/her moving about. I find octopuses fascinating to watch. (Sidebar: I learned something new today... I thought the plural of octopus was octopi, but that’s not grammatically correct.)
As I mentioned earlier, I had been watching Ryanair flights this week to see if they were flying or being cancelled. Ryanair seemed to be back in business. Our scheduled Aer Lingus flights were still looking questionable, so I called Aer Lingus on Friday, June 26th once again to enquire about our options. This time I explained that we were trying to repatriate. I think that made a difference. I told the rep that we were willing to pay for Ryanair tickets to Dublin as long as we could reschedule our Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Chicago if Ryanair cancelled. That flight was still flying daily, so we would be considered no-shows if we couldn't get to Dublin as planned. The rep said that would not be a problem, but she told me to book the Ryanair flights first and then call back.
The first Ryanair flight from Malaga that would give us enough time to retrieve our bags and switch airlines in Dublin was on July 5th. The flights were inexpensive but included no baggage of any kind. The total with all nine of our bags was still fairly reasonable, so I booked tickets for all four of us.
I called Aer Lingus back. The rep I spoke to earlier must have added some good notes to our reservation as the new rep wasn't sure she could do what I was requesting. She needed to remove the first leg of our flight (Malaga to Dublin) and reschedule the second leg (Dublin to Chicago) from July 22nd to July 5th. After pulling up our reservation, the rep declared that she could make that change. Thank God! This reservation was for me and the girls.
Since Shawn's Aer Lingus reservation had been booked through work, he needed to call the travel agency used by the UW. The agent he spoke to took our reservation number and said she would have to call Aer Lingus to make the change. She asked Shawn to give her a couple of hours as she was also working with another client. Since we weren't sure if she could call him back in Spain, he was watching his email for a confirmation. After several hours, the agent called to confirm our travel date. She had written down the wrong date. Since the date she wrote down didn't match the date of our reservation, she wanted to clarify. It's a good thing she asked for our reservation number!
After anxiously waiting a couple more hours, he finally got a confirmation email. We were all booked on the same flight home. Whew! Now we needed to get packing. We would be leaving for home in just over 8 days.
We spent the weekend packing, cleaning and organizing. We quickly realized we had accumulated more than we thought. To add insult to injury, Ryanair's weight limit on large bags was 2 kilograms less than Aer Lingus' so we were already 8 kilos in the hole. I had the girls go through their clothes and craft supplies. We gave some to our neighbors' granddaughters and some to a family from Aliah's school. Shawn and I went through our things, and we donated a bag of items too. All of that helped lighten the load some, but we still needed to buy an extra bag to get our treasures home.
We had saved all of our wine corks while in Spain. Since I knew we couldn't take them home, I wanted to do something with them for the home owners. I did a google search for an Irish cross that I could make and leave in the house. I found a design I thought I could recreate, so I borrowed a glue gun from our friend Betsy and got to work. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I hope they like it the next time they visit from Ireland.
We had started to talk about things we will miss about Spain. Aliah knew right away what she would miss... Gambas al pil pil (shrimp with garlic). Every restaurant makes it a little different, so she never got tired of ordering it. It's also one of the tapas I remember loving the first time Shawn and I visited Spain. We have attempted to make it back home, but it wasn't the same. In this next photo, Aliah is kissing gambas goodbye.
I had wanted to go hiking on my birthday at El Torcal de Antequera. Since we didn't make it there that day, it was still on my list of things to do. I realized after my birthday that they offer guided hikes, so I booked us a sunset hike for Friday, July 2nd. The guide explained that this area was once the bottom of the sea, but it's unique in that the sea floor was lifted without buckling (as it had in the gorge we hiked a few weeks before). Over time, wind and water have eroded the sea floor layers and it now looks like piles of pancakes in some areas. 
