The Little White Village

After spending about five weeks in Ireland, the time came for me to say goodbye and continue on to the next part of my adventure: Spain. I arrived in Spain on July 4 (a little sad to have missed my favorite U.S. holiday) to participate in the G42 Leadership Academy as an intern and student. At the airport, I was greeted by one of the teachers who drove me back to the G42 house where 8 other interns and a few other staff members had dinner waiting for me.

There is so much I would like to share about G42 and what I've been doing here in Spain, but I think the best way to start is to tell you a little about where I'm at and the town I live in.

the gorgeous Costa del Sol

G42 (which you can be sure I will write more on later) is located in Mijas Pueblo, Spain, about thirty minutes from the city of Malaga. If you aren't familiar with Malaga, it is the sixth largest city in Spain, located on the Costa del Sol in a southern region of Spain called Andalusia. Mijas Pueblo, a quaint "white village" set off the coast of the Mediterranean and nestled up in the mountains, is about thirty minutes from the city center of Malaga. Only twenty minutes down the mountain lies the decently large city of Fuengirola, home to the G42 interns' favorite beach (of course!).


If you come to Mijas, surprisingly you might not find too many Spaniards. What you will find, in abundance, are tourists and travelers on holiday from all over the world. Walking the cobblestone streets of the picturesque town you are certain to pass Japanese, Germans, Scottish, Indians - people from all countries and all cultures - shopping, sightseeing, touring, and relaxing. Along the sides of the windy, narrow roads of Mijas, dozens of tourist shops, trinket stores, and authentic Spanish restaurants boast their bright colors to draw in naive travelers who are convinced they need one more piece of pottery, jewelry, key chain, or glass of Sangria. With unmistakable hats, sunglasses, and cameras, excited new visitors are everywhere you turn, adding a lively and bubbly spirit to a sunny and friendly town.

a little restaurant we often refer to as "the blue chair place"

Beginning around ten in the morning, the town swiftly buzzes with excitement as new tourists arrive, coming spend the day discovering the charm of Mijas. And charm it is - at any moment walking down the street you might need to pause and stand aside to let a horse carriage with delighted passengers spin through or to allow a long line of donkeys transporting weary travelers clop by. In addition to the alluring brightly colored Spanish items outside of every shop, you'll be enchanted by the brilliant white of the traditional houses and apartments all through the town. A leisurely walk out to the Lookout Point offers not only a panoramic view of the Mediterranean coastline but also a perfect display of the white village houses stacked up on the side of the mountain, perfectly accented with red tiled roofs, tranquil terraces, and tiny dark windows.

Inside those windows are stories that go back decades. Most of the Mijaños, or citizens of Mijas, have lived in their houses for their entire lives, meaning there are a lot of old folks around! Since most houses in Mijas don't have air conditioning, you will often find the bright green or red doors of the Mijaños propped open while the sun beams down on the whitewashed walls in the heat of the day. In the evening, the streets tend to empty of tourists and instead fill with Mijaños who have migrated outside to their doorsteps and terraces to enjoy the cool and refreshing sea breeze. If you travel down to the plaza at the end of our street, at any time of the day you will always find a group of old men in wide-brimmed hats, resting on benches and beaming their toothless smiles at all the new faces strolling by. A little further up from the plaza sits a bull ring at the top of a sloping hill, a popular destination for tourists to visit during summer stays. During the summer months, trumpets and fanfares can be heard echoing through the streets of Mijas, announcing the beginning (or victory... to be honest, I'm not sure quite yet) of a bull fight.

old men in the plaza

On Tuesdays and Thursdays in the summer, Mijas holds a market in the Plaza Mayor, proving to consistently be a well-attended social gathering that provides common ground for both the locals and the visitors. Local artists and artisans set up booths to display and sell their creations while salsa and pop music boom through the plaza until all hours of the night. At midnight, salsa dancing lessons start, and teenage girls crowd up at the front while young parents with toddlers and holidaying old couples dance shamelessly off to the side or from the back. Spain is a country of freedom; everybody lives life to the fullest and is not afraid to enjoy it. It's a beautiful thing. Last week at the midnight dance lessons, my heart was warmed watching a mother dance with her baby, a lone traveler with eyes closed dancing with all his might, and a British couple with their arms around each other, nodding their heads to the music. Spain allows people to be liberated, to express themselves, to indulge.... and to be happy. It's a place of family, friendship, laughs, good food, rest, and adventure.

the view from my balcony

The only downside is that the rest part seems to come at the most inopportune time, at least for my schedule. In the past few weeks, I have come to view Mijas as the city that never sleeps. Up until two or three in the morning, people are out eating dinner on the streets, talking in the square, or blaring music. And even if they're not, city workers will be sure to provide whatever noise might have been lacking - like the trash truck at 2 am or street sweepers a 7 am - all great services, but at completely inconvenient times. I suppose the reason it is such a bother to me is because of the location of our house. G42 owns two houses on Calle San Sebastian, a beautiful street near the center of Mijas. In fact, it's so beautiful that it's the most photographed street in all of Southern Spain. That means that at all hours of the day, there are Europeans, Americans, and plenty of Japanese tourists in bucket hats and armed with cameras meandering down our street, peering into our windows. And since we often leave the door open to circulate the air, we even have a few uninvited visitors come strolling into our entryway every now and then ;-) To perfectly illustrate how popular our street is, I can tell you that the very first day I arrived in Mijas, I walked out onto the balcony outside my room (hanging over onto the street) to hear an British girl about my age proclaim, "This is such a gorgeous street!" She then proceeded to nudge her boyfriend and point up to me, the "girl on the balcony," as I stared questioningly from above. "Smile for a picture!" She eagerly shouted as she pointed the camera nose at me.

our house is right next to the wine museum

This happens all day, every day. Some of the interns told me they used to try to get out of the way when people were taking pictures, but they don't even bother anymore because it would virtually mean being unable to walk to our front door. On the flip side, however, we live on an absolutely gorgeous street! The view from my balcony (even if it often includes tourists taking pictures of me) and from our front door is what people travel miles and miles and sometimes halfway across the world to see! In addition, our house is right next door to a wine museum, so we have made friends with the owner and often take leisurely breaks during the evening to pay him a visit and drink some delicious Spanish wine. Everything in the town is less than a five minute walk from my doorstep, and I can get to the beach or hike a mountain within 20 minutes. One of my favorite parts about our house is the terrace we have in the back, the perfect place to hang out on a warm summer's evening and eat tapas and play games with friends.

I feel so lucky to be able to live in a place like Mijas, but I'm not here for all fun and games! It is an absolute bonus that we get to enjoy such a stunning and magnificent place, but the real reason we are here is to fill our minds and grow our spirits. We attend classes everyday and have been working hard to read, learn, and write, growing into the men and women God created us to be. I will share with you soon who I'm living with and what our daily schedule is like, plus a little bit about what we're learning and what exactly G42 is all about, so stay tuned!