Back in Ottawa

I've uploaded most of my Spain photos to Flickr.

I have to wait until August 1 to upload the rest because I hit my monthly upload limit.

My first stop back in Canada was the Manx. As you can see, I brought something back to ease my re-integration to Canada.

After this photo was taken, the screen on my camera said "internal memory full". More proof that I live a charmed life.

And, for Kathy A, here are some Spanish animals:

Final "Creacion de entradas"

I've got a hectic last day in Torremolinos ahead of me. But not as hectic as Marcie's day:

1. 12:30pm Meet the Independent Observer at his posh hotel for brunch.
2. The El Mojito for email.
3. Write a few postcards.
4. Suntan back of legs.
5. Eat a helato.
6. Shop for a teeny little top.
7. Go to beach.
8. Supper.
9. Disco.

My day is less hectic because instead of items 3, 4 and 6, I've only got "pack".

I've got lots of sketches from my anthropological research at the disco. I'll try to upload it all on the weekend. For photos and video footage, we'll have to wait a couple of weeks until Marcie gets back to Canada with her fancy camera.

Costa del Sol Observations

Here is a collection of things I've noticed here.

1. Those fold-out fans are not just for the tourists. Spanish ladies really do use them and they are talented at flipping them wide open and shut again.
2. There is an active graffiti culture in Malaga. Everywhere you look there are tags and murals. Even here in Torremolinos, there are a lot of tags.
3. Something is being dug up, torn down, rebuilt or under construction on every block in Andalucia.
4. English waiters are as likely to ignore you here as Spanish waiters. People who have worked in Miami are less likely to ignore you. (Where sample size n of attentive waiters = 2.)
5. To tell someone that the empty seat next to you on the train is actually taken, you can say "compadre".
6. Beverley has finally realized that "always trust Dave" is a good motto to follow when you can't decide what menu item to order or you're not sure where to find the bathroom. Even if he says the bathroom is in another building and not downstairs where Marcie says it is.
7. There are people in the world who drive Sedgways. Here in Torremolinos, men in white uniforms who might be beach security officers, ride back and forth along the waterfront in them. Do they take them onto the sand? I can't tell you that yet.
8. Mobile phones - yes. Everyone has them and they make and receive calls anywhere. I have to admit it would be fun to tell someone that I'm floating in a pool in Spain, but will be happy to look after their computer problem next week.
9. iPods - no. I've seen maybe three people with iPod headsets in the week I've been here.
10. When I can hear the sounds of the language, but before I can hear the individual words they are speaking, I cannot tell people from northern England from Scandinavians. If I wasn't paying quite so much for this internet time, I'd do some googling to find out if any linguists have done any research on the morphemes used by these language groups.

Marina Beach

I'm a little tired today. Cultural anthropology is a draining activity. Last night's field work took place in Benalmadena, just down the coast from Torremolinos at an establishment called Marina Beach.

I'm hoping that photos taken by the young women from Te vi fiesta from last night get posted otherwise you might not believe me that amongst all the young revellers were middle aged and elderly women accompanying a bride-to-be who were all wearing leopard spot cowboy hats, black outfits and sherrif's badges with tiny plastic penises stuck to them.

Of course, I have a sketch of one, but it will be a while before I can get it scanned.

Spanish Posters

Marcie likes to bring posters back from her trips. A good image with non-English text makes a good one for her office wall. When we went past the bullring in Seville, she was delighted to be able to buy a copy of the poster for the 2006 bullfighting season there. (I'd have bought one myself, but I don't like paying for posters, and one shouldn't really be putting money into bullfighting, right?)

Later in the afternoon, we were heading into the Christopher Columbus archives, and I spotted a choral concert poster, nice photo, Spanish text, only loosely taped to a stone wall. I carefully removed the poster from the wall. "Here's one for you, Marcie."

"Oh, no," she said. "For me a poster has to be truly beautiful before I'll put it up on the wall. But you can keep it." I held onto the thing all the way through the archives and then threw it out. If it's not beautiful enough for Marcie, it's not beautiful enough for me. Right?

Several hours later, we were back in Malaga. Outside the construction around the train station, hundreds of giant posters had just been put up. "Hey, Marcie, how about these shoes! I bet I could peel one of these off for you!"

"Are you kidding?" Marcie wrinkled her face in disgust. "I wouldn't put that on my wall"

"I would", I said. "I like those shoes and 'song of the crazy' is great. I'm going to come back tomorrow and take a picture of these posters. Then I'm going to mount it and give it to you for your birthday. And you'll have to say, 'oh, thank you, how nice'." Then we rounded the corner and there was a guy with an armful of posters.

"Those must be the posters," said Marcie, "do you want one?"

¨Well, yeah, but..."

"Come on." Marcie turned around and chased after the guy. "Señor, por favor, mon amigo, aime, oh, how do you say 'like'?..." We had a brief discussion about whether it was quiero or not, and the guy caught on that we'd like one of the posters. He peeled off two and gave them to me.

So I had one poster for me and one for someone else. And somehow, Marcie was interested in it.

"Oh, no, Marcie, this poster is too ugly for your wall. Only the most beautiful poster is good enough for you," I said. But Marcie didn't really want it. Beverly does. And she was there, so sorry, she's getting it.

But if any of you would like a free 6"x14" bullfighting poster, I can get lots of those.

Post Script: The next morning in Malaga, all the shoe posters had been covered with other concert posters. Every single one.

El Canto del Loco Links:

• Official site (warning automatically plays music)
• Wikipedia
• A Google Video
• Some samples

Holas!

Hey! I'm in Spain. As proof, look how easy it is for me to type an "ñ". And: ç, €, ºª, a´. I'm paying €0.50 per 12 minutes at a bar/café called "El Mojito" to give you this posting. Rather than tell you about the beautiful sunshine and all that here is a list of things that I meant to bring, but forgot to pack:

• spare memory card for the digital camera
• the download cable for the camera (This means you'll have to wait for photos of me in my beachwear.)
• the maps of Torremolinos that I printed
• sachets of herbal tea

Only 4 items so far.

And I wish I'd brought fewer shirts because there are super cheap shirts every where.