Photos

¡Hola! mi amigos y amigas! Rather, Cheers!

Gibraltar was nothing like I thought it was going to be...it was not a disappointment, but I say it was more of an unexpected surprise. I thought that I would have to elbow my way around the rock with turbaned men and blacked veiled women, haggle for prices of camels in street bazaars and eat Falafel-like foods. Instead I bumped into men and women clad in jeans, speaking with a most amusing British accent and eating lunch at a true blue English pub serving fish and chips...surprising! Serves me right for the shock! I didn’t bother reading up on Gibraltar. Had I done so I would have been forewarned to keep a few pounds sterling...Gibraltar is a British colony!

Oh well, I climbed the upper rock area on a taxi and got introduced to the Barbary Apes. The local guide told us that the British would relinquish their claim to Gibraltar to the Spanish when and when the Barbary Apes no longer inhabit the rock. Problem with this condition is the fact that the Apes seem to be multiplying! They are reproducing like bunnies that the natives decided to give the female apes birth control pills... I don´t know about you but I find this condition rather amusing. Gibraltar could very well be the place where they will prove that a monkey can do a man's job. Lets hope these simians have much better sense than their human relatives.

While on the rock, we also descended St. Michael’s cave. No big deal...just another limestone cave with great acoustics. It was prepared during World War II as a hospital but it was never used at all so now they just hold classical music concerts there. At one point they allowed rock and roll to be played but the vibrations were too much that some of the stalactites and stalagmites were visibly shaken. So, they opted never to play rock and roll music ever again inside the cave...only classical strings. Ha!

With that folks, I must go, I need to get off the rock!

I am Mary Grace, looking forward to Portugal.
November 1999