Rocking your world 2014; Week 11

Hi folks. I have had a mixed week of sad news and glad news, but I will start as usual with a Friday Smile, and here it is.

Yes, it is a group of men from the village, dressed up as milkmaids! Why, do I hear you ask? Well last Saturday was Carnival in Los Gallardos. It is the most fun day of the whole year, and folk of all ages love to dress up. Some wear exotic costumes they have made or bought, some are quite outlandish, and others fairly grotesque, and some just wrap up in anything they can find around the house.

I like this group of mums dressed up as a flower garden, while their little ones are the bees flitting between them. And when they have walked passed, you see the sting in the tail! Isn't he just so cute? There was even a baby in a pram wearing a bee costume!

These lasses decided to dress up at the last minute

and one told me that there weren't many costumes left to choose from. But I think they look great. The one on the right is Isa, and she meets up with me every Saturday morning at a bar in the village, for conversation. I am helping her with her English. She works in a bank, where there are a lot of British clients, so it is essential for her to be able to explain things to them with no misunderstandings. And with all employment being very insecure out here right now, she knows she needs to improve her language skills very quickly. I won't let her pay me for this, so in return we do speak a bit of Spanish too, so it is helping us both.

The carnival parade didn't start to travel around the village until nearly 6.00 so the light was starting to fade, which made it difficult to take good photos. But I will put a few more at the end of this post. It is very loud and very colourful, and great fun! Bearing in mind we are a very small village, I think they all do really well. We are very good in this village at keeping up the old traditions, which seem to have disappeared in many other places around here. 

There is a quite a large town just along the coast called Aguillas, and they are famous for their carnival which lasts for several days. You need to book tickets for their main parade, but I would love to go to it one year. It is a proper Mardi Gras.

I am thankful that my back problem has greatly improved this week, so I am nearly back to normal.

I am also so very grateful that a very dear friend had fantastic news when she went to hospital for the results of tests on Wednesday.

I had a lovely ride out with Chris on Monday. I knew that on Wednesday my Life Group was being hosted by lady I had not visited before, and I am always a bit nervous about driving to places I don't know, so I asked Chris to drive it with me first, so I would know where I was going. I am glad he did, because I would have spent so long looking for it that I would probably have missed my group by the time I had found it. The house was on a golf complex called Valle d'Este, and it was quite a surprise when we drove in. It is a huge community, with greens dotted randomly around, lots of housing, a shopping plaza, and a big hotel. 

We knew we had taken a wrong turn, so we stopped to climb a hill to this little look-out, to get our bearings. That is when we realised just what a huge area it covered. 

In front of us was

the hotel, with solar panels all over its roof. And way beyond that you can just glimpse the sea.

To our right was another valley with more greens, and then a small urbanisation which turned out to be where the flat we were looking for is located.

Behind us was the motorway we had driven along to get to it, and beyond that, there were layers and layers of misty mountains. Can you see the little white house on top of the first hill? I often wonder why they built it right up there, so difficult to get too, and it must be without electricity or main drainage. I don't suppose anyone lives there now, but I am sure they did, long before the motorway passed below them. We have had very little rain this winter and the land is quite dry and brown, but the first wild flowers are pushing up through it, and I think it is beautiful.

What do you think of my drink this week? It looks a bit green doesn't it?! it was made from half an apple, a carrot, a couple of inches of cucumber, a celery stick, a dash of lemon juice and a generous sprig of fresh mint, and tasted a lot nicer than it looks! Chris was a bit more skeptical about this one, but give him his due - he drank it, but he said it was 'a bit strange'! What I want to know is, if these blended fruit and veggie drinks are so healthy, why haven't I lost any weight, and why am I not bouncing around like a spring chicken by now?!

Of course I have one sky photo to leave you with. We will get less and less cloud cover now, so I won't be seeing too many more sunsets like these, so I catch them while I can. This one is not as dramatic as some I have taken, but beautiful all the same.

Now I will link up with Virginia at Celtic House, and Annie with her Friday Smiles, and below I will add a few more photos from the carnival, for anyone who wants to flip through them. 

Have a blessed week, and hopefully I'll see you all again next Friday.

Butterflies;

I'm not too sure about these ones!

The Latino dance club:

It takes all sorts...!

Our friend Sarah made a sassy pirate.

Just having fun:

Let's make some noise:

A cage full of doves, (or pigeons depending who you are talking to. Palomas can mean either).

And of course there were clowns:

Thanks for joining me. You comments really are appreciated.