During la pausa at La Janda, after listening to two of the year 12s, Cara and Hayley have an entertaining discussion with Daniel about the different drinking/ driving ages (and then admitting to him they both had fake IDs), I sent an email to my mum to tell her about how much fun I'd been having so far and all the different adventures we'd been having- in turn, receiving a multimedia from Monique, showing me that Mum had shaved off all her hair on exactly one half of her head. Having me away from home was starting to take it's toll- I'd hate to think about what'll happen when I go to uni...
Our very first official touristy-outing was an afternoon walk to a wind turbine farm, starting from the modern part of Vejer, getting through a fence and walking into what looked like desert-land. I walked with Dylan, collecting lots of pieces of coloured, broken ceramic tile that were embedded into the ground on our track to give to friends at home. It was really fun, and I still have that collection in a dish in my room- I never got round to the handing out bit. But I'm kind of glad I still have them =)it was a long walk! In the blistering heat- which, in light of the daily 25-30 degree temperature, wasn't actually that bad, seeing as though you could wear singlets and shorts without ever having to worry about sunblock (their ozone layer is still fully intact, see). We didn't stay at the wind turbine farm- you can only look at a spinning white pole for so long. We did, however, make our way to Palomera, a historic birdhouse- of all things.
Well, it was way better than it sounds. The place was amazing. These people worshipped these pigeons, the walls were just several thousand holes for the messenger-birds to stay in between deliveries in the olden days.
I couldn't help but feel a little surprised that it wasn't used anymore, being a town that was suggestively still living in the olden days- what, your church is a castle but you don't use pigeon mail? The wind turbines were just a gift from the government, because they were still using oxes to turn giant wheels for electricity.Justin was offering ten euro to the first person to touch the top of one of the walls of the Palomera, using only the thin ledges of the pigeon holes to climb up.
This was probably not the best idea, and Jess ran out to distract the teachers while the stunt was attempted, but, unfortunately, not entirely completed. It was too darn high up to rely on ancient clay protrusions for support.Next to the Palomera was a small cafe-type-pub looking thing, where we all brought ice creams to cool us down. Outside, Dylan and I spotted something interesting while moseying around!
Behind some beautiful pink flowers, clinging upside down to the ceiling of an entrance area, was a cute little gecko. Awesome! I really wish right now that I could've touched it. But we didn't want to scare it, so we just watched it for a while =) it didn't really do much. Why didn't we name it? I only just thought of that.Our Spanish teacher, Mrs O'Leary, called some cabs to come and pick us up because by then we were pretty tired. I got into the taxi with the girls, and the driver knew a little English, so we spoke to him for a while. Then! Shakira came on the radio (cliche, much?) and we all sang along to it, yelling out the windows and even involving the driver- a man looking to be about in his forties. Nothing like a road trip, belting out a Shakira song doing 80 on a highway to make you feel like a 15 year old... girl... again.
The next day, we got given a packed lunch and sent off to our first Spanish beach! Which made me realize how lucky I was to live so close to a beach- seeing as though the bus trip was about an hour, hour and 20. But we got there! It was beautiful. Our small year 11 group 
wandered over to a huge sand dune, hoping to find someone we could hire a sled or boogie board from- with no luck. The dune was awesome and there was a really cool looking forest behind it, but we were told not to go out of sight- aw =(So we headed back to the water to cool off, playing games like chicken, the handstand circle of death- a game in which everyone stands in a circle, simultaneously diving into the handstand position under water and then thrashing the legs around above the water, kicking other legs and on some occasions, getting a few shoulders or even faces on the way down... and other light hearted tom foolery. Dylan reckoned he saw a fish, and Sean found a heavy silver necklace- which he still wears- buried in the sand under the water. He took to a jeweller once he was back in New Zealand and got told it was real silver- nice find =)
There was a stand on the bank of the beach selling sarongs, so I bought one for mum, knowing she lives in them in the summer time. We bought another round of ice creams before calling it a day and jumping back on the bus for another hour. Jess fell asleep in an awkward position, looking as though she would slide off the seat =D
Before heading straight home, we visited one of the most southern towns in Spain, Talifa. It was labelled as a 'gypsy' town because of the culture down there, which was a bit cool. Standing on the balcony looking out to the Mediterranean Sea, we saw a big Island in the distance- commonly known as 'Africa'. How cool is that? Standing on the coast of Spain looking out at the clifftop coast of Africa =)
To finish off our wonderful afternoon, we were invited to listen to a local man perform some traditional Spanish flamenco music on his guitar back in Vejer. We were asked to try and clap along with the beat. It was a bit complex, and often didn't sound in time with the music he was playing. But, we did it anyway =) Justin and Sean were interested in learning some flamenco songs on their guitar, but I dont think they were going to learn in a one-off lesson. Like I said, it was a bit complex.
And then dinner at the pizzería again! I would not be surprised to find, at the end of the trip, half of our spending money blown on food. We bought 5 Pizzas to share between the 7 of us- Ellie, Justin, Dylan, Sean, Vinnie, Jess, and myself. Sean insisted on a 'four-cheese' pizza (one of the cheeses being BLUE cheese!), and someone else chose a seafood themed pizza. Why are these the only two I remember out of the five we ordered? Well!
The morning after this particular outing to the pizzería delivered an unexpected surprise. Whether it was the blue cheese, or the foreign seafood, I woke up to fin my eyes puffy and swollen. =( I had had an allergic reaction to something that night, and was reluctant to go to school with a mutant face. It was weird because I'm not typically allergic to anything. So I took a couple of clarintynes and hoped for the best. Justin noticed my puffy eyes, despite my attempts to hide it, and made fun of me =( aw.
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