Less Cheese

It hardly seems real, but here we are, poised to embark on a seven month journey that will see us cross the Atlantic four times, visit at least six countries and rack up thousands of kilometers on our folding bikes. We've been preparing for the trip for months now, hunting down, buying and refining the perfect wardrobe (lightweight, quick drying and versatile), doing a lengthy test ride carrying all the gear we're bringing with us and planning the places we want to visit.

Of course, to leave home for nearly seven months requires some organization and planning as well.
Firstly, we can't just leave out home vacant so we decided to rent it out to a couple that's studying law at Ottawa U. Because it was easier to find tenants for the entire school year, we started the lease on September 1. Since then, we've been living in a furnished apartment in Ottawa's west end.

Yesterday I put my car into storage for the winter. I had the oil changed, pumped up the tires, put in some fuel stabilizer, kissed it goodbye and tucked it under it's cover. Then it was down to checking the to do list, finalizing our packing and wrapping up our bikes in industrial strength Saran Wrap for the flight to Porto.

This morning, as we were filling up our backpacks, Brenda asked me if I wanted her to take one of the spare inner tubes. Although our bikes are similar, Brenda's wheels need a smaller tube than mine, although I can use hers in a pinch. Well, I had my tube with me and had assumed that Brenda had hers. One should never assume. Here we are, 5 kms from the closest bike shop with no car and bicycles that have been wrapped up tighter than a sardine sandwich. It was already just about 11:00 AM and Vanessa was coming to take us to the airport at 2:00 PM. Brenda decided she could walk to the bike store and back in plenty of time, so off she went. Meanwhile, I made us some lunch, cleaned up the apartment and went for a walk myself.

Brenda made it home with time to spare, armed with a replacement inner tube, which she immediately put into her backpack. We had lunch, put the finishing touches on our packing and then moved our stuff outside to wait for Vanessa to arrive. While we were standing there, it suddenly struck me that I had forgotten to decrease the air pressure in my tires. They were pumped up to 90 psi and, at 30,000 feet, they would definitely explode. First, I had to locate the valves through four layers of green Saran Wrap. Then I had to try to pierce a hole through it, large enough to get two of my fingers in, but not so large that it will get caught on things while in transit. How could I know that this damn plastic wrap is practically bullet proof? After much effort, I was finally able to break through the kevlar, unscrew the valve cover and use my glasses to partially deflate my tire. Yes, my glasses. The "L" shape of the part that goes over my ear was the perfect tool for the job. Not exactly McGyver, but pretty clever, I thought.

Then I had to repeat the whole process for the other wheel.

Vanessa arrived right on time, dropped us off at the airport, and after farewell hugs and kisses, we now sit here, waiting to embark on our journey.

Our first leg takes us to Toronto where we have a three hour layover before we get on the plane that will take us to Porto. It's a red-eye that lands at 8:30 AM local time, so we may be a little tired when we get there. There may not be too many Port tastings tomorrow.

It's OK, though. We'll still have 208 more days to do whatever we want.Lue lisää

We've been chilling in the seaside town of Malaga for nearly two weeks now and are about to move onto our next destination, Seville. While we were in Malaga, my blogs took a backseat to a much more important task: doing nothing! With our bike trip washed out, we have no real schedule to keep, other than be back in Malaga for our cruise to Brazil on the 15th. So, when we arrived in Malaga from Lisbon, the only thing on our agenda was to try and get in some beach time.

Despite our lack of initiative, we nonetheless managed to explore a good portion of the city (particularly the old part) and learn a fair bit of history while we were at it.

Malaga has an extremely rich history, dating back almost 2800 years which makes it one of the oldest cities in the world. Huh! Who knew? It was founded by the Phoenicians in 770 BC who coveted its wealth of that very precious mineral, salt. In the 6th century BC the city was taken over by the Carthegenians. The Romans moved in in 218 BC and, in the first century BC, built the Roman theatre, a portion of which is still standing today. They hung around until the fifth century AD when Barbarians from the north took over. The moors and their Islamic customs conquered the city in 712 AD and went about constructing a wall around the city and, in 756, built a fortress/palace known as Alcazaba, using stone and architectural elements quarried from the Roman Theatre. There are several areas in Alcazaba where Islamic style doorways are flanked by Roman columns. The city's fortifications and defenses were strengthened in 929 with the building of the Gibralfaro Castle atop the highest hill in the city. Today, only the walls remain, but the views from the castle are spectacular.

I thought my history lessons had ended with my visit to the ancient ruins, but one day Brenda and I took a walking tour that was really enlightening. We learned that in 1487, Ferdinand and Isabella, and the Catholic church, decided to reclaim Malaga for Spain. Due to its heavy and, at the time, impregnable fortifications, the only way to defeat the Moors was to starve them out. The city was finally returned to Spanish hands after a three month siege and naval blockade had the desired effect. Interestingly, this conflict was the first in history where both sides used gunpowder.

As in many places in Spain, most grocers and restaurants in Malaga have legs of Iberian ham hanging somewhere in plain view. Pork is featured prominently on a number of the dishes that are served here. This is not by coincidence. The tradition dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, where the Catholic Church went to great and barbaric lengths to root out the Jews and Muslims populating their cities. One of the surest ways to identify the non-Christians would be to order them to eat pork. If they refused, they were given three choices: convert, leave or be imprisoned. The custom of hanging Iberian hams or sausages in windows was born out of fear of accusation of non-compliance to the rules of the Church.

How did they deal with vegans back then?

The Catholics were as unkind to the Muslim places of worship as they were to the faithful. The Moors were prolific builders and had erected countless mosques, not only in Malaga but throughout Andalucia. Once they got rid of the Muslims, the Catholics decided they would go about converting all these mosques into churches. Nowhere else in the world will you see so many churches with domes than you will in the South of Spain.

Enough history.

Other than a couple of days of rain when we first arrived, the weather here has been perfect. Sunny with daytime highs in the low 20's and overnight lows in the mid-teens. There always seems to be a cool breeze coming in off the sea that makes it feel cooler than it actually is, but when the sun's out, it's never cold.

Brenda and I made it to the beach a couple of times to catch a few rays in preparation for the beaches in Brazil. Unfortunately, the public beaches here leave a little to be desired in that there's a lot of litter lying around and the sand is very, VERY coarse. Of course, any beach is better than no beach and sometimes ya gotta take the crunchy with the smooth. With the ocean breeze and the warm sunshine, it was easy for us to lie out for a couple of hours soaking up some vitamin D. Since we're outside of the main tourist season, the beaches are quite deserted and there were no hawkers constantly trying to sell us their wares.

Aside from the beach, we spent many hours aimlessly wandering through the neighbourhoods and streets of Malaga in search of that perfect Mom and Pop tapas shop. As I said before, much of the food here is very pork and seafood centric, so dining out was a bit of a challenge for us vegans. We nonetheless managed to get by with only a little compromise and very much enjoyed all the local fare we sampled.

The fruit here was hit and miss. Mangoes, persimmons and cherimoyas were abundant, but getting them at the peak of ripeness was tricky. At the main market, the vendors arrive early in the morning to carefully stack their fruit in picture perfect displays. But they don't want you spoiling their efforts, so the minute you lay a hand on a mango to check its firmness, you are immediately scolded, “No Tocar!”
In my very poor Spanish I then have to try to communicate that I want to buy enough mangoes to feed an army, but I want them to be ready to eat today. They don't get it. Sometimes the produce is perfect, sometimes it needs a few days and sometimes it's so ripe you can almost drink it. In the end, we started buying a lot of our produce from small fruit markets around our neighbourhood. That Mom and Pop thing again.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Malaga and foresee a return here in the years to come. Perhaps we'll do it on our bikes, perhaps not. Que sera sera. Maybe next time we'll do something.Lue lisää