... and New Year's Day

A lie-in. For no reason other than it was New Year's Day and we had nothing planned. Plus it had been a lovely evening.

But wait. What is that noise? Music? At 5.30, and er 6.30, and er every .30. The bar down the beach was obviously partying on in big style.

Early rising Partner dragged himself out of bed at some unearthly hour as is his habit due to lighting fires at 5.30am in the Welsh Valleys as a kid before he did his paper round.

I drifted in and out of sleep. After all, I have caught a pesky cold from our host on Boxing Day (so did everyone else).

'Shall we go back to Gib?' asks Partner brightly while I am trying to snooze. [Er, no, I am asleep and sick].

'Or we could go and get that cache at Comares?' he asks equally brightly. Ah, the one I couldn't find that he maintains he would find at the drop of a hat.

I realised what this was about. He didn't want to sit around getting annoyed at the noisy music - which wasn't down the beach at all - it was at the big finca across the road where they must have been partying on since midnight NYE.

I sprung into Lively New Year Mode. Ate pineapple (Christmas present from a Gib neighbour - forgot to mention that as it arrived Christmas Evening) and some heavily alcoholic grapes full of anis prepared a few months earlier by me.

Off we went. Up towards the hill in the sky yet again. I had mixed views about going for this irritating cache. If we had gone again in 2010 would we have found it or not? Bad year, another indicator of that or possibly a predictor of a crap 2011? Or if we had found it - would 2011 be good? Or if we didn't find it today - another bad year in store? But a find might indicate a bit of luck surely?

Well despite the fact that I had wasted hours up there the last time - Partner found it within minutes.

Smug finder of the cache


I have to say I was pleased about that. I would never have found it without the 'spoiler' pic. I may never have found it with the pic as my arms are not so long and my head for heights when leaning over even the tiniest of drops is non-existent.

Wandering around Comares afterwards


We also noticed there are some great walks around Comares, so need to think about planning a walking day or half-day up there.

And it was so quiet on the roads. So utterly tranquil. Most of Spain, or at least La Axarquia, apart from the usual old men on their normal daily paseo (walk), were obviously in bed after the revelries of the night before.

We came back home, chilled and relaxed, and ready for the trip back to Gib the next day.

In the evening as we wandered out with our dog, I heard some lovely music drifting across the village. The Hallelujah chorus? From Handel's Messiah? Not what I would normally expect in my Andalucian pueblo. Where I come from in Yorkshire it is very popular, preferably sung by the Huddersfield Choral Society. But to hear it in Andalucia drifting across the village on New Year's Day?

I skipped off to investigate. Eventually I found the source of the music. It was the Living Belen or whatever it is called, a Live Nativity I suppose. It's been going a few years now in our pueblo, initially free, then there was a charge of €5 or so, and now money is short again, it is free to watch so I wandered in for the last few minutes. It was good, and well-attended. It made a nice end to a good New Year's Day.

The final nativity scene of the Belen


Very best wishes to everyone for 2011 and hoping I have a bit more space and less stress in my life to post more this year on my blog. Feliz Año Nuevo.