Ready to go

The wind howled around the apartment block throughout the night, and it rained, but by the time I emerged to go to the office mid-morning, the sun was out and the streets were dried by the breeze. I walked down to the Mercadonna at the near end of Los Pacos beach to stock up on their own brand dark chocolate to take home with them. It's one which Clare discovered when she was here, and Owain also approves of. 

After lunch I walked to Torreblanca and back before another visit to the office. Finally, I remembered that I needed to register a Gmail address to use with the Chaplain's Sony Experia smartphone for downloading apps, something that wasn't bothered with by previous phone users. I can now take the phone with me back to Wales, and call people here at no cost using Viber over wi-fi.

Tomorrow I'm travelling just with a rucksack for camera kit and laptop. Everything else I need is at home. It'll be a pleasure to fly without a suitcase. Having said that, the rucksack feels heavy enough. It´s packed to go already, and all the warmest clothes I have with me ready for the ten degree drop in temperature when I step off the ´plane the other end.
   

Shopping and walking

I had to do some food shopping this morning and on my way there decided to follow the signs pointing the way to 'Hypercor' the large local branch of El Corte Ingles, which combines an ordinary supermarket with a multi-level department store in the heart of the built-up Las Lagunas area of Fuengirola. Free underground parking is offered with immediate access to car wash facilities and an escalator ramp up to a large scale shopping area and cinema. 

It was interesting to compare this with the Miramar shopping mall near Castello Sohail, a few kilometres away. It spreads out over an area of land the size of four football pitches. But here where land is scarcer, the building goes upwards five storeys with balconies looking out on to a spacious glass atrium. The building stands higher than surrounding six storey apartment blocks, and isn't attractive on the outside. In fact it sits in amongst several other ugly warehouse buildings. The design emphasis is entirely on a congenial indoor experience, no doubt beneficial in the extreme heat of summer. I had a brief look around, bought a bargain CD of Christmas Flamenco music, and was given a very cheery Christmas plastic shopping bag advertising the store to take it home in, at no extra cost.

I went to the local Mercadonna supermarket for food shopping, instead of exploring the vastness of Hypercor, as I know my way around then and it wastes less time. I spotted Advent Calendars for sale at the checkout, and thought it would be nice to take one home as a souvenir. Before lunch I went for a walk up the ridge ridge beyond our urbanizacion. It runs through the foothills of the Sierra de Mijas and gives good views of this rugged landscape, now dotted with luxury housing developments, and valley which leads down to the sea at La Cala de Mijas, linking the village 300 metres up with the small port which has been there since the time of the Phoenicians.

After a walk of an hour and a half, I had lunch, then went into the church office for a routine session of Skyping Clare and Owain and write some emails. It's good to have such means to keep in touch regularly with family and friends.