Our Andalusian Adventure

Halloween in Spain is a big thing, i wan't sure if they celebrated it but boy oh boy they do! The school had a parade around the village and sang a 'english' halloween song that none of us had ever heard of! The teachers and staff also dressed up.

We went to a Halloween party at a local bar they put on lots of games for the kids it was a good night followed by four days off school for National holiday. We of course went to the beach on the Friday this time we chose Playa Torrecilla in Nerja a lovely bay with some equally nice bars dotted along. 

On the Saturday it was Fiesta Castana - the festival of the Chestnuts, the school children were invited to the National Park to plant some Chestnut trees and they couldn't of picked a nicer day. Gorgeous blue skies, an abundance of warm sunshine and the area was bursting with happy campers. Luckily for the children they had already dug the holes with a digger or we may still be there now. They merely had to fill the holes in and smile for the TV camera. It was quite funny as the TV guy kept trying to interview Olivia and she didn't want to be so spent most of her time hiding from him!! 

Later that day the village came alive with all kinds of stalls, sweet, craft, gifts and Churros. From our house you would have no idea that all this was going on but once we turned the corner by the Town Hall it was packed full of people. We were stunned, they were all queing up for free Chestnuts and baked sweet potato. I like a freebie as much as the next person but i certainly wasn't going to que up especially when they hadn't even started serving yet. We decided to get some tapa and a beer instead, a good choice as we bumped into a English couple who we had started to get to know. Most of the English here are of a certain age so to find a couple of a closer age is so nice. The evening ended up being a bit of bar crawl and everyone seemed to be up for a good night. The entertainment once again didn't start till 10 and by then everyone was a little merry and lots of dancing went on long into the night.

At the school they always seem to be doing some different and on Friday Olivia and her class had a running race around nearby Periana village. Again not entirely sure what it was we went along for our first visit to Periana, we had read previously that it had the best view in Axarquia and i must agree. From the square you can see all the way down to the sea with lake Vinuela just before, a real treat.

The race itself had plenty of participants with many other schools joining in, the many hills made it quite a challenge.  Paul and i decided to have a look around and stumbled across a Olive Oil factory. We are pleased we bought a bottle of Extra Virgen and it tastes amazing great flavour.  

*Sorry for the incorrect orientation of the photos, i don't know why this is doing this again?!!!