Los Marinos

A little wander round our barrio this afternoon. It used to be the fishermen's quarter; now it's been redeveloped into regimented streets, if you can call them that, of little white houses. See extra for a glimpse of just how precipitous these, er, "streets" are. There's a road along the top of the barrio and one along the bottom; other than that, it's all steps, as you may have gathered from our travails with wood delivery. 

Our little casita is one of only a handful of original fishermen's huts, though it's clearly been extended and improved, I'm happy to say. It's now divided into two houses, with the other being slightly larger than ours, with a shared garden full of greenery, blooming roses tangling with lemons, bougainvillea offsetting flourishing Swiss cheese plants. Below it the slope drops away precipitously, covered with scrub and cacti, till it meets the main road leading to the beach, about 50 metres away.

We made an early evening visit to the spa at one of the beachfront hotels today. The hotel is enormous, and the whole basement is occupied by the spa. There's a swimming pool, various plunge pools, a jacuzzi, a "fruit pool" (full of floating lemons intended to be used for massage purposes), hammam, and sauna. It's two for the price of one on Wednesdays, so it was only 16 euros to stay as long as we liked. They do a monthly pass too, six visits for 36 euros. We may avail ourselves of this; it's only a 5-minute walk from home.

Back home, aperos with our favourite berenjenas con miel de caña made by S, and then a slightly odd mash-up (not literally) of salade paysanne with ensalada tropical : mango, bacon, avocado, pineapple, lettuce, nuts, seeds, and a fried egg.