Playa Paradiso

I took the opportunity to get the hell out of dodge, if only for a few days. Ann invited me to the beach near Almeria with a few of her girl friends. Ann, Lisa (from TN), Cecile (from France) and I rented a car and a beach bungalo in San Jose, on the Mediterranean coast, and it was heavenly. I had to leave early on Saturday via the bus back to Granada to cook for Chema's birthday party at the hostal, which was kindof a drag, but I'm so thankful for the time I had on the beach. I've got a bitchin' tan to show for it too!

We went to Playa de los Genoveses for the first day, on Friday, which was small and quiet without a lot of people. We had to hike a bit through incredible terrain that reminded me a lot of the beach towns in Mexico. There's a pic above of the hike back from the beach. We went back to the house and made pina coladas, and Ann prepared pork chops with asparagus risotto. We ate like queens. Then, we decided on a movie to watch and pushed two of the twin beds together and had a slumber party in the blue room (the bungalow was set up with different colors in each room...the kitchen/main room was orange, one bedroom was yellow, and one was blue). We watched Stranger than Fiction and Ann was the only one who stayed awake!

The next morning, I woke up at 7:30am and drank two cups of tea. Then I realized Ian would still be awake in the States, so I called him. He was quite surprised, and it was nice looking out from the terrace at the sunrise while we talked. Then when the rest of the ladies woke up, we ate cereal and strawberries (fresas) and headed to a new beach, the Playa Monsul - the first two pics above are from there. Ann and I kept saying, "This is just retarded," about how beautiful it was. I was glad to have a fellow American who uses that expression as often as I do and understands that there's nothing offensive about it. Then, I made the decision to take the later bus back to Granada so we could soak up more sun. We had a tapas lunch at the bungalow before the ladies dropped me off at the bus stop in San Jose. I rode 40 minutes to Almeria then changed buses and rode another 2 hours to Granada. As soon as I got back, I had to start making the curry for Chema's party.

I was glad to get out of Granada for a while. It really broke up the monotony and made me realize that you have to seize every opportunity to have a good time.