Our day started with the yummiest breakfast. Ali´s aunt Goli has a fridge that is loaded with tons of great Spanish food. We started with some Cafe ConLeche, 1/2 milk 1/2 espresso- my new favorite coffee drink in the world. For some reason, coffee just tastes better in Spain- it´s so rich, and smooth. We sliced up some fresh baked bread, toasted it- then smeared it with hazelnut butter and added a drizzle of honey. Simple and delicious. After our toast, we finished of breakfast with some fresh garden grown pears and strawberries. Of course, Ali, being the ¨manly-man¨ that he is- had steak and eggs.
After breakfast, Ali and I worked out by the pool, trying to burn off some of the 10 pounds that we´ve already gained from all the Spanish food.
Ali´s brother Joe made the mistake of getting too close to the pool fully clothed- so of course Ali threw him in. They both ended up swimming for about 30 minutes at 9:00 in the morning. Boys will be boys!
After the boys dried off from the pool, we decided to take a walk down to the sea. It was a beautiful sunny day with white wispy clouds in the sky. As we walked to the beach, I enjoyed looking at all of the sprawling Spanish estates that were on the way. Every house has its own name- Aqua Clara, Casa de Rosio, Zita Yuca. Ali decided that we should name our house Soto Poquito.
The beach was empty and covered with sea shells. The water actually felt fairly warm- definitely warmer than CA. I found a dead squid that that Ali wanted to take home and eat, and we found a crab that pinched Ali when he tried to pick it up.
After our walk, we cleaned up, and then headed out for our trip to the rock of Gibraltar. Joe drove our VW rental car like a pro along the Spanish streets- weaving through the winding streets and around lots of the round-abouts. Gibraltar is only about 30 minutes west of Sotogrande. Gib is actually an English settlement that is a part of the UK. It´s so weird to go from everyone speaking Spanish, to everyone speaking English with a British accent. Our first stop was Main Street that looked like a quintessential English village. We stopped at a British pub for lunch for some pints and fish and chips.
After lunch, we met up with the guide that we hired named John. John had spent his whole life on the tiny rock of Gibralter, so he knew this place like the back of his hand. Our first stop was the ¨ Pillars of Hercules¨- an amazing look out point where you can see the Spanish Coast, the straits of Gibralter, and the Coast of Africa. According to greek mythology this is where Hercules seperated Spain and Africa.
You can see the rock of Gibraltar in the middle, Morocco in the distance, and the tip of Spain on the right.Our second stop on our tour was the caves of St. Michael. The caves were full of massive stalagmite formations. They actually have used this cave as a concert hall because the acoustics are incredible. Archaeological excavations in the cave have found evidence that Neanderthals used it as far back as 30,000 years ago.
Oddly enough, the rock is covered with Monkeys! We were told not to touch them, or get to close because they could attack.... Of course, that didn´t stop Ali. Check out these close-up monkey shots...
As we were driving along, this monkey suddenly just jumped through the window into the car with us! It turns out, that this monkey has befriended our tour guide. Our tour guide called him ¨Chico¨. 
Our last stop on our tour was a tunnel system in the rock called ¨The Great Siege Tunnels¨. The Siege Tunnels were carved out by the Merchant Marine to defend Gibraltar from the mainland during the Great Siege of 1779 to 1783. The original goal of the tunnels was to get cannon on the northern face of the rock known as the Notch. Originally the tunnel was only 82 feet in length, but by the end of World War II, the tunnels had reached a winding distance of over 30 miles. 
After our tour, we were all so tired. We figured that we had walked around 7 miles, so we were ready for some R & R. When we arrived home, Ali´s aunt had made us a feast for dinner- steak, sausage, cous cous, roasted peppers, zucchini, bread, and wine. After dinner, Ali´s cousin gave me some dry sherry that knocked me out!Today- we are heading to Marbella for a little fun in the sun. Miss you all! Tune in tomorrow for Diaz Tres....
We convinced Joe to get a neck pillow for our long trip, and Ali got some nice noise cancelling headphones. We boarded our 767 delta jet, and ended up sitting on the tarmac for about an hour waiting for our turn to take off. We all slept almost the whole flight. Surprisingly, it went by pretty quickly. Before we knew it, they were serving us breakfast, and we could see the sun rising in the distance.
