Over the last few weeks we had travelled through the Alpujarras and Andalucia without any premeditated plans and had been fortunate enough to find accommodation at every port we called at. Amazing considering that it was the height of the season and we hoped that the second leg of our journey would be as fortunate. We drove out of Cadiz, heading eastwards towards Malaga, along the Costa Del Sol. We were unsure where our next watering hole would be but excited about finding yet another pleasant surprise. Even now as I look back, this drive was endless and torturous at times. For some reason, we could not seem to find somewhere to stop... we just kept going and going. We had set out during the daylight hours and suddenly something was missing... Oh Yes, it was that feature that Spain is so famous for, The SUN!! All I could see were the stars and a big bright moon. We were hungry and tired and needed to stop. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, we found what looked by an extended house come restaurant come service station. Our Spanish was as good as our Russian... but with the help of my amazing face expressions, animal sounds and sign language, we managed to order a vegetarian meal. I had explained in my best stressed Spanglish that we did not want any sort of carne (meat) or Pescado (fish) nada nada nada... nothing at all; simply vegetables, cheese and eggs were ok. As the food came out, our eyes lit up and our stomachs jumped with joy at the thought of being fed at last; but as each plate was placed in front of us by a smiling satisfied looking waiter, our hope took a massive plunge into the depths of despair... the plate of chips was immaculately garnished with bacon, the fried eggs were twinned with bacon, the vegetables had bits of bacon... we looked at each other, doomed. I had covered all the possible animal expressions that I could to say no meat but had forgotten to snort like a pig and of course, they had assumed pig meat would be fine and had generously covered all our dishes with it. Initially we tried to eat the bits not touching the meat but we could smell the bacon and it was impossible... eventually we surrendered, defeated and exhausted, we paid the bill... the waiter looked dismayed at the plates of uneaten food... and we dragged ourselves to the car once more. We would drive to the next town and hope to find a hotel where we would simply collapse.
We drove and drove and stopped at town after town... where we asked at hotel after hotel if there were vacancies but every where we went the answer was no... I thought of Joseph and Mary and how they got turned away from all the inns and taverns... but it wasn´t Christmas... surely we would be luckier? By this time it was past midnight and most of the reception areas of these small family run hotels were closing down... slowly but surely our luck was running out and finally we had to accept that there was no room at any inn for the Gandhis. What would we do? where would we sleep? We had ended up in a small town called Estepona. It was too dark to really tell what it was like and we were too tired to really care. Ketan looked at us and said "We will have to park up somewhere and sleep in the car tonight, hopefully tomorrow we can book into a hotel". Krisha had already fallen a sleep and we stretched her out in the back and propped her head on a plump rucksack and kissed her "nite nite". Ketan drove into an open air car park outside a nightclub where there was lots of lively activity. "It will be noisy for a while but it is safer here", he said. He parked the car and we reclined our seats as far as they would go and closed our eyes. Ketan dropped off quickly and Krish was fast asleep oblivious to our whereabouts but for a while, I could not sleep at all. I watched people going in and out of the night club like bees buzzing around a nectar filled plant: I was anxious that someone might harm us or what if Krish was abducted while we were fast asleep... but gradually, somnia pushed my eyelids down like a heavy weight pressing down a thin sheet of paper and I drifted off into another world.
As the day broke, we stirred and awoke to another day of glorious sunshine. We decided to drive down into the town to find a coffee shop to have some breakfast. It was early and everything was still shut so finally we ended up at a petrol station where I could smell the rich warm aroma of coffee beans and freshly baked bread. We got three huge hot croissants and comforting coffee and juice for Krish and we drove down towards the shore. Estepona was right on the coast and the beaches looked like silver dust and the sea looked calm and collected...despite the rough night, we were happy and ready to tuck into our meat free breakfast. I had never experienced such tranquility and this was probably one of the best breakfasts we had ever had... the three of us, looking out to sea, eating hot croissants and supping real coffee made with real beans. Just as things could not have got any better, we heard the pitter patter of feet, and saw a very fit, athletic man running on the beach along side the sea... We all watched him in awe and thought how disciplined he looked... suddenly without any warning, he ripped off his Lycra shorts and with absolutely nothing on he sprinted into the sea... "Oh, Oh!!!" I shrilled "Cover Krish's eyes up... she will be scarred for life"... We did not know whether to laugh or cry but as fast as he could, Ketan started the engine and drove away. I looked back at the man bobbing up and down in the water... and thought... "brave man... that water must be freezing...he obviously has the balls!" I smiled and thought how I would never forget our Breakfast in Estepona.
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