The honeymoon is over...but the big cahones remain

Well, alas, I am back at work and back to my regular 9-5 type life... The American contingency have returned to their homeland...but I do have a fabulous collection of photos, three bottles of Spanish Sherry, two boxes of sweetmeats, two necklaces, one from Cadiz and one from Ibiza, one belt buckle made out of dichroic glass, and a fine assortment of shells and rocks from the beach. Our last day in Spain was a really nice one. We had our usual tasty breakfast at the B&B before wandering Medina Sidonia in search of Sherry and sweetmeats. Sweetmeats are these lovely cookies. (biscuits for any euro-readers ;)) They're made from Marzipan and nuts and rolled into a longish lengths before being wrapped in colorful paper like those holiday crackers. They're delicious and distinctly remind me of childhood because they taste much like Italian cookies that I used to eat. We went to the local sweets shop and each bought a couple of boxes. The hombre behind the counter was really friendly and gave us each an extra sweetmeat to take with us as we left.

After buying out Medina Sidonia's stocks of booze and candy (what else do ya need?!) we headed off to el palmar to get some last rays of sun on the beach. We decided to have lunch at the same beachside cafe we had eaten at a few times during the week so that we could get our (rare) fix of Spanish vegetables and say hi to the waitress that we befriended. Food was tasty and Kiki (the waitress) brought us out a plate of garlicy carrots that she said would enhance our tans. They were delicious. At the end of the meal, she brought us big glasses of rum miel (rum with honey) and after we drank those, she brought little shots of rum miel and taught us how to drink the shot without using our hands... We chatted with her by using a combination of pantomime and spanglish which was quite fun and quite funny. Marina was attempting to say, @We are big pigs," in Spanish (refering to how much food we can pack in) but accidentally busted out with, "yo soy grande cahones," (sp?) which means something to the effect of I am a big ball of the male variety...haha We laughed our asses off and kiki's charade of what big cahones are was pretty hilarious too. We exchanged email address es with her and headed back to Casa de Medina to pack up our stuff.

When we arrived, Rachel (woman from Manchester, friend of the owners of the B&B who we've been hanging out with in the evenings) was there and gave us all necklaces that she bought in Ibiza during a recent visit. It was an extremely sweet gesture which we all appreciated. Rachel might make it over to Boston for a visit soon so some of you may get to meet her. She is a trip...kind of like the wilder and crazier, UK version of Lorraine...good fun.

Our travels back to Dublin were less fun as they involved two flights and sleeping on the (very cold) floor of the London Stanstead airport. I was extremely dehydrated and overheated and therefore had terrible stomach cramps, a headache and nausea and all other good things that come from a body deprived of water. no bueno. We definitely were not the only ones sleeping at Camp Standstead. Every available bench and bit of floor space was occupied by people in various states of preparedness. Some people had blow-up mattresses and sleeping bags! Amazing. This was my third airport sleepover, you would think that I would have brought my airbed! Ah, well. Next time.

The girls last day in Dublin was a beautiful day weatherwise so we wandered around town and then had a yummy thai meal in Ranelagh (although my stomach was still recovering...) before heading back to hotel fairview to lie on Marina's air mattress, drink champagne and thow chocolates at each other... ;)

Yesterday, woke up and bid the ladies goodbye which was quite sad...sniff. See you all in four months. Spent the rest of the day tidying the house and then met up with Jane for Conveyer belt sushi which cheered me up a bit. After the exciting world of Spanish food consisting of asparagus omelettes, white bread and crackers (pan y picos) and strange, sometimes unidentifiable fish, I was happy to be eating seawead and fresh vegetables...

Hope all is well in warm and sunny Boston. Miss you all.