Torremolinos

I rented a house for a month on the coast of Torremolinos in Malaga, Spain. The house had a big yard. Of course, I had not been expected such a luxurious accommodation. I was looking for the minimum room for the one month stay. However, things go sometimes much better than expected. We usually call it "LUCKY" Finally I got was the house which had a lawn yard, a living room with chimney and roomy glass windows, 4 bed rooms and 2 bath rooms. Guessing from the structure, the house would be separated in high season. Each BR had beds actually. So I changed sleeping room day by day. Inevitably, I came back to the first room on the 5th day.

After bringing in my baggage, I went to Adela's house next to me for paying rent. The madam was the owner of the vacation house.
She was out. So, her son, Francisco, came up. "How much she said?" He asked me. "40,000Pst ($300) "I answered. Then he shook his head. I read his look. It said "Come on, maaam. it's too cheap the 40,000Pst. for whole house a month even considering here is a local town of Spain and now is the low season"

200m walk brought me to the sandy beach of Costa del Sol. Flat coast line was interrupted by rocks in some parts. I didn't see so many people on the winter beach. Food stalls on the beach were half open and half closed. There were high story apartments under construction here and there. Perhaps, the landscape would be dramatically changed in a couple of years.
There were many non Spanish residents in Torremolinos. I noticed it when I actually lived there. The English were majority. It's because Gibraltar was relatively close, I guessed. The retired European elders yearning all year sunshine were buying real estate in Costa del Sol.
In 1970's, Adela's family came to Torremolinos from Venezuela. There were almost nothing there. It was the real Andalusian country side. So Francisco's friends of elementary school in Caracas had said to him "Why do you move to such inconvenient country side?"

From time to time, Francisco came by my house. He was unemployed. But he had yacht at the harbor near by. Getting unemployment insurance, he lived in the yacht with his girl friend.
In the day time he cruised the Mediterranean Sea alone. He came back when the girl friend called him with a radio(no cell. phone those days) after finish her university class.

"With wrong wind direction, it could be drifted to Morocco. But usually no problem. So Fumi, why don't you come to yacht?" He had asked me once. However when he made sure to me "You don't get a sick, do you?", I answered "It's possible". Since then he had never mentioned about yacht again.
When I saw white sails of the yacht under the deep blue sky of Andalucia, I had a little question in my mind. "Working is really virtue? "

Shopping bag and Plaza de toros

City of fatal ties