6.15.2014
BLOOD MOON (?) IN COSTA D'EL SOL IN SOUTHERN SPAIN
My daughter Zeynep meets me at Seville airport with her backpack, half her total body size and a hula hoop over her head and around her shoulders. She is something else, a chameleon, who experiences every culture, every relationship by becoming a little bit of the place, of the people to clearly understand their existence. That is why she is so empathetic, so tolerant of anything and everything. I am happy to see that she also has a very strong sense of self, she is her own person with her values, interests, and lots of strengths. I recall, how after living in Guatemala while doing a volunteer program, I found found her to have become a Mayan woman with her flowery skirt, her bandana, big ear rings and her spanish, which has acquired the exact same accent of the locals... I am now curious about how her accent has changed in Spain, where the language has lots of TH and PH sounds...
My daughter the Spanish gypsy
Wherever she goes she finds something unique to make a statement:), let's see what this hula hoop is about. Later during the day, she will declare passingly, "this allowed me reach out to the unique and unusual people on my path for the last week." She arrived in Spain a week before I and has been traveling through Southern Spain for 7 days. We pick up the rental car very easily and head toward Malaga and Marbella. Once we reach the coastal line, we are somewhat disappointed to see that it has become a tourist trap, lined with multiple hotel towers, town after town, unending. Costa d'el Sol. Fortunately, our hotel is in the old town in Marbella, which has quite a remarkable character, both the hotel and the old town. Both actually remind me of our experience in Antalya, Turkey last fall, when we had stayed at a hotel converted from a palace in the old town. Our hotel Puerta de Aduartez is very similar to Hotel Tuvana in Antalya, just as the old towns of both cities are very much alike with their narrow, meandering streets, unexpected squares lined with shops and cafes and restaurants, altogether creating a maze full of exciting discoveries.
Hotel Puerta Aduarez in old town Marbella
We both are exhausted for some reason, Zeynep from driving for close to 3 hours, and I from my jet lag, and decide to rest a bit. When we wake up it is 6 pm. I now feel we have arrived in Spain, siesta has become part of our day already, which I will discover along with Zeynep that it is a real aspect of the culture, here. As we head toward old town, Zeynep is craving for something sweet. We stop at a panaderia and find what they call "churro" here: A piece of dough is elongated into a 1/2 inch diameter string and rolled onto itself into a pancake almost, which then is deep fried and served with chocolate pudding and sugar, the first to dip the churros in, the second to sprinkle it over, based on choice. we try both and i settle down with the sugar since it brings all the tastes of "pishi" from my childhood. It was made exactly the same way, except that the dough would be dropped into hot oil as a small ball, which would then spread into a flat pancake shape and crisp up with the hot oil. I am back to my childhood, Zeynep to hers enjoying our time with the same person, who made the pishi both for me and Zeynep: my dear sweet mother... we send her our love.
Statues on the beach created very artistically
We then walk up and down the meandering streets of the old town donned with white-washed houses, stores, restaurants, even churches. In southern Spain, most churches have a stone front and the sides are white washed as well as the rest of buildings in towns. I like it, white is purity, cleanliness, innocence, brings light to a place just like the white towns of the mountains we will see the next day, reflecting the sunlight with such brilliance, they will shine like silver patches up on hillsides. Gradually, we make our way down to the beach. Beautiful fine sand is as crowded as any Turkish beach in the middle of the summer. We walk through the crowd with our sandals in our hands toward a natural rock water-break at the east end of the beach.
All women can enjoy a beautiful sunset
As we approach, we see from a distance that a group of women in Islamic attire (not necessarily burka, but heads covered, long sleeves, long dresses, etc) sitting on the sand toward the sunset that is approaching and chatting away. Clearly of Arabic origin, most likely from Morocco, how wonderful, they are enjoying the same beauty we are, we celebrate that, that they are not confined into their homes and are allowed to be out and about even to be with people, who are "semi naked" in their swimming suits. I hope they don't judge us as infidel because we are in shorts and tank tops and our hair is exposed to the view of men, the fundamentalists in Turkey, would, who knows what these ladies think...
Phillipino fishermen
We then move to the rock barrier that is made up of huge boulders put side by side creating a sturdy barrier against the waves. Zeynep and I are moving toward the tip of it, to be able to have a better glimpse of the sunset. There is an asian looking man fishing up on the boulders. as Zeynep moves further to the tip to explore the sea urchins, which are abundant, I start talking to the young fisherman, who appears to be in his 30s. He is from Phillipines, so is his wife. they both work at restaurants, he resentfully; zeynep will discover later when he moves closer to her. He is planning to work in Spain for ten years and go back to his country to become his own boss. he has a daughter he is proud of. In a little bit, another man appears on the "pier", who happens to be his brother-in-law, also in the restaurant business. We will discover that there is nothing to be surprised to meet Philippinos in Southern Spain, since we will come across, in the coming days, many ethnicities intermingled on this coastline from Philippinos to Iraqis to Indians to ....
Our first sunset in Marbella
We then start walking toward where the sunset. It is a mild, serene sunset, not burning in red, perhaps, because the sun sets behind the mountains along the coastline, here, the sea and the coastal line are vaguely part of sunset, but that brings a peaceful beauty of a different sort. I like it as much as the sun putting the sea and the horizon above the sea on fire as I have seen in Izmir, in San Diego, in Porto among other cities that have turned their face to the west. We finally walk so far that the restaurant line comes to an end, we decide to settle down in the last restaurant, the music of which is very soothing, few customers with very friendly waiters. It turns out to be a very good choice.
Our first sunset in Marbella black and white
We order olives, olive oil and bread, which will become our staple appetizer for the next 6 days, a large fish platter along with white wine. The platter has multiple kinds of shell fish including baby lobsters and three different fish, tuna, sword, and salmon. The best salmon I have had in my life. Our waiters are very friendly. they are joking with Zeynep, especially the one who probably is close to my age if not older than I. After dinner, we ask whether we could take our wine glasses to the beach. They are perfectly fine with that. We settle down on two seats right on the beach and listen to the Mediterranean in meditative trans. We both had desperately missed this sound. I shouldn't say sound, this act, this way of living, this way of breathing the Mediterranean in and out... That is what we both grew up with, that is when we both feel most alive, coming back to life each time we meet again with the Mediterranean, at whatever part of it it may be; be it in Turkey, or Greece, or Cyprus, or Tunusia, or Egypt, finally or Spain, some sections of the Mediterranean we cumulatively have been to so far. I think of the Aegean coves and bays, inevitably, and think one more time that the best of the Mediterranean is definitely along the Aegean...
Blood moon documented with poor equipment
Finally we start walking toward Marbella to get back to our hotel. It is 11:30 already, which will become our routine to be done with our dinner in the coming days... Half way to our return to the center of town, we see a phenomenal view up above the water: moon is rising, but what is phenomenal is that it is red, pure red... Zeynep wonders if it is one of the "blood moons", 4 of which will be viewed in 2014 and 2015. We both are mesmerized, but I can tell, Zeynep is totally lost in this beauty... how lovely to see her enjoy the nature this much now, which she lacked when she was an adolescent. I am glad to see her start appreciating many more things I have been appreciating since my adulthood... We go back to the beach to sit in front of the seats and umbrellas to be able to admire this impossible-to-miss view with no barriers in front of us. Another meditative moment at the end of the day. Around 12:30, after being transfixed on the moon until its bloody red color fades into a light pink then yellow white, we are ready to really head back to the hotel. When we collapse to our beds, we both have the pleasant taste of all of our experiences of the day, which will put us to sleep around 1 am with no interruption till 10 am the next day..
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| Another sunset from Marbella |
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