Three months in Spain passed super fast. When I arrived there, I didn’t have any job but I was looking for some job intensively because I didn’t want to return to the cold Czech Republic. I was lucky and I got to do animation in the hotel in Almuñécar. So I had great job in an interesting destination that I hadn’t visited before. During the time in Spain, I visited many places and I was trying to inform you about my travels as much as I could. Now let me tell you about my last days on the Spanish mainland.
Last days in Almuñécar
I finished working on Friday 15th April. I had to pack my things – that’s always a big challenge as you can imagine. The same day in the evening I went out for a drink with some people from the staff in order to say goodbye. It was fun but a bit sad because I knew I had to leave soon. On Saturday I stayed in Almuñécar and I wanted to enjoy the beautiful day as much as I could. I spent some time on the beach in order to get some nice colour and then I went for a walk. Before leaving Almuñécar, I wanted to go to see the hidden Roman bridge. Nobody was really able to explain me how to get there and I couldn’t find it on google maps so I just decided to walk along the seaside in the direction that I haven’t been to.
Walking along the seaside
I was walking on the promenade leading towards the beach Playa Cotobro and then I just went further until I got to the nudist beach Playa El Muerto. I passed by some naked bums and I followed the path I saw. There wasn’t any other way to go anyway so I didn’t have a choice.
The path lead me to the stairs. I decided to go upstairs rather than returning the same way. I’m quite adventurous and I like exploring new places. I’m still not sure if my decision was good or bad. The stairs were quite high and there was like a million of them. I started to regret my decision after few steps. I was sweating a lot because it was still warm and I nearly lost my breath on the way. (Yes, I though I’m quite fit but as you can see, some stupid high stairs made me realize how lame I am.)
The stairs seem to be neverending. Approximately in the middle of the stairs I checked google maps just to know if I’ll be able to get back to the hotel that way. When on my smartphone appeared that I will have to walk nearly one hour to get back, I felt a bit desperate. My feelings changed immediately when I reached the top and got the stunning view. It was impressive to see the beach, the sea and the surrounding nature from such height. It gave me the motivation to continue the walk. At the end I wasn’t walking for such a long time like it was showed on the google maps, it took me around 35 minutes to get back to the hotel. At the end it was a very nice walk!
Time to leave Almuñécar
My last evening in the hotel was quite sad because I finally realized that everything came to an end. I had to say “bye” to my colleagues (actually I always say “see you soon” because I hope to meet the people again). It was a pleasure working with them, we had so much fun together and I really miss them!
Back in Granada
On Sunday morning I left the hotel, I went to Granada and I spent the day quite unexpectedly. Let me tell you about it.
From hotel animation to the bar
My Cuban friend picked me up in the hotel and took me to Granada with all my things. Since he has recently opened the bar, we had to go there. (You can check his bar here.) On the way he’s got a message from the waitress that she is not coming to work. He didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any plans for Sunday because everything was closed so I decided to help him in the bar. I had never worked in a bar before so I had no idea how this is gonna work. Especially when the guests were Spanish – I’ll explain that later.
Calm before the storm
Everything started quietly. It was like the calm before the storm. When we opened, nobody came immediately and I was looking forward to eating my lunch without any rush. Before my lunch was ready, the terrace of the bar was filling up table by table. I started to collect the orders and I was trying to manage to carry it on the bar tray. I have never used it before but I wanted to give the customers the impression that I’m a professional. I did my best. I was running between the bar, the kitchen and the tables. It seemed to be neverending.
Drinks and tapas
I think I already mentioned that Granada is a city of tapas. It means that when you order a drink, you always get some tapas (a small plate with some food). It’s great when you’re a customer, but it’s so complicated when you actually work in the bar. So while I was serving the drinks and tapas, I also had to remember which tapas the people had because with each drink you get different tapas. At some moments I felt like my head would explode. I made a mistake not writing down the orders to the paper from the beginning. I had all the orders in my mind. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to organize my work, I wasn’t really prepared for that.
Spanish customers
I should also clear up the problem of working with Spanish customers. Since I am not Spanish native speaker, sometimes I had no idea what people asked me for. I didn’t want to look stupid so I just remembered their exact words of how they called the drink, I went to the bar and asked exactly for the same. At the end I learnt some new things like:
- “una Rueda” is not literally a wheel (it seemed kind of strange that the people would ask me for a wheel in a bar) but it’s a white wine from the area called “Rueda”
- “clara con limón” is not literally an egg white with lemon, it’s a beer with lemonade!
The worst moment was when the customers told me that they don’t want “boquerones” because they don’t like it. I had no idea what they’re talking about, I was just looking at them trying to guess what they ask me for. They even said to each other that I will probably not know what it is. Fortunately, I realized that when I was writing all the tapas to the small blackboard, there were boquerones (anchovies) among them, so I finally understood that they just didn’t want to get it as tapas.
Exhausting day
Anyway, the time was passing very fast and we always had some customers. I was glad when I could drink some water and later to be able to eat at least something. It was an exhausting day but also an amazing experience. When one table with customers found out that I’m an amateur and I had never done that job before, they were surprised and they even told me I looked like a professional. I was happy to hear that because I did my best to work well. When all the customers left, around 23:00 I guess, the only thing I wanted was to get to the accommodation, take a shower and go to sleep. I didn’t have any energy left.
Last day before my flight
My plan for the last day was set. The goal was to go shopping to Primark in order to buy some things for me and some presents as well. After late lunch I had to finish packing and in the evening I went to Málaga because I had a flight from there early in the morning. It was quite a long day to get back home but that’s another story!
