Malaga (times two)

I love Malaga. And I think that might be a vast understatement. It kind of reminds me of the place where I studied abroad in Spain - Alicante. Both places are near the coast. Both places house large cities. Both have bustling night lives (or as the Lonely Planet book describes it "a healthy nightlife"). Both hold centros that are full of Blancos, H&Ms, ice cream stores, and tasty restaurants. My two most recent trips in Spain have been to visit my good friend Julie who lives in Malaga. Each time I go, the two bus, one taxi, and 3 hour train ride away from Antilla has been work every minute and every euro of it. December was my first trip to Malaga - Joanna and I went to visit Julie and explore the city there. My second trip was a solo adventure, and I went to see Julie for her 25th birthday last weekend!

Besides all of the fun and lightheartedness, Malaga also contains some history - it is the birth place of the artist Picasso. A huge castle rests at the very top of Malaga too. During my first visit there, Joanna, Julie, and I climbed up to the top of the castle and enjoyed the amazing view of all of Malaga. The climb was pretty grueling - but Joanna reminded us that we were getting "free exercise." :) So after 30 plus minutes of climbing, three bottles of Aquafina, and several "picture stops" later, we arrived at the top. And it was breath taking. :) Once at the top, we explored some more, walked around admiring the old architecture and taking an insane number of pictures. One of my favorite things about Spain in December is the fact that it was still warm enough for roses to bloom there (which we saw some at the top of the castle). Now it's January, almost February, and the roses are gone. But they were beautiful.

The second time in Malaga we also walked around the city and Julie and Amanda (Amanda is one of Julie's good friends and also one of her roommates) showed me the beach at Malaga. Glancing at the dark ground, I commented about how the sand is different. "The sand is crap," the girls told me. "The beaches are man-made here." Although the beaches are man-made and the sand is different, they are still gorgeous. You look out to the Mediterranean Sea, and mountains rest behind it, turn to the other side, and large buildings stand in the city of Malaga, and you turn again, and there are red and blue colored playgrounds with small Spanish children and little dogs running around on patches of bright green grass. It's a nice mixture of everything there - some city, some beach, some people, and even some mountains in the distance.

Besides exploring Malaga during the day, we also explored it by night (I'm sure you saw that one coming). :) The night life there is amazing and buzzing with energy and an incredible number young people...especially guys. :) The first time we went out (in December), we had drinks at an Irish pub (An Irish pub in Spain? Why, yes there are quite a few of them.) and then enjoyed the night dancing with our new Spanish friends at a discoteca that was kind of like an old building - wooden banisters, a large stairway, and no real dance floor made for an interesting feel to the place. It kind of reminded me of a museum for some reason.

The second time going out in Malaga (in January) was for Julie's birthday. That was my reason for going to Malaga -- to help her celebrate her 25th in style! A large group of her friends came over to the apartment, and we had Long Islands, ate chocolate ice cream cake (delicious), and served our duty as American cultural ambassadors by teaching the Spanish an American drinking game.

We then made the 30 minute walk to the centro, through the cold and wet puddles left over from the rain earlier in the day, and we tried out a couple of different places. Sadly there were not as many people out that night - we think it was due to the weather. Regardless, it was still fun. We met a few different groups of guys - one group of guys who claimed to be our age but looked like they were roughly 15 years old and a second group of guys in which one of them claimed that all of his friends with him were gay. I, naively assuming this man would only tell the truth, was absurdly excited to meet a pack of gay Spanish men. I smiled largely and ran up to one of them and started dancing. He excitedly danced with me, and soon we began talking. He actually spoke a bit of English with a heavy Spanish accent. "So.." I started, "you are all boyfriends?" I asked him in English. With a startled look on his face he grabbed my hand and shouted "No! I like girls!"

Gracias, Malaga, for reminding me that I am officially back in my nightlife living, mis-communicating, meeting new guys, exploring new cities life of Spain. :)