Well, today did not get off to a good start. After 4 days break we finally headed off again, starting our trip north. First stop, Lidl. But when Mike turned a corner, he pulled out in front of a car that was in his blind spot and they blasted their horn at us. But it wasn\u2019t just any old car. It was a police car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They pulled in front of us, put their lights on then stopped. Shit. This ain\u2019t gonna be good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then all four policemen got out looking pissed off. The looked really intimidating with their flak jackets and guns. One was shaking his head in disbelief and started heading my way. Why\u2019s he coming towards me, what did I do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I realised I was in the drivers seat if I was in a European van. So I pointed to Mike. I didn\u2019t want to deal with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully he spoke English but he was very mad. He said we almost caused an accident, it was very close. Mike apologised saying he was in his blind spot. Normally he gets me to check. But I didn\u2019t see them either, it\u2019s like they came out of nowhere. I think they were going too fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, he asked where we were from. When Mike said New Zealand, his face visibly relaxed. It was really weird. His whole demeanor softened, and he just said, \u201cBe careful. That was close.\u201d And they all piled back into their car and drove away. Phew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, that was a terrifying start to the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the day was awesome though and we saw some cool wildlife. Our first stop was a lake where we could view pink flamingoes. There were hundreds of them on the lake and they were very cool to see. And we were the only ones there! But it was ridiculously hot still at 5pm, so we only took a short walk as there was no shade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then we found an observatory on the other side of the lake, so we headed there and sat in the shade admiring the birds. Still nobody around! I loved watching these guys, standing on one put, dipping their heads into the water. They didn\u2019t look that pink though!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we headed an hour away to some cool rock formations called El torcal near the town of Antequera. Up and up and up we went up a squiggly steep road to the top. Again there were very few people around. Probably because it\u2019s 7pm and still frikking hot, but slightly cooler at 1400 metres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We took a walk through the rocks and Mike kept point out animals. I\u2019ve since read that these are called Spanish Ibex, a native wild mountain goat. We saw quite a few and I felt a little intimidated by them, especially the males with their long curved horns. But they were very cool to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was 8.30pm by the time we\u2019d finished our walk so we headed back towards the town on Antequera where I\u2019d seen some campervans parking overlooking a cool castle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was still stinking hot when we arrived so we found a bit of shade. There was a vicious hot wind, and it was blowing dust into the van and a fine layer settled on everything. It was really gross. And the wind kept blowing our top hatch shut, so we couldn\u2019t even get a decent breeze into the van. We had a sweltering night where the temperature didn\u2019t drop below 31 degrees. I gotta say, I am getting sick of this heat!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, today did not get off to a good start. After 4 days break we finally headed off again, starting our trip north. First stop, Lidl. But when Mike turned a corner, he pulled out in front of a car … Continue reading