big ole belly full of bread

So the mutt did it again: she got ahold of some forbidden food and stuffed herself silly. We haven't often left her alone in the past three weeks but late this afternoon the padres were out & A and I went off too. I made sure to shut the pantry/storage room door and the kitchen door too.

But alas, I didn't know the kitchen puerta doesn't click shut: though it seems latched, it easily pushes open and gives an enterprising perra (female dog) access to the bread basket. She had not long before eaten her dinner and also been given half a chew-bone treat as we were leaving - so, needless to say, little Miz G has not wanted to move much tonight.

Hopefully she's feeling better in the morning because, as it is our last weekend here (we leave for Madrid on Thursday), I had decided we are doing the long walk to the beach tomorrow morning and breaking the rules: I want to go swimming and see if she'll come with me. Alain probably won't join me since he's got a huge crack in one of his heels due to the dryness here. Plus he's not much of a rule-breaker anyway!

She's been to the beach twice now and both times she's gone wild, having a FRAP and running in mad circles in the sand. But on neither occasion was she anywhere near the water since San Juan's beach is very deep. I figure at 8:30 a.m. we won't be bothering anyone so no one will bother us if we make a dash for the waves! Anyway, we might have to postpone the plan until Sunday morning if the weather is bad tomorrow a.m. (there is talk of a rare summer storm).

I too am anxious to swim in the ocean for the first time since our trip to Yoron (near Okinawa) last summer. Plus anything to break up our dull routine, frankly. San Juan, though it has a few tiny pockets that are picturesque, is on the whole quite depressing. See they seem to have been in the middle of a badly urban-planned expansion when the financial crisis hit, so there are many, many empty dusty (dog poo-filled) lots and abandoned sales offices surrounding the heart of the area in which A's parents live, which is San Juan Pueblo. (I see in the Spanish Wikipedia page about the town that in fact the population doubled between 1994 and 2009, reaching 22,000.)

Culturally there isn't much going on, unless you want to include the ever-popular passtime of sitting at the outdoor tables of the "bars" (bistro/cafes) on La Rambla, which is San Juan Pueblo's main street with extra-wide sidewalks to accommodate the 25-30 bars and ice cream joints. (Actually, last weekend we did see a pretty decent jazz quartet on the stage behind one of the town's schools.)

San Juan Playa, the other main part of San Juan is, as I've mentioned, a good half hour walk away. Plus it's basically just a boardwalk, beach and apartment buildings facing the beach with a few restaurants and ice cream shops. Apparently the beach at this time of the year is packed full of people daily, but I've only seen it once in the very quite a.m.

The more interesting and larger Alicante is a half hour bus ride away so we've only been there a couple of times and to the town, not the beach. Tomorrow night we may head there to see a Cuban concert on the beach. And since the padres will be out too (they play cards on weekend evenings), we'll be sure to put the bread in the cupboard!