Marbella or Bust

You know that scene in Sandlot where the boys stupidly chew tobacco only to throw it up on the tilt-a-whirl a few minutes later? (Pretty picture, yes.) Well minus the tobacco, I had a somewhat similar experience this past weekend. On Saturday, three of the girls in my program and I hopped on a bus to go to the seaside town of Marbella. We had heard that it was a little touristy but that it had great beaches, shops, restaurants and was just a cool place to relax. It was raining when we left but we all figured that we could live without the beach and just explore the city.

Turns out the road to Marbella is very mountainous and swirly. Combine that with a lead-footed driver and a late night and you can only imagine the trouble we were getting ourselves into. Veronica was the first to strike. Luckily for her some of our host moms had packed us all a lunch earlier that day and she was able to grab one of the sacks right before she ralphed. Unfortunately, the first time would not be Veronica’s last. The drive there lasted a little over an hour and she was sick for most of it. Between the tight turns, warm bus and the sweet, melodic tunes of Veronica on repeat, I began to feel a little ill myself. At one point I was even tempted to pull a trick my Mom taught me when I was wee little one and steal Veronica’s bag for personal use. Love you Mom.

But my will to not get sick on the bus carried me through the whole ordeal and I arrived to Marbella with all of my breakfast. Then I stood up. This was a mistake. I ran into the bathroom and well, started playing melodic tunes of my own. After rocking out, I tried to open my stall door to leave but the stupid thing wouldn’t budge. The lock was apparently rusted and by using it, I had sealed myself in. I pushed and pulled but it wasn’t until one of the other girls came and kicked/punched the door that the seal budged enough for me to escape.

A few pounds lighter, we all purchased tickets to take us to the shopping/beachy center of the city. But after about an hour into the drive we began to get suspicious that we might have made a mistake in choosing buses. Our suspicions were confirmed when we saw a sign that read: Bienvenidos a Estepona. We had booked a ticket to another city. Whoops! I guess I need to work on my pronunciation skills. Well the city we booked wasn’t all that bad. We found a pizzeria that hadn’t been shut down for the siesta and took a break from the wind and rain to dine on Italian food in Spain. After that we walked around this accidental city for a while before heading back to Marbella. I don’t think I have mentioned this yet, but the weather in Spain has been crazy. It’s not cold but has rained nearly every day. I mention this only because the ocean waves were gigantic! Flooding is also a big problem right now and the beaches are proof. They were completely buried beneath salt water and debris.

After exploring a bit, we made our way back to Marbella and went to some stores to not buy anything. Eventually, it was time to go back home to Ronda. We left the city of Marbella much wiser and better prepared for the ride home.

P.S. I passed my test and will not be voted off the island.