As you read in the last post, it is so incredibly beautiful here that we were completely overwhelmed on our first trips and lacked a little of the words. It is still so nice to see how life returns to this province and our small town. 
Smaller shops reopen, even if opening hours are a possibility rather than a binding statement. But shopping at all is an option again is fantastic. 
Restaurants, beach bars and cafés are also gradually opening up and the empty alleys are filling with life. What a pleasure for everyone to be able to meet and exchange again, you can hear it rattle everywhere and it is a wonderful soundscape.
Until this week, bathing and sunbathing was forbidden here on the beaches. But that didn’t mean for us to use these somewhat remote, currently virtually unvisited beaches and bays for a quick jump into the floods. And even if not, then for us sea lovers it was and is a great pleasure to be on the beach, stare at the waves and smell the salty air.
But now to have the official permission to go swimming on every beach and to linger is of course a change of 100 percent. Now it feels like a long-ending summer holiday.
So we are currently driving with the thick to small places, stand directly at the cliff, get the chairs out and just look silently at the sea until dolphins appear on the horizon. Really happened like that. We sat by the sea for quite a while and both always dreamed of seeing dolphins jumping on the horizon.
And then all of a sudden it was time. Far out, you could see white foam waves.
Thanks to binoculars, it was then possible to observe the entire dolphin family. Incredibly beautiful. For these moments we are on the road. Almost alone.
Almost alone in this case meant that we and the fishing naked man, who appeared completely out of nowhere behind the cliff, greeted and continued on his way. So, we and a few interesting people around us, but in the end we, “Der Dicke” and the sea. And at least up to our knees we went into the water every time.
We don’t know if you can feel that, but to drive and gradually hit other campers on the roads, or to discover them in places on the side of the road, sometimes obviously, another time only when we have explored access roads on foot, that’s almost how it should be and we forget Corona and all the restrictions that still apply.
Our everyday life consists at the moment of driving to the beach or inland, but sleeping still on the same small campsite. Here we always come back again. It’s just a good and safe feeling right now to know where we have our home.
The worst we have seen so far is the so-called Costa del Plastic. This landscape, right on one of the most beautiful natural parks of Andalusia, Cabo de Gata, which is completely flooded with greenhouses. You look at nothing but this sea of plastic, which is incredibly overwhelming, even if you have to be somehow clear, oranges from Spain are available at the best prices at almost any time of the year in Germany, they have to come from somewhere. On this day we drove on thoughtfully, as compensation we needed something beautiful, we found a parking lot directly on the sea on the edge of the provincial capital and ate our first real ice cream in an café, with many people, in the sun. Honestly, then you float back to “Der Dicke”. Despite the ice cream.
On other days we simply take the bike and venture on the way to the beach on “mountain bike trails”, uphill, downhill, always along the coast to have a bay and waves just for us with a maximum of 10 people. Even without official permission we lie in the sun and dive into the waves, just like the Spaniards next to us, all by far, all with silent common rule breaking.
As absolute coffee lovers, in all sorts of forms, we now also drink our way through the cafés and ice cream cafés. Just enjoy a good half hour in the middle of Spaniards and English a Cortado, Cafe con Leche or an iced coffee and then it usually goes on for us. This has also resulted in a small Wednesday tradition, since 3 weeks the weekly market starts again here in our town, albeit in a very small and controlled version. But we always try to buy a few little things to support the traders. Afterwards we go to an adjacent small café, of course for a coffee.
What has changed a lot, just by freedom to move around the province without fear, is the focus on news. Normally we checked the news several times a day to see what is coming, what changes, how well it will be, how strict it remains, how are the corona numbers. Of course, we continue to follow these messages, but not as much. Because we know it is getting better, that is already clear, tourism is getting back on the table. That’s why we’re starting to focus so slowly on what happens next. Where else do we want to go in Andalusia if we are finally allowed to cross the provincial borders? What is the situation in Portugal? The signs are good that we can explore Andalusia completely and also Portugal. So we take the moments, check apps on pitches and campsites, think about where we might be able to stay free. What else do we want to see, how could a route be? You realize that the thoughts are getting positive again, there is still so much in it and we will enjoy it to the fullest.
