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Friday, 6 April 2007
Gibraltar
Megan and I decided, before I was even on the other side of the Altantic, we would go to Gibralter for a
couple of reasons. For one it is so close to Seville - a four hour bus ride - convenient for a day trip. It
was also on our way to Tangier, Morocco, and they even speak English there as a primary language
since Gibraltar is a UK territory. Needless to say, Megan was relieved to be able to speak English again.
But I really needed to go because on the Rock of Gibralter there live the Barbary Macaques (monkeys).
These monkeys, as well as a network of tunnels attracts a large number of tourists per year.

This is probably looking like a strange site worth taking a photo of, but this is actually the runway of the
airport in Girbralter. You have to follow this road into the city centre and to the Rock of Gibraltar, but it
intersects the runway right across the boarder. (You'll see better as you scroll down and see La Linea [the
boarder] and the runway from the top of the rock.) My sister told me the first time she came she actually
had to wait to cross because the airport had blocked any traffic from crossing due to the arrival of a plane.

As we make our ascent, overlooking the bay and the city of Algeciras, where many ferries cross to
Tangiers.

In the distance, behind the annoying crane, you can see Africa. This was sort of exciting to see another
continent and that the next day I would be going there. (My third continent, four to go.)

The geological formation was created when the African tectonic plate collided tightly with Europe. The
Mediterranean became a lake that, in the course of time, dried up. The Atlantic Ocean broke through the
Strait of Gibraltar, and the resultant flooding created the Mediterranean Sea.

Although to put this trip to Gibraltar into better perspective I think I need to back up a bit here to explain
myself. Earlier this year I did a Chinese brush painting project/artist trading card project with my third
graders at Franklin and Smith Elementary schools back in Oshkosh. The content of the project was
monkeys, inspired by a prodigy Chinese artist, Wang Yani. So when my sister reported back to me about
a trip she had taken to Gibraltar earlier in the year, I told here I would need to go there as well to have my
picture taken with the monkeys to send back to my students and connect my travels to their art project.
So here they are, for my third graders, as well as the rest of my students back at Franklin and Smith.

My first monkey citing. They would literally come and eat out of your hand. Most of the Rock's upper area
is covered by a nature reserve, which is home to around 250 Barbary Macaques, commonly known as
'apes.’ They are the only wild monkeys found in Europe.

Here Megan is feeding them.

They were very playful, although my sister said they were quite tame in comparison to the previous time
she had visited. They will often approach and sometimes climb onto people as they are used to human
interaction. But, a couple of months earlier they were in mating season so they were really frisky then,
jumping all over the tourists.

I hope to have more photographs of me with the monkeys but Megan has all of them on her camera. So
when she comes to visit me before she heads back to the States in a few weeks, I will get them from her
and add to this collection.

Inside the rock are caves. There are two types of caves in the rock: natural and man-made. Here are the
natural caves, which reminded me of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. They have actually constructed a
stage for performances inside a vaulted area of the caves.

A picture of the summit of the rock.

Here is the entrance into the man-made caves, built? by the British after they decided they needed to
fortify the location due to attacks from outsiders. They blasted the hillside with dynamite but progress
was slowed very due to primitive technology and dust being kicked up by the dynamite so they had to
blast holes to the exterior so the dust could escape. So in these created windows they put canons. (How
convenient or typically colonial-British?)

Here is a better photo of Spain, La Linea [the boarder], and the runway from the atop the rock. On the far
left of the runway you can see the traffic crosses into the city.

Here is Marks & Spencer, a thoroughly British institution. Marks & Spencer is what the British call a
supermarket, but the term does not apply exclusively to a large grocery store. They are more of what we
might refer to as an upscale departments store, but one that also sells upscale, suburban-chic groceries.
What was most unsuspecting (in an ironic way) was that every typically British store - Topshop, Next,
Bhs, Marks & Spencer - were also in Gibraltar. I suppose I just figured that these institutions wouldn't
necessarily be there considering it is so geographically detached from the mother-land. Yet Gibraltar
remains a thoroughly British enclave, with even British cuising being served over the more local, Spanish
foods and drink. Megan and I had fish and chips (french fries) for dinner with Strongbow and Smiths (an
English bitter, similar to a red lager). I think that Gibraltar is a perfect representation of the British
mentality (sensibility?) in terms of the world community.

Here we (Megan) are crossing the runway on our way back to Spain, and onto Morocco. Megan and I
packed all of our clothes for our weekend holiday in the same bag, which has definitely seen its better
days as Megan has been dragging this maleta (Spanish for suitcase) all about Spain and the rest of
Western Europe. Again, I think this "purple maleta" was a perfect represenation of our weekend holiday.
We refered to our piece of luggage as such because I thought maleta was a silly word, although neither
of of could remember how to say 'purple' in Spanish. So, like our trip, it became a (amusing) hybrid of
English and Spanish. It was a real pain to lug along, since the wheels had gone a bit dodgy, and the fact
that it was purple didn't help matters as it only added to the eccentricity of the trip, and Megan's and my
own idiosycracies that came to life in our encounters. Whether the ordeal was trying to catch trains and
ferries on time, working between the two languages (and cultures), or dealing with that stupid maleta,
which when it became slightly off balance it would tip and you would have to stop, bend over, turn it right
side up and continue on our way, the maleta trip became such a comedy in that whenever any situation
would get slightly out of control all we could do is just think about the purple maleta tipping over and our
stomachs would be in folds laughing hysterically.