Mucho Problemos

Thursday 23^rd November

We awoke to the cries of the falcons and a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. After breakfast, drove down to the house by the camino road …..no sign of hoopoes, and arrived about 10.00am, and Ricardo’s range rover was there …..excellent, or so we thought. Sergio told us he was arriba …at the top, and there we found him on the new bathroom roof, embroiled in a big problemo with Tommy. They had laid 2 rows of tiles (from the bottom), and it was clear that if they carried building up at that angle of pitch, the new bathroom roof would be above the drainage holes from the roof terrace……Ricardo joked that when there was a problemo, they had to call in the expert ie himself….Tommy felt there was no problemo …..anyway, lots of swearing in German, explaining the problem to us, spirit levels indicating the problem, taking up a row of newly cemented tiles…….etc etc…..

Eventually, we left them to it and walked around the market, buying only a large jar of olives and garlic and a shirt for C. Went back to house, and all was fine., Ricardo had gone, the roof was finished, and Tommy was plastering the bathroom. The roof looks a bit uneven….but then …..this is Spain……as long as the water drains off ok.

Then drove to Malaga to AKI to buy a mirror for the downstairs bathroom, and Carrefour for Navidad (Christmas) presents for all our neighbours……..mainly special packs of sweets and biscuits, with our immediate neighbour getting the best , as she has had to put up with a lot of noise, shouting, drilling, piles of gravel and sand, the constant sound of the cement mixer outside her house for last 2 months, and slight loss of light in her patio from the new bathroom etc etc……

Friday 24^th November

Weather a bit cloudy today but still warm. After breakfast, drove to the house via the camino road, but no hoopoes. Tommy had another big problemo trying to fit a junction box in the rear foundation wall, which was crumbling to dust as he drilled out huge chunks. After discussion with J, he continued drilling, and we left to choose tiles. We each chose 6 tiles as a shortlist, and narrowed them down to the final 3, and then took pictures against the terra blanco wall tiles and then against a new grey floor tile.

Back to house about 3.30 pm…..when Tommy was just about to leave, The big problemo was not resolved, but the bathroom was plastered outside, and a step formed leading down to the vestibule, wet cement C trod in, but otherwise not a lot of progress. Ricardo had seen the wall, and it would be resolved Monday. Drove home and had tea on the terrace, and put short-listed pics on laptop to make a choice for the upstairs bathroom edge tiles……the last tile decision to be made…….famous last words. We agreed on a striking grey and white tile with swirls rather than diamonds, which is the downstairs design……

It turned chilly quite quickly at dusk ……lots of falcon cries but not 1 to be seen. C made a nice olive, tomato, garlic and cheese nibble as a pre-prandial, prior to going out for a walk and boqueron frito tapas (anchovy) with chips at

Tale of arabic tiles

Wednesday 22 November

Another beautiful sunrise. After breakfast, went to house via camino road, and met with Tommy. Main job today is to cement the first floor veranda, sloping it towards the patio, so that all rain from the main roof terrace flows to the patio and down the drain.

We asked about one of the patio walls being tiled at the top, to act as coping stones, and Tommy suggested the old Arabic tiles that had come off the front of the house. Apparently, they are “shitehauzen” to lay, as they are irregular half cylindrical in shape, with the concave tiles forming the gullies of a typical old Moorish/Spanish roof, with the convex tiles forming the ridges. Difficult to explain !

Tommy also told us their history, which is also difficult to believe……which is that the clay tiles used to be shaped by moulding each one on the thighs of a virgin, giving them their distinctive and irregular shape…. He insisted this was true, although it is difficult to see how there would be a continuing supply of virgins, working with virile young tile-makers moulding clay on their thighs, to produce sufficient tiles for roof building locally.………remember the pottery scene in the film “Ghost”…….!!

On to the tile shop to choose tiles, and spent an hour or so choosing floor tiles and matching edge tiles with the white wall tiles. Took loads of pics , as very difficult to make a choice, and the options we chose 3 weeks ago are no longer attractive. We decided to buy one definite downstairs border tile to check in situ and show Tommy, but they didn’t have one in stock, so let us take the shop’s reference tile, asking us to bring it back a manyana…..tomorrow.

Then back to town for an hour at the Locutorio……mainly e mails. J managed to identify the bird we have seen several times on the camino road, which is the Hoopoe. Click Hoopoe if interested in seeing this distinctive bird.

Reviewed progress with Tommy at the house at 4 pm, and show him the edge tile for the downstairs bathroom, which he didn’t like much. Sergio was drilling out channels for the lights on the ceiling, and took down the front light , asking where he should put it. J said upstairs, as he probably had his eye on it………..

Back home along the camino road, and saw a Hoopoe on the road, but unable to get a picture of it before it flew off into an orange grove.

Spent an hour looking at tile pictures on the laptop, and J put them all together in 1 folder to show Tommy tomorrow. After dinner, we went for a walk and had a few wines in our favourite bar run by a mother and daughter, as we prefer this to the bar we had been introduced to.

Concrete and Boots

Monday 20^th November

Weather bright and sunny again. After breakfast, went to house to see Tommy and Sergio….. concreting walls in kitchen and drilling out channels for electrics planned, and re-caucho roof and first floor.

We decided to go to Almogia north of Malaga, where we had seen the a horse rodeo event on a previous occasion, and thought they may have a boot shop…….silly me !! One of the country roads just petered out to a dirt track, but we then found a cross mountain camino with very steep hills (1in 3 ), which J did not appreciate. Almogia was a typical white town tumbling down the hill, and was very picturesque…..not really touristy.

Tuesday 21^st November

Awoke to a lovely red sunrise, which did not auger well for the day, but it was fine, hot and sunny. Drove to house via camino road and on to house to see Tommy. Established he was working on the patio walls and removing the concrete beams….left them to it, with Sergio concreting bathroom walls.

Decided to go to La Cañada at Marbella and eventually….after 3 weeks now….chose an expensive pair which J bought for my birthday. Went to Leroy Merlin to choose a mirror for one of the bathrooms, which will be “tiled” flush to the wall tiles to save space.

Returned to the house to review progress. The concrete beams gone, the bathroom walls concreted and Sergio working on patio walls. Checked the mirror size was ok …..fine for upstairs, and downstairs will take a bigger one.

Driving the High Sierra

Weekend 18^{th & 19th} November

We spent Saturday on the coast, posting the blog and going to the market.

On Sunday, we decided to have a day out, and drove to over the mountains to a couple of white towns, and walked to their churches, which were both having their services. We then drove on to Algodonales in the Sierra de Lijar…..2 hours over the high Sierras driving with J !! The town has a long central plaza lined with orange trees, and many people were promenading in their Sunday best after attending the 18^th century church of Santa Ana. Lunched here on 2 huge bocadillos mixto (ham and cheese), which set us up for the afternoon.

Then on to Zahara de la Sierra (locally known as de los Membrillos… of the quinces). According to the Rough Guide, this is the most perfect of Andalucia’s fortified hill pueblos (towns) , with typical red–tiled houses falling down the hillside below the church, which lies beneath a 12^th century Moorish Castillo (castle tower) standing high on a rocky outcrop, over–looking a lake of azure blue. We walked up to the centre of town around the church, which was buzzing with bars and restaurants full of people having Sunday lunch. This was tiring enough, but we then climbed up to the Castillo, which was exhausting…..but the views were spectacular…..well worth the climb.

We drove back to Ronda via the lower lake road rather than via Grazalema on the CA531 road, which climbs to the Puerto de las Palomas ( Pass of the Doves……rather than pigeons, according to the Rough Guide book) , which at 1,350 metres is the second highest pass in Andalucia. It was the description of the pass “……and the road embarks on a dramatic descent…..” which made J veto this route……..