March 12, 2019 – Malaga, Spain

March 12, 2019 – Malaga, Spain
Last night the guides put on an Andalusian Night. They explained about the Festival of April celebrated in Cartagena and modeled how the men and women dress. Next they explained how to make sangria while 4 of the travelers put it together. After we all drank the sangria we all had to get up and dance the macarena. It was a wild night!
I woke up to another day of perfect weather. Clear with a high of 70°.
We left for a bus tour of the city at 9am. Malaga is a city of 600,000 residents which over the years has been ruled by Phoenicians, Roman’s, and Moors and a few more. The most famous people from here are Pablo Picasso and Antonio Banderas.
After seeing the city from the bus we got out and walked. Our local guide, Valle, had many interesting stories as she led us through the city center. We went to the Picasso Museum where we were given 1 hour to tour on our own. Since I went to 3 different Picasso museums last fall, I quickly walked through and then spent 50 minutes wandering around the city. We visited a place where some of the Easter parade floats are kept.. Each float is carried around the city by 250 men for 5 hours.
Back on the bus we were taken to a small town 30 minutes outside Malaga for a home-hosted lunch. We were told that most of the families spoke little English. Twelve of us were assigned to go to Juana’s house. She drove us up to her house up a steep hill in 3 groups. Her 18 year old daughter, Ima, spoke a little English but Juana spoke none. One woman in our group could speak Spanish fairly well and I could eke out a few questions. They served us salad, soup, Spanish Tortilla, and flan. The meal was delicious. We learned that it is a family of 4 – A son 13, a daughter 18, and the 2 parents, Dad is a truck driver and mom doesn’t work. Unemployment is 30%. They do these lunches to make extra money.
Back on board local folklorica dancers and musicians put on a show. They were very good. At the end, one woman showed us how to play castanets.
After the show a few of us went out and walked along the waterfront. It was 2 miles round trip.
We stay overnight in Malaga and will visit Mijas tomorrow.