La Herraduru

Where do I begin? Speedos, thongs or topless ladies? Well, they were all hanging out at the beach in La Herraduru which means "horseshoe." All of the little girls were wearing bikini bottoms, but no tops. Half of the men were wearing Speedos. I saw one lady (pictured with husband giving me a dirty look) in a thong. I saw several ladies without tops on in all their buxom splendor. The beach in Spain is truly a vouyeur's paradise. The paparazzi/journalist in me has broken loose. I would probably hate it if someone was taking pictures of me in my bathing suit, but then again I don't wear a thong . . . Aidan felt very strongly that the women should not be topless, nor the little girls. He seemed very offended by the sight of all those bare breasts.

Oh, you want to read about the beach itself and not just the scantily clad people on it? Well, okay. The beach itself was made almost entirely out of rocks, not sand, but rocks from as small as a pinhead to as large as a loaf of bread and every size in between. The water was clear as glass and you could see all the way down to the rocky seabed. There were fish swimming around and bumping into our legs. I saw three different types: black and white striped; grey, blue and yellow; and maroon and white striped. I tried for about an hour to catch one in a bucket to show the kids, but I didn't have any luck. The water was pretty cold so we didn't swim as much as we did when we went to Salobreña. Also, there weren't any waves. La Herraduru beach would have been perfect for snorkeling or paddling, but it wasn't any good for bodysurfing. It was cleaner and much less crowded than the beach we went to before. I tried to rig up a regular umbrella with a broomstick to make my own ghetto beach umbrella, but it didn't work too well. The beach was so rocky that I couldn't push the pole down far enough into the ground. The umbrella kept falling over. Collin taped it to a chair and someone always had to be sitting in the chair or else it would fall over. So I figured out that a regular umbrella+broomstick+tape does not=a beach umbrella. The kids had a great time looking for sea glass (I found a piece of red sea glass and gave it to Aidan) and interesting stones. One of the kids (who shall remain nameless) buried him/herself in rocks up to the waist, peed and then marked the spot with a long stone sticking up on end so no one would walk there. I made him/her rinse off in the ocean. Why s/he didn't just pee in the ocean like everyone else is a mystery to me.

I am just accomplishing all kinds of stuff in my 31st year. I just learned how to float on my back in the water. It helps that it is supersalty here. Before, when I would try to float, I would panic and stiffen up and sink. Here, I can float all day and it is so relaxing, even in freezing water.

We got two awesome packages from April containing all sorts of treats, books, games, and clothing. Emma got a fab new pair of brown and pink tennis shoes that she wore to bed. She also got some super low socks with monkeys and bananas on them that I am totally jealous of. April, will you send me some too? Emma's fit me! I can't wait until we can share clothes. Emma also got an adorable grey sweater with colorful buttons and a matching hairband. Aidan was really excited about getting New Moon and Eclipse as he just finished Twilight today. Ian and Aidan were both excited about the new Bakugan they got in the package.

My brain is fried. Too much sun and Spanish.