Spain and Mexico 2021-22

Our First Stop - Pedregalejo (Malaga, Spain)

After flying from LA to Amsterdam, we disembarked and found our way to the gate of our next flight - to Malaga. The plan was to meet Meredith and Freya at the gate and fly to Malaga together. They were running late due to very long lines at the KLM counters.

But in the nick of time, we spotted Freya zooming around the corner.

We spent the first several nights in a smaller condo in a suburb of Malaga called Pedregalejo. We saw some very beautiful sunsets.

This was a dramatic start to the day with this beautiful sunrise.  

Meredith did a lot of cooking (vegan) - it all tasted wonderfully.

On one of the days, Meredith suggested we go for a morning hike up the hillside. Hard work but very good views.

After our stay in Pedregalejo, we got a taxi ride to Nerja, where we had stayed in 2019. We had booked the same Airbnb condo. Elliot and Isla were on their way from Amsterdam and would join us here for the rest of stay in Spain. 

We played lots of games with Isla and Freya, read stories, did crafts and went to the beach.

Lunch at a local fish restaurant.

Isla tried out a boogie board. At first a little leery of it, she quickly realized how much fun it was. Then it was hard to get her to go home!

 

Then it came time for New Year's. Meredith and Elliot went out and bought new year's trinkets and came up with several appropriate activities for the festive night. We all had a great time but none of us made it to the bewitching hour of seeing the Times Square ball drop. 

Freya and Isla buried in sand. 

After two weeks it was time for Diane and George to go home - well, sort of...Cancun.

We first flew to LAX, spent the night at an airport hotel, and in morning flew to Cancun to spend a little time in the warm Yucatan weather.  By the afternoon, we were sitting on our balcony, looking out at the ocean.

We met up with our Alabama friends, Cherie and Terry, and had several breakfasts and dinners with them. They are part of that rare Alabama breed of southern Democrats. We had lots of fun and enlightening conversations. Hopefully, we'll see them at the resort again next year should the stars align properly.

Diane and George celebrating their 45th anniversary at Da Vinci's restaurant.

After a week at the Omni, we were planning on flying home Saturday evening. But fate had different plans for us - Diane tested positive for COVID. We had to divert to Plan B. Since we couldn't fly home, we rented a car and drove to Puerto Morelos, a small fishing village just south of Cancun.

In Puerto Morelos we found a quiet and verdant guesthouse (Layla's) across from the beach in a quiet area of town. After a week in Cancun, it was a lovely change of pace and setting. Layla's is an eco-friendly place and has a very good vegan/vegetarian restaurant where we ate both evenings.

On one of the nights we had dinner with Claudia, a very nice staff member from the Omni who we've gotten to know over the years. She and her partner, Nino, live in P.M. 

We woke up early on the third morning and decided to get tested again. Diane felt fine and so did George. We walked over to a testing site and paid our $50 (for two tests). After ten minutes the results came back. NEGATIVO! Yeah! 

We hurried back to our room to see if we could change our flight reservations to fly that evening - we got lucky; there were a few seats left. We changed our car rental and by midnight of that same day we were back in Shell Beach.