To Canillas de Aceituno

The next morning outside our hotel we waited for the second day in a row for a stranger to pick us up. He arrived; we put our bags in his car and climped our way out of Malaga along the twisting roads to the picturesque town of Canillas de Aceituno. I wanted to see the towns we passed by and the views of the surrounding areas, but I had to fight to stay awake even though we came really close to the cliff edge on some of the curves.

The morning air was fresh and cool when we arrived an hour later. The bright sunlight of Andalucia was again blinding, reflected by the pure white buildings of Canillas. We were led into the school and immediately the director was busy dealing with parents. One was a British lady who had been living in Canillas for 5 or 6 years. Her boys needed extra help with their classes and the school offered a free after school program, but she kept on complaining about having to return twice to pick up her kids at different times. She complained that they should be able to learn everything in the 5 hours that they are at school. We couldn’t believe she was complaining about free extra help. I also hope that my Spanish never sounded as bad as hers did.

Finally the director told Orquid that there is only one place that she could rent in Canillas, a two bedroom apartment that would be way too expensive for our salary. While all of this is going on teachers kept on coming in and out of the staff room. The school has 17 teachers for around 140 kids. One of teachers was looking for a roommate. The rent was better and she could drive Orquid to and come the school every day from where she lives. Fifteen minutes later we told the teacher that we would go home with her so that Orquid could see the apartment and make her final decision.

This small school in Canillas is one of the nicest schools I have ever seen. The building itself is very new and every single classroom has enough computers for each student (granted there were only 11 students in the two classes we visited). The school also has a theater, cafeteria, and a huge library that included lots of books in English, even though the bilingual program hasn’t started yet and none of the teachers know English. We were amazed at all of the resources such a small place had and at how ill-utilized they seemed. The director and other teachers also seemed to complain about how horrible the kids were and how they didn’t want to learn.

As we left the school to explore the town for the few hours we had to wait, Orquid asked if we could get lost. The laughed and told us if we managed to get lost, anyone would be able to tell us how to get to the school. So we wandered.

The cobblestone streets of Canillas wander around the houses. All the people stared at Orquid and I as we walked past the two shops and a few cervercerias/restaurants. Many of the white washed buildings had borders of decorative tiles around the doors or below the windows. In places pots of flowers added bright spots of color and a gentile perfume to the air. As we sat on some steps trying to figure out the name of a flower that smelled really good, an old lady approached and told us that she owned the house behind her. She told us that she had been gone since Monday, working in the fields, which I where there were so many leaves and flower petals on the ground. She complained about how little working in the fields paid, so even though she is old, she can’t afford to hire help. Then she told us about her children. It’s crazy that we learned so much about her just from sitting outside her house.

Down another street, I paused to take a picture and the cutest little black dog started prancing up towards us. But then it paused, started to growl, and then was chasing us, nipping at our legs. Maybe this town isn’t completely picturesque. Every since we’ve been really wary of dogs too.

There was a lot of construction going on in the town, either streets or buildings were being repaired. Much of the population works construction, probably building vacation homes for rich British or Germans who want to escape to a tranquil place. We encountered one British lady who was wandering around asking if anyone spoke English.