It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the day following Three Kings Day (the traditional day for giving gifts, 6 January), is the equivalent of the Boxing Day sales in Australia. Shopping in Spain, as a tourist, is a beautiful thing for 3 reasons: 1) At Alice’s (where you can get anything you want), you can get a “tourista card” which gives you a 10% credit towards your next purchase. 2) After Three Kings Day, most stuff is marked down by at least 30% to 50% (sometimes more). 3) Because you’re a non-resident, you can claim the VAT/GST back (15%). There’s a claim desk right in Alice’s – cash back immediately. #havetobuyanothersuitcase

Despite spending 20 days in Spain, I’ve not yet had any churros (those long delicious donut-type things eaten with hot chocolate). On our last trip to Malaga, Ross, not one for exaggeration, famously said “there’s hundreds of churros cafes here”. But of course, when I wanted one, he couldn’t find a single churros café. So needless to say, he’s come to regret that particular statement. I barely mention the churros café statement (if barely means pretty much every single day). This morning, after a few hours looking around, we stopped for hot chocolate at a little bakery. We walked out, with our tummies full of delicious, warm, velvety chocolate. Not 30 seconds later, we came across a churros café. Ross was super excited and dragged me towards the store. My protestations of “I’m really full, maybe later” fell on deaf ears. “No”, he says. “I have found you churros and you are going to have churros whether you want them or not”.

But the café was in darkness and the waiter shook his head at us, repeating “sin electricidad”. Hahaha – the power was out. No churros for us. We laughed for a long time. I still haven’t eaten churros.

Of course, part of the problem is that churros is traditionally eaten in the morning, for breakfast. We usually leave the apartment around noon, and after a couple of hours walking, driving or wandering around, it’s vino-o’clock. And then it’s siesta time, so the churros cafes are all closed. One of these days soon, because we’re running out of time, we shall wake up early (at the crack of 9) and venture into the streets to eat churros. I’ll take pictures .

In today’s edition of spot that car, we saw an KTM X-BOW orange and black track car, a Bentley with the number plate ‘BLING’ and a shiny black Rolls Royce.

PS. Bob and Irene are coming for lunch at our place on Monday. We shall have to go and buy some Russians, to make salad! hahaha #Ilovespain

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