Weihnachten in Málaga :-)

Winter in Bremen and this year, as originally 'planned', not to Chile, due to the impossible political situation that has prevailed there since October 18th, my mood at this time of year has not necessarily brightened. So I realized that I definitely need to get out. Maybe just somewhere else, completely somewhere else, where I just take a vacation, just me.

Somewhere where Spanish is also spoken.....Spain / Andalusia.

I had no plan, just to go where it was warmer than here.

So I spontaneously and at the last minute booked a flight to Malaga on the 23rd and actually flew on the 24th, so that I could spend Christmas in the sun and by the sea :-)

I arrived at 2 p.m., sat on a bench after the flight and could hardly believe it myself. With the bus, which came 20 minutes later, I went to the hostel.

Finally arrived at the entrance, I closed the door behind me and could climb 3 flights of stairs until I was in the entrance area.

But the journey was worth it. When I checked in and sat on the terrace 10 minutes later, which offered a fantastic view of the sea, I was grateful and happy.

Christmas in the sun, it worked out.

My bed was in a ten-bed room, only for women, with its own large bathroom. The building was large and spacious.

The first acquaintance I made was with a Canadian, Isabel from Toronto, who also traveled alone - also to escape the even colder winter there.

The volunteer from Costa Rica, with whom I first had contact with the hostel crew, also slept in our room.

I met the main employee and his girlfriend from Uruguay on the terrace. A young man in his twenties stood later at the reception, from Turkey, as he later told me, also a volunteer.

In the kitchen I also got to know Auri Mar from Venezuela and her husband from Italy, who had already prepared delicacies for the evening and was also a cook by profession.

A young man who lived in Granada but also had Italian genes in him, as he later told me, helped him.

Another guest, an older Frenchman who had been in the hostel for 3 weeks and only spoke French, and an even older man who did not reveal where he came from and stayed there even longer, were also other guests.

A colorful mixture of people, all of whom traveled alone and did not want to be alone at Christmas and traveled to the sun like me.

It smelled of delicious food, the music system in the lounge was running at full throttle, and delicious grilled food was being prepared on the terrace, wonderful.

After I showered and put away my things, choosing the top bed to sleep in, I finally walked down to the beach, which was only 300 meters away, just in time for the sunset.

When I returned to the hostel, people were already dancing, and a new guest, Ana from China, had joined.

We all ate together and danced the rest of the evening. That's what feels best for me at Christmas: lively and colorful, in the south, with music and many conversations and laughter.

I get along well with Isabel and Ana. We sit together on the terrace and enjoy the view, go to the beach and talk. Isabel doesn't speak Spanish, only English, Ana speaks Chinese, which neither of us speaks, so we choose English. When I'm alone with Ana, we speak Spanish and sometimes English, or both, Spanglish. 

The next day I go to the Mirador with Ana, then to the city, to the Picasso Museum, and in the evening we go back to the hostel together on the beach. A beautiful day that I will not forget, especially because it was accompanied by a lot of laughter.

Isabel was in Ronda and told us about it when she returned.

I don't know where it's going and what's coming, but that's not important, that's traveling and why I love it so much: to be free and do what I feel like doing, without time pressure. Something always comes up, being led. Especially when there is no plan, something automatically emerges without having foreseen it.