But you must remember, I love monkeys too...: Mediterrannean Sea and International Parade --DAY 5--Alicante

When Mike and Claudia were looking for an apartment,
one of the requirements was that it was within 5-10 minute walk to the beach
Since Claudia would be home all day, they wanted her to be able to
spend her days in the sun and sand....
well, it was over a mile walk...downhill...to the beach
and over a mile walk UPHILL going back...
but it was the Mediterranean Sea...and so worth the walk
We spent the mornings and afternoons on the beach..
here is Ron and Mike getting our gear set up--

We had one umbrella --so we took turns sitting in the
shade and swimming !

Here's Claudia and I eating a pastry from
the local Mercado...

I ended up not taking too many beach photos...
since this is Europe...
a lot of optional swimwear attire...
or lack of swimwear attire I should say...

but here are a few that are "family friendly"

I do have to say that it was all very casual--
and most who were top-less should not have been,
but they didn't seem to care that they weren't "model material"
so maybe that's a good thing!

After spending most of the day enjoying the sun and sand
we hiked our way back to the apartment and
arrived SWEATY and hungry!

Mike and Claudia fed us well,

and let us do our laundry and use their
"drying line"
outside overlooking the courtyard

Afterwards we participated in another
Spanish tradition....
the Siesta
which we understand and appreciate all the more
with the high temperatures and no air conditioning

Ron was so exhausted that he even slept
through the serenade by the
neighborhood marching band

We woke in time to return to the city center for the International Parade...
My IBS started up, so Mike and Claudia held our place along the
parade route while Ron and I went in search of a banó! (TMI?)

We returned just in time to see Brazil....
and these are the PG-13 photos...

Even at this time of the evening...it was hot,
so water breaks were happening in between the dancing...

On the beach I tried not to take photos of the
top-less bathing beauties...
but when you see them on the street...
dancing past seniors and children
you just gotta "capture" the moment!!

Now, Brazil was VERY tame compared to the Argentina and Tahiti "dancers"
which I have not included in this family friendly blog....
in fact I think I deleted them...
(or maybe they are just on Ron's computer!! haha --jk)

Next came the caballeros on their
amazing Andalusian horses...
they had them prancing..

and posing...

and whipping their manes around...

and lest you think that this was an adult-only parade...
they added the dwarfs and giants to the repertoire!
(we will see more of these in tomorrow's parade, so I just included one photo here)

Here is Ron... making sure he has a good view...
he is smiling... and I don't think it's because of the
above mentioned characters..
I think the Tahitian float just went by!

The Flamenco dance was on display....

and some country ( we often couldn't read their signs)
with brilliant-colored scarves

You knew you were not in USA when some countires
passed out pastry samples (without wearing gloves)
and bottles of wine to the crowd to "sample" !!!

The parade lasted over 2 hours again and
finished up at 11 pm--
the streets were lit and filled with families