What a week!

As I'm writing this I'm laying in a sofa in the shadow, it's warm and sunny so life is not to bad. I'm in this moment located in a pent-house apartment in Marbella surrounded by golf courses and huge villas, Julio Eglesias living right down in the valley. He! What a strange world we live in. Aleksander, which is one of the other people from the course lives here, working in Marbella. He offered me to come until I know what to do next. Since I have absolutely no plan what so ever I sad yes thank you and here I am. Internet, a proper shower and a little taste of what this coast is best know for, Costa del Sol.


Let's move on to the serious stuff now, SAILING! What a week!! I have spent the last 6 days on the boat and really learned so much. The weather has been sunny and warm and a fairly amount of wind as well. I have tried to make out the route we did to make it all very explainable. We went from Gibraltar to Estepona to Sotogrande to Gibraltar a cross to Ciuta and back to Gibraltar. The places has been different and fun to see, not that I went off the boat that much.

It was me and two others attending the course, one doing coastal skipper course (Konrad) and one competent crew (Aleksander) like me. The skipper turned out to be a old military guy who also had spent a great deal of time on submarines. Because of that he had a wide range of experience and know basically everything there is to know. What can be better than that when you have about a thousand questions you want to ask!?

The first day we spent "getting use to the boat" and we had a slow sail upwards to Estepona. The wind was perfect and I came to understand the basic operating of the sails. The weather as well was not bad at all and so I started working on my tan for the summer :) Of course it's not like there is something to do every second after you have rigged the sails and the wind is on the right side - so I have had some time to tan all week! But Chris has also been good at testing us, showing us knots and made stuff happened for us to learn as much as possible.

Second day we practiced tacking for some time and also had "man over board" training more times then I can count for. Going in to Sotogrande I got to see yet another heavy tourist invasion of the sea front and also quite posh, as I have discovered is mostly the cost line here. Third day back to Gib there was not really much wind and so we were on motor for most of the time. Not much work but yet another great day. Heading back in to Gib we passed Europa point and to see the ship that crashed into the rocks due to hard sea. Huge container ship smashed against the shore in strong sea a couple of years back. No body died amazingly enough. They are still cleaning up and trying to remove the wreck piece by piece.

Day number four was very exciting! I suddenly found my self on the way to Africa, fair enough on Spanish territory but still Africa. Strong wind and tide against the wind made a bumpy ride to the other side, perfect for a sailing school! I was steering for about half an hour when it was at it's most rough - and that I must say was heavy for my arms :) Keeping course when it is force 6 was not for kids:) As the sea calmed down a bit and we were closing up on Ciuta and lucky enough to get company by dolphins for ten minutes or so. They came up and jumped in the front of the boat and we were surrounded, what a day!! Arriving in Ciuta I was excited to take my first step of the boat to the new continent, and after all the work was done off to have a beer at a bar. Since I had forgot to put of sunscreen that day and it had been hard work I past and stuck to cola, for a while that is. After dinner me and Aleksander headed off to the casino where I had some drinks and learned how to play Black Jack properly! That was a really fun night. (Don't worry dad, no money spent!). Last day, Friday, me and Aleksander had to fill the dingy (small rubber boat) and take it for a small paddle around in the bay to show Chris we could master it. After lunch we set course for Europa again, but had a strong tide coming in so it took a while. When we reached the other side we practiced anchoring in a bay. Here we stayed for some hours, swimming, eating and sleeping while waiting for it to get dark. Friday evening we had three hours of night sailing to get an idea of how different it is to be out at night. We spent three hours talking about light signals and on a constant look out while going in and out of harbors. Around 11 we headed back in to Gib as a competent crew with a not to nervous coastal skipper at our side. Chris (the real skipper) was mainly watching us and just checking if we could figure it out our self.

Today I was very tired waking up, I tend to sleep like a baby on a boat, basically it was a slow morning. We had breakfast and then Chris came over to sign us off. A proper cleaning of the boat took about an hour. Scrubbing the deck and washing, whith ALL the windows closed (Not like yesterday when I was in charge of the washing. Enough about that....! Ehe:)

So, the sailing week is over and it has been a fantastic week. I now have "Basic Navigation and Safety" as well as "Competent Crew" and is even more eager to sail more! Chris sad that he thinks I have enough knowledge to move to Day Skipper if I want to, if I can only collect some more miles. Time will show!

Still blogging :D

Malaga is really nice! I'm still staying in this hostel, longest I have ever stayed in one place i think... Anyways! Yesterday this girls from Poland had her birthday and so we had a small celebration. We (me and a room mate) decided to make a cake, which turned out to be a huge success. She was very grateful and happy and that really made my day! This is pictures from the celebration.






The hostel is well organised and such a nice staff, there is a free breakfast and every night dinner for 5 euros. Yesterday it was rice with seafood, tasted great. The day
before the polish girl made a traditional polish dish called "Bigos" made for cabbage, mushroom, carrot and two types of meat. I was also asked if I wanted to make something but turned it down kindly :) What to make from Norway that people would like? And also a dish where I could actually find all the ingredients.. And to a reasonable price. Well, I decided that this was to much work and so I have to save this project for another time.

Yesterday, me and my room mate Mark went with his rented car to Marbella. In my rough guide it is described as Costa Del Sole's most stylish resort, expensive and occupied by Italian and Russian mafia bosses. I find the mafia part intriguing, the rest not so much. It's is a typical place I tend to avoid, full of tacky tourists. Sadly but painfully true the Norwegian people contribute to this quite strong as well and so it makes me just want to get out of there as fast as possible. After a some hours we returned back to reality and Malaga.

Today, I had another go for the beach, but it is a bit to cold still, no tan made but of course a lot of freckles :) To night we are going flamenco hunting and then somewhere to dance salsa so this should be a good night. Maybe pictures will appear here, maybe not :D

So, tomorrow I will go sailing for the week and so there will be no update on the blog, but I will update when I return to mainland! I will take a bus from Malaga to the border tomorrow and then walk across to Gibraltar. I am very excited about the whole experience and what tomorrow will bring :)

Malaga

Arriving Malaga! It's not as warm as I maybe had expected - but don't get me wrong, it's not cold either! I arrived at the airport and quickly discovered that I don't think people down here are so friendly. Lets not jump to any conclusion yet but this is my first impression at least. My Italian don't do me much good here and I'm back to nothing when it comes to communication. I can see that it is similar to Italian but I can't say anything... This sucks!

I think I spent almost an hour trying to find out how to get to the train I read about in my book.. A bad explanation combined with bad markings had me walking around for some time.. I find my way into town and find my self a bus going my way towards the hostel. I'm now checked in at Picassos Corner Backpacker hostel for a reasonable price of 18 euro. That's cheaper than Roma, that's for sure!

I spent the afternoon walking around trying to get a feeling of the town. I guess you can say that I did, but I have not got it under my skin yet, like I usually do. Now I will check the weather forecast and decide what to to tomorrow. I will stay by the sea anywhere between here and Gibraltar, where the sun shines the most! This is photos from today :D



1. This is a tree I found. Strange and really cool.
2. Half a house.. Where is the the other part...?
3. Outside stage down by the sea side.

New country!!

Tomorrow I have a flight at 8.15, destination Malaga, Spain! Why you say? Well! On Sunday I'm attending a sailing course for a week. Very excited about this :D It's in Gibraltar and there are cheap tickets for Malaga so here I go. I will either stay here for some days and then take a day bus down or move slowly against the target using the days to see the coast. I hope to have Internet and tell you guys as it happens :)

I am very aware of the fact that I have been rubbish at updating my bolg lately but there has not been much to tell. The only thing of importance is that I was not in the earthquake area when all of that happend, I was travelling in Toscana with my beloved brother and his girlfriend. We had a really good week driving around, covering the area from Rome to Bolognia, eating good food, some sightseeing and we even built a sandcastle!

The farm