The week began where the previous week ended, in the northern part of Andalucía. After playing in her two-day golf tournament at the Aguilón golf course, my wife decided that she wanted to play another course in the area, called Desert Springs, with a Wild West theme (lots of big cacti, etc.). So we spent an extra night there, moving to an apartment in the centre of the village San Juan de los Terreros to try a new place (and to save some money, the place where we stayed the first two nights wanted an exorbitant amount to extend our stay for another night).
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Monday morning in Mar de Pulpí, breakfast at a restaurant facing the beach:
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This was the second day of the tournament at Aguilón. In the morning I drove my wife to the golf course. She got ready to play–normally she walks when she plays golf, but in this case the tournament fee included a buggy:
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Good thing too with the buggy, as the course is quite hilly, so walking the 18 holes would be quite tiring:
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In late afternoon, after my wife was done with her tournament, we checked into the apartment in the village. The place was fully equipped, and all the nearby restaurants seemed to be closed on Mondays, so we walked to a supermarket to buy some supplies and cook dinner in the apartment. On the way, we passed the suitably tiny town hall:
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By the time we were walking back with our shopping, it was dark and the Christmas lights were on:
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On Tuesday morning, we had a nice visitor at the apartment:
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My wife went off to the Desert Springs course, about 30 km away. Meanwhile, I went out on my bicycle again. I passed this field of some vegetables, ready for harvesting:
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Cycling south along the coast once more, I stopped at this bench with a nice view. The slogan on the back of the bench says “Every summer creates its own story”:
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Various passers-by have embellished the messages on the bench:
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The coast of Almería is beautiful. It reminded me of the California coast around Big Sur:
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I followed the coast to Villaricos, where one small grocery store was open (Tuesday was a holiday here in Spain, so almost everything else was closed). I popped in to buy a drink:
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Across from the shop was the town’s church:
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The entrance to the tiny harbour:
After taking this photo, I cycled inland, another 15 km or so to the golf course where my wife was playing, changed into normal clothes, put the bicycle in the car, and waited for her to finish the round. Then we drove home to Alicante.
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A couple of days later, I stopped in the centre of Alicante to have a look at the Christmas decorations, which are quite impressive here. Some of the main shopping streets are made pedestrian for the season:
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At the bottom of the Rambla, on the Esplanada de España, there is an enormous nativity scene:
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A giant baby Jesus:
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A bit further up the street, another large statue:
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Alicante’s main department store, El Corte Inglés:
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Santa’s furry helper:
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I walked down to Alicante’s City Hall. The square was also full of people and beautifully decorated:
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The final event of the week was a “day out” for our department, on Friday. Basically, we spent the day talking about ideas for the future, punctuated by a nice lunch, and of course combined with some fun. For me it was especially nice because it was held at a place just 1 km from my house.
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Our director opens the proceedings in the morning, flanked by Claire and Stephanie:
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We were divided in 5 groups, discussing various topics and writing down ideas on the usual flipcharts:
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Each group appointed a rapporteur who summarized the conclusions to everyone:
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Stephanie had come up with the idea of having a stretching session mid-morning to break the routine a bit. I don’t do stretching, but I take pictures:
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Paloma the rapporteur:
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We were discouraged from bringing our computers with us; the goal of the day was to disconnect from the daily work to focus on longer-term issues. But some people cheated:
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We finished the day with the obligatory group photo:
