Friday, August 12
It’s Best to be Left UnplannedAn Energizing Day
Wednesday Aug. 10th
We had a wake up call from our Valencian friends who said that they were on their way to our village; we had a plan to spend the day in Montanejos; a place amid the mountains known for its vast natural swimming pools. The history of these pools goes back to an Arabian prince named Abu Ceit who excavated the mountains to build a swimming pool for his mistresses. The water coming from these mountains pass through rocks rich with minerals that makes it an ideal treatment for different malfunctions such as improving the digestive system, the kidneys and nourishing as well as treating skin problems. These swimming pools, which are also known as El7amamat El3arabiyah, flow into Mamoun River (also called River Mijares). It is also believed that when the Crusades fought the Arabs in this region, the prince preferred converting to Christianity than leaving his properties, and his mistresses I assume :p
So we all packed ourselves for a pick-nick atop the mountains, loaded both cars with water melons and honey due melons which this village is famous for, and added to that other fruits, nuts, and sandwiches just in case there is no nearby restaurants. The trip was about 40 minutes drive from our village in a very curvy road but nevertheless it was worth the hassle for the place was a true heaven.
We learned from the local tourist office that the main swimming pool has a resort where people around the world visit for medical reasons, and there are special body treatments using the natural ingredients of the pools if one wants to pamper himself, but it’s only done by appointment, so that appointment was on our list for another date. The main resort which we could not use was the swimming pool in which the prince’s mistresses bathed. ya bakhathom. But we did get to use the thermal waters of the other pools and my friend Elegance swam from the pool into caves where the water temperature stays at 25 degrees centigrade through all seasons, but unfortunately, I could not go that far because of my tattoo, for I still have one week before I could completely dip in water.
As we were heading towards the thermal waters, we noticed an opening in the heart of the mountain where water was bursting out with high pressure as if it was controlled by a pressure pump, the sight was astonishingly amazing.
When we got back to our village we strolled down the beach for a while, and I spotted a couple of love birds against the sinking sun, in a karma Sutra position, and do you think that this scene would escape my camera? Nooooooooooo
So I immediately grabbed my camera only to find my friend fleeing away and saying: “I don’t know you”, but with my persuasive tactics I talked her into pretending to pose for my camera while I did the shooting and she did, this picture turned out absolutely beautiful, and I made sure that the faces would not show for obvious reasons :p
The weather got cooler as the sun disappeared and humidity was so high that our bodies felt sticky with dirt accumulated from the day’s activities, so I told my friend Elegance as I was rubbing the black dirt shreds off my shoulders:” a hot bath sounds like heaven before retiring to bed” but to our surprise when we got home we had no water!!!
Elegance got furious and she ran downstairs to check and came back to me with a grave face announcing the bad news that the water company came earlier today and switched of the water valves from whoever did not pay. And since Elegance had authorized the real state agency to take care of all the formalities, she was burning with anger when she learned from the neighbors that the lady who was taking care of her property did not do her job properly and moreover she was on vacation and no where to be reached.
That called for another cold shower in the open :(
So we wore our bathing suits again and went down stairs with our shampoos, creams and gels, as well as towels and two buckets to fill it with water from the douches of the swimming pool downstairs. The water was freezing cold and we were shivering and cussing the agency lady all the time praying that she would have a disastrous vacation.
An Alcoholic day
Thursday Aug.11th, 2005
Today was a non stop drinking day; we woke up early craving fried eggs and since we still did not have water we decided to go have it in one of the café’s on the beach. Elegance was doing the ordering as usual but I noticed that the talking took a long time and Elegance left me on the table and went inside where she talked to another guy who looked like the cook and then she came back giggling, I asked her what was that all about, she said that believe it or not these guys were puzzled when I asked then for fried eggs, apparently they have never heard of fried eggs, they were more familiar with omelets and she had to teach the cook how to fry eggs, LOL
We had our eggs and it was good, then we went to the water company and solved the problem before heading to the town of Benicassim where we lunched on bear and artichoke sandwiches which Elegance experimented on me as her first cooking trial; it was delicious except for the leafs that kept sticking to our teeth with every bite and we had to pull them out. Then we headed to the early 18th century “The Bodegas Carmelitano’ winery; one of the most significant locations on the “Coata de Azhar” where we had a tour of liquor processing in 5 rooms and ended in the 6th which was a wine-cellar where the wine testing ceremony took place. The rooms looked like caves entering from one to another. And although we hardly filled our tiny glasses, by the time I finished the shots my head was spinning. We then went strolling on the beach of “the Tower of Saint Vicent” to photograph the tower and the town’s renowned historical houses, and except for the house that was completely covered with trees and greeneries that you could hardly see the building, the rest were not a big deal, when we got tired we rested in a nice coffee bar beach restaurant.
In the bar there was this huge Africana sitting on the bar with her different shades of green national outfit that blended nicely with the maroon decoration of the place and the tall palm trees around, the lady was dozing on her high chair and I took advantage of her sleep and shot a photograph, and to my horror, the nosy waitress saw me do that and she went to her, woke her up and told on me. My heart skipped a beat; I was expecting that at anytime the lady would come to me and break the camera over my head, just like what they do to the paparazzi LOL. Instead the sweet lady looked at me and gave me an angelic, approving smile, oooooffff…… that was a relief.
In the bar we had Jamaican coffee which consists of Tio Pepe licqour, coffee and cream and sweetened our tooth with Tiramisu soaked in Rum and headed back home completely buzzed, we showered (thanks God the water was back) and then hit the road again to Valencia.
Although I had my digital Sony camera for a year now, I never read the manual. I preferred playing with it in a trial and error fashion, the discovery of new features are much more exciting to me this way. So on our way to Valencia I discovered a program in the camera that can capture the beautiful color contrast especially with light and shade effects. And since the sun was going down at the time and the sky had this awesome multi color panoramic view, I tried and took a few shots and was exhilarated by my new discovery, all pictures would be posted on flickers later on BTW, my friend Elegance is encouraging me to take some photography courses to learn the proper techniques because she thinks I’m talented, it was only few years back when another friend encouraged me to write poetry and now Elegance is pushing me to take up photography, and who knows I might do that one day, wanaaaasssaaah
In Valencia, our friends took us to a nice restaurant for dinner and wine and then we went out clubbing all night till the little hours of the morning and I can’t remember how many classes I had because our Valencian friends were very generous with us, and before finishing the glass in my hand they’d slip another in my other hand. Thank God Elegance was doing the driving and she was in control.
On our way out of the first bar someone grabbed my ass pinching it in a sudden jerking motion, I jerked back expecting to see a guy, instead, I found this lady who looked like a man wearing a white dress right behind me, she pretended as if it wasn’t her and continued talking to another lady on her way out, my Valencian friends who were all around me when this happened cracked up laughing and told me that I had asked for it by showing my tattoo off, why does this always happen to me? Why meeeeee?
Elegance had to control her drink off course; she was driving and sometimes we ran into check points, but when we were at the safety of our home at about five AM, she suggested with glittering eyes and a mischievous gesture to end the day with a shot of Magic’s; a spirit made of blueberry, the one we bought from the winery, wi ana ma sadagt khabar, ihya kharba, kharba, and as they say in Arabic: wa khitamoho misk” the minute I finished the shot I dropped like a dead meat.
Name::AyyA
From::Kuwait
I AM WHO I AM AS I ARRIVE AT YOUR DOOR WHETHER I COME OR I GO IS NOT UP TO ME FOR I HAVE LOST SIGHT OF ALL DESIRE "Walled Garden of Truth",Hakim Sanai
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5 Comments:
So where are the pictures ;)
I love reading your posts as you travel through Spain. I feel like I'm living there again, vicariously through you. :)
lol hilarious, I love this post ;) excuse me! I'm going to go day dream now ;p
shoshoa el7ilwah
when i get back, I promise
Janjoon
hold on sweetie there are more to come
peach
one day my dear your dreams will become a reality
heck yeah they will ;) Inshallah ;p
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