A Year in Spain (long, possibly boring and rambling)

[Alan-LaCala]

A year ago today we moved to Spain, and in 2 days time into our house in La Cala.

Below are some random thoughts about our first year in Spain. They are entirely personal, describing my thoughts and views about the experience; your experience when you moved here will no doubt be different.

Settling In
I had done a huge amount of research into the move (I am a Scottish Virgo after all), including lots of questions to the Andalucia.com Forum. We also had some close friends who had moved to Torreblanca about 4 years before who were able to give us lots of information and advice. Our sellers were also only moving across the road so were available for any queries.

Finding this forum was a godsend for me. The articles on the main site, and other sites, are great, but nothing compares with asking direct questions of people living here and who have done it. Despite the odd bit of minor warfare that breaks out, everyone is generally friendly and really helpful.

I must say though that sometimes cannot believe the fundamental questions people ask on the forum, often just a few weeks before they are moving. For example, it is clear that they need to work, yet have no idea about the availability of employment for their profession. The classic for me (on another forum) was a carpet fitter who did not seem to appreciate that there are not a lot of fitted carpets in this part of Spain. We are all different (thank God), but there is no way I could have moved to another country without knowing something about how it functions.

However, despite all the research you never actually know how you are going to react to living here, until you do it.

Firstly I would make the point that how we went about buying is not what I would advise anyone to do.

We had seen La Cala in September 2004 for the first time, and liked what we saw. We came to stay for a week at the end of January/beginning of February 2005; our intention was just to get a feel for the place and to answer the question, “Could we live here?” The aim being that we would come over in September 2005 when I took early retirement, and rent while we looked for a specific property.

Without boring you with the details we ended up viewing a property, falling in love with it and making an offer, leaving a holding deposit of 3000 euros while we flew back home. A week later we had a deal and paid a 12% deposit, with a contract to complete by the end of September 2005.

That meant we had to organise the sale of our house in Cheam to coincide with the purchase in Spain.

Do not do this. It is extremely stressful. My wife was very blasé about it, “Don’t worry darling, it will all work out OK.” I was a gibbering idiot. (And yes, I still am before anyone else says it)

The first estate agent we had failed miserably to get us viewings. We sacked them and got another agent in who was better. It does not help stress levels though when you are still desperately trying to arrange a completion date when your buyer finds asbestos in the garage and damp in the party wall. This was in August, and if we did not complete in Spain we lost the 12% deposit.

My wife still did not panic, and thank God the buyer did not pull out but instead renegotiated the price.

We also did what I always swore we would not do, that is we used the estate agents lawyers. A word about our estate agent; we used Unicasa in Torrenueva and dealt with Andrew. He was brilliant. Always honest and helpful and great at keeping us posted. Using their lawyer saved me about 7000 euros (on an under-declared value, which had already saved me about 8000), plus later on Andrew save me about 4000 euros on a new car purchase. Talk about lucky compared to some of the stories I have heard.

One of our big worries was how we would now feel about the house. We had only seen it twice, briefly, in early February 2005, and wondered if reality would live up to our memories and expectations. Well, thank God, it did. We felt extremely comfortable and at home straight away, even without our furniture.

The village as well, La Cala, also immediately lived up to our expectations, and we were very sure that we would settle well and be happy.

The first few days were busy ordering stuff for the house, and chasing where our furniture and other stuff from the UK was; all 65 boxes, and 70 other items, some 20 cubic meters in total. Our sellers had left us 2 x 2 seater cane sofas, and 2 single beds. That and the contents of our suitcases was all we had at first.

It took a little while to get used to what sort of shops sold what sort of items; that you had to go to the chemist for paracetamol as the supermarkets did not sell them; that most garden centres did not sell paving slabs.

I was surprised by the number of outlets specializing in British goods. Particularly as most of what they sold was available in the supermarkets at much cheaper prices. Calling yourself Costaless when you don’t should be an offence under the trades description act.

So far we have only been unable to find 2 products; witch-hazel and proper dental sticks. The first our neighbour got for us in Gibraltar when he went down, and the second my daughter brought over a huge supply from Boots. So no problem now.

The first few nights we were here in the house, I kept hearing a strange noise at night, and it took me ages to work out what it was. Although it was calm, it was the sound of the waves on the beach, some 100 meters away. Wonderful, it has a lovely rhythm to it, which helps sleep.

We all know the mediterranean is not tidal; yes? Well that may be, but it is amazing the difference in where the water comes to each day. I don’t mean the difference between a stormy day and a calm day, but 20-50 meters difference on just ordinary days.

I have also been fascinated at the way the shape of the beach changes; humps, hollows, ridges and slopes appearing and disappearing, and not small subtle changes, but quite substantial ones. Sometimes there is a huge meter plus high ridge running along most of the beach, which wasn’t there the previous week.

Walking the dog on the beach in the morning and watching the sun rise beside the El Faro lighthouse is pure joy.

I also love the advertising, with the little planes trundling up and down the coast trailing behind their adverts. I do wonder at their business skills though. They don’t seem to have worked out that if they printed the advert on both sides, we would see it when they go up, as well as when they come down again.

I could not believe the amount of snails in my garden. For some reason I thought they would only be in cold and damp places, not in sunny Spain.

Of course I should have known. There are so many buildings called Caracoles that it is obvious; God help me, I even stayed in one at the beginning of last year before we moved out.

I have heard some horror stories about how newcomers are treated by the Spanish. We could not have been made more welcome by those Spanish people we have met in La Cala. Despite the language difficulties, we have made lots of friends. They are lovely people.

I think our integration was helped by the fact that we have a big dog that we walk several times a day all over the village.

Once people realized that although big he was a big softy, he became very popular and has led to us meeting and talking to loads of people of all nationalities. We worried at first whether we would have to muzzle him as he is very big, some 42 Kg. But we have yet to see a dog with a muzzle, and the local police have seen him on numerous occasions and are not bothered.


Cost of Living
You always underestimate what you will be spending money on; who budgets for english newspapers for example?

I have found that we are spending a little bit more than I thought we would, although not a great deal.

Generally I find the cost of living about one third cheaper than the U.K. Big savings in items like the I.B.I.. That plus the basura being 379 euros, as opposed to a Council Tax of about £2000 in the London Borough of Sutton.

However, while that is great for me who does not have to work here, it is probably not so good for those who have to earn a living out here. As far as I can see, Spanish wages/salaries are also about one third below U.K. levels.

Frustrations?

We had been warned about the “mañana” culture, but I must say it is not something we have come up against to any great extent yet.

We had been told it can take many weeks to get a telephone line in Spain, and add that again for ASDL. Well, we were lucky; we had a telephone line the day we moved in, and ASDL some 2 weeks later. Again when we reported a fault Telefonica were here quickly and sorted the problem.

I was surprised at the lack of check out staff in the supermarkets, and the long queues compared to the U.K., and the seeming acceptance of this by Spanish and expats alike; maybe I won’t care either when I have been here a while. The check out readers leave a lot to be desired. I don’t think we have yet made it through the check out without the check out person (usually a women-do they employ men?) having to phone and check the price of something.

Driving? Well I had read that the N340 was one of the most dangerous roads in Europe. Yeah, I thought, can’t be worse than the A3 on a Friday night, can it?

Wrong!! While there are some pretty bad drivers in the U.K., I have never experienced tailgating like I have on the N340.

Also, I never seen as many people ride motorbikes/scooters without crash helmets as over here. While I have heard about some ambiguity in the law re the interpretation of “carry”, if the police wanted to do anything about they could. If everyone without a helmet was stopped and their bike gone over with a fine toothcomb, everyone would soon wear helmets.

We are having terrible trouble with the Correos. All was well for a while but then our postie changed and it has all gone to pot since then. Some mail has gone missing and we keep getting mail for other people. It is not helped by there being 2 Urbanisation Playasol’s in La Cala, and the street we live in not having a name that is known by anyone, or a street-name on it.

It has got so bad we have taken out a P.O. Box for correspondence.

The staff at the Correos are also about the worst we have come across. If you ever want to know what it like to be invisible, stand in front of the counter clerk here while they are doing something else. They do not even look at you, much less give you any sign that they might serve you soon.

Spanish bureaucracy? Well, we could all write a book on that. There must surely be a better way (perhaps even a hundred better ways) than the stupid system of applying for NIEs and Residencia. Queuing for a ticket to be in another queue is beyond belief. Not reading Spanish I don’t know whether Spanish newspapers are full of letters of complaint about this, but somehow I doubt it.

I could not believe the sheer amount of paperwork I had to produce to register on the padron and pay the IBI. In most areas in the UK they would welcome you with open arms if you wanted to pay your council tax; certainly in the London Boroughs I worked in.

Last but not least, noise in general and yappy dogs in particular. Are there a noisier people than the Spanish? If so I have not met them. I don’t mean deliberate or malicious noise, but just everyday going about your business noise. We live near to the Gran Hotel in La Cala and sometimes you hear people in the street and think that same great argument is going on, but when you look behind it is only a few elderly people having a friendly discussion. Everything has to be said at a shout.

I don’t know if the rest of Spain is the same but here, by a big margin, the most popular dogs are small ones. Like lavatory brushes with legs my wife says. And they all yap like mad. If small dog yapping was an olympic sport it wouldn’t be worth any other nation entering; the gold medal would go to Spain every time. The Spanish don’t seem to mind, nor even notice.

Language
Although I wanted to be able to speak the language, and had gone to evening classes in the U.K., I actually thought that you could easily get by without a word of Spanish if you really wanted to; everyone speaks English on the Costa del Sol don’t they?

Well, I was wrong; at least about La Cala. Yes there are loads of ex-pats, but there are also loads of Spanish who do not speak English.

While I can get by, with my limited Spanish, sign language, and a lot of goodwill on the part of the Spanish people, I do find it frustrating.

Have you noticed that when you say to people, “¿Habla Inglés?”, and they say “No”, they then go on to not speak English a lot better than you don’t speak Spanish.

We were not able to get into the Spanish lessons at the local town hall as they were fully booked. We continued to add to our vocabulary by learning what the various words were for items we need to buy; our Spanish is therefore very consumer orientated. Although our vocabulary has increased greatly, putting it all together into a meaningful sentence is another story. But people are very patient and understanding, and do seem to appreciate that you are making the effort. We start lessons at the Town Hall next month and are really looking forward to it. Terrific value at the Universidad; 3 or 4 hours per week spread over 2 or 3 days, for 12 euros per month.

Although you can get by, we both want to learn the language. Mainly to be able to converse with people, but also for real practical reasons. When you buy a cleaning product, at the moment it takes ages for us to translate the label and know how to use it.

There are a few people, mainly in shops, who seem determined not to speak to you in English. I actually caught out a Telefonica man who had told me he did not speak english, when it turned out he spoke it really well.

Local Events

One of the many things that delights us about here is the number, and frequency of local, cultural events, even if some of them are high catholic which we are not.

I am not sure whether La Cala is a largish village or small town, although I think the locals refer to it as a village. In any case, small as it is, it has lots of stuff going on.

In our first few months there was an exhibition/festival of Christmas traditions, where some 8/9 counties had stall showing off how they celebrate Christmas, and selling traditional food and drink. Yes, you guessed, the English stall was tea and mince pies.

Then there was some sort of ‘pastoral fiesta’. As for as we could judge it consisted of various local country groups singing, playing loud drums, and banging tambourines, and all wearing funny hats. To be honest, they all looked a bit like Spanish Wurzels. It was good however that something like that is done, and that it was well attended.

Then we had the Three Kings Parade which was great.

We had our Semana Santa procession on Friday evening.

Much more modest than the big processions in the cities, but still impressive. The men carried the float of Christ on the cross, and the women carried a float of the Virgin Mary. All barefoot.

There were hundreds of people lining the route, and not just tourists and ex pats, but lots of Spaniards who followed the procession. The surprising thing was that the crowd included lots of young people who you would think would not be interested.

Towards the end of June was San Juan. On la noche de San Juan, we went down to the beach with our neighbours and had a wonderful evening with a barbecue and bonfire. At midnight we all went in for a swim to cleanse ourselves and wash away all the troubles for the year.

Next in mid July we had the ceremony of Virgen del Carmen, the patron saint of the sea, and on the night she is blessed in the local church, then paraded through the streets down to the beach, loaded on a boat and rowed around on the sea for a while; this ensures good luck, good fishing, and calm seas for the year.
As usual huge crowds turn up for this, and most of those are Spanish, not ex-pats or tourists, and including young kids and teenagers.

Just after that the 4 day feria (fair) was on. A terrific old fashioned fair with all sort of rides and stalls, plus various entertainments, most of them of a (loud) musical variety. Only problem, is that the music goes on until about 7.00 am in the morning, and as the crow flies, we are not too far away; still it is only once a year.

During the summer there are a number of “Noches de luna y playa” with flamenco dancing, singing, bands, on the promenade down by the Tower.

Every Friday night, at 10.30pm, during the summer they show films on a big screen in the same place; they are in Spanish though.

Weather
We chose to come out in mid September in order to give our dog and cat a chance to settle before the really warm weather started.

That seemed to work really well and we have all coped pretty well. We have adjusted our days to suit the dog more than anything.

We take Storm, our dog, out early in the morning, a habit we brought with us from the U.K., when it is still pretty cool, and another longish walk in the evening when it has cooled down a bit. In between times he gets taken up to the local park (70 metres away) to stretch his legs and have a pee.

During the winter we took him out in the car while we went exploring, and stopped somewhere to have a good walk.

If it gets too hot, particularly if it is humid, we switch on the air con, which is wonderful, and of course doubles as a heater in the winter.

I live in shorts and a T-shirt; the only time I put a pair of trousers on is when we go out for a meal. We swim every day, either in our pool, or occasionally we stagger the 100 metres down to the sea.

The village is considerably busier in summer than it has been, with all those with holiday homes either down for the summer, or at least at weekends, plus the usual tourists at the hotel, or in rented apartments.

Where we are, although near the hotel, is off the beaten track; well it is actually very near to everything but down a quiet lane which is a no through road, and with no parking on the street, although we have a garage and car port. So we are well out of it, and if we choose not to go out one day, we have no idea how busy it is.

So, do we have any regrets? No, none at all. We both love living in Spain and are thoroughly enjoying the experience and our life here.

Of course there are things we miss about the U.K. but not a lot, and not the extent that makes us sad in any way. We retain a fondness for the U.K.; we are not amongst those who left because they could not bear what they felt it was, or was becoming. We did not in any way feel pushed out, but rather we were attracted by the climate and lifestyle of Spain.

And for us, it has been the right decision.

Alan

[keddyboy]

Happy Anniversary Alan. I can only say that your comments are well placed and oh so true. We live in the Building Site ie Alhaurin el Grande and we wouldnt change it for the world and can make reference to all your observations. Long may you enjoy.

[Colinm]

Alan,
"The first epistle according to Alan" should be compulsory reading for all those who even think about moving to Spain.
I loved the bit about the carpet fitter!
Time to start planning the next move??

[Solysombra]

Alan, an interesting tale, but still you appear to be happy with your decision, I'll let you know my feelings in one years time, although having said that I won't be living here full time, I'm planning to move here for the winter, however I suffer from arthrosis in my knees, ankles and hands, I will definitely be looking for an efficient central heating system, if one exists in Spain!

[katy]

Really good post alan, I like la cala too. Good luck with the spanish classes, a friend went there and he is nearly fluent now.

[safeashouses]

A wonderful read Alan I think you should post it on the other forum too.

[gus]

Alan,
A wonderful reprise of your experiences so far..long may it continue to provide happiness.
I must admit to the same reaction to so many posts I see here from people who have not undertaken even the most basic research before embarking on a life-changing experience - especially those who seem to believe that they can expect to live on some form of state benefits! Naievety or idiocy?
We purchased a property some 4 1/2 years ago in Torreblanca - (NOT up that bl**dy hill) and I would be very happy to consider a full time life in Spain although my other half is less keen on the idea. Family, especially the grandchildren, prove to be an irresistible tie to the UK.
At least we get the opportunity to visit on a regular (and fairly frequent) basis.
Looking forward to the next edition of "Life in Spain" Alan style.

Gus

[John M]

What a great post Alan. There are a lot of folk, far too many, who use these fora to complain about their experiences in Spain. Mostly after they have arrived here, as you say, without doing any real homework.

I have been here with my partner for about four years; she speaks good Spanish after many lessons, including a month's immersion course in Sevilla, but to my shame my Spanish is very rudimentary - I wish our Council would do the type of lessons you are undertaking.

As to the cost of living here, I find it 25%-30% cheaper than UK, but use the same bars and facilities that the locals do, using 'tourist' facilities is fatal to the wallet! The Spanish are remarkably patent with my language, I play golf with them and 'bu**er' is the same in any language......

A little tolerance goes a long way, yes there are long queues everywhere, official paperwork IS frustrating, and defensive driving here is a must, but hey life is too short to get worked up about it and there are many, Spanish and Brit, who will hep out initially, while you find your feet.

As to returning to UK, I really can't think of any reason I would want to. It's not 'the state of UK' that concerns me, but the quality of life out here and the family approach that has captured me.

Good luck to you, your family and fido in your new life in Spain.

p.s. have you got the phone number for the carpet fitter........

[silver]

Alan-LaCala How kind of you to take the time to tell your tale.. it makes good reading

[Busymum]

Hi Alan!

We too have been here for a year, well 1 year, 1 month and 12 days to be exact! We are very happy too and I wouldn't change a thing, yes there are things that take a little 'getting used to' but it has actually made me a much more tolerant person because there is simply no point in getting upset and cross about things because they don't get sorted out any faster and there is generally some solution in the end. Our son is very happy at school and has far more friends than he did in the UK. We too are learning Spanish, my hubby starts a beginners class next week (heaven help the teacher!!) and my basic Spanish has improved in leaps and bounds. We go to La Cala most everyday and I have found the Spanish there very helpful and welcoming particularly if you do make the effort to speak Spanish ...... the people who work in the chemist have taught me so much vocabulary! I think it must be a nice place to live too Alan.

Well done Alan and keep giving us lots of helpful information as you usually do!

Busymum

[Sadie]

Happy Anniversary Alan was so nice to read such a positive post, makes a change from other forums where so much complaining going on, I have been here now just over 6 months and loving it and can't imagine wanting to leave so hope I will be feeling same way when I have completed my first year, like you a fellow Scot we did a lot of research before moving with doggie Munro and cat McDuigh plus have taking in an orphaned kitten and giving him a good Scottish name Hamish but we still learn something new every week. I attend Spanish lessons in Nerja and really enjoying it. At present we are renting while house hunting maybe we will have a look along your area sounds nice.

Regards
Sadie

[gavilan]

I seem to remember there is someone ?silver, ?beachcomber who has lived in spain for a long time ?30 years... I would be interested to hear about their memories of those early times and what has changed ...

[silver]

gavilan..What do you mean...back in the good ol days
Yeh things have changed..a lot...
I used to love watching the fisermen on most beaches pull onto the beach their fishing net that they had set out from a row boat..they had these ropes with balls on..which were slung round each end of the net ...to be continued..

[gavilan]

silver ... tell me more, dont just leave me hanging!

and to encourage you ... 2 of the things I remember from visits 40 years ago ... Malaga airport 'terminal' was then just a simple small sort of 'hut' ... and staying in Cordoba one time, was out late listening to flamenco in a bar, got back to pension to find i was locked out, man shouted from inside to go and find the 'nightwatchman' ... an elderly portly gentleman with a waist belt full of keys ... and he came back to the house with me and unlocked the door ... and so to bed!

[silver]

er..fisermen..should be fishermen..which were slung round each end of the net and used to pull the net out..with 4 or 5 men on each side..its called el copo...as each came to the back they would release their ball rope and move to the front...once the net was out and the fish packed in boxes or buckets..some odd bits given to watchers...
in those days English tourists..still very few..would were hankies tied at the corners on their heads.
The locals very all very friendly and general feeling of joy all around..the side streets would be fill up in the afternoons as families moved their chairs outside..the women knitting..the men in the bars and the kids playing, singing and dancing in the street..but the there was not so many cars around either.
Men from villages would come round the houses on their donkeys to sell their fruit n veg..beaches became deserted on the 1st September...during the summer months families trotted down to the beach..bringing half the house and made their paellas on the beach...El Corte Ingles was only in Madrid and Barcelona.. Fuengirola was more or less just one road.
One years pay would buy a flat.. the drive from Malaga to Madrid took around 12 hours.... life was much slower...

[gavilan]

and Nerja was just a tiny fishing village ... I took a night flight from heathrow with 2 small children ... first morning bus along the coast ... asked a woman where we could stay ... 'in my house' she said and so we did the ninos and I for a week ... just swimming and watching the fishermen ...

[TC]

Great post Alan!!! Sounds like a wonderful life. We too would like to make the move but unfortunately the old treadmill of life is stopping us at the moment. We also purchased a property through Unicasa and found them excellent and very professional.

[katie]

Brilliant posts

[silver]

and Nerja was just a tiny fishing village

We often went off on long weekends to Maro beach at nerja..it took a long cross mountain track to get down there..so was almost always deserted...one of these long weekends (no one stopped you from camping on the beach) 3 Spanish men (one was tall and blond) of the group went off for food (well boose more than anything as the sea supplied dinner...octopus, crabs ect)..they went into a small shop..the lady (head to tail in black gear apart from the black and white checked apron..like all the old ladies in those days) inside called to her son...hey... come and help me I cant understand a word these foreigners are saying...

[silver]

They were almost giving away the flats at the new Banus port and the drive from Marbella to Monda took over an hour..the drive back.. down..horendous.. Gibralter had the gates closed...
The weather was much better..the food much better..the water was better..the whole way of living was much better.. even with Franco.