„Que bonita es la vida“
Sunset on a surfboard
It was a bank holiday in Spain and Charlie seemed to be the only one who had to work that Monday. She still joined the others in the van to El Palmar and would work from Canibal Royal, the bar next to Take Surf School which belonged to the surf hostel in Conil where Charlie was staying.
The sea had been flat all week and surfing was not an option, but it was still nice to spend the day by the beach even with an open laptop. Tamara, Magda, and Marta went to Caños de Meca again, where Tamara, Alberto, and Charlie had been two days before.
Lunch breaks by the beach
It was a quiet day at Canibal Royal and Charlie made it a productive one, but she allowed herself an extensive lunch break that day. She took a surf skate and went around El Palmar, along the beach road into one of the side streets, and up to the main road where she could skate along the cycle path. She finished her little workout with a stretching session at the roof terrace on top of Take Surf School. What better setting for stretches than a terrace in the sunshine with a view towards the beach? One thing that could not be missed for the perfect lunch break at Canibal Royal was one of their amazing Poke Bowls.
Paddling into the sunset
It was Tamara’s last day in Conil. She would return to her home in Extremadura the next day and there was one thing she still wanted to do during her first surf holiday: being on a surfboard at sunset. Charlie was chilling with Frankie in the bean bags when Tamara returned at around 6.30 pm. They had another hour until sunset.
The sea was still flat, and Charlie was wondering if Tamara was still interested in a sunset “surf”. She was! She had no intention to surf, she just wanted to be on a surfboard in the water when the sun would sink into the Atlantic Ocean. Charlie joined her, but on a paddle board. That made a lot more sense to her.
That week had been Tamara’s first surf experience and due to the bad conditions, she hadn’t had too many opportunities to improve her surfing. Unfortunately, that’s how it is when you do a sport in nature. Charlie had had quite a few of those surf trips as well in the past.
As they started paddling out to the sea, Tamara mentioned that she was scared of deep water and wanted to stay close to the shore. Charlie was taken a bit by surprise, but it also was good practice for her as she had just completed her instructor training for paddle boarding a few weeks before coming to Spain. She was trying to find out what Tamara was afraid of. She lost her fear once she had believed Charlie that there were no sharks on the Andalusian coast.
They still had about 20 minutes until sunset and Charlie explained to Tamara in which direction they should paddle to be in a good spot for the sunset. As soon as the sky would turn red, they could stop paddling, and enjoy the view, and the wind and the current would bring them back to shore. It was another occasion for Tamara to repeat the phrase she had adopted from Alberto the previous days: ¡Que bonita es la vida! What a beautiful life!
Paddling companions
The plan didn’t work entirely…the wind and the current brought them back in the right direction, but they still had to paddle a bit to reach the beach and to not end up in the rocks. On their way back – remember, the sun had already set, and it was quickly getting darker – they saw three paddleboarders entering the water. Charlie asked Tamara who would be so crazy to enter the water after sunset and she started laughing when she saw who it was: Frankie, Fede and Emilie, the three volunteers of Take Hostel. Frankie and Fede were both on their own board, Emilie was sitting on the board that Fede was paddling. She was having a relaxed time. Charlie stayed with them a bit longer in the water on her paddle board and they had a fun time practicing turns that certainly would make them fall in until it was too dark to see a thing. Tamara got out of the water as she felt a bit cold.
A farewell drink
Tamara had met with Marta and Magda again who had been taking pictures with the drone as a memory for Tamara. They went to El Cartero, another bar next to the surf school, for a drink and Charlie joined them. After all, it had been Tamara’s last evening during her surf trip to Andalucia. They returned to the hostel at around 10, had a shower, dinner and were off to bed.
