Mission Málaga

Yesterday I journeyed to Málaga, a coastal city about 2 ½ hours away from Sevilla (it is the second largest city in Andalucía, the southern region of Spain). This is the unabridged tale of events.

The Plan:

Wake up to my alarm at 6:15AM. Make breakfast. Walk to the bus station about 10 minutes away from my house to meet my friends at 7:30AM for an 8:00AM bus to Málaga. Read my book for class during the 3 hour bus ride.  Get to Málaga. Take a bus to Nerja, a nearby town, to see the caves. Go back to see the Picasso Museum in Málaga. Eat something. Take the 8:30PM bus back to Sevilla.

The Follow-Through:

I wake up at 9:20AM. Pause. “Is this AM or PM? What?! Who am I kidding, it’s military time! CRAP (edited)!” I call Aisha. I can’t get through to her phone. Is it still worth going, even if I have to buy another ticket to get there? Yes. I cannot trap myself in my house. I planned to go. I’m going!

I get online real quick and look up the next scheduled bus to leave. 12:10PM. I look up the train schedule. 11.10AM. How far away is the train station? Google Maps. By car: 14 min. By foot: 1 hr 20 something min. Bag fully packed? Check. Dressed? Check. Teeth brushed? Check. I leave, the jelly and sugar on the table waiting for me, the bread next to the toaster, and the cup of coffee sitting cold and lonely beside it.  No time to explain to my family and no time to even pee before I leave since my host mom was in the bathroom.

I walk to the corner to call a cab, and by chance, a free taxi drives by! I flag him down and we’re off to the station. 8.60€ later, I arrive.  I find my line and wait. The time dwindles away as the old women in front of me argue with the lady at the counter. The young couple behind me is in a bigger hurry than I am. It is now 10:55AM. My train leaves at 11:10AM and theirs leaves at 11:05AM.  We chatted. I let them go ahead of me. I have enough time to pee. Relief!

I get on the train. Find my seat.  As I take out my reading material, the woman next to me says in English, “Beautiful book.” I told her I was reading it for class. There was silence. Two minutes later, she turns to me again, “The palabras…It’s really wonderful Spanish.” Motivation to read. Thank you nice lady beside me! There is a loud and annoying Spanish family in the car. They think they are funny. The British people beside me disagree. 

I arrive in Málaga at 1:38PM. I call Aisha, but again, cannot get through.  I take a map from the tourist stand in the station and wander out the door, heading for the coast.  I find a bench along the river to eat my bocadillo and plan my route.  I get a call from Aisha on someone else’s phone.  They had gone to see the caves in Nerja, which turned out to be 2 hours away.  They were going to take the bus back and call me when they got back into town. I ventured to Gibralfaro, an old castle up on a hill. I had a rough estimate of how to get there, but wasn’t positive. I followed the signs and hiked up a mountain (not literally, but it was a giant, winding hill! I love hiking, so it was actually quite pleasant).  When I get to the top, I discover that with my student ID, it only cost .60€ to get in! I walked around and took some pictures. The view was definitely worth the climb. Also, it put the location of everything into perspective, so I could find things more easily.

As I start the trek back down, I decide to take the bus so I don’t have to make everyone wait at the museum for me, which is where we planned to meet.  I ask the woman at the stop if the bus would take me near there. She thought so.  I asked the bus driver which stop was closest and he informed me when we reached it.  How nice! I walk in the direction he pointed me in and then asked a man giving parking tickets. He pointed me in the right direction. I then asked a woman sitting behind the desk at the entrance of another touristic point of interest. She told me to go the cathedral and ask them because it was nearby. I reached the cathedral and the woman there told me where to go. I arrived before the group, which surprised me because they said they were only 10 minutes away. Apparently not true. 

When we met, we found a cheap and really good Middle Eastern take-out place to eat. I’m not exactly sure what I had, but it was like a gyro hybrid.  We then went to the museum, which does not house Picasso’s famous works, but is the 3^rd most visited Picasso museum because Málaga was his birthplace.  I was pleasantly surprised.  There was a temporary exhibition on toys that he had made. It was so cool! They had security guards everywhere in there, who yell at you for any contact you make with things. Sorry I bumped the wall! My bad…After the museum we got ice cream.  Not lying, this was the best ice cream I have ever had, and I have had my fair share of ice cream! I got pistachio and raspberry. The flavors were so rich…mmmmmm.

We headed back to the bus station, and on our way encountered Barney (the purple dinosaur) and Spiderman on the same street! Never in my life would I have predicted this to happen.  Spiderman was making balloon swords and small children were dueling in the plaza.  We may or may not have cheered on a little boy battling his sister…We made the bus and had a smooth ride home.  Upon arrival, Aisha and I decided to get churros con chocolate at Gofres, the stand at Puente de Triana in Sevilla (home of the best churros). This was a good decision.  We walked around and chatted. Then, we found ourselves on a plaza bench talking about life and family until 2:30AM.

When I got home, my family was fast asleep, so I got to avoid a possibly awkward discussion about why I ran out of the house that morning without breakfast (I explained this morning and no one cared).  All was well. Quite a nice day.  Being able to figure everything out, make quick decisions and stick to them, and communicate with so many random people in Spanish was a nice confidence booster.  I love applying my skills and I felt like a grown-up!