RAINBOWWINGS's VirtualTourist Home Page

Ive moved house!! Only 17kms away but up and over the hills from Rosario to the town of Archidona where the town boasts of the only octagonal plaza in Spain. Its a much bigger town than Rosario and we are over 10,000 residents. The surrounding countryside is still as beautiful but Archidona is renowned for its historic buildings and truly is in the heart of Andalucia.
Lots more amenities here, shops, banks, a large health centre, an industrial estate and a wonderful spit-roast chicken shop which is right opposite our front door. They only open for business on Sundays and fiestas, but when the aroma of roast chicken starts wafting thru our door, the temptation is too much.....and you´d be amazed at how many ways you can serve roast chicken!!
We are very lucky to have a huge garden here as many houses in Andalucia have only tiny patios. The Spanish do not sit out in the sun hence no need for gardens, but we are making the most of ours as our house is up for sale. It only ever was a project to renovate and move on to new pastures...probably in the same town tho! Interested? Have a look at my albums below.
Im not going to delete my Villanueva del Rosario blog as its still very dear to my heart, but I just wanted everyone to know Ive moved on.

After 23 years of living on the beautiful island of Mallorca and being totally ensconced in the world of tourism, I now reside in a small village with the fascinating name of Villanueva del Rosario, nestled high in the mountains in the north/east of Malaga, Spain, soaking up the charm of rural Andalucia.
At first these two places seemed so different, but are they? Gone are the traffic jams of high season in the resorts, the queues of tourists with all the time in the world to choose their ensaimadas or chorizos in the local supermarket when Ive got steam coming out my ears because I should have been in work 30 minutes ago and the Discos and their occupants raving at full volume till 7am and then some...and in their places are..the traffic jams caused by the locals on their tractors at olive harvest time or the herd of goats that has wandered onto the lane because the goatherd AND his dog are asleep under a tree, the queues in the local supermarket because the lady on the cheese counters cousin has just come to show off her new baby and all the staff and Spanish customers are now cooing over the said new arrival, and this sleepy little village of only 3000 inhabitants does have a Disco that just happens to be 50m from the front of our house and although the raving is only once a week on a Friday night,it does tend to go on til Saturday night!!
Dont get me wrong...I love it here and wouldnt change it for the world and it will certainly "do" til I find my next hat hook!!

Ever since I was taken by my father at 3yrs old across the Channel to a "foreign country" Ive always wanted to have my own poppy field! Dont get me wrong, I have no Afghan yearnings for poppies, I just wanted bright red flowers in my garden and now as spring approaches I look out of my window and what do I see....fields and fields of the most beautiful poppies in the world...well they are to me, and even more so when they are amongst yellow buttercups and blue and mauve unknown wild flowers.

How often do we carry on our days oblivious to our surroundings? How often do we take for granted the sights that greet us every morning? Well that doesnt happen to me anymore since I came to live here in this tiny village. As I open my front door each day I cannot overlook the magnificent mountain at the end of my road, for he overlooks me, and his presence can almost be felt. During the winter hes covered in snow and in spring with an abundance of wild flowers. In summer hes dry and grey and glistens under the searing heat, and in autumn awash with fast,crystal clear running water. There are hundreds of villages amongst hundreds of mountains but none as fine and grand as mine!

Its the middle of summer now and boy is it hot! We´ve had days on end with temperatures in the 40Cs and a normal summer day is at least 36C. Our mountains keep the humidity away so the heat is bearable and theres always that gentle breeze, even if sometimes it does feel like standing infront of a hairdryer! The nights can be uncomfortable and thats why the Spanish stay out late, even in the villages people pasear (stroll) the streets with children and babies in buggies till 2 or 3am, stopping for a chat with an old neighbour who has put his favourite chair outside his front door and is enjoying the night air.
Everyone moves slowly, a faster pace would just drain your energy, so patience is a virtue during the summer months, even going to the local shops takes forever with the ambling of the locals.
The village has movement tho...its nearing Fiesta time...where a funfair moves in ...we´ve usually got the Twister outside our front door!...the fountain in the square gets covered over with boards and huge posts put up for when they "run the bulls" thru the village and the mood lifts. Most of the locals look on this time as something really special and will buy new clothes to stroll down the main street looking at the stalls which are the same ones in the same place selling the same goods every year, but its THEIR Fiesta and stems back from the days when people never left the village to visit the city or surrounding towns so a local fiesta was a special treat to be enjoyed by everyone. It usually lasts for 5 days and is in full swing till 7am every day...yep right thru the night, singing and dancing, eating and more singing so sleep is only for the babies or the very old where it comes naturally...cos there aint no other way of sleeping !! Who ever said "Oh for the quiet rural life""??

Ive shown you above how I came to live in this village, but Id like to share some of the experiences that have been hilarious,painful,emotional and just plain normal that have brought me to where I am now in my life.
I "emigrated" across Europe in 1980 to Mallorca, where my father had bought a villa back in the early 70s and where we'd spent many family holidays since then. I loved the Spanish people and their way of life, and even after travelling thru most of the European countries during my childhood, not one of them drew me in as Spain did. Past life...who knows. all I knew was that I wanted to live there. Franco had only died a few years earlier so it was still difficult to work in Spain without a permit and to get one on those....well lets just say you either had to know someone who worked for the Police or find a job to contract you. This I did. In fact both my then 17yr old daughter and I were contracted by the same company to be Tour Reps and this is what we did for the next 3 years. What we got up to during those three years.. well thats another story that would fill two volumes, so perhaps one day Ill sit down and write my memoirs!

Daughter moves back to UK, mum finds new Spanish husband! Easy to work when married into the system so I went on to be a hotel receptionist, a perfume store manager and finally ended up working for one of Britains biggest Tour Operators in their resort offices in Palma. This allowed me to see so much or the world...Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and I will be forever grateful for that period I spent with them. I miss my friends from there dearly.

Even if you live in one of the most beautiful places on earth...life still goes on with all its traumas, its highs and lows, it smiles and its tears and as my marriage ended 22 years later so grew my desire to move on and see more of the world.

I felt Mallorca was now claustrophobic so after 4 years research made the decision to move to Andalucia, where I am now. Im an interpreter, as Im fluent in Spanish and it gives me great pleasure to be able to help lots of Brits who havent yet mastered the language. Ive been involved in so many ways from hospital appointments to traffic accidents, police and ambulances, court houses, lawyers. Theres never a dull moment belive me. Another 2 volumes I feel for my book!

My travels continue and gradually I've fallen in love with the USA...from East to West coast I love it all and have visited every year since 2001. As you can see by my Vegas page..Im an addict! Im not an addict gambler..heaven no...I just love the whole atmosphere and surreal world it delivers.

So thats me in a nutshell. My dreams are to go to South America and perhaps do some charity work, I want to cruise round the Artic Circle and see the whales, I want to trek up Machu Pichu (thats being very optimistic!), I want to learn to play the piano cos I love singing and how great to be able to accompany myself, I want to tread carefully on the Galapogos Islands , I want an RV to tour Europe again and I want to save the world. Id be happy with 6 out of 7!!

.......I want people to think of me and smile and know that I lived it well and enjoyed every mintue of it.

But while Im still here...........

.......I want to be at peace with myself and all around me and live every day to the full. Smile and the world smiles with you....weep and you weep alone!!

I cant believe my eldest grandson Marc, has made me a great grandmother, and as my mother is still healthy and actively with us....that makes us 5 generations!

Such a joy to have a new baby in the family even tho I live in Spain and they are in England. Baby Skye was born in November but Ive only just met her and I think we got on fine. She is the image of her father and her Nana (my daughter) is the proudest grandmother Ive ever seen.

Why are our children, and their children, and their children...the most beautiful in the world!