Perfect weather and finally less wind. We have both felt extremely tired; one major culprit is the struggle with the infernal Spanish distinction between the pretérito indefinido and the pretérito imperfecto – “the hardest thing in the language” according to la profesora, who is probably only trying to make us feel better. But another culprit is that my “allergies” turn out to be us both having caught colds – me while traveling and K from me. (Last time it was K catching Covid while traveling and me catching it from her. This is better, but still seems to demand 9 hours sleep every night – which I’m getting, and K is trying and failing to get.)(K here. All this is exacerbated by the local heavy use of air freshener and scented laundry detergent, alongside enthusiastic cigarette smokers.)

Lunch was a simple menu del día eaten outside at a local cafe, with our Swiss friend Fabienne.

This afternoon we mastered the bus system well enough to take a 20-minute ride to la playa. Sunny, but a bit of a cool breeze. A few brave people kite-surfing or even swimming, but not many.

We walked a mile or two north on the beach and then all the way back to the residence, about 6 miles through a surprisingly rural area on the edge of the city, followed by modest apartments near the soccer stadium and then a very fancy neighborhood north of the center.

We’ve just stopped at the appropriately named local supermarket, CONSUM, and got ourselves fixings for dinner including a bottle of vermut.

Later – K is cooking something healthy involving chickpeas and spinach, which is a good thing because I’m over here drinking vermut while eating the two delicious local cheeses that the woman at the counter recommended.