Oct 4, Malaga, Mijas

After the tour of Alfarnate and Alfarnatejo, we drove to Malaga (an hour south of Alfarnate). Emilio was very tired after our late night talks. We were not going to bed until after 1am!

We tried to go to church in Malaga, but it was Conference weekend, so church was at an unexpected time. We did go into the church and found out when Conference began. Then we walked REALLY far to see the Cathedral, which happened to be closed.

Then, we walked back to church and watched two talks of Conference in Spanish while Emilio had lunch. Then, we decided to take a drive a little ways up into the mountains to a little town called Mijas. It was very cute and a definite tourist trap. We loved it all the same.


Mijas had the typical white houses with red tile roofs and a bull ring.

We happened to see the Matador drive up to the bull ring for the daily fight. Some other lady was taking her picture with him, so I jumped right in for my picture.

This was the side of another Ermita dedicated to another virgin who performed a miracle of some kind. It was a very relaxing place with a great very of the Mediterranean Sea.

We left Mijas and went back to Malaga for dinner, which turned out to be fried octopus. By then, Daniel and I were getting a little leery of the food. We had dinner on the coast and then enjoyed an ice cream.

Emilio was trying to get a hold of his brother, Javier, who is a priest in the Catholic church. Javier had finished a long day of preaching and was headed back to Alfarnate. He was going to pick up Emilio on his way back to Alfarnate. We thought we were not going to meet up with him, but it turns out we did. We had a great conversation with him.

I did not write in my journal while in Spain for Oct. 4 but here are some of the things I remember:
We had a nice walk around Alfarnate with Emilio. He wanted us to meet every person in the 2 villages that were related to us. So we walked from house to house just saying "Hi". The people were happy to meet us.
Today was general conference. We drove to Malaga for church. On our way there Emilio, Daniel and I had conversation about our church and the catholic church. He knows more about his church than most catholics I met in Chile. We found hymns that were in common. It was a nice drive. We found the location of a church in Malaga to go to church, but when we arrived conference had not started yet. Emilio was disappointed that we had left Alfarnate so early. So we walked around Malaga to find the main Cathedral, it was closed so we walked back to church. By now Emilio was hungry and did not want to come to watch conference, so he went to eat and we went inside the church to watch 2 conference talks. The first was by Elder Neil Anderson and the second talk was by Elder Boyd Packard. Daniel and I decided we had better go find Emilio and see what he planned for the rest of the day. Emilio wanted us to meet his brother, Javier, who was a preist for the Catholic church, but he was busy with 3 masses he was giving today. So we decided to drive up to Mijas, a small town 2 minutes into the mountains.
There we had a relaxing afternoon. We met 2 couples from Mesa. We had a wonderful talk with them and of course they knew a friend of my mom. Around dinner time we went back to Malaga and had dinner on the beach. It was good...octopus and french fries. Then we went out for ice cream.
Around 9pm Javier called and said he was not going to be able to meet us, so we were on our way to take Emilio to a friends house in Malaga. As we were driving there Javier pulled up next to us! Emilio was very pleased that we could meet his brother. We drove into an small street and go out of the cars and talked for a few hours. Obviously we shared many of our feelings about our church and listened to what Javier had to say about his. It was a nice coversation. Javier is a wonderful person. Finally after midnight we decided to go our separate ways.
I really enjoyed meeting Daniel's family. It was a wonderful element to our trip and made Spain feel special.

Oct 4, Alfarnate

In the morning Emilio took us on a tour of Alfarnate and Alfarnatejo.
Up this street is the house where Nana's parents used to live. The original house was built around 1875.

This is the house where Nana's older sister and brother were born.

It was being remodeled, but this is the house across the street and what Nana's parents house might have looked like. Probably built around 1875.

Here is the city's main plaza.

You can see in this archway a hint of Moorish influence.

We walked to the town's Ermita, which is a Shrine to the Virgin Monsalud, hence Nana's mom's name, Monsalud.



Then we walked back to the church where Emilio has mass every Sunday. We got the keys and went inside.

Then we went upstairs to see the bells and have a look at Alfarnate and Alfarnatejo from up high.

Now was time for us to leave Alfarnate and our long lost family. Emilio's mom's name is Maria Josepha (Pepa)-it is through her family that we are related, and this is his dad, Cipriano.

This is inside the door to the inside of their house.

This is what I wrote in my journal for Sunday, 4th of October:
Yesterday, we spent all day in Granada. We were at the Alhambra from noon to 2pm. It was very impressive. Then we went into Granada to eat and look at the Cathedral.... Emilio is very bold. If a cathedral was closed he would go push on the door to open it & invite us to go in. It was crazy. Then there was the main Cathedral where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried. It was only open for a wedding, but he walked right in. So we were in the cathedral for a wedding. It was rude of us in my opinion. Anyway we ate lunch. I had paella. It was good. Daniel's stomach hurt b/c of last nights experimental tapas. When you ask Daniel about the tapas bar from last night, he remembers dirty knifes with flies on them sticking to a magnet on the wall! For lunch Daniel thought he would let his stomach rest so he had a salad. Emilio questioned Daniel's choice for lunch. I tried to tell Emilio that we did not eat as much as it appeared the Spaniards eat.
It was time for us to get back to the Alhambra for our appointment to go into the palacio de Nazaria. Everything was so beautiful and detailed. After the Palace we went to the gardens. After a 30minutes of walking in the garden we were told it was time to leave b/c it was closing time. Daniel decided to be funny and hide from us while the "closing ladies" were asking us to leave. Well, Emilio and the ladies did not think this was funny. Emilio thought Daniel was really lost. I knew we should just wait for Daniel at the entrance to the garden. According to Daniel, he just needed to go to the bathroom and was not playing a joke on anyone! Yeah right... Anyway, he did meet us at the entrance to the gardens.

That night we went back to Emilio's house, where his mom made us dinner. It was chicken soup with pieces of old bread in it that turned all soggy. There were also little pieces of something dark.... I don't know. The soup was alright, just not much flavor. She also made a vegetable salad that was 1/4 cooked veggies, 3/4 mayonnaise. Daniel liked it. For dessert, we had a flan like custard. Mari made us so much food, I really think she thought we did not like the food. It was good, just way too much for us to eat. We were full by the time she brought out dessert, so we just shared one and did not finish it. The rest of the night (by now it was after 10pm) we spoke with Cipriano, his wife, Mari, and a little bit to Emilio. We did meet his sister, Maria Victoria, really quick.

This morning, Sunday the 4th, we woke up at 8am, got ready and went to Emilio's for breakfast. The night before we had a big discussion about what Mari should make us for breakfast this morning. She did not think we would like anything. So Emilio asked us what we eat for breakfast. Daniel told them about omelettes with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. Mari thought that was the weirdest thing to eat for breakfast, b/c they eat an egg and potato dish for lunch. They call it a tortilla. Cipriano thought we would like tortilla for breakfast. Emilio insisted we would not eat their "tortilla" and that his mom should try to make an omelette like we eat. (there is one thing I have learned... that is to never ask someone in a different country to make something they are not familiar with b/c it never turns out like you think it will.) So the dad won and his mom made us a tortilla for breakfast, even though the thought of this appalled Mari. Daniel and I were so full we did not have to eat again until 8 pm Sunday night.