Ola from Tarifa, Spain

Ola from Tarifa, Spain - what a great place! I feel like I should be writing this in broken Spanish as this PC is in Spanish and confusing the hell out of me. So I'll try keep this short while I defrag my brain to write something decent and simultaneously multi-task with some photos in MS Photo Editor (blah, no Photoshop unfortunately) - which explains the quality somewhat. Btw, Gill should be credited for a couple of these. Also, I'll try add captions later at a cheaper icafe.

We arrived in Gibraltar just before sunset. The airstrip is as wide as Gibraltar itself and the landing was spectacular. Gill's friend Chris ("The Chrisalator") fetched us from the airport and we crossed the border into Spain where we've been sharing an apartment in the heart of the town for the past week.

We haven't done much more than drink, eat, tan, sleep, and repeatedly kill a few good Borat quotes or Spanish phrases, in and around Tarifa and the Costa del Sol region. The weather's been ok - this place is notoriously windy but the sun's always out in force. The language barrier has been a difficult one, also considering that Chris speaks fluent Spanish, so I haven't really had to do much talking myself.

The swim took place yesterday, after waiting the whole week for the wind conditions to improve. It was a great success with all eight swimmers (seven South Africans and one American) reaching Morocco in under 4.5 hrs. I believe the Strait of Gibraltar is the busiest shipping channel in the world and we were continously dodging giant container ships...from a small inflatable dingy it's truly an experience worth repeating. Upon arriving at Morocco's coastline I caught sight of two flying fish - wow, never seen anything like it. We also saw some Pilot Whales on the return trip. Congrats to Gill, Ryan (who is now the first Saffer male to swim the Strait) and the others who reached their goal and who I've spent my time here with.

UPDATE [28/09]: Siblings conquer Gibraltar at News24.com (features one of my photos)

It's my last night in Tarifa. I said goodbye to Gill, Chris, Ryan and Nicky earlier and depart on my solo trip up the coast towards Cadiz and then Seville on route to Portugal where I'll spend roughly two weeks. Will write again soon, so adios until then!