Chasing Noodles

* Siestas are not a joke. If you think you going to find a shop, that isn't a Chinese shop, open between 2-5  you can think again. This is serious business. Or lack there of at least. * Having a shot of vodka, equivalent to our South African triple, with a glass of water on the side at 9 in the morning is totally acceptable. I swear, I saw it this morning at the little cafe in the bus station. Didn't know whether to laugh or join in. * If you taking the bus, make sure you have some way of telling the time. Having the correct time in a bus is not a priority here. In fact, I have not been on a single bus yet that is showing the right time. It's as though the driver spins the wheels of the clock every morning and wherever it lands will be the time that the bus will use for the day. * Wednesdays seem to be pensioners day out on the buses. If you hoping to be on time, take a taxi. Some old folks take up to 5 mins just to board, never mind get the mone...

Se apasiona demasiado

Tip generously. As long as you had great service right? You can see immediately if you go out with a group of friends who has and who has not been in the hospitality industry. There are the 10%ers, right down to the last cent, the "service could have been better" 5-10%ers and then you have the "round it off to the higher number - even if they weren't too good" tippers.  This rule is quite close to home because it is very similar to what my Gran taught us. She always said, "If you give, you get." For many years I thought it was about money, that if you give money, you'll get some back but after years of giving money away to beggars and car guards and anyone that would take it, I realised its not about money. It's about giving of yourself and your time and sometimes your money and you will get so much more back.  My Gran was a beautiful, generous, kind, incredible person that gave every bit of herself to others and even though she neve...

When I was 18 months old, Santa gave me a bike/scooter. It had three wheels and the faster you pushed the faster you went and I could go FAST! I would wizz around the house and garden and shopping centers and every holiday HAD to have my bike. I was addicted to them, managing to wear out the tires of two.  Then the time came to get onto the "big bike", with fairy wheels to start obviously. Soon I kicked those ol' things off and was master of the two wheels. Then one day when i was 7, against my Moms wishes, I took my cousins to see a secret bike area that we had found and on my way rode smack into a moving vehicle. I snapped my tibia so badly it pierced my skin, spit the skin just below my knee and in between all that was flung into a nearby tree, landed back on the ground and in the process burst a vein or two in my eye.  I was in hospital for a week or so and had a cast that went from my toes all the way up to the top of my thigh. Not fun when you...

Who knew you could spend over an hour in a supermarket and walk out with just one packet? I didn't, until two days ago that is. With what i thought was a little gap in the rain, I headed off to the shop down the road. The gap was just there to tease as it rained all the way from the time i left the gate till much later that evening. My experience began with having to choose a trolley or a basket. Easy decision at home, I know. Oh wait, there are no baskets. There is a strange looking trolley thing that has a basket the height of me attached to a handle, with four wheels, the two in the front smaller than the back replacing the common spotted normal basket .  So I start pushing the trolley/basket, as one does right? Half an hour in to my epic experience, I see a fellow shopper, but something looks different. Turns out, you PULL the deep basket, not push it. That's embarrassing.  So, very nonchalantly I pretended I was stepping away from my cart to look at something, the...

I made it to Marbella with not a single English word to be heard or seen. Granted I did ask for a ticket to Estapona but Marbella was the last stop, so there was a slight communication problem there.  I really need to speed up my Spanish. Someone just asked me for directions, or a smoke or could have been for money, I'm not sure. Haha Okay, onwards to La Duquesa, or for now known as home. 

  I have an 7 hour trip on the bus ahead of me from Madrid to Marbella, so i thought, what better time to catch up on some blogging. Now, time to explain why I love Madrid. I'm in a points kind of mood, so here goes: * The architecture - Some of these buildings date back many years and the detail is mind blowing. From the statues on the top to the patterns and the detail on the doors is just too beautiful. I have read about places like these in books but actually seeing it right in front of you is like a dream come true. (Oh dear, the lady next me is playing the noisiest game of scrabble on her phone since my life. Lots of swooshing and bloeping and bling sounds. Not great I tell ya) * The people - As long as you can at least try say hello in Spanish you will receive a very warm greeting. They are so helpful and kind and even without a single English word manage to help you with whatever you need. I have found though that talking with my hands all my life has really ...