The Ultimate

Thursday, August 18

A friendship day

Tuesday Aug. 16th, 2005
On this day we were supposed to go shopping, Buddha del Sol and then meet our friends for the last supper. But as usual our day started lazily and by the time we left the apartment it was late already, and since we did not know how to get to Buddha del Sol and as our friends have mentioned that it would take time to find it since it’s on the southern outskirts of Valencia, amid the fields of El Saler area, we decided to head towards Buddha del Sol directly and postpone shopping for another time.

Surprisingly we did not get lost except for a short distance in the fields and that was when we got very close to the location. The place opens for the sunset at eight PM and we were about ten minutes early, no one was in the vicinity except for two dogs which guarded the place; one huge black dog and another smaller champagne color. The minute we parked the car the black one stood on alert and the other started barking, I found myself uttering; I’m not getting out of the car, and Elegance echoed; neither am I, and out we drove towards the huge lake of Albufera taking pictures of the rice paddies and the boats, then back to Buddha del Sol where the dogs were gone.

The place was a joke; it was supposed to be a combination of Buddha Bar of Paris and Café del Mar of Ibiza, but it was none of the above. It looked like an old children’s park that was renovated to give the tranquil atmosphere for watching the sunset in the fields, then at night it would transform into a restaurant and a night club. The decoration was lousy; a mixture of oriental ala Middle Eastern with a children’s pool that did not belong and deprived the place from its specific character, and all you see of Buddha was his head. A water slide that did not go with the place at all was still there, all beds and hanging sheets (the one thousand night and one style) were old and dirty although the place was brand new, and although this place advertised for its cocktail varieties, it did not have any except for the light San Francisco that we ended up drinking, and the chill out music that was supposed to go on mellower as the sun goes down was hip hop and started mellowing after dark. And atop all that; the day was cloudy and the sun was shyly peeking through the clouds as if it was giving us an unwelcome gesture, but the lazy atmosphere in the fields was quite nice, and we had come all the way to this place, so we had better enjoy it. And we did; the minute we finished our first drink, we did not even wait for the waiter to bring our bill, we went to the cashier, paid him with the tip and hurriedly fled out to join our friends for dinner. Our friends told us that the restaurant in Buddha del Sol was supposed to be good and the night club is awesome, but who would in his right mind drive all the way into a no man land for that?... forget it

Now the dinner was another story; we were introduced to other people on a large table and the new guys we met were hilarious, we did not stop laughing all night; some would speak Spanish, some English and others Arabic and we all understood each other, we took some caricature style pictures making faces to the camera, they all kept making fun of me and my camera saying that I must be half Japanese. And when the dinner ended some of us cramped up in two cars to go to other places for a drink and some left for home after bedding us the last farewell.

The car ahead of us was driven by Ramon, yes Ramon I told you I’ll mention your name on my blog and wait till you see your picture posted ;)

Ramon is out of this world crazy character with his long hair gelled to the back, who looked like a typical Spanish Flamenco dancer, he was our guide who gave us a spin with his driving, he’d circle each roundabout two, three times causing others to cuss and shout at him, and since it was a Tuesday night, no place was open, so we ended up in Manel’s restaurant who was also with us in Ramon’s car and his restaurant was closed that day but he opened it up especially for us, we spent the rest of the night joking, belly dancing and taking shots of rum liquors of different brands and ages, and ahhhhhh… you should’ve seen Ramon belly dancing… LOL, too bad my battery died and I could not take more pictures, but Elegance took some shots with her mobile camera. The night ended with the dessert we brought from the winery we visited in Benicassim few days back; an awful tasting cherry marinated in alcohol, yuk.

At five AM, when we started driving back to where our cars were parked, Ramon; our guide started his game again, taking us in circles, back to where we started, and out of the car he jumped, welcoming us to Manel’s restaurant again, and that was when we realized what he was doing, this time we did not shout at him, we only cracked up laughing.

This is really what I like about Spain; it’s people. They’re all easy going, fun type, and life loving people, and moreover; they’re CRAZZZZZZY. Two of the ones who were with us had jobs to attend at seven o’clock in the morning, but they did not care although they all held important and sensitive positions, they’d still make it on time the next morning, believe you me, and I don’t know how they do it, and this night was not an exception for some of them, I mean they did not do that only for us; some Spaniards take that as a ritual, having fun all night, then a couple of hours sleep, work, siesta, work and back to night life. Ohhhh.. That must be trying.

Hey guys, life is too short, so you might enjoy it while you can, I know I’m going to miss my Valencian friends, and yes Ramon I will miss you too :p

If one day I decided to leave my country for good, I know I will end up in Spain coz I’m sure that I’d never get bored with such a marvelous company, and as I have always believed; my place is where my friends are, too bad I’m too attached to my friends and family back home, I miss them terribly

Adios Moncofa
Wednesday Aug. 17th, 2005
What a day, we had lots to do, yet wanted to spend a lovely day in this beautiful village, instead we ended up shopping most of the day in Valencia, neither me nor Elegance like shopping and that’s why we procrastinated all this time. Today we were in a race to finish our shopping as quickly as possible so we could come back to the village and enjoy strolling along its beautiful beaches, and may be get lucky enough to sit by one of its beach bars and have a drink before packing and cleaning the apartment.

The shopping which we had planned to be of two hours duration at its max, took us four hours and a half, the Valencians love to take their time when they do a job, the job that takes half an hour to finish would take double that time with the Valencians. So it was a real miracle that we finished our shopping list in such comparatively short duration, we were practically running up and down the streets, but that, off course, deprived us of the time we needed to spend in the village.

So we only had a short time to say goodbye to Moncofa; we walked a short distance along the strip then sat on the cool sands of the beach and watched the almost full moon that would shy out at times veiling its heavenly face behind the clouds.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Madrid…….

Posted by AyyA:: at :: 4:07 PM::

2 Comments:

AyyA said...: too bad it's almost over :(; 11:30 PM
AyyA said...: Eeeeeeeesssssssa
How are you dear, what a surprise!!!! thanks dear and you know you are welcome anytime in my place in Kuwait
I will send you the link for the photos as I promised dear, I’m just waiting for them to upload, and you can translate to Ramon, and give him my regards, love you all, and miss you, you naughty, tiresome, lovely people you ;)
Kisses to the lovely nieces; the double S's and to thier mom and your lovely mom as well mooooowwah; 11:32 PM