Malaga- The Place we are Currently Calling Home

A picture tour of the Malaga we know so far:

Malaga is Picasso's hometown.

The Picasso museum is small and has a great free audio tour.

Most museums in Spain have informative, enjoyable (and often FREE) audio tours for both adults and kids.

Monk & Rose-Ringed Parakeets grace our skies and palm trees along the beach boardwalk.

I think they are a nice addition to the seagulls & pigeons that squawk overhead. The Monk Parakeets arrived to Spain around 1975 as pets brought from Argentina.

Common beach sights: BBQ's & Beach toys for kids

Common sights around castles: cata

This statue is titled "Audio Libro"

Yoga/acrobatics in the park

Alcazaba

To bike or not to bike?

Definitely bike.

We bought bikes from our vecinos (neighbors).

We were so thrilled to find a bike shop, owned by a lovey young couple, two doors down from our apartment! Our life is simplified a whole lot when our transportation options are either bike or bus.

Often Cecilia will encourage me to walk home from the city center with her (a three mile walk along the ocean) rather than use any mode of transportation that uses petroleum.

Rincon de Victoria

(7 mile bike ride from our home, skirting the coast the whole way)

A ping pong table at a beach on the way to Rincon

Playgrounds everywhere. Seriously everywhere.

This beach near Nerja will always hold a special place in our memories.

This is where we found perfectly round white stones, beach glass galore, a beautiful sunset, cheap cold beer & expensive, but good salty chips for sale on the beach.

Plus it's where we witnessed a dolphin jump straight up our of the water. Not only was the dolphin perpendicular to the sea, it cleared the surface by a couple feet.

Stunning.

On the streets of El Palo, a unique & authentic barrio de Malaga.

After meeting with the local Padron regarding our visas we stood on the sidewalk in a daze (this is often the state you will find me in after a very focused and important conversation in Spanish) and these college students asked for a video recording of our initial thoughts regarding El Palo.

I requested to speak in English, thankfully they acquiesced.

Making music on the boardwalk

Meeting the local fury folk, which there are many of....

....poop pick up is mandatory, but we have learned to always keep our eyes on the streets ahead of you because laws don't matter if they aren't enforced :)

Soaking up the sun, with a very rare dark sky behind us- Malaga boasts 320 days of sun annually.

A sunlit home is paramount in our life whether we are in Boise or Malaga :)

Shopping still happens on sabbatical. Such a bummer!

We make the best of it. The kids thought Ikea was crazy, but they liked the hotdogs.

Vegetarian hot dogs were a bonus for Cecilia and I.

We have all agreed we don't need much in a our temporary home.

A rug, a plant, a desk & chair for Trevor to do his work, a meditation seat for early morning meditation, a coffee pot & tea pot.

We are set & promised to never go back to Ikea again (at least when in Spain).

Plastic bags cost 10 cents in Spain, so you rarely see someone leave a grocery store with plastic.

This I love- it's simple and should be instituted everywhere. Unfortunately, large grocery stores are still full of packaged food:(

One day Trevor forgot our grocery bags, and of course he isn't going to buy a plastic bag. He asked to take the cart. People are very trusting & very laid back in Spain!

Truco-o-Trato?

We taught our children to play a game we call President.

Many of you know it as a college drinking game by another name.

In Spain college students call it Culo, which my kids have learned means Ass.

It’s quite fun for the whole family no matter what we call it.

We eat out often, and after ordering their food the kids play at a park or on the beach, both of which are only steps away from fabulous restaurants.

This often affords us a moment together:)

Of course they found the book store & never want to leave.

Thankfully we also found the library & now have library cards, which are much easier to obtain in Spain than in the US!

A favorite breakfast: Smoothie in a bowl loaded with toppings

Malaga's annual Jazz Festival lured us into the city center numerous times last week to enjoy free shows in the plazas.

Dia de los Muertos music festival was also a hit. DJs & dancing kids.

Sunsets from El Palo beaches.

This is where you will often find us in the evenings kicking around a soccer ball, trying to conquer some of the complicated jungle gym toys, or searching for shells.

I think we watched the sunset every night until Day Light Savings (not a fan!)