Hiking

I’m back and have had a fantastic holiday in Spain. There were three of us on this holiday and we decided that apart from eating, drinking and making merry, we should like to get some fresh air and spend lots of time in the countryside.  We headed for the Cabo de Gata national park in southern spain, just outside Almeria and spent the next 6 days there, cross countrying, up to 20 KM a day, as the pigeon flies, eating in wonderful restaurants, exploring villages and abandoned castles and staying in lovely little hotels.

On our first day, we hiked though a village called Las Negras and across the mountains to a cove called San Pedro where there was an abandoned castle used in the past to watch out for pirates. This whole cove, including the castle, was inhabited by dreadlocked hippies, German or Scandinavian I think, who seemed to spend their time just hanging around, fishing, existing and doing their laundry. As we passed the castle, we spotted a woman washing her clothes at a fountain and I made conversation, asking if she lived there. She got quite stroppy and asked how "would you like someone to come up to where you lived and ask you if you lived there?” So I replied that I didn’t mind at all and that it had happened several times. We then apologised and walked off and she kept calling back “no, no, it’s ok, I’m not angry” and we just said “OK, whatever (so nice saying whatever), have a nice day”

On the way back, we climbed up the steep path to the fountain and there was a woman there, with a miniskirt and no underwear on, bent over her washing and guess what was staring me in the face? That gave us all a shock, I must say.

The hotels we stayed in were very nice, not too big and with excellent meals. Our second hotel was a place in a village called Rodalquilar run by a German man we nicknamed Hitler because, when we arrived, he said “Please contact me whenever you like (heavy German drawl) BUT NOT BETWEEN 3 and 5 because that is rest time.” Then we received a whole list of do’s and don’ts which were to be strictly observed. But although “Hitler” was quite bossy and strict, we were quite fond of him as he seemed quite nice beneath that rough exterior.

We had many laughs on the hike. One of them was about me being sexist as the other two, when they first heard me refer to someone as a useless tit and then another as a clever dick asked why a tit had to be useless and a dick clever? So we switched the terms around to clever tit and useless dick for the rest of the trip.

We also had a good laugh in the only little shop in Rodalquilar which was run by an old lady called Lola who kept the lights off and would only turn them on (it was dark in her shop) when we couldn’t find a particular thing. When she was packing our big bottles of water and other purchases into one, frequently used plastic bag, we asked if we could have another as it might not hold all the shopping, she brusquely told us that we should know that each customer was only allowed one bag. Quite right too Lola, we must play our part in saving the planet.

While we were hiking, the Middle East was exploding and we hadn’t a clue.  Libya, Yemen even poor Oman, all were having problems and we were cushioned away in our own little worlds with no access to television or the internet (except occasionally) and without a care in the world. Very selfish we know but reality is always with us and could be upon us before we know it so we just want to enjoy life, live a little escapism for a short time.

We are back in Kuwait now and apparently there's been a shopping frenzy when we were away with everyone spending their 1000 KD ($3500) Amiri Grant the day they received the money. Shops were jammed, roads clogged, malls overflowing as people fought to offload their 1000 dinars  onto the market.  Cosmetics shops and electronic shops apparently had the best sales with iPhones being sold as though they were Mars Bars.  So nice that we are being given 1000 KD to keep our beaks shut and not cause problems like the poverty stricken masses in Egypt and the other countries. We’re a happy bunch and everything is perfect - but we'll be waiting for more. Well Kuwait is quite good really!