Olives for the rest of the year

Day 36: The night was stormy. Very stormy. We were standing in a large parking lot in Elche and had parked under palm trees because they were supposed to provide a little shade yesterday afternoon. They did, but when the wind got stronger and stronger around 10 p.m. and a heavy rain shower fell, we became restless. What if the storm causes one of the palm trees to fall? We had seen some fallen trees during our walk through the “City of Palms” during the day. So we parked in the middle of the night - although that may be saying too much. Actually we only drove ten meters forward, away from the palm trees. We were lucky that the parking lot was almost empty, so that wasn't a problem. In any case, we were able to sleep more peacefully.

In the late morning we set off towards Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero Football stadium of FC Elche, which plays in Spain's second highest league. Anyone who thinks we want to look at this huge football arena is mistaken. The Elche weekly market always takes place there on Sundays. Finding out whether and – if so – where and when this market takes place was a big puzzle. After the bad experiences in Orihuela, Icke didn't want to take any risks, searched through old newspapers, current homepages and asked pretty much every second person we came across on our dog walks. Conclusion of their research: The information and statements contradicted each other. So we simply tried our luck and we - especially Icke - were rewarded. Stands were set up around the stadium, mainly offering culinary specialties.

Icke didn't use to look at olives, but now she can't snub many enough. We had to clean out our fridge for the olives we have now. While we were shopping we fell for one of the many tricks of these clever rascals. We tried different varieties and decided on one. While one seller was filling the first ladle into a bowl, a second seller came and held a piece of cheese in front of us as a sample. We took the cheese, which tasted great, and didn't notice that the other seller filled a huge bag with olives and immediately passed it on to the cashier. We were just about to digest the piece of cheese and the shock of the huge bag when a large corner of the cheese ended up in our bag.

We paid 25 euros for the olives alone. Icke says she read that you should eat ten olives every day. That is healthy. If the two of us only eat 20 pieces a day, the olives will be enough for this year. Good enough…