Month: October 2015

Day 7: Pamplona

On By laurasuzyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment


On Tuesday, we explored the town of Orcoyen, just 15 minutes outside Pamplona, where our church here in VA has a sister church.  The pastor and his family were wonderfully gracious hosts to us! Their kids are about the same ages as ours, and we FaceTimed with our kids both nights, and the kids had a blast being silly together.

We visited the small evangelical Christian school there where the Marrone kids go, and really liked it.  It was about as close to homeschooling as you can get while still officially being in school.  The only problem is that they are new, and the highest grade they have this year is 4th grade, so the twins would have to fall back a grade.  However, several of the schools there recommended that anyway, so they can learn the language while learning easier academic content.  The other drawback is that it is a private school, and while it’s cheap compared to private schools here, 200 euros per month per kid when you have 4 kids in school adds up fast!  Interestingly, the director did mention that they’re looking for an English teacher, and that if I taught English, they could offer a discount.  I wonder what I would do with Cora in that case?

We took a walk up to the old church in Orcoyen and got to see the old part of town.  We stopped at the grocery store to buy bread for lunch and some treats to bring home.  I was so glad that the sun came out!  It was very pretty (and chilly compared to the southern towns we visited!)

We enjoyed lunch with Dom and Damaris’s friends from Argentina, and they even drove us to their small town in the suburbs so we could see what an even smaller town is like (they said less than 200 families live there!).  It was very pretty and quiet.

The biggest hesitation for me about Pamplona is the climate:  gray skies more than half the year.  They say it’s like living in Seattle.  I’m not sure I could remain emotionally stable in those conditions…

Experiences with SIM cards in Spain

On By Ryan HammondIn CommunicationsLeave a comment

We are an iPhone family, but I think this info would apply to any smartphone user.

We tried to use phone and internet on the cheap in Spain.  Our plan was to use Laura’s unlocked iPhone 5S for local phone calls and data, and share its data plan using the iPhone tethering / “personal hotspot” feature.  We ended up getting that all working but not without missteps.

Continue reading “Experiences with SIM cards in Spain” →

Day 6: Back to Málaga, long train ride to Pamplona

On By Ryan HammondIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

   
 Thankfully, the next morning as we are leaving Ronda, the sun did peek out a little bit.  The countryside around Ronda is very pretty, and if we had had more time to explore there, it is possible that the town might have been a good fit for our family, if we found a place along the outskirts.  For now, though, we decided to cross it off the list, because our visit was very little value because it was so rainy and we had so little time.  It is hard to decide whether we like mountains and countryside better, or the beach better!

  We drove a different route back to Malaga that was a little less treacherous in terms of winding roads. We saw lots of cute little towns along the way, some that looked rather run down, and others that look like they might be good places to live if you want to be out in the country that fairly close to a major city.  We know nothing about what the schools or churches are like there, however, so Laura wrote down a few town names and we will research later to see if they be worth going back to next time we are in Spain.

  
 We left about an hour more than we needed to get back to Malaga, and we were glad for it, because it took us a little while to find a gas station and make our way back to the rental car return area at the train station. In the end, we were right on time with no extra time to spare. 

We boarded the Ave to Madrid without a hitch.  Cora slept some on the train, and we were very glad to be with us long trip where we could move around, rather than being stuck in the car. However, I should note that the changing tables in train bathrooms are tiny!
We were thankful that when we arrived in Madrid, they had a guide to take us directly to the next train platform for Pamplona, because it was a very short connection. About 6 1/2 hours later we arrived in Pamplona, and Dominic Maronne, the pastor of the GCE church there, picked us up and showed us around the city before bringing us back to his house to stay the night. 

 We saw the famous historic town hall building, and the place where the bulls run during San Fermin.  We also were able to stop in to the Orange office to get our phone Sim card problem fixed, finally!

  When we got back to the house, Damarais had fixed a wonderful Spanish dinner for us, and we enjoyed it about then usual Spanish time – 9 PM!  We did a FaceTime call with her kids and laughed at how hyper they were! They enjoyed being silly with the Marrone kids as well.

Day 5: Church in Rincón, a coastal drive, and Ronda

On By Ryan HammondIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

On Sunday we attended church at La Iglesia Cristiana Evangélica Victoria in Rincón de la Victoria.  It is a small church that meets in a rented building with 3 small classrooms and one larger room that serves as the sanctuary and multi-purpose room.  There were about 50-60 people there, including a team of about 12 visiting from Calvary Chapel in California and another 3-4 visitors from Bilbao.  We didn’t know any of the worship songs, but thoroughly enjoyed singing in Spanish with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  In particular, I enjoyed the Spanish classical guitar that accompanied the music!  This Sunday, the visiting pastor from CA preached in English, with Pastor Ivan translating to Spanish.  Everyone was very welcoming, and we had a good conversation with Ivan about the doctrine of the church, their needs, and the Spanish culture.  He and his wife Eunice both speak English extremely well, so we spoke a little of both languages.

When the service was over, they converted the room into a place to eat, and invited us to share their potluck lunch with them!  We got to talk with some of the visitors and also some members of the local church.  It was a very helpful and encouraging time.

After we left, we decided to check out and inland town, Ronda.  On the way there, we drove through Torre de Benagalbón (on the recommendation of a really interesting man Ryan met at church who had worked for the United Nations and traveled all over), and then headed a little further west to check out other areas of Mijas Costal.  While Ryan was driving, Laura was able to talk to an American missionary in Spain on the phone and get a lot of information about schools for the kids, other potential towns to check out, and life in Spain in general.  We did think La Cala de Mijas was a very cute little area near the beach, but were still a little deterred by the highly touristy feeling of it. We turned north, and headed up the mountains towards Ronda. On the way, we drove through another pueblo blanco called Ojen, which is amazingly beautiful to see from afar, even despite the clouds and rain, and has some amazing views of the mountains as well as a for a few of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 As we drove up the curvy mountain roads (and Ryan sang the James Bond theme song) it started to rain. By the time we arrived at Ronda, it was pretty much pouring. We drove over the famous bridge there, but could not really see what it looks like from outside the car because it was so wet and dark. 

 We found a cheap place to stay, the Hotel Andalucia, which was a one star hotel and the least attractive one we stayed in our entire trip, borrowed an umbrella, and went out to brave the rain to find some food.  We tried to go to a tapas place that was highly rated on yelp, but it was closed and we arrived so we ate at the restaurant next door.  The food was pretty good, but the highlight of that meal was talking to the waitress, who told us that she has always lived in round and loves the town.  Unfortunately, I was pretty exhausted, so my Spanish wasn’t working very well to have a more in-depth conversation!  After dinner, we walked about a kilometer back to the hotel in the rain, and went to bed. It was a rough night with the baby, because she was right next to us in the tiny room, and she woke up many, many times. Most of the trip, she woke up every 2 to 3 hours each night, but this night was the worst.  I can’t wait for her to get back on her regular sleeping schedule the twelve hours per night without interruptions!

Day 4: La Cala del Moral, Rincón de la Victoria

On By laurasuzyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

  Saturday morning we took our time and had cafe con leche on the Balcón de Europa in Nerja.  We liked Nerja better by day, and the view of the beach and the mountains is beautiful from el balcón.  But the town is very touristy, practically everything is in English, and we just didn’t feel drawn to explore more deeply, so we got on the road.

We still hadn’t decided where to go next, but we had two ideas: check out Mijas more fully, so we could do an apples to apples comparison with Almuñecar, and stop by Rincón de la Victoria, because we knew of several churches in that area.  Rincón was on the way west, so we drove there first.  We somewhat accidentally entered the area through the neighboring town of La Cala del Moral while looking for one of the churches, and we saw that the area has a bunch of cute row houses and a nice little park where the kids could play.  We parked the car (quite easily!) and chatted with a mom and her 3rd grade daughter at the park.  She told us the town was “tranquilo-demasiado tranquilo!”, which to us is actually a good thing.  We walked down to the beach, which was just a few blocks away, and were very happy to see lots of young kids and their families at the playground and playing in el paseo near the beach.    

We played and talked a bit with a couple of boys about Peter’s age, and noted that the beach there is more sandy than the rocky pebbles on the beach at Almuñecar.  We picked up some snacks in the panaderia just before it closed for siesta, and took some pictures of the little historic church there.    

We liked this town!  It seems like it might have housing options within walking distance of school, beach, maybe church (depending on which one we choose to attend), easy parking, easy access to basic shopping needs, and only about 15 minutes from Malaga city and major transportation.  The only thing I didn’t like was seeing a decent amount of graffiti in town – it makes me worry about safety.  

Ah…  A Little coca-cola refreshment!  You can kind-of see some of the cute row houses in the background.

We decided we liked the town enough to stay and explore more, so we got a hotel and made plans to meet with one of the pastors in the area that night.  It started to rain, so it was the perfect time to take a nap!  That night around 8pm we got to see the church building of the Parque Victoria Church, and meet with the pastor and his wife.  We were so glad to be able to visit with them that night, because this weekend is the one weekend in years that they were not planning on having a regular service because they were hosting a German gospel choir instead!  So we decided to attend another church in Rincón de la Victoria.

Day 3: Two terrific meetings, lots of driving, back to Nerja

On By Ryan HammondIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

We had spent the night at Hotel Najarra, a nice 3-star hotel near the beach and shopping.  We started the day with fresh churros, bread with cheese and honey, and cafe con leche on the beach at Churreria San Cristobal.  It was very relaxing and gave us a chance to plan the day.  On the docket: visiting a school, meeting with a lady from a local church, and driving to the next town on our list.

School

We decided to visit the local public school (Colegio Publico la Noria).  Schools in this part of Spain run from 9am – 2pm.  They actually lock the doors / gates to the school at 9 and we barely made it in!  We met with Olga, an administrator.  She was very friendly and helpful.  She described the culture of the school (“like a large family”) and walked us around both buildings.  Little kids are in one building and older kids in another.  She showed us two schoolrooms where we met the teachers and kids.  They all seemed very friendly and welcoming!  We learned about the requirements for entering the school, e.g. evidence of prior learning, certificate of health and immunization, etc.

The school’s policy — which seems common in Spain — is to enroll kids in one grade below their current grade if they are not already proficient in Spanish.  They figure that kids won’t be able to learn new concepts well if they don’t even understand the language yet.  That makes sense to me.  I figure the first year in Spain would be such a learning and trying experience that I wouldn’t really care about the kids’ grades in the beginning anyway. Their primary jobs would be to learn the language and to begin making friends.

Both Laura and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and felt our kids would enjoy the school and fit in well.

Lunch with a local sister

Laura had already thoroughly researched churches in the area.  The pastor of church we were mainly interested in was out of the country at a regional conference.  Thankfully, however, we were able to have coffee with the wife of a local deacon.  We had many questions for her about the church, mostly centered on their beliefs about salvation, the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and ministering in and serving a cultural that identifies so strongly with Catholicism.

I had a strong feeling that we were 100% in sync with all these issues.  She seemed very sincere, thoughtful, and spiritually mature.  We talked for over an hour about these issues.  It was very tiring to mentally translate our questions and answers about such complex topics, but the entire conversation was such a blessing!  I wish we could have stayed in the area to see and participate in a normal Sunday service there, but we just weren’t able to with all our other goals.

To Almería

The eastern-most city on our list to visit was Almería.  This was about a 2-hour drive from Almuñécar via the coastal road.  The drive was quite interesting.  We went through quaint small towns (pueblos) and through light industrial and agricultural areas.  The climate is so dry in that part of the country that many of the fields were permanently covered with plastic to form simple greenhouses.  While the technique was interesting and, I’m sure, very useful … those were complete eyesores.  Sadly, they gave every field a very industrial / military / secret bunker look.  We would sometimes pass through miles of hills with every square yard covered with plastic.  Blech.

However, there were also many amazingly beautiful stretches where the road clung to the mountains and directly overlooked the Mediterranean.  Those portions were exhilarating and reminded me of the Pacific Coast Highway of California.

We eventually saw Almería below as we crossed the final mountain pass.   It was not a pretty sight. 😦  Almería is a sprawling city of roughly 200,000 people.  We could immediately tell it was not for us.  In fact, we drove into the city only far enough to park, use the restroom and change Cora, and turn around.  We drove back along the same highway and past Almuñécar.

Testing the roads in La Herradura

Just past Almuñécar is La Herradura, a town of only 3,000.  La Herradura offered very beautiful sea and mountain views.  However, the roads from the beach up to and among the houses were incredibly steep.  I should have used an app to verify the inclination, but forgot.  The road pitch must have been 25 to 30 degrees, plus blind switchbacks.  That probably doesn’t sound very steep, but it is!  Take a look at this handy graph.  I have no idea how the people that live there do that drive.  It must eventually become natural but that is so very hard to imagine.

To Nerja for the Night

We had just enough time to make Nerja by nightfall.  Nerja is very popular among the British ex-pat community.  The latest official census indicated that at least 30% of the Nerja population is foreign, but other sources said the real percentage is much higher.  Most of the foreigners are “pensioners” (retired Brits).  We parked in an underground lot very close to the Balcón de Europa … not knowing that overnight parking would be €22!  Laura found an inexpensive hostel, Hotel La Ermita, where we could grab some hot food then bed down.  The waiter was kind and brought us some blended, chickpea-based vegatable soup for Cora.  Aside: all of the people in Spain that we have spoken with seem to really enjoy and love kids.  We basically ate then crashed.

Day 2: Along the Coast and Almuñécar

On By laurasuzyIn Costa TropicalLeave a comment

  We slept so late that we didn’t have much time to meander along the Costa del Sol like we’d hoped before we met up with the Wagoners, an American family who moved to Spain 3 years ago.  We took a quick drive through Fuengirola, and found it to be quite a busy little city, with nothing particularly appealing in the few streets we chanced to navigate.  I know there is a church there that looks to be a good one, so we may want to go back and investigate further.

From there, we meant to take the coastal road, but missed our turn and ended up on the highway a little inland, so we took the next exit and drove through Benalmádena.  Wow, there are some WINDY, steep roads all along there!  We saw some really pretty villas, and the view is gorgeous.  It seemed less congested than Fuengirola – and it’s a good thing not many cars travel those roads!  But again, we really didn’t have time to stop and look around, so back to the highway we went (via more amazingly steep, crazy little roads!).  What would we have done without Google Maps?!?

As we drove east past Málaga, the scenery started to change.  There is a little more land between towns, more vineyards and farms (with plastic greenhouses stretched right over the plants!), and still the cute little classic white Andalucian towns. 

 When we took the exit for Almuñécar, I could immediately see why someone would like it here.  It’s beautiful!  There is a little cove and a point jutting out with an old castle on top, and the houses, like in Mijas and Benalmádena, are cut into the mountainside in a terraced fashion.  But there seems to be a lot less “city” between the mountain and the sea.  It is very peaceful.  El centro, the main “city” part of town, isn’t really very big and is definitely walkable.  The Wagoners, who we got to meet for lunch, are now living here with no car, and their kids walk to school.  This really appeals to me!   

 They have a view of the Mediterranean Sea from their apartment.  They can walk to the beach, and the water is clear and inviting (but cold right now!)  We walked by the area of town where the villas are – that’s the houses like we would prefer, with 4 or 5 bedrooms.  It would be a totally different lifestyle for us, walking or driving up and down a steep hill to house on the mountainside, but yet… I can imagine it.  We didn’t get to see any of the insides of the villas, because it’s really too early to be doing that level of research.  On the whole, it seems like a very peaceful town.  The people are friendly in the restaurants and hotels, although we noticed that most people don’t say hello when they pass each other in the streets here.  I’ll have to ask if that is a cultural thing?

We are staying at a nice hotel a block from the beach that only cost us 35 euros.  There is a really pretty garden out back with delicious smelling flowers.   

 The mountains are gorgeous and the sunset over the beach was fantastic.  We walked in the center of town at night after everything was closed (too bad), and stumbled upon the ruins of a roman aqueduct dating back to the first century AD!   

 Tomorrow we want to go check out the castle, maybe go ask some questions at the local public school, check out the parque de naturaleza, and then we meet with the wife of one of the deacons at a church here to get a feel for what it is like.  Then we go to check out another town!

Day 1: Happy Anniversary in Mijas Pueblo!

On By laurasuzyIn Costa del SolLeave a comment

  We had booked an apartment via airbnb.com, and our instructions were to contact a guy named Santiago to arrange to pick up a key.  However, we were lacking in a cellular phone calling plan, food, sleep, and apparently, for me, also some brain cells.  I tried emailing him, but got no reply, tried texting him, and it didn’t seem to go through, and tried using an old fashioned pay phone and those round things… what do they call them?  coins? – and this is where my lack of sleep showed up – dialed the wrong number and had spent all my coins.  Oops!  So we bought some over-priced food at a touristy cafe, and asked the waiter where we could buy a different SIM for the phone so we’d have calling capability.  He suggested we try the papeleria up the hill, so we went up the stairs and asked there.  The guy said he could order one for us to pick up the next day, but didn’t have them in stock.  At this point I could hardly see straight, much less conjugate a verb in Spanish, and so I just asked if he could help us and let us use his phone to make a local call.  All I could think of was finding our bed for the night, and Ryan said “you can’t fade on me now!”  Thankfully, the shop owner let us make the call, and when he heard me ask for Santiago, and then stumble over my request in Spanish, he said (in spanish), “let me talk to him!  I’ll work it out for you!”, so I handed him the phone.  Can you imagine my surprise when he said, in a very familiar tone, “hola! Santi! Soy Pedro de la Papeleria!” – he KNEW our man!  Personally!  Later he said (everything in Spanish), “Of course I know Santiago!  Everybody knows Santiago!”  We had a good laugh, and a moment of thanks for the divine providence!

  Turns out we were just a staircase and about 50 meters away from Casa Tejon, where we were staying.  It is a cute little guest house with 4 studio apartments, and the family that runs it also owns the bar/restaurant attached.  There is a charming patio filled with flowers where you can sit just outside your room, so we put Cora down for a nap and planned to sit outside to talk where we wouldn’t wake her.  But then we chatted with the owners, and they assured us she would be safe if we wanted to get a bite in their restaurant, and that they would come get us if they heard her cry (they also had to wait just outside our room for another guest to arrive).  Who knew our room would come with built-in human baby monitors?  We were able to enjoy a delicious 15th anniversary meal in the restaurant maybe 10 feet from our room, while Cora slept peacefully.  What a treat!

The rest of the night was not as easy – she woke up when we went back in the room and wouldn’t go back to sleep, so just before midnight, after about an hour and a half of trying to settle her, I gave up and took her out with me so that Ryan could get some rest.  Where would you go with a baby at midnight in a small spanish town? Back to the bar!  They were so nice when I asked if they had anything the baby could eat… they made her a baked potato and mashed it up for her, gave us some juice, let me hang out there until she got tired enough to go back to sleep, and when I asked how much it would cost?  Nada!  Praise God for the kindness of strangers!

We all slept till 10am the next morning, and Mijas Pueblo looks even more charming when you are fully awake.  There were a shocking number of people about for off-season.  It is all pretty touristy.  The streets are cobblestone and VERY steep, so driving in town is pretty scary (but Ryan did a masterful job!).  They are also marked pretty poorly, and many of them are one-way – even more frightening!  So if you ever go, just drive directly to the parking garage where you can park for 1 euro a day, and do the rest on foot.

We didn’t get to stay very long because we had an appointment in Almunecar, about 1.5 hrs away.  But I think we saw what we needed to see there.  Santiago tells us it is a great place to raise a family, because everybody in town knows everybody else and it is a safe area.  Though I found it to be amazingly beautiful, with all the white-washed houses terraced into the side of the mountain, I don’t see myself living in quite that kind of town.  We didn’t get to see the other parts of the municipality of Mijas yet, though, and there are a bunch of little towns in it, so perhaps one closer to the coast or further on the outskirts would appeal to us more.   We may head back that way to explore more later.  For now, on to la Costa Tropical!

Day 1: Planes, Trains and Automobiles – Oh my!

On By laurasuzyIn TransportationLeave a comment

The flight to Madrid with the baby was… let’s just say LONG.  Thankfully, an angel disguised as a flight attendant offered, without us asking her to do it, to move us out of our assigned two-seat smoosh right next to the bathroom into a row that had 3 seats across (and one of them empty!), so we’d have more room for the baby!  That was wonderful, but it didn’t keep our very tired baby from being awakened when drinks were served, lighting changed, or I just moved the wrong way.  She probably cried for about 2 of the 6.5 hours in flight, but the people around us were very gracious and sweet.  Here’s a picture of me laying across two seats with my head in Ryan’s lap, baby laying on me, and pillow trying to block the lights from my eyes (we left our sleep masks in the seats we vacated, and didn’t dare ask the poor souls that switched with us to pass them forward!).

We arrived in Madrid, had no troubles finding our way to the local train that took us to the Atocha station, and we were there several hours early!  So we hoped to change our train reservation from the 1:00 to the 11:35am train.  The Renfe office was very busy.  Take a number, wait 30+ minutes, then interact in your second language with a grumpy attendant who keeps saying “Entiendes? Te explico!” but yet somehow doesn’t at all explain why and how he has cancelled not just my 1:00 ticket reservations but ALSO the ones for next week, and then managed to break our Renfe Spain pass so that we can no longer make any new reservations at all.  Grr… let the train fiasco begin!  He sent us to another office where the attendants were much nicer, but couldn’t help us fix the problem, either.  They sent us back to the customer service branch of the original office, where they said we could buy new rail passes and hope for a refund later (in a month or so?) from Renfe, or just book all of our train travel in fixed, non-refundable tickets at no extra charge, which is what we did, losing the flexibility of the rail pass, but saving about $400. Travel Tip #1:  Don’t use PayPal to buy your Renfe Spain Pass online!  Apparently, if we had just paid with a credit card directly instead of using PayPal, they could have refunded us for the defunct passes.  Lesson learned.  If we decide we really must travel by train at some time other than the tickets we booked, I guess we can just re-buy that leg… not at all consistent with my frugal nature, but I suppose there could be a scenario where flexibility (with cost) trumps saving money.

While I was trying to work out the train tickets, Ryan went off and bought us a Spanish SIM card for my phone.  Go Ryan!  The lady didn’t speak english at all, and we have a 5 GB data plan on my phone for only 35 euros!  But oops… for some reason it doesn’t include the ability to make phone calls. We’ll have to see about fixing that part later.  Travel Tip #2: Don’t buy your SIM cards at the first kiosk you see at the airport.  That is highway robbery!  The first place we saw wanted to charge 150 euros for a smaller data package.  The second wanted about 100.  Much better at the train station – and I know there are smaller offerings for more like 15 euros.

Travel Tip #3: The AVE trains in Spain do stay mainly on the plain, but they DON’T have Wi-Fi as advertised.  This was our next minor disappointment, especially since we discovered that our Lebara brand SIM doesn’t allow tethering.   No laptop use on the train for us, so we all got a little nap and enjoyed the scenery.

At the train station, the car pickup at Hertz was the smoothest, easiest thing ever!  They were waiting for us, they had the car seat we needed (although what they charge for it is also highway robbery, but we decided it was worth the convenience of not lugging our own around on the trains), and we were off to Mijas Pueblo!  We arrived around 5pm (feeling like it was about 11am EST and we haven’t slept yet), and our experience there is a topic of another post.

 

Starting the scouting trip

On By Ryan HammondIn TransportationLeave a comment

Today’s the day! We finished packing last night and had a very nice, leisurely morning with the kiddos. We walked to Duncan Donuts for breakfast with the dog in tow.  We picked up some tums for pastor Alex. 

Thanks to Laura’s amazing organizational skills and planning, we were ready to roll out by 11 to drop the older kids off with Ellen and Grammy.  After a quick pizza and Diet Coke lunch courtesy of El, we headed for BWI to wait for first leg of the trip.  We were there more than 2 hours early so we had a nice little break to let Cora burn off some energy.

The flight from DC to JFK was only 30 minutes. That is still shocking somehow. But the best part of the trip so far is that we made the short connection at JFK!  And, thanks to Cora, we were even the first to board. That was a real blessing. 

We’ve boarded Delta 414 for the flight to Madrid. Cora is suspiciously awake and rambunctious. I hope this is not a bad omen. 🙂

What will God do and show us on this trip? We’re so excited to find out! Please pray for us.