Menorca at Midnight

Mysterious me, you´ll again have to skip forward to find out what the title is about. Or just read on, you´ll get to it eventually.

The day after the jaleo, there was another, though it really was a mock jaleo. This time the participants rode donkeys, rather than the grand Menorcan horses. And the donkeys were less than willing participants. Neither Pepe nor I were very impressed. But the town turned out again, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I think it was the socializing more than the donkeys.

After enjoying the flavor of the town for a while, we headed back for the house for lunch, or rather, dinner. The main meal is in the afternoon, and is followed by a not too light snack late in the evening. For dinner, we had baked chicken. It was baked in coca-cola. I have the recipe if anyone is interested. It doesn´t sound like something that would appeal to American tastes, but I found it very tasty. And no, it didn´t taste of coca-cola. I specify Coca-cola rather than coke to make certain you don´t get the wrong idea.

After dinner, we followed an old Spanish custom, the siesta. I think I could get used to that. I was the last to finish my siesta.

In the early evening, there was a performance put on for the children of the town. Several actors in clown suits really got the kyds going. And it was one that the kyds could participate in. Singing, dancing, a good time was had by all. Then late that night, at midnight, the weekend fiesta was topped off by a fireworks display. But that´s not the Menorca at Midnight in the title.

The next day was beach day. Pepe and the family took me to a beach on the north side of the island. There was a nice beach, in a large bay with quite a few beach-goers. There were a number of smaller coves in the bay, and we found one that looked good. The swimming here was excellent. Water temperature was fine, and the water was as clear as you can imagine. There were perhaps 20 or 30 bathers there. And to confirm your suspicions, clothing is optional here. Most of the women had tops, but there were those without. And most of the bathers had bottoms, but not all. No, I didn´t, in case you were wondering. What struck me as funny was that it looked like all those who were in the altogether were families. And it was the adults without. The kyds, except for the very young, were all wearing bathing suits. Turns out, bathing in the altogether is not allowed at the resort beaches near the major hotels, only at the smaller, more local beaches.

We broke the afternoon up by going to a restaurant neat the beach. It´s owned by Magdalena´s uncle. There we had a fine meal of paella. Then back to the beach to finish off the day. Didn´t head for home until around 8:30 or so.

Later that evening, just as we had all said buenos noches to each other, the phone rang. Pepe answered, and said it was the police calling. Yes, that stirred my interest. Pepe is the local head of the civil defense group. Turns out there was an English tourist in a nearby town that had gone missing. They were organizing a search team. I picked up on the English part, and volunteered my services, offering the one skill I have that is probably better than anyone else here, my vast command of the English language. Weak point, but Pepe checked, and they accepted me.

So we picked up another pair of volunteers and headed out. Out first assignment was to check on a remote beach and park area. Really good thing the state has provided the volunteers a 4WD truck, because it was really necessary. One of the places we looked was in an abandoned quarry. I hope we get the chance to see it again by daylight. We later patrolled a section of the town, with no luck. They retired us at around 1:30 or 2:00AM, They decided we couldn´t really accomplish much in the middle of the night.

And it turns out that he was located at around 4:00AM. In a town about 25KM from where he was last seen. The police there investigated a possible burglary attempt, and it turned out to be our lost Englishman. No one knows how he got there, least of all him. He was apparently subject to panic attacks, and diabetic as well They suspect he may have blacked out and perhaps hitched a ride to the town where he was found. So there´s Menorca at Midnight.

Today´s plans were to pick up some vegetables at a friend´s garden, then head out to explore the quarry we´d seen last night. But the friend had a swimming pool, and Eder and Marina convinced dad that swimming was a good way to spend part of the morning. And the friend was in the process of preparing a batch of tomato sauce, so we helped in that. I turn a mean juice extractor.

From there, it was back home for dinner, and then, because of our strenuous night last night, a good siesta was in order. The quarry will still be there day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is the boat trip.