Thank god that is al over...

I don't even know how to begin this post as so much as happened since I last wrote. Being stuck on the Mariola isn't  helpful in keeping in contact with anyone, so sorry!  Having to go down to the town and write in a cafe while the kids run around means that not a lot gets written often. I will try and fill in the gaps from over the last week or so, but it may not be in chronological order. Firstly sorry to anyone who has emailed me. My lack of internet access means that my restricted time on it has to be prioritised to the blog and internet banking. That's my lot. I took the car to the garage last Monday to be fixed (take two). They lent me a Spanish car to drive, which believe me was probably my greatest challenge yet. No I was not only driving on the other side of the road, but on the other side of the car with everything the other way around. Boy did this throw me and to top it off the first journey was straight back up the Mariola road. Now the Mariola road is like one of those roads that you see on the worlds most dangerous roads programmes. You know the ones where you can see over the edge of the cliff the whole way up, winding and turning up the mountain. I would add a photo here if I could, but this would mean stopping on the road and certain death. Most of the road is only wide enough for one car and some of the bends involve prayer and a large intake of breath. Anyway, I made it mostly with my eyes shut. We spent Tuesday at the rock pools again. It was so hot and it is so amazing there. Truly beautiful. I got a call Wednesday morning to say the car was ready and off we went to collect it. True to their word they had fixed it. I have found the mechanics here to be amazing and really nice people too. Like I have said everyone here is so kind and friendly. I am still amazed at how forgiving they are about my Spanish and so encouraging. We were on the Mariola the other day and two old lady's came wandering through the land. They were on a walk with their dog and just came over to the house and started chatting. It didn't occur to them that I wouldn't speak Spanish. I chatted back as best as I could in my broken up Spanish. The whole time they were not bothered by this at all and at one point one of them commented on how surprised she was that I could speak so much Spanish. (this was her being very kind) I had a lovely chat with them and for the first time felt I had chatted in Spanish and got away with it. They have a great saying here that they all say about learning Spanish...poco a poco. Little by little. They really are sweet. They invited us up to their house so that the children could see their chickens. So I think we will go up next week and say hi. I'm sure they will spoil the kids and be really kind. I can practice my Spanish too.  Well after getting the car we spent some time on the Mariola and after a while not having water gets really hard work. It is stunning, but really hard work. My gas ran out on Wednesday so for the last few days we have been doing everything by fire too. This means heating up all the water and for cooking everything. I decided that a shower and a few days of running water were needed so...and get ready for this.....we are in Benidorm. Yes I know, I feel the same, but as the resort that is only an hour away from where we are we could get a cheap chalet and not have to go far to hit the beach. We are in a little chalet with two bedrooms and most importantly, running water and a shower! I will post lots of pics tomorrow and some more info. We are going to go to the water park here and the zoo. There is a theme park here close by and loads of stuff to do with the kids. We re booked it till Tuesday and have wifi here so I can update this  bit more before we head back to the mariola again. It is hot here now and over the last few days the temp has risen a good few degrees. Not going to head into the main part of town, but going to head to the bits we can do as a full day out. Mundomar animal park tomorrow I think? we will decide in the morning. Photos and more bits to come tomorrow as need to get the kids in bed. It is to hot the even think of sleeping until ten, half past and they have got in the habit of staying up late too. We were at the park at half eight this evening as it had only just cooled down for them to play ad run around. Sending a hug to all, Speak tomorrow.

Below are some pictures of the finished compost loo! Merlin worked really hard on it and build the children a little chair to sit on for it. His steps are great too. Also one of Bocairent. As you can see it is build up the side of a mountain and the picture here doesn't even show the most hilly bit. I can't show you that with out stopping on the road again and causing instant death via a Spanish driver up my bum. (which they always are) The mountain that you can see in the second one is the Mariola we are staying on. we are at the top of that!