A Week in my Life: Thursday - A Day All to Myself

This is part of a series! Want to read the previous posts? Check these out...
Sunday - My "Monday" in the Office
Monday - The Reason Sunday doesn't bother me
Tuesday - I get Paid to Ride Horses on the Beach!
Wednesday - Everyone Deserves a Day Off

Today is almost exactly like my Sunday, so I won’t go into too much detail. I wake up hungover today and slug myself and Smokey up to the horses to feed. Today, Rhiannon is cleaning all the rooms so I can take some of our “problem children” out for some exercise. Antonio’s here to help me today and although I’m glad to have the company, I’m worried that the headache I get when I talk a lot of Spanish will be too much to bear with the headache I get when I drink too much beer. But, alas, I tack up Serena and Frank and Antonio and I head out.  We take an hour or so and ride up to the Eucalyptus Gallop, Antonio’s first gallop on a horse other than Polly and he loves it. I didn’t realize it was his first. It’s hard because there isn’t a word in Spanish for “canter;” only trot and gallop. If you want to talk about a canter vs. gallop, you just say it’s a slow gallop, but it doesn’t really prepare people for the first time they go at a full out gallop. Antonio’s ear to ear grin is proof of that.

As soon as we get back, we untack quickly and Antonio has to get back to the bar to pick up Vicky and go shopping before they open the place up. I toss some food to the ponies and give Infanta a little cuddle before hopping back in the car and heading back to the house. It’s a beautiful day and I don’t feel like sitting at home, so I steal the van from Andrew as soon as he gets home from taking the guests to Jerez and I head up to Vejer for a drive. I crank the music up as loud as I can stand, roll the windows down and rock out driving the back way past the windmills and rows and rows of farmhouses. I park up at the top on a walking trail and get out and sit for an hour or so, just soaking in the silence and drinking in the views. I remind myself once again that I have to come up here one time when I’m not doing dinner and watch sunset, but I know that likely won’t happen until after I get back next Spring.

At about 6:30 I decide to start heading home as I want to go the long way. I drive down through Vejer, down the long hill and out near Barca de Vejer and I turn towards the coast and drive through Barbate and back up the cliffs before finally turning home. This is one thing I really do miss about home is driving. Having the space and the places to go that are farther away than walking distance. Here I have almost no reason to drive anywhere, which is nice, but sometimes I just have to get away.

The guests w/ Miggy from CharlyI’m cooking tonight and prepared some of Trudy’s famous fried avocados ahead of time so now I just have to refry them a bit, cook up some Spanish rice and refried beans and throw together my appetizer (some crispy bread with tomato spread and balsamic glaze).  Rachel and I do dinners on Thursday and I love them because there’s no nonsense. We’re like a well oiled machine of cooking, entertaining and dish cleaning. It’s great. And tonight, I’ve convinced the guests to come out so I’m excited to have walking partner’s over to Miguel’s.

We head out and I order drinks for the table and chat with Antonio (chuckle bro #1) and Creepy Juan and decide to settle back in with the guests. Slowly the guests decide to take leave one at a time until Clair (my fun loving Clair!) is the only one left. While they’ve been leaving, the rest of the town has shown up with myself, Ishmael, Adrian, Francisco, Fillipe the chef, Fabi, Jack, Adrian neighbor, Miguel and Scottish Clare. It’s my favorite group. And tonight we’re in for a real treat as it’s a bank holiday tomorrow so no one is working (except me and Clare of course).  We proceed to get. Trashed. We had to have finished off at least a whole bottle of honey rum and when I walking into the bar on Friday afternoon for a beer, they were out (seriously, a bar ran out of beer) so we must have done some serious damage.

the damage (by Katie)I don’t remember much. But I do remember a certain drunk Adrian stripping for us. Like complete strip show on the tables in the bar. I remember looking at some nudey calendar Miguel had behind his bar and then having an entire conversation about pubic hair (seriously uncomfortable).  There was a moment where people were doing figure 8’s in the parking lot on the ATV’s. There was a contest to see who could blow the best smoke rings. There was a bottle of champagne popped and shook up like we’d just won the World Series. There was about a two hour period of sitting on some metal telephone poles outside Miguel’s having a heart to heart and there was another moment much later where I vaguely recall kissing someone in the parking lot behind the house.

All in all, I’d say, an incredibly successful evening.