October 5, 2010
Well, yesterday was fun, as I went off exploring again! My first destination was Huercal Overa, as one of the neighbors said it was an interesting place to visit, even though it is inland. The GPS, which died later in the day, but then resurrected itself(?), directed me part of the way, and then I decided “to do it my way”! It turned out that my way as really the old road, before the new road was finished. (I was trying to avoid anything that smacked of being a highway!) I could see the other road off to my right, as I took the little windy road through the mountains. All of a sudden the road was a dirt road; luckily only 20' off to my right (still) was the road I was avoiding, but I could and did easily drive onto it.
There was a good sized market in the town, but since I had been to a market recently, I did not stop. The roasting whole chickens were tempting! Little else in town did tempt me; it was more narrow and windy streets. The map showed the San Isidro tower to be nearby, but it turned out to be under construction, so that was out.
I drove on to Puerto Lumbreras, which should have been bigger, if the lettering on the map was an indicator. I passed signs to San Francisco and El Saltador, and decided to follow them. San Francsico was a very town with a church, bar/hotel, and market. I had read about an old swivel mill in El Saltador, but saw no sign for or anything, for that matter, except the post office! However, I did see a pomegranate orchard, which was a first!
Once I arrived in Puerto Lumbreras, I saw signs to the Castillo. I’m not sure why signs are not consistent. If you see them once, why not keep showing them until to get to the destination? In order to get to the castle, I had to go through a large open space, where there were a number of men setting up what looked like a carnival. Unfortunately I got all the way up to the top, only to see that the Castillo was ALSO under construction, so I could not go in anyhow.
While I was up there, I noticed an extension cord that went from an outlet down the hill to who knows where? It probably went at least 200 feet, but I could not see where it went…to the carnival or where?
So it was time to go home….I followed the signs to Lorca and Aguilas for a while, then turned off at the rotary/roundabout (as the GPS and the British call them). The road to Aguilas, which was about 1.5 car widths, took me over the mountains and through the Esperanza Reserve, which was really quite lovely, albeit a bit interesting when the two cars passed me coming from the opposite direction. I let a Mercedes SUV pass me, and he gave me aloud honk of his horn. Was he saying “Thanks!”, or “Get off of our roads!”?
The only unfortunate thing about yesterday’s outing is that my camera battery died after I took one picture. I got some on my Blackberry, but I’m having trouble sending them!
Kathy next door will be 62 on Friday, so she is having a party, and has invited Karen and me to join them. We’ll take a dessert and bottle of wine.
Today was a bright blue sky day, so it was a wonderful beach day. After all the terrible winds of the other night, the beach was quite a mess, so there was a truck there all morning picking up the seaweed.