April 7, 2015: Órgiva Shopping Day

I was up early this morning.  It was a crisp, cold morning.  I went up to the terraza and worked for a while getting posting updated and getting some uploading going.  I had enough time to basically get caught up before the power went off around nine.  We’ve had this happen a few times and it only lasted a minute or two so I really thought nothing of it particularly.  But the power did not come back.

I decided that I would take the time to go for a walk since there was not that much else to do with there being no power and half of the house asleep.  Liesl wanted to come with me so ran and got dressed very quickly.  It is pretty cold out today so she needed warmish clothes and a jacket.

While Liesl was getting ready, Luciana woke up and wanted to come with us.  She did not want to be left behind.  So we had to wait for her to get ready too.  That took a bit longer, but eventually she was ready and we were able to set out.  The power was still not on and Dominica was still in bed.

The girls and I went on a walk around town, explored several places that they have not been yet.  I took them down to see some of the fountains and a little waterfall on the east side of town.  They were really up for walking so we walked the GR7 all the way east of town until it came to the observation deck there and the newly poured section ended.  There were new work done since the last time that I was there.

It was a couple of miles walking with the girls.  Maybe more, easily three miles I guess.  My mobile phone was dead so I was not able to take it with me to use as a pedometer like I normally do.  It was a good walk, though, and it wore the girls out.  Well it wore out Luciana.  Liesl was still going pretty strong even at the end.  They are both getting to be pretty good walkers.

We went back to the house when we heard the church bells ringing again, which they stopped doing while the power was out.  That is a very handy way to let the entire town and surrounding countryside know that the power has returned.

We got back home and I did a little work and Dominica got the girls ready to head down into Órgiva to do some shopping.  It was after noon when we got back from the walk and after one before we were able to head to the car and drive down into town.

We had problems finding parking, it was busy in town.  We were running late enough that it was actually becoming siesta.  We did not think that the supermercado would close for siesta, but even they do (the Dia, that is.)  We made it just in time to run in with the barrier half down and shop very, very quickly.  It was a very rushed shopping excursion, though, we got the necessities but nothing more.

We had planned on eating in town since we were down here and have not had any time to explore Órgiva on previous trips down the mountain.  We parked on “Main” street and walked the little row of restaurants there to see what looked good.  They were all nearly empty.

We looked around a bit and chose the Cafe Nemesis II.  A very odd name, to be sure.  It was a nice little place, very friendly people.  The girls got pizza and Dominica and I got a lasagna sort of thing.

After lunch we decided to try a pastry place on the other side of the street.  We sat outside, got some treats and coffee and relaxed for a bit.  I took a walk to see when things would open and the shops all said that they would open back up at five.  It was getting late enough that we got more coffee and decided to just wait it out.  The girls were freezing, even with jackets on, but were able to tough it out.

Once five o’clock rolled around we went to the Alpujarras Market which is the more European (rather than Spanish) supermercado.  They have a lot of British foods, for example, here.  We shopped there for a little bit.  The big find there was a power strip which is going to come in very handy.  I found it and showed it to Dominica and she was like “perfect!”

We came out of the market and checked the electrical store that we were told was the only place in the region that would sell a razor (I need one pretty badly) but they did not open when the sign said that they would.  It was about twenty minutes after five.  So we gave up on them.

We walked back to the car and paid the parking box (it’s a trust system) and drove out of town.  As we drove past the electrical store, it was open!  Argh.  I turned around and drove back.  I had to do some awkward street parking and run into the store.

It turns out that the store had nothing like a razor whatsoever.  The other thing that I was told that I would definitely be able to get there are power adapters.  No, not at all.  Half the store was, indeed, dedicated to selling power adapters.  But they were all, every single one of them, UK to European, Italian to European or Swiss to European but not a single one was US / North American to anything.  The shop owner, who did not speak a word of English, had never heard of a US power adapter and insisted that I try to use a UK one instead.  So that was a complete bust.  No way to buy anything remotely useful that is powered in Órgiva.  How a region with a population of over fifty thousand people can’t have a single town with a single store that sells anything is pretty amazing.  Where does everyone buy the most basic things around here?

I had to turn around on a busy intersection to leave town.  That was amazing “Spanish” driving if I do say so.  Dominica is regularly impressed with my driving here.

We got back home at six.  It was chilly and overcast so I worked from the kitchen table rather than the terraza.  Today is the coldest day of the week, we are told, and it is quite cold.

Liesl had a hard time getting school done today but she did it.  Our evening was pretty slow.  I ended up working until three in the morning.  Got quite a bit done, though, so that was good.