European Adventures Chapter 8 - by Lary Hansen & Diana Holmes				Back to the Current Issue Back to Features
	Winter in Marbella

We arrived in Spain on 5 November. The trip from Italy, through France, was a little nerve-wracking. The French truckers were on strike and this meant that delivery of gasoline was severely limited. There was none available in the towns, and on the highways you were limited to buying 150 Francs worth, or about 22 litres. We were escorted through the border in a small group by the Guardia Civil, and were happy to be back in Spain where prices for gasoline as well as other supplies were more reasonable than they had been in Italy.

As we headed south we passed hundreds of square miles of plastic sheeting spread on the ground. The main concentration was around Almeria and it is the basis of the local agricultural economy. They force fruits and vegetables, under plastic, to produce year round. It provides the rest of Europe with cheap groceries but it sure is an eyesore. On a more pleasant note we also saw lots of oranges, and the bouganvilla and oleander were still blooming. We also saw poinsettia TREES 15-20 feet high. Incredible!

After looking at several campgrounds in the vicinity of Marbella we chose CAMPING LA BUGANVILLA. Most of the campgrounds in this area give discounts for long stays and we ended up getting 60% off the normal rate and paid about $8.00 a day for our winter stay. Most of the other campgrounds charge for electricity but La Buganvilla did not. Showers were free, there was ample hot water for doing dishes, (mind you, you had to take a bucket into the shower to get it), the toilet blocks were immaculate, the individual sites were a good size and the management and staff were friendly and accommodating. There were two washing machines and the price was only $4 a load, which we thought was quite a bargain compared to some places we had stayed. One problem we, and all other campers from northern Europe had, was how to get our propane bottles filled. In the rest of Europe you simply take in your empty tank to an RV dealer or campground store and exchange it for a full one. Spain hasn’t joined this programme yet but with a bit of legwork, lots of questions, and a couple of fruitless trips, we were able to finally get a tank filled. As I am writing this article at the end of March, we have not used a full tank and we are getting ready to leave Spain in the next few days, so we probably would have been alright, but you never want to take a chance. The main reason the one tank has lasted so long is that I normally do most of the cooking outdoors under our porch canopy, and we heat with electric. We have replaced our small blue camping gas bottle but it is only half the size, and it’s butane.

One of the first things we noticed in this and other campgrounds in the south of Spain, is the number of large, American motorhomes. Winnebago, Windsor, Airstream LandYachts, the list goes on. Most of them are owned by Germans, Belgians and Brits. There is even an American Motorhome Club and magazine in the U.K. Most of these were not the small models but were 34-40 feet long! We found out that the reason we had not seen them anywhere else is that there are restrictions on where they can be parked and only in the south of Spain are they welcomed with open arms. There are several dealers in Germany, Belgium and England that import the machines from the U.S. and convert them to European specifications. The prices seem to be much higher than in Canada but people that had them seemed to be very happy with them. Of course they have the same problem that any motorhome owner has: How do you get around after you arrive in the campground? There are rules about towing a vehicle behind the motorhome that are more restrictive than in Canada. It seems that the car must be on its own trailer and not attached by a tow bar. A lot of people rent a small car when they arrive at their destination or rely on public transit (or other campers who have a car); some folks even carry a small scooter type motorcycle.

For the month between 15 December and 15 January we moved out of the trailer and rented a small, two bedroom, apartment in La Cala de Mijas, a small fishing village between Malaga and Marbella that has been developed into quite a charming tourist center. We felt in need of a break from the caravan and we also had friends from Brussels coming to spend a week over Christmas with us. It was certainly nice to have a little bit more space than we had in the trailer, but by the middle of January we were both anxious to get back «home» to the trailer. For one thing, these little houses do not have central heating and there were a lot of chilly, wet days when we just could not get warm in the house. Drying the laundry was solved the same as we did in the trailer, bring it into the house, put it on a rack, direct the little butane heater at it and wait and wait and wait.

The lead up to Christmas had all of the towns and villages putting up a display of the Nativity. Some were quite ornate and some were quite simple. In our village there was a LIVING BETHLEHEM with more than 400 actors taking part. The centre of the village was transformed into the Holy Land with truckloads of sand spread on the streets and the deft use of brown construction paper and reeds to change the white buildings into adobe structures. Lots of children were involved as well as flocks of sheep and goats and the odd cow, burro, mule and horse. We saw the Annunciation of Mary, her meeting Joseph and them leaving Nazareth and riding to Bethlehem. They found shelter in the stable and a vastly «pregnant» Mary entered and came out shortly afterward carrying the baby Jesus. The show culminated with the visits and adoration of the shepherds and the Wise Men.

The focus of this year’s presentation was to raise enough money to send a seriously ill boy to the United States for treatment for an advanced type of muscular dystrophy that cannot be treated in Spain and that the Spanish medical system does not pay for. It was a success and the latest word is that the young man has been to the States once and will be returning for additional treatment sessions. It makes you feel good knowing that you did your little part to make this happen.

Christmas is not the big gift-giving day in Spain that it is in Canada and in many other countries in Europe. They use the 6th of January, the day of the Three Kings for that, although there is increasing pressure from the international merchants to use Christmas, thereby allowing them to use one set of ads for all of Europe. Because of the number of ex-pats living on the Costa del Sol both days are advertised and celebrated. More and more Spanish families are bowing to the commercial pressure and giving presents to their children on both days as well.

The visit with our Brussels buddies was a huge success. They are actually Canadians who are just finishing a four year posting at NATO Headquarters and will be returning to Victoria this summer, just before we get back. We took several day trips to show them some of our favourite things. A trip to Gibraltar was a must. The delays at the border were not too bad but on other occasions it reminded us of the delays at Blaine. Up to Castellar de la Frontera, an abandoned Moorish castle town that was declared uninhabitable by one federal ministry so they moved all the people out to a new village with new homes about 10km away. At the same time another ministry decided that the village must be improved so they installed water, sewer and electricity. A few families moved back but largely it was taken over by a bunch of hippies. Some remain, sharing the village with the few remaining original residents. Ronda, whose main claim to fame is its bull ring where, in 1785, Pedro Romero laid down and demonstrated the rules of fighting bulls on foot. Until that time all of the fighting had been done from horseback. On Christmas Day we all went to Marbella and spent a pleasant hour strolling on the Paseo Maritimo with the rest of the population. It was a bright sunny day about 20 celcius. Before dinner our guests, who are fitness folks went for a run along the Mediterranean and at one point even took their sneakers off to run in the water. Dinner was a roast chicken prepared in the Catalan style, a recipe from Northern Spain. It is a simple recipe and I have decided to include it for you. Quantities given are very approximate, you have to use as much as you think you need depending on the size of the chicken.


CATALAN CHRISTMAS CHICKEN
1 good sized roasting chicken
Stuff with:
2 tbs pine nuts
1/2 cup raisins and prunes that have been plumped in hot water beforehand
1 apple, cored and chopped
8 oz of a good sausage, Spanish chorizo or butifarra is good but any farmers sausage will do. Cut in chunks.
Roast and baste with a combination of olive oil and sweet wine.
I am sure there will be no leftovers.

During December Di and I both celebrated our birthdays. We normally have a house-stuffing party at home but this year they were a bit smaller affairs. For Diana’s we went out to dinner with friends, to a small mountain village that has turned itself into an epicure’s delight. The majority of the businesses in Benahavis are restaurants. We selected one that had a good reputation and were not disappointed. For my 55th birthday we went to a small restaurant in our adopted community of Cala de Mijas where I had a great Chicken in Garlic Sauce. Di was forced to have a bit of garlic in her dish just to combat mine. Both nights out were fun.

New Year’s Eve is a big celebration and many restaurants had special menus available that had prices rising up to $450 per person! We and another couple found a small restaurant that was much more reasonably priced, and had quite a memorable meal. One of the things you do at midnight is eat one grape for each stroke of the bell striking the hour. Twelve big juicy green grapes is quite a mouthful, believe me, and it is usually followed by champagne. After this come the traditional bells, whistles, horns and fireworks. We finished the evening by going into Marbella and watching the «beautiful people» strut their stuff along the Paseo Maritimo, and in the bars.

While we were out of the trailer I took the opportunity to install a new floor. The trailer is 10 years old and the floor was starting to develop some ominous cracking noises. We were able to get an English contractor who installed a high grade marine plywood sub-floor and then I installed self-adhesive floor tiles. The whole job took a few days to complete because the contractor couldn’t work in the rain and we had lots of rain in January and then we had a lot of trouble finding the floor tiles. In Spain all the floors are marble and only after visiting every floor covering dealer and DIY ( Do It Yourself) shop in a 50 km radius were we finally able to locate some. The finished job is a success and it looks good.

We also had to replace the trailer tires. Apparently the life of trailer tires, no matter what mileage, is six years. Our trailer, at ten years of age, was definitely well past that. You would think it would be a fairly simple task to buy two 175R13 tires wouldn’t you? The search for self-adhesive tiles was child’s play in comparison. There are only two RV dealers in the area, neither of them could help. There are many tire stores but none of them could help, the tires here are low profile. We had just about given up hope and were starting to make plans to drive to France or Germany to get them when we stumbled across the advertisement for a tire shop that catered to German tourists. A quick visit and we had our tires. They said they must have been special ordered for someone else and never picked up because that size is not manufactured in Spain and a special order may take up to three months to arrive!

Early in January we took a drive up into the hills above Malaga to look at the scenery. We had a lovely sunny day and saw lots of goat herds in the fields and being driven along the road from one pasture to another. The almond trees were starting to bloom and as you looked across the valleys you had the impression that you were looking at big pink and white snowballs. Many people were hard at work, harvesting olives. This is a very labour-intensive job. You don’t just wait for the olives to drop off the tree but in fact the olives must be stripped from the branches. A rake is used for most of them but the last ones must be picked by hand. Of course the smell of olive oil is in the air as you drive past the mills that are working around the clock to press the olives.

It was at this time that Diana started a new career: Lary’s barber. I had been having my hair cut very short since last summer. After watching several other people in the campground cutting each other’s hair, we got some electric clippers that paid for themselves in three haircuts. I am very happy with the result and Di is getting very good at wielding the clippers. I trimmed Di’s hair once but so far have not attempted a full cut.

During our stay in Marbella we have both had to see a doctor. Nothing too serious, but necessary. We referred to the list of doctors provided by the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO TRAVELLERS (IAMAT) booklet, and found one in town. Our doctor spoke excellent English, has family in Montreal and made us feel very comfortable as he treated us.
I would recommend that anyone considering international travel enroll in this organization with its head office in Guelph, Ontario, and membership of a very reasonable donation per year to further international medical training.

There are several English language newspapers printed on the Costa del Sol: SUR IN ENGLISH, THE ENTERTAINER and THE TOWN CRIER. All of them have varying amounts of news and all of them have lots of advertisements. If you need something, it is for sale here. The Town Crier also has a free book swap service and they were also kind enough to let me use their E-mail to get a couple of articles back to THE RV TIMES.

Next issue I’ll tell you about some of the trips we took while in Marbella for the winter.
Happy Camping.