Entries by Carl

A couple of weeks ago we moved house, we're a fair bit closer to Ronda now, about 5km out into the campo (the countryside) which makes it a bit easier to get into Ronda sine the road is mostly flat that we have to cycle on.

This is part of the reason why I haven't updated my blog as much in the last two weeks, sorting out the house, getting Internet connected, and coping with the rain we've had to endure the past week.

Here in Spain, fierce storms with rapidly changing wind speed and direction are known as "tormenta", which if you look at the root of the word gives you a pretty good idea of how we felt sitting in the house looking out the window.

Of course cities like Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada experienced some flooding in their lower districts again, these cities are mostly on the plains of Northern Andalucia so heavy rain doesn't run off like it does in Ronda. I guess that's the advantage of living near a mountain city, gravity simply doesn't let the water settle.

These storms were so bad that two Liberian flagged ships, the 'Fedra', and the 'Tawe' both ran aground off the Andalucian coast. The Fedra broke in two releasing a white slick into the waters off the Gibraltar/La Linea coast, while the Tawe released fuel onto one of the beaches at Algeciras.

These things happen of course when you have low visibility and high winds, but the mayor of La Linea has complained that more needs to be done about improving piloting of ships around the rock of Gibraltar and along the Andalucian coast.

A really interesting side-effect of the high winds is that many of the Costa del Sol beaches have had a fair percentage of their sands lifted by the wind and dumped somewhere else. Looking at the cars, buildings, and gutters in Ronda yesterday I can see where it went. The locals think it was sand from the Sahara, but curiously it looks very much like beach sand.

There seems to be a big campaign on at the moment to deal with alcohol addiction, which is a major problem wherever you are, although interestingly the effects are most obviously seen with binge drinkers, yet the insidious nature of alcoholism is that some of the worst offenses are committed behind the relative privacy of the home.

Having studied counseling and worked within the industry I have a natural desire to be kept informed, not only with the latest trends and demographics of alcohol abuse but also in alcoholism treatment and therapies.

This is why I purposely seek out sites that offer real information about addiction treatment, after all, if I or anyone else I know needs help to resume a normal life it is important to read a few success stories, but just as important to read specifics about overcoming addictions and the process involved.

Simply going cold turkey isn't going to help the majority of addiction sufferers, and they put loved ones in a difficult position as well. Recovering from addiction requires support and a lot of love. Both of these need trust as well, and it's difficult to trust the addict who goes cold turkey and hopes that this is enough.

Treatment Solutions actually have a very useful article on their addiction treatment articles pages about the three main components to treating alcoholism, which I'd suggest is a quick must read for anyone dealing with or knowing someone who is dealing with alcoholism.

Way back in the mists of time, although geologically speaking less than a heart beat, the area around Ronda was filled with Neolithic peoples. We're talking about the original inhabitants of Andalucia, long before the Celts, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Moors, or us current lot.

Back in those days, about 5-10,000 years ago humans lived in caves, buried their dead in caves, painted calendars and creatures they'd hunted on walls of caves, even made small pottery urns in caves.

They were a cave dwelling society who used the caves to offer protection from both the heat of summer, and the cold of winter, and possibly from dangerous animals and other tribes.

Of course this story is hardly new, and most places around the world were home to Neolithic peoples at some stage, but here in Ronda and the area around Ronda the Neolithic folk left their mark.

Even now it is possible to see the remnants of their society by visiting the Ronda Museum at the Mondragon Palace, a fine building overlooking the valley below.

This same valley is home to numerous caves, probably the most famous of them being the Cueva de la Pileta which was discovered on private farmland at the beginning of the 20th century.

The skeleton you see in the image above is actually a replica cast from plaster and painted, and is available to view at the Ronda museum. It's quite amazing how well it's been done.

At the recent Olympic games in Beijing spanish cyclists came home with a clutch of gold medals that got a lot of publicity here, and probably boosted sales of bikes considerably.

In the last couple of weeks the Tour of Spain has been underway, every bit as demanding and tortuous as it's French namesake, which has been getting a decent amount of coverage on Spanish TV.

You'd think then that Spaniards would be able to use bicycles for communting, shopping etc. In fact this isn't the case, our roads are filled with cars, trucks, scooters, motorbikes, you get the picture...

In Madrid a group of cyclists are campaigning for better cycleways and bike parking spots which they say will reduce traffic congestion, improve the quality of air, and promote more community interaction, in other words people getting to know people again rather than just sit in a car and honk their horns.

La Bici Critica, which is the name of this group, plan to stage a weekly protest made up of a 1,000 cyclists in the heart of Madrid every Thursday evening until the local government actually agrees to start making Madrid a cycle friendly city.

1,000 cyclists are going to block parts of the inner city from cars, obviously causing mayhem, and will be handing out brochures and collecting signatures for their petition.

I hope they succeed, because the more cyclists we have on the roads in Spain the safer it will be for us all. Most of all I wish we had more parking spots for bikes with solid in-ground posts that we can chain them onto.

Travelling as much as we do it's critical to have good travel insurance for those times when you least expect something to go wrong and then it does.

It's funny, everytime we go somewhere or do something that seems a bit risky we take all the precautions we can, and of course nothing happens. Conversely when we expect everything to go perfectly something always comes up to throw a spanner in the works.

I guess this is why insurance was invented, for life's little uncertainties that you don't anticipate. We have a relative who went on a skiing holiday in New Zealand and promptly broke a leg, luckily his medical travel insurance got him safely back home again and into hospital in his home town where family and friends could visit within 24 hours of the accident.

This is for me the most important part of having travel insurance; being able to get back home again so that your own doctor can advise the best treatment, and having the confidence to go through with any treatment because you're back home and know that you can cope.

Imagine being stuck in a foreign country, perhaps where they don't speak your language, or maybe where the standard of medical care isn't like you're used to. It isn't a very pleasant thought is it?

The Spanish President, Jose Luis Ridriguez Zapatero, speaking at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in New York has said that in 3 to 4 years he expects Spanish per capita income to overtake France.

This is a momentous and very bullish statement to make, but if you're one of the lucky few readers who live in Spain I guess you'll be able to see it happening around us.

Spain in recent years has made huge efforts to reduce poverty and grow the Spanish economy, and whilst unemployment is high at the moment, the belief is that Spain will only need to endure another 18 months to 2 years of a depressed economy before we start seeing the fruits of the major infrastructure projects and new industry being planned.

All in all it sounds overly optimistic, but Spain has managed to attract several new economy companies into relocating here for lifestyle and infrastructural reasons, as well as finding itself on the main corridor for potential power and gas distribution pipelines from North Africa.

My other half and I are fairly excited by the potential here in Spain and will be staying to be part of this development. Judging by the number of new arrivals in Ronda, I'd say Spain is managing to attract a lot more people than just us.

Something rather unfortunate in the US Presidential Election has sparked a little bit of controversy here in Spain, and the joke that the Yankees should go home, which is funny if you know this is a Latin American phrase and very rarely heard in Spain.

Here's what happened, a reporter from one of the Spanish newspapers had the opportunity to ask John McCain if he would meet with the president of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero if McCain wins the election.

McCain, doing his best to be a typical uninformed American, answered that no he would not and alluded to Zapatero and Spain as part of a group of countries in South America that are in opposition to the US and it's sphere of influence.

Not unsurprisingly a few Spaniards find it hilarious that a presidential candidate doesn't even know where Spain is, it is in fact on the southern tip of Europe, and a full member of the European Union, and whilst Spaniards do have a fascination for Latin America they also consider themselves European.

Last night on TV a couple of Spanish politicians were asked if they knew where the US is geographically, and I'm proud to say they all accurately managed to point out the US on a map of the world.

Having a special fascination with Latin America, and being a country that doesn't universally speak English as a second language, Spaniards have adopted that classic phrase often heard in Central and South America, "Yankee Go Home", which is of course even funnier because Spaniards have no idea what it really means, and it's becoming useful as a general insult amongst some of the kids.

Someone disses you on the streets, no need to be rude and use four letter words, heck no, "Yankee go home". Tired of your neighbors keeping you awake at night, don't bother calling the Policia Locale, "Yankee go home". Somebody cut you off in traffic, the horn isn't cool, "Yankee go home".

Yeah, this is going to take off, and I pity the American tourist arriving in Spain thinking it's all about them. Nope, this isn't about Americans, it's about dumb presidential candidates who should know where Spain is, and heck, if we can have some fun with the phrase as well... Yankee go home!

Because I'm an ex-South African I always look out for new and interesting things that affect people back home, in particular I have family in Gauteng (actually they're in Bryanston) who are struggling these days, so having a skill that lets you earn an income as a self-employed individual is really important.

Knowing how much people can earn as photographers I thought I'd talk about doing a Photography Course so that you can learn the skills needed to take great photos, edit them yourself, then sell them.

The reason I'm so keen on the College of Digital Photography is, well actually there are several. Location; they offer courses in Saxonwold, Fourways, Roodepoort, and Pretoria. They have a great looking website with loads of information, and looking at the photo gallery, it seems like they know what they're talking about.

Personally I don't earn an income from photography, I only have a compact digital camera, but anyone with a DSLR can learn to take some spectacular photos and either present these in galleries, or sell them online through stock photo websites.

In fact I've got a friend who doesn't consider himself an expert, but he has a great camera and knows enough about how to use it that he's able to take on photographic assignments for local hotels and tourism ventures and make a part-time income from that.

Another friend is a fantastic photographer and puts a bunch of photos on Flickr with his watermark, but mentions the photo looks better with a black background and links people to his stock photo page where they can buy a license to use the photo on their own website.

A third great reason to be a part-time or full-time photographer in South Africa is the spectacular scenery and contrasts that foreign buyers are always looking for. Within a couple of hours of Joburg are some of the most interesting photo opportunities around, and after completing a course at CoDP I think you'd have the skills to get great photos every time.