Last Wednesday, we planned that five of us were going to spend a day at the lakes. Anja had borrowed an Opel Astra - a much larger car than my little Atos - so we knew there would be room for all five of us, plus all our stuff, in the "white car." We loaded up bright and early: swimsuits, towels, inflatable boat and airbed, body board, coolbox full of drinks, and coolbags full of food for our picnic dinner. Everything got off to a great start. About fifteen minutes out of town, we stopped to fill up with petrol.... and then the car wouldn't start again! Several men, including a mechanic, got us started again with jump leads, but told us that there seemed to be a problem with the alternator and that the battery (a new one bought just last week) didn't seem to be recharging itself normally. But we had the jump leads and so, despite my Mum’s misgivings, we continued our journey to the lakes. About forty minutes later, when we were almost at the lakes, on a mountain road in the middle of nowhere.... the car began to shut down, and finally shuddered to a halt at the side of the road.
Some other helpful Spaniards stopped to assist us with jump leads - helping us to get the car started and then accompanying us to a mechanic's workshop in the nearby village of Ardales. There, the mechanic told us that the problem was in fact the alternator, but that it would take 300 euros and two days to replace it. Instead, he proposed taking one of our batteries (we had both the old one and the new one in the car) and putting it onto a battery charger for three or four hours to fill it up again.
We faced the prospect of sitting around in a garage all day, instead of enjoying our planned picnic at the lake, but then the young mechanic, Antonio, suggested to the workshop owner, Ramón, that he drive us the last ten kilometres or so to the lake. Antonio said that he himself would come and pick us up again when he finished work at 3 o'clock. So Ramón got out his van, we loaded up all our stuff, and then we piled in. Only problem was: this was a delivery van with no seats. My Dad and Kasey were able to ride up front with the driver, but Anja, Mum and I had to sit/lie on the floor of the van among all the bags. Off we went, twisting and turning on little mountain roads. Anja and I said it was just like some of the missions trips we've experienced in places like Africa, but it was the first time that my Mum was making a journey on the floor of a van, and she wasn't so sure that she enjoyed that sort of adventure!
We finally arrived at the lake, and had just a couple of hours to enjoy a well deserved lunch of roast chicken salad and a refreshing swim in the cool water of the lake. Kasey, Anja and I swam out to the island and did some "cliff jumping" there (jumping off high rocks into the deep water of the lake) before swimming back to where Gran and Papa were waiting at the picnic table.
Sure enough, Antonio arrived to collect us just after 3 pm, and took us back to the workshop where our car was waiting with its newly charged battery. It started first time, and we were able to drive back to Alhaurín without any further mishap.
