A week with great cycling, a visit to one of our favourite restaurants, Hostal Maruja, a friend’s birthday party, and in another step towards normality, the first proper “last Friday of the month” celebration at the office since February 2020.
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I start with a random image from my neighbourhood, signs advertising what is seen here as essential services:
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In Aigües, I had photographed an artist doing something with the base of a streetlamp on the main square. Now I saw what she had been up to:
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On Sunday I did one of my epic rides, to the Puerto de la Carrasqueta mountain pass. A ride of 75 km, climbing from sea level to 1024 meters. As always when doing this ride, I stopped at a roadside bar 6 km from the pass, a popular hangout for the many motorcyclists who enjoy this road:
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Sign of the times in the Venta Teresa picnic/hangout area:
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Venta Teresa is at about 750 meters above sea level, providing a nice view of the town of Jijona, about 300 meters below:
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About half an hour later, I was at the pass, enjoying the views for a few minutes:
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Jijona again, now somewhat more distant:
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And then I let gravity do its thing on my way back:
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In the afternoon, we went for lunch at Hostal Maruja:
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We got a table at the edge of the terrace, closest to the beach:
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While waiting for the food, I entertained myself photographing the people passing by on the beach:
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Looking at human traffic is all well and good, but in the end we go to Hostal Maruja for the food, some of the best seafood in the world:
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During the week, I continued to do my pre-work early morning bike rides, which allowed me to see several gorgeous sunrises. This is the 16th century guard tower in El Campello:
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Sunrise on our beach, Playa Muchavista, about 500 meters from my house:
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A fishing boat on the way out to sea to catch us some nice fish:
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My cheering section, just outside Busot:
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In our office, on the last Friday of October, we returned to our habit of having a drink and a snack at lunchtime, something that had been impossible for more than 1 1/2 year. In a concession to the virus, and taking advantage of our climate, we did it outside. Ludmila and Stephanie are setting up:
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Carolina and Tamara lend a hand, using their hair as shields from the photographer:
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There was plenty to munch on:
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And plenty to drink:
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People start nibbling:
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Carolina explains the joys of albariño from her native Galicia to Véronique:
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Kari and Tamara share a laugh; Kari is that rare commodity, an extrovert Finn:
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On Saturday morning, I was out on my bicycle. Busot’s colours looked pretty against the hazy mountains in the background:
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But I also did the scene in black & white, and it looks quite nice like that too:
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The final few images are from a birthday party near Benidorm. One of the couples in our circle of friends, Hans (originally from Germany) and Mar are very interesting people. Their favourite pastime are long motorcycle trips, such as circumnavigating South America or riding the length of the African continent. They have also done cross-country rides in the US (small beer for them). This is Hans:
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And this is Mar (on the left), whose 60th birthday was being celebrated:
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One of Hans and Mar’s friends usually acts as the grillmeister at their parties:
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This little girl was the undisputed star of the party:
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