spontaneous Portugal

The last stopover of our journey was Portugal! This was so unexpected cause our last destination should had be originally Gibraltar. But what can be better than a spontaneous decisions taken DURING a mini Europe trip? Exactly,nothing!

The name of the region we went to was Algarve. Only later I heard from a portuguese friend that apparently this is the ugliest area of Portugal, what I really couldn't (and still can not) believe. Inconspicuous city Faro suprised us with a beautiful landscape of a water rock town. A nice lady on the pavement convinced us to take part at a small trip by a boat around the rocks.

Without doubt, the main reason for our decision (made by me and girls of course) was the handsome guide Rafael, whos funny stories about the rocks history made us pleasant during the entire ride. The most crazy thing was to jump out from the boat and enjoy some (even if cold!) minutes in the Atlantic Ocean. After the ride the female part of our crew couldn't resist going to the flea market. The diversity of native products was breathtaking, everyone had to buy something to keep the memory of this place for a longer time. After this efficient day we found a camping, where we could spend the night to gather strenght for the way back. This was for sure the best finish of the trip we could imagine Emotikon smile

Tarifa

Tarifa. When  going there we only knew that it was located at the southernmost area of Europe and Africa would be within the reach of your eyes. We didn’t  know anything about the climate of Tarifa but we suspected that it would beboth  windy and hot. 

Tarifa might be call the land of thousands kites .The sky is filled with the whole palette of colours,  thanks to people practising  kitesurfing. Another amazing thing about this place is a strong influence of Moroccan culture which is particularly noticeable in the architecture, cuisine, handmade products and, above all, people wearing traditional outfits

We decided to stay here for the next three days. We found a camping, unwrapped our stuff and then we got ready for our typical dinner in the form of “Chinese” instant soups.  As usual, boys went to see Tarifa from the air. They flew at the sunset which caused a great interest among the local people. Next day we went to the beach to learn how to kitesurf. 

Bartek gave us some lessons. We were really impressed by his exploits on the azure water. Unfortunately, we had to resigned from further training because kitesurfing was not as simple as we initially thought. After a few hours of resting on the beach we returned to our camp. We fell asleep in hammocks, listening sound of guitar strings and Kasia’s songs. The last day we devoted to explore the town and looking for a seasoning called "cumin", which we had promised to provide for moms. 

 Three days weren’t enough for us … We wish we could stay there longer...

Gibraltar

From Malaga we went to Gibraltar, from where you can already see Africa! At the border we were revised, perhaps because of our trailer that could look a little suspicious. Entering the Gibraltar it’s easy to forget about Spanish reality, they all speak English with an appropriate, british accent. Every few meters you can meet London's red booth, etc. However, views differed from the English one. It was so late when we arrived that the only thing we could do was looking around for a place of accommodation. We found a nice car parking, overlooking the sea, we pumped quickly mattresses and went to sleep. The next day we woke up thinking about breakfast at the beach in the background the outline of Africa! Again like in the movie ... the beaches there were large and spreading, in the morning without of single human being, what allowed us to bathe. After breakfast, we wanted to go up the Gibraltar hill to see the monkeys and views. Bravely we took the hill to a point where the police was stationed. They stopped us and said: if you just do not turn around with the trailer we'll have to arrest you, all of you (he said it with a typical englishman smile and warmth). We didin’t noticed and a few seconds later we were already at the bottom. The queue for entry to the top was about 1 km, so we also resigned from waiting in the sun. We stopped for a moment to see the enormity of the top from the bottom and decided that we go on! 

Next stop: Tarifa

The craziness of Malaguita's life part.2

Manu showed us the house, He prepared everything for us including dinner and a typical liquor from Competa - sweet wine. We sat on the terrace overlooking the whole town and we knew that this is our place to sleep on mattresses in the open air with views of shooting stars (seriously like in the movie).
It was warm enough so we didn’t need even blankets. Impressions from the whole week and enclosed screen with stars before our eyes for a long time did not allow us to sleep. Nobody expects such hospitality… ...In the morning the sun and the smell of coffee woke us up..It was prepared by Manu. Was it really supposed to be a survival trip? On the terrace southern-spanish breakfast was already waiting : Jamon serrano, fresh bread and tomatoes soaked in olive oil and Andalusian specialty: coffee with condensed milk.

Manu planned our day, he said that day in Competa was a day of wine and he takes us to the celebration of the town center. Another fiesta in a different climate: flamenco, sevillanas and wine markets. Something beautiful! Malaguitas have an excellent kindness but most of all they are spontaneous therefore Javi threw us command that he takes us to the pool in the hotel (in which we didn’t have accommodation, so in theory we shouldn’t be there) and in the evening at the Andalusian dinner and disco latino. We felt real southern life ... we could taste special dishes such as gazpacho, pulpo, grilled shrimp, etc. Real heaven ! The next day, breakfast, coffee and replay of entertainment and day of flying ... Malaguitas drove us to the beach where we could play instruments in a tent constructed by Manu. Later we went to the hill where Malaguitas began their first steps with glide. That's where the boys had to bounce off the ground and we could admire their extreme tricks from the ground. After landing, the words guys used to express ther feelings was: "f*** .... it’s imposiblle what Javier is doing in the air, he knows no borders, knows what that risk." This state of astonishment accompanied them for a good few days.

Before we left town, Manu took us on tour around beautiful area and showed Andalusia on the side of nature, he devoted so much time showing us his own plot of land on which grows avocados and other fruits.

Next day we had to say goodbye and set off down of the map.

The craziness of Malaguita's life

After a 4-day stay with my beloved Spanish family, full of fun and exciting memories, we charged our batteries, ready for the next part of our trip. There came the time to say goodbye which wasn’t an easy task... Then we jumped into the car and one of the biggest boys’ dream was within their reach: a meeting with the most famous acrobatic paramotor pilot in the world - Javier Tejeiro Lopez Malaguita. Javi is a boy from Competa (a city near Malaga) who we met during Paragliding World Cup in Legnica. He is a real volcano of positive energy who loves risk-taking adventures. His incredible acrobatics in the air are absolutely spectacular. It seems that he flies against gravity. We had to travel 900km to reach Competa. After a 10-hour journey we finally reached our destination. The road to Javi’s house was a bit dangerous as it involved a lot of sharp bends…

a view from terrace

a street of Cómpeta

Narrow streets, sharp bends and a lot of dangerous precipices evoked the unwelcome symptoms of carsickness that we all knew from the childhood. Finally we reached Malaguita’s home (Malaguita is Javi's nickname). His father,Manu, and two brothers, welcomed us very warmly. We made a small traditional greeting ceremony by giving them a loaf of bread, salt and vodka from Poland. They were charmed and delighted by this tradition which is also strongly associated with Polish hospitality. Sir Manu had taught his sons paragliding since their early childhood. Later on, they decided to take one step forward - ACRO. They are doing extraordinary air shows which for an average guy seem impossible to be real (you can watch the video below ). Now they are the most popular acro-pilots in the world and the only ones who are able to do acrobatics while wearing a motor (known also a paramotor) on their back which is very challenging due to the weight that they have to carry during the flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KethFAKIn94

Funes, eu!

After a very warm welcome we went to the apartment which my Spanish family prepared especially for us with all the necessary amenities.

They gave us an hour to dress up in "Fiestas" costumes and we went to celebrate with dozens of people on the streets. The day of "Fiestas" begins in exactly the same way as it ends: dancing and singing start from 9 a.m. and they last till 5 a.m. next day. One may ask: Where does the energy of all those people come from? Most likely its because of drinking litres of traditional Spanish wine from La Riojy which tastes really good.

Fiestas is a time of the year when everyone is celebrating, not only young people but also the elderlies and kids. They sit all together in pubs so the generation gap seems to be not existed any more. From time to time they go to observe bullfighting (corrida) or the running of the bulls, where the bulls are lead through the streets. Sometimes you can notice the march of Charanga which is sort of parade of the local musical band. The musicians (most of them are amateurs) hold "Gigantes" - two literally gigantic puppets which aim to resemble King and Queen of the town.

It's hard to put into words the joy and energy that all those people in Funes gave us and their amazing hospitality. They offered us a lot of popular Spanish dishes and took to the places where we had not even dreamed of.

Therefore, I'm sharing with you some of my pictures, they can somehow illustrate the great time we had in Funes!
                                                         

Funes, we're coming!

After spending a great time at the Dune of Pilat we needed a bit of refreshment. Suprisingly, we couldn't find any publicly available shower, even at the gas stations and huge parkings by the motorway. Finally, after crossing the Spanish border, we found a camping where we could take a shower and get rid of tonnes of sand from our bodies and clothes which we collected during our various adventures at the dune.

Then we jumped into the car and one of my biggest dream was about to happen. According to our schedule, the next stop was Funes, the place where over one year ago I left "my second family” and I came back to Poland. Funes is a small town in Navarre ( northern Spain) which will always take a special place in my memory. My Spanish family was waiting for us from the early morning. The most impatient members of the family were Unax and Gaizka- the children who I was looking after for six months. In that time there was a Spanish feast called "FIESTAS”. It's kind of festival where everyone is dressed in white during the whole week.An obligatory element of the outfit is a characteristic red ribbon or sort of red cravat or shawl.

We came to Funes in the morning when the Corrida was taking place in the middle of the town so a lot of people were celebrating on the streets. Boys decided to welcome everyone from the air so they flew on paragliders over the city, holding Polish flags in their hands! It was such a spectacular moment! I was so excited to see my Spanish family after such a long time so we quickly went to their house to hug them!