Kennedy's European Experience: Rota Spain Trip

26 July - 2 Aug Jamie attended a Swim Camp in Rota Spain on the Southern Coast. Kim went for a vacation. While we were in Spain, I kept a daily journal of our visit. I added some pictures for everyone to see too. I hope you enjoy it. The entries below are updates to the emails I sent while there to friends and family.

Sun, Jul 26 It was finally time! Jamie & I, along with our friends Lilas & Danielle, left Frankfurt Hahn Airport at 9:40am heading to Jerez, Spain. We landed at 12:20, ten minutes early but the landing had a lot to be desired – very hard & bumpy! After getting our luggage, we found a taxi to take us to Rota Naval Base about a 30 minute ride. Fifteen minutes into our ride, the taxi’s transmission went out! Not good. So the taxi driver called for another taxi for us. Both Lilas & I did not feel too comfortable about this situation. Too many movies out there about situations like this! We opted to call the swim president to let him know what was going on about changing taxi and gave him the name of the driver & taxi company. You can never be too careful, especially in a country you do not know! We made it to the base only to find out we could not get on base! Base security required the swim president to come to the gate & escort on base. So, once again we called the swim president! He was only a few minutes away from the base so he met us outside the gate. After a little “talking” to the security guard, he found our passes. The good thing is we got a ride to the lodge instead of walking to it with our luggage. We have a great room with 2 double beds & a kitchenette. Very nice! After getting settled in a bit, we walked over to the commissary/exchange area. It is not too far of a walk but it is very hot! By the time we reached the commissary, I was drenched in sweat! Not Fun! We found our breakfast food, water, snacks & more! Then we had to carry it all back to the room! Again – not fun!! But we did it anyway. I brought a small suitcase to put the drinks in it so we could “roll it” not “carry it”! The exchange has some very unique souvenirs. We will go back late this week. If I buy too much, I will have to ship it home! We decided to go the Pizza Villa on base for dinner. We wanted an early dinner so the girls can get to bed early. Jamie & Danielle both had a Hawaiian Calzone – way too big for one person. They both enjoyed it. I had a salad & cheese pizza. It was ok – too much cheese for me!! We finished the evening if a scoop of Basket & Robbins Ice Cream. The girls loved it! (So did the big girls!) Tomorrow will be an early day for the girls – be at the pool at 8:00am, 20 min walk to the pool before that! Not fun!! After the start their day, Lilas & I will enjoy time together. I hope to explore Rota a little bit IF we can get on & off base ok. I will keep you posted of our a Spain endeavor! Until tomorrow……

Mon, Jul 27 After a hot, restless night, Jamie woke up to face her new camp. We left the hotel at 7:40 and began our trek to the pool, about a 15 minute walk. Jamie & Danielle met Coach Wendel. He is the swim coach for West Point Army Academy. He was a coach for the Olympics last year. The girls will be working on different techniques this week with each day concentrating on a different stroke. Today was freestyle. They worked on their “stream-line” body form, keeping straight. They also talked about nutrition during lunch. It was a hard day but the girls learned a lot. As far Lilas & I, we stayed at the pool & watched the coach & girls for an hour. It was very informative to listen to the coach explain when a swimmer should do different things. We decided we needed to leave & find a place for breakfast. Unfortunately there are not many restaurants on this base. It took us a little while to find a place. We ate at the bowling alley. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns & toast. Very yummy. Mom – you would have hated the eggs! They were cooked until there was not any more liquid in them!! After breakfast, which really was almost lunch time, we opted to explore the Navy Exchange. They have a nice selection of different clothes, jewelry, electronics, furniture, cosmetics and more. After exploring, we went back to the room until it was time to go & get the girls. We wanted to see the last of the practice, so we headed out at 2:00 to the pool. It was good to see what the coach taught the swimmers & watching them practice it. By the time we left the pool, Lilas & I were hungry for lunch/dinner; the girls were not! We went to Subway, which is in the Navy Exchange, to get sandwiches. Luckily one of the swim mom’s was there & offered to take us back to the room. The girls were so thankful! After eating & resting, we took the girls to the beach. I found out it is only a 10 minute walk from our lodge. We were able to get chairs, beach towels & an umbrella from the lodge. It was great! The girls had a great time collecting shells & playing in the sand. We finished our day having awesome watermelon, yummy fruit salad & pb&j bagels. The weather was perfect – cool with a nice breeze. Since our a/c was not working very well, we opened the windows & had a nice breeze. It was a great way to end a wonderful day.

Tues, Jul 28 Today, Jamie & I woke up refreshed from a great night of sleep. We headed out again at7:40 for our trek to the pool. The girls were not quite as excited today was they were yesterday. Today they were to start off with dry-land exercises. For some reason, they did not do them today. They worked on backstroke techniques today. From what the girls said, they swam all day today. It was very hard! Lilas & I decided not to hang around the pool. We wanted to explore Rota. After confirming we could get back on base, we took off. Rota is a very beautiful town – very white!! All of the buildings are white with a little bit of color. It was blinding at times! The streets are very narrow. I know my van would not fit on some of the streets! Lilas & I enjoyed some fresh churos with cinnamon sugar. We found a beautiful chapel with amazing sculptures of Christ & Mary. It was very different from the other chapel/churches I have visited in Europe. Christ was a different color & Mary was very ornate. After the chapel we enjoyed browsing through stores on the pedestrian streets. Lots of shoes, jewelry, clothing stores. We did not find any souverinor stores though. Maybe next time. We opted to have lunch overlooking the beach. It was very relaxing. Both Lilas & I had a queso montadtos – hot brotchen with wedges of cheese. It was ok. The menu was very limited & my Spanish is very lacking! Then we split chocolate cake! Very good. Since it was getting close to pick the girls up, we chose to get a taxi to take us to the lodge. After dropping off our goodies, we walked back to the pool. By then, it was very hot without a breeze. Not fun. The girls were very tired. Instead of eating out, we cooked spaghetti & garlic bread for dinner. It was very yummy! While we were cleaning up, the front desk called us. Since the air in our room was not been working, they sent a workman to fix it. The compressor was kaput. Luckily, they were able to replace it tonight. So, we will have cool air tonight!

Wed, Jul 29 Our morning routine continued – up at 6:30; leave at 7:30; then walk to the pool. Our morning walk times are getting shorter. One Monday it took us 25 min to reach the pool. This morning, it took us about 15 minutes to walk to the pool. Lilas & I stayed and watched the girls practice for a while. Today they worked on Breast stroke – Jamie’s favorite. She was very happy! On our way back to the room, Lilas & I decided to stop by the exchange and look around the store. It is a very nice with a lot more variety than our exchanges in Kaiserslautern. Even though there are a lot of things I liked, it would be too hard to get it back in the suitcases! After our exploration of the navy exchange, we opted to enjoy the solitude for a while. I caught up on my emails and read while Lilas enjoyed the sun. Speaking of the sun, the heat today it is getting a little overwhelming. Extra sunscreen is needed today! We left at 2:00 to walk to the pool so we could catch the last of practice. Boy, was it hot. By the time we reached the pool, my face was bright red – not all from the sun. My face did not like the sunscreen I used today. Not good… After practice we surprised the girls a trip to KFC for dinner. The girls hated the walk but did enjoy the some of the dinner. The chicken was dried out & they did not have any dark meat. Sometimes when you try to do something different, it doesn’t always turn out to be good! The rest of the day was spent at the hotel. Everyone needed to recover from the heat. Thank goodness for A/C!!

Thurs Jul 30 Morning wake-up 6:30; left hotel room at 7:40; at pool by 7:55. The girls had dry land practice today. For dry land practice, the swimmers exercise on pool deck along with running outside. Jamie said it lasted for 2 ½ hrs. They did different sit-ups, push-ups and leg lifts. They tossed a medicine ball to a partner. Jamie & Danielle’s ball weighed 4 lbs. that gets heavy after a while! Danielle does dry land practice regularly but this is Jamie’s first time here in Europe. She will be sore tomorrow! Lilas & I left them to their dry land. We went back to the room to eat breakfast. We called for a taxi & left to catch a ferry to Cadiz. The ride was about 25 minutes on the open sea. It was a very nice ride. Cadiz is a very old city. Since we did not have a tour guide, we were left to fend for ourselves. We found the information center and got a map of the city. The one place Lilas & I wanted to see was the cathedral. One the walk to the cathedral, we stopped by an Ancient Roman Theatre ruin. It was very neat to see this ruin in a Spanish city. The cathedral was very different too. There was not a lot of color in the church. But it was still beautiful. After touring the church & the crypt, we went in search for a place for lunch. I know everyone is thinking – finally Spanish food. No, we decided on pasta – a very good cream sauce with Spanish ham. It was good & just enough. Lilas & I did some shopping & walked around the streets. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the ferry. We didn’t want to miss it! The ride back to Rota was very choppy, not like the smooth ride in the morning. One guy lost some papers out of his backpack because it was not closed. Boys…… Once we made it to Rota, we looked for a taxi to take us back to the pool. We could not find one anywhere! So, Lilas & I did a powerwalk back to the base gate. We had 15 min to get to the pool. Since there were taxis at the gate, we took one to the pool. We asked the taxi to wait so we could get the girls. He would wait 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the swimmers were playing sharks & minnows & would not be finished in 10 minutes. One of the parents kindly offered to take us back to the lodge so we would not have to walk, We took her up on her offer! The girls decided on mac/cheese with Bush’s baked beans for dinner. It was very yummy! After dinner & clean-up, we called it a night!

Fri July 31 Our last morning for practice. Today was a very relaxing day. We stayed & watched the girls to practice for a while & talked to some of the parents. We headed back to the room for a quiet day. Lilas & I spent time catching up on-line, having lunch, and just talking. It was a very nice day. We left the lodge at 2:00 to walk back to the pool. The coach asked for all parents to be at the pool at 2:30. We were treated to a “swim meet”. The swimmers were divided into age groups & swam a 50 meter backstroke, breaststoke & freestyle. They swam the butterfly before we came in. Jamie looked very good! The coach explained what the swimmers did this week. It was very good experience. Afterwards, we walked back to the room. Jamie wanted to rest. Lilas & I opted Subway for dinner, Jamie ate the rest of the mac/cheese & Danielle had Top Ramon noodles. We watched a couple movies & relaxed together. It was a great way to end our week.

Sat Aug 1 Today is for the girls! After a week of dedicated swimming, Lilas & I decided to let the girls run the day. Of course the answer is The Beach! So, John Freeman, the Rota Swim Team coach offered to take us to a nearby resort. Our swim team stayed at the resort last year at a swim meet. The girls wanted to pick up seashells, build sand castles & play in the ocean. Since the tide was going out, we told the girls not to get into the water too deep. They have a lot of strong riptides. While the girls were enjoying picking up seashells, I enjoyed the reading & laying in the shade! My skin had enough of sun! J It was very relaxing! After a couple hours on the beach, the girls were ready for lunch. We all changed clothes & enjoyed a meal at the resort. The food was ok – not too Spanish to me. The girls ate grilled chicken strips with fries; I had a chicken sandwich with slices of baked chicken breast with onion rings; Lilas had a grilled ham & cheese sandwich with onion rings. We enjoyed everything, especially the onion rings! For desert, Lilas & Danielle had ice cream while Jamie & I had cheesecake. Jamie’s cheesecake had puréed raspberries on top. She did not enjoy it. Kim’s had an egg topping. It doesn’t sound good but it was like butterscotch topping with egg in it. It was very good but really, really rich! It was too much for me!! What do you do when you have eaten too much? No, not sleep! We walked the beach. We opted walking down the beach rather than calling a taxi! It was a nice walk but extremely hot. Jamie & Danielle picked up more seashells along the way. Once we reached the downtown area of Rota, we caught a taxi to take a Spanish grocery store. We bought some little snacks & goodies to take home and share. It was a lot of fun! Once we were done with our shopping & beach time, we headed back to the lodge to start our packing. It took a while to get everything in the suitcases! Jamie & I walked over to the navy exchange & bought some last minutes souvenirs. We ordered calzones for dinner. We finished the week as we started it – Hawaiian Calzones! This time we shared the calzones! They were very yummy.

Sun, Aug 2 After a great night of sleep, we woke ready to head home. The flight was smooth & very good. By now, I am ready to get home & see James. This week was very enjoyable. I am so glad Jamie decided to participate in the swim camp. It allowed us to see a new country. The only bad thing this week was I lost Jamie’s iPod. She took it in stride though. She told me mistakes happen. Way to Go, Jamie. I will replace it though! Until our next adventure….