Today we got to see more of Jaipur in the daylight and it is amazing, if a little overwhelming. The streets are busy, loud and dirty and all human life can be seen there! It’s quite common to see men urinating in the street (ok, they usually have the decency to turn their back to the traffic, but it’s still pretty obvious!) and we passed a man who had simply hitched up his tunic and squatted on the ground, apparently preparing to do his morning business just off the side of the road. Having seen the makeshift shelters, I suppose when you live on the street, the street has to be your toilet too! 😱

Block printing on fabric Is a traditional industry here and our outing this morning was to see this being done and have a go ourselves. En route we stopped off at a little roadside workshop where men were carving the blocks – such intricate work which they sold to us for very cheap prices!

We all loved the block printing! The young boys in the factory were so helpful and made sure we all came away with a couple of great samples we had produced ourselves.

This afternoon Andy Skinner, a mixed media artist on the trip with us, led a workshop here in the hotel. We spent a relaxing afternoon creating a piece of art of our own, with a beer to aid the process!

The day ended with another delicious meal – a buffet dinner prepared for us here in the hotel. A memorable day and there are more to come – tomorrow we’re going to Amer Fort and then to a huge fabric store where you can have items tailored in around 24 hours!

Just before you go, here are a few more street scene photos from today!

After driving down to London Heathrow on Sunday and spending the night in the Premier In, Monday evening saw our band of ten intrepid travellers boarding our flight to Jaipur. Six crafters, one husband, Alfie – one half of IndigoBlu and Laura – one half of BlockWallah (the two companies running our trip) and Andy, a well known mixed media artist who will be delivering some workshops for us.

Seven and a half hours to Muscat with Oman Airways and a further two and a half hours then from Muscat to Jaipur and everything was real – after the planning and anticipation we were actually here. Well…..not quite……just the small matter of getting our visas processed! We’d all got electronic visas which had been checked along every step of the journey, but the final act of having it stamped in our passports took an age. There were maybe twenty foreign passport holders on the plane, but in the time it took to process half of them, the whole plane of Indian passport holders had been processed through.

Transfer to the hotel gave us our first experience of Jaipur traffic. It comes in all directions, swerves, undertakes, cuts across junctions…….there appear to be no rules! I’m sure we’ll get used to it!
Mrs Singh met us at the hotel with a traditional welcome – a spot of red paste on our forehead, a few grains of rice flicked at us and a lovely garland of fresh marigolds.

Despite being travel weary, we have a full itinerary and head off in our little bus into the centre of Jaipur. It’s Diwali, so it’s busy and there are fireworks going off. The traffic is no calmer! Scooters drive by with a whole family on board- two quite tiny tots wedged between mum and dad, and tuktuks crammed with people. We saw a dozen or so cycle rickshaws – not sure this would be my preferred mode of transport!

We had a lovely vegetarian thali – a selection of dishes like a mezze, which everyone enjoyed, then it was time for our first experience of the bazaars. Some of our group made early purchases, whilst the rest of us soaked in the atmosphere. It’s all good humoured – “please come look in my shop” and you have to be able to say no and ignore the pleadings!

On the same street, we ticked off our view of Hawa Mahal, or Palace of the Winds. It has hundreds of windows facing directly onto the street and was built for the ladies of the royal court to observe the activity in the street below without being seen themselves.

So far it’s all I thought it would be, loud, busy and quite dirty. We passed slum dwellings with makeshift trestles for bed and flimsy fabric covers, people sorting through a large rubbish dump and a mother pinching her grubby little girl to make her cry and hopefully be more lucrative as a begging accessory.

The crafting starts tomorrow! For now, it’s bed and a good nights sleep as Diwali fireworks continue to sound in town.

This trip is coming to an end now and we are preparing to go home. Flights are checked in, the airport taxi is booked and boarding passes are ready to be printed at the shop across the road. It’s a bit of a flurry getting as much washing done as possible + clothing, bedding, towels – and a fine judgement made regarding whether it will dry in time. The back up plan is always the dryers at the launderette up the road, but it’s not ideal to spend part of your last day watching the sheets tumble round!

I’d hoped to squeeze in a couple more beach mornings, but that plan went out the window when I picked up about four insect bites. One on my ankle has been quite bad and blistered, and I didn’t want to get sand in it. Never mind, there’s always next time!

Activity around the Balcon has Been very different in the last day or two. Yesterday we watched three Guardia Civil boats patrolling the sea in that area, with a couple of divers swimming around all the rocks. They were concentrating on the stretch from the Balcon up the coast towards Burriana. Our understanding is that a dead body was spotted two days ago and this is what they are searching for. It’s thought to be linked with a boat load of refugees who landed at Burriana earlier this week. Seems one of them didn’t make it.

The weather has changed perceptibly in the last two or three days. It’s still warm during the day, but more bearable during peak hours and the evenings are definitely cooler. An extra layer is now needed after about 6pm + there’s a noticeable number of cardigans, wraps and even coats being worn! Evening skies are still beautiful though. This was taken on the Balcon last night – the view is over towards our building. Colours not as good as in reality and I probably took it a couple of minutes after it’s best.

On our last evening we’re meeting up with my friend Marilyn and her partner, Richard. I know Marilyn from my Halifax supper club. She was recently widowed when I first met her and I remember her plucking up the courage to go on holiday alone. Since then she’s travelled extensively and met a a new man who happens to have a house in Maro, the next village up the coast. We met up with them in May and they arrive back here just before we leave. A quick catch up over dinner at Da Vinci will be enjoyable!

Wednesday saw the start of Feria de Nerja and the arrival of Chris’s family here. Starting with cocktails on the roof terrace at Buddha Bar, we followed on with the usual delights in Redondo fish bar – prawns, mussels, octopus, shrimp fritters etc. A great way to spend the evening with a very busy atmosphere!

Thursday was a late night visit to the Feria ground – loud, colourful, and brash, as always.

All of us except Chris went on the big wheel – his head for heights meant he preferred to keep his feet firmly on the ground! Meanwhile, we enjoyed great views over the fairground.

Back on the Balcon, we caught the end of the procession that had started around 8pm. Nothing happens here without a procession. This one saw San Miguel, Saint Michael the Archangel , escorting Our Lady of Sorrows from the church on the Balcon back to her hermitage at the church near Mercadona. Saint Michael then processed back to the Balcon, arriving there about 11.30pm. As always, the band played and the newly elected Queen and King of the Feria, along with all the civic dignitaries, led the Procession.

Last weekend it was culture on the Balcon and this weekend just past it was the turn of sport to take the spotlight. More specifically, athletics, with members from clubs across the Malaga province coming to take part in the Carrera Urbana Feria de Nerja. This event is now in its 43rd year, raises money for a leukaemia charity and has a set of road races, varying in length from 1km to 10kms and a ‘marcha’ – walking race of the heel toe variety as seen in the Olympics – also of various lengths and for different age groups.

The stage was erected the day before and blue lines were painted on various roads to indicate the route, but everything else appeared on Sunday morning. Like all aspects of Spanish life, children are involved from a young age and lots of the participants were juniors, some not possessed of what you might think as an athletic build. In other words, even kids who were quite chunky were out there taking part and seemingly enjoying it. The seniors races were a real mix of serious athletes and others who were clearly in it for the fun including one lady in a blue glittery tutu and a unicorn horn headband and another running with her dog! The Balcon was the start and end of the race, and with motorcycle outriders, an excitable commentator, music from a live band and lots of family and club groupings, the whole area thronged with activity. One of the races was sponsored by a fruit company – their freebies of little pots of chopped mango were very popular! Having wandered around we managed to get a seat for a drink at the Balcon Hotel – good view, sunshine, beer – not quite the Holy Trinity but it’s good for us!

The road race is the first event of the Feria, which doesn’t get properly underway until Wednesday. The fairground has been under construction for a few days and the gateway is in place, ready for its illumination on the first night of Feria. Talking illuminations, the decorative lights across the streets have been erected, replacing the shade canopies. Surely that must mark the end of summer here? Difficult to think that when the temperature is still in the mid to high twenties and it’s wall to wall sunshine!

Good news on the boiler front – our plumber is coming next Monday to install the better boiler we decided on and fix it properly to the wall. On the other hand, our UK builder who is doing work on our roof whilst we are away called today with not so great news. It appears that many of the tiles on the front of our roof are shot and held together with mastic, so there’s some serious retiling needed. Might as well do it while there is scaffolding up and after all, it’s only money! Gulp!!

Hurray! There’s obviously been a bit of fuss about the swimming pool closure – yesterday evening another note appeared to say that it would reopen from today, 4th October, until 15th October. Far more sensible and there are quite a few people taking advantage of it today.

My swimming has been in the sea today. It’s probably at its warmest right now, having had the summer sun on it over the last few months and it’s just fabulous. The waves were strong enough to make it interesting without being dangerous and despite ongoing concerns re sewage etc, the water has been very clean for the whole of our trip. So while Chris lazes and listens to his flamenco tutorials, I read my kindle, walk up and down the beach a couple of times, take a dip in the sea, shower, dry off in the sun…….and repeat! It’s tough……😎

Last night we tried to learn more about the Spanish obsession with el jamon – the ham. Everywhere, the ham is seen as a delicacy and enjoyed by all. We know that the most sought after is bellota ham from Iberian pigs which feed on acorns in oak forests. There’s a whole range of standards and classifications – from 100% Iberican bellota (from pigs with two parents of Iberican lineage), which get a black tag, 50% Iberican (one parent, usually the mother) with a red tag, Iberican that are sort of free range in the countryside – green tag – and Iberican fed on grain – white tag. We know that the purest bred pigs have a black hoof – la pata negra – and an elongated leg. The fat is the desirable bit – it’s supposed to melt on your tongue. Prices can go to well €100 per kilo. Cheaper is serrano ham, which is what us usually served up in tapas bars.

Feeling like we could make some choices without appearing totally ignorant we visited one of the local jamonerias. The fact that they served manzanilla sherry from the barrel was a promising start. Si, senor – dos copas por favor! Hams hanging from the wall had the various coloured strings attached so we thought we knew what was what! Not quite! A tasting platter was put together for us – a few slices each of Serrano, Iberican and bellota ham. The or ice for the few thin slices ranged from €2 for the Serrano through €6 for the Iberican to just over €10 for the bellota. To be honest the ham didn’t deserve a five times price differential and our favourite was the mid priced variety. We still don’t feel we’ve had the jamon wow were looking for – are we expecting too much, I wonder? Never mind, as long as it’s served with good sherry we’ll keep trying!

We’ve been quite lazy the last few days – as opposed to the frantic way in which we spend our days normally, ha ha! On a couple of mornings, we’ve been up and down to the beach by around 10am, making the most of the sunshine before it gets too hot. It really is the best part of the day and the beach is fairly quiet , at least for an hour before all the sun bed reservations turn up. Again this trip, all the sun beds on Torrecilla have been fully booked every day – seems people arrive and pay for the week in order to secure one. Can’t see the attraction myself – stuck in close proximity, with hardly anything on, to people you don’t know! No thanks!

I managed a swim in the sea one day, but it was a bit rough on the other morning – people were going in but struggling to get out as the waves crashed into them just as they’d regained their balance from the last one. I was glad I did, as we came back on Monday evening to a notice on the door of our block advising that the opening of the swimming pool was from 1 April to 30 September! Don’t know who decided that, or when, but if we’d rented an apartment here we’d probably be a bit hacked off! September does seem rather early, but is definitely geared to the Spanish holidays…..🙁

We’ve wandered to the park and had our usual drink up there. The flowers are really beautiful just now. See what I mean here…..

Chris tested out the mussels at Redondo fish bar – he reckoned mum would want to know if they were up to standard! Pleased to report that they were! A tasty tapa with a glass of Manzanilla..mmmm!

We’ve also found a new favourite place for cocktails during the early evening – the Hotel Balcon de Europa. It’s not somewhere we’ve frequented much in the past, but its location on a warm evening is good. My mojito was exceptionally good – so much so Chris had it the next evening! His gin martini and my pina colada were also well made! Might just work through the menu!

Lovely skies now in the evenings – photos don’t do them justice (unless you’re Gary and do magic tricks), but you get the idea.!