Brick by brick

Was that fast, or what?  The next step is putting on the fiberglass roof.  These pics were actually taken on Monday...but I have been so busy, I haven't had time to post since then!

Heading upstairs (upladders?) 

A mid-day brewski.  I think these guys deserve it with the pace their keeping on the job!

Second Story

These first two pictures are a little out of date, but to keep with proper chronology, I'm posting them anyway.   They are from a few weeks ago before the concrete was poured for the second story floor.  Now all that's finished (see last two pics) and they're putting up the walls!

The upstairs won't be more than a storage area for now, although eventually we want to make it into an apartment to rent.  There's also the possibility in the not too distant future of making the upstairs in to a cuasi-formal academy for my English classes.  It would be much cheaper to just pay for the plumbing, electricity and roof (for now we're just going to cover it with fiberglass to keep out the water--cheaper) as opposed to finishing an entire apt. with kitchen, etc.  It would be perfect really because I would have a real space that was MINE for my classes and I wouldn't have to pay rent!  ... We shall see.  Anyway, here are the most recent pictures of the construction:

I can't really tell you what this is...Angelines took the pic.  It's the upstairs floor before the concrete was poured.  What looks like concrete are cement blocks between the re-bar.  Extra reinforcement?

A forest of support.  The builder says we should leave it this way because they're stabilizers for the drunks and in winter you can hang your jackets on them...  Gotta love Andalusian humor. ;)

If you look closely at the top story to the left, you can see the beginnings of the wall. 

The African Heat Wave

It seems that Spain is right in the middle of all the extreme weather patterns.  Remember the Siberian cold snap we had back in February that left my patio completely frost-bit?  Well this past week temperatures have been consistently in the nineties with highs of 107+.

The Sunday of our romería--we walk about 7k and spend the day partying and picnicking in the countryside--it was 42 degrees Celsius (107ºF)!!!!  My poor sister who's now accustomed to Portland weather, meaning that she puts on a bikini when it's 70 and sunny, was about to die.  She wasn't the only one who suffered mild heatstroke, however.  There were several people who were throwing up from the heat and at least one who ended up in the hospital.  Maggie made it up there okay (lots of water and rebujito), and with some ice and cold gazpacho she revived a bit; but we decided to put her out of her misery and take her home to my cool casa before the day was through.  I can guarantee this weekend was an experience she'll never forget...though she claims she had fun until the heat began to blur her vision!

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Bringing down the saint Friday night.

Outside the church.  This year was the first year there's been a mass held for San Pancracio--a really big deal. :)

San Pancracio during Saturday night's procession.

Special sister time, Spanish style.

The altar prepared by the neighbors of the host street for Saturday night's street party.

Maggie and Bela before the camino.  Bela stayed home--smart dog!

Maggie's first baptism.  First-timers on el camino get baptized with rebujito (seven-up, white wine and mint, served COLD) by the Hermano mayor. 

This is the dress that my sister-in-law altered for me.  She shortened the skirt so it would be better for walking and this way you can see my boots! :)

Other than roasting in the romeria, we mostly relaxed at home--special sister time.  I had classes during the week so much sight-seeing was out of the questions, though since Maggie visited us twice last year, we didn't feel the need to be entertaining her at all and weren't stressed trying to squeeze in any touristy visits.   It felt completely normal to have her around.  She fell easily into our Spanish rhythm...with a few snacks between mealtimes. ;)

Chillin' with Aunt Maggie

On top of suffocating heat, our neighbors are remodeling their house and all the jack-hammering and racket they make reverberates through our entire house.  I'm afraid my poor sister didn't have a very relaxing vacation!  Monday after the romeria the noise was so bad that we opted to spend the day out.  We packed up an ice-chest, threw the dog in the car and headed to el Chorro to cool down.  I've mentioned el Chorro before it's a huge reservoir about forty min. away.  The water was perfect, not too cold at all, but still refreshing and most fun of all, this was Bela's first experience swimming.

Encouraging Bela to jump in...

If you can believe it, just prior to the nasty heat wave we had about a week or so of heavy rains (the first rains since Jan. or Feb. I believe) and Bela had become quite fond of all the puddles along our normal walking routes.  She misses them dearly, now, let me tell you.  When we let her of the leash at the lake she raced into the "puddle", but didn't expect the shore to drop off so quickly.  She took a few panicked strokes to turn around and climb back out of the water wondering what on Earth just happened to her.  It was pretty funny.  Still, by the end of the day she was getting in more and more often, swimming a bit more each time and finally she even did a water retrieve!  So my little puppy is now fully initiated into Lab-dom. ;)

The reason Maggie comes to visit despite African heat waves. :)

Maggie's visit went by far too quickly.   She commented on the changes in my lifestyle since her first visit here four years ago: before I was always out and about; now I have a house, my classes...I'm more "settled," in her words.  And it's true.

Preparing gazpacho for the romeria with my favorite sous chef!

Pre-romería Preparations

This weekend is the Romería de San Pancracio and so preparations have begun.  This year, with my studies I've been less directly involved with the Asociación Amigos de San Pancracio, but nonetheless I pitch in when I can.  Sunday we all got together to do a bit of forestry work in the sierra where the ermita is.  The city planted pine trees there about 20 years ago and they're pretty short and scrubby still so the job was to trim the lower branches encouraging upward growth.  Of course, once the branches were cut we had to get all that slag cleared out of the area for this weekends festivities... so that was how we spent Sunday morning.

You already saw what a great time Bela had up there sniffing around finding bottles and rabbit turds! ;)  Here are a few pictures of what we humans did up there:

These trees have been trimmed very infrequently and so some of the branches, as you can see, are practically tree-sized!

I think come Nov. Angelines and I will make a trip up to the pile we made to cut ourselves a bit of kindling. :)

The crew posing for a picture.  You can see all the slag that's left and this was after we'd filled at least three tractor loads!

Happy dog!

Other preparations include a bit of last-minute tailor work on my flamenco dress.  My sister-in-law is a whiz with a sewing machine and she's fixed up my bata rociera just perfectly.  She shortened the skirt (pictures forthcoming) so it's more flattering, more comfortable and cooler for the camino, plus this way you can see my boots, which are a key part of the whole get-up.

Speaking of boots, Angelines bought herself a pair for this year's romeria and they are super cool!  I'm a bit envious, I must admit.  She wore them for the first time today on our morning walk with Bela to start breaking them in. ;)

And last but by far not the least, today Maggie is coming!  Angelines has gone to pick her up in Malaga.  I can't go because I've got classes and the economy's in no situation to be cancelling. ;)  She'll get to partake in all the fun that is San Pancracio; I can't wait!

Bela and a Bottle

Yesterday was a day of forestry work near the ermita de San Pancracio (more later).  Bela came along too...though she wasn't a lot of help.  She did do her part by picking up litter--she LOVES plastic bottles and unfortunately they abound.

Here's the highlight from Bela's day in the sierra:

Construction:

Another photo update for you all.  You can see the dowstairs walls are nearly finished. :)  Upstairs will some day be an apartment, but for now we're just leaving it like a closed box.  When we have more money we'll finish that.  The idea is to rent it...or maybe it can be our "mother-in-law cottage" (hehe) my parents can stay there when they come in the future! ;)  In any case, neither of us wants to live in an apartment, much less above the bar, but we figure building an apartment is a good idea because if we can rent it some day that's extra income and if/when we eventually sell the place an apartment adds value to the property.  Okay, I'll leave you with the pictures.  Not a whole lot else to report anyway.  I've been sick with a nasty cold this past week and haven't done much of anything.  I even had to cancel my Wednesday classes.  I had no energy to be singing and dancing with 5-year-olds!

To the right you can see what will be the entrance door for the upstairs flat and also a door out onto the pedestrian street where A can set up tables in summer.

This is the front of the bar: two big windows and the front door.  The bar will be on the left when you walk in.  The idea is to be able to put high stools here along the facade and people can order and get their drinks through the window as opposed to getting up and going inside.

From the inside looking out toward the main door.

So it's a little hard to imagine still at this point, but I think you can get an idea of the finished product...At least it's starting to look like a building!