through the looking glass

This is it; our last full day.  After more puffy rice, we headed to the mountains for a 5 mile hike.  The scenery was amazing and even though it was hot, there was a breeze and halfway through a sea mist started in, which cooled things off quite a bit.  

The mountain we went to is the same one where Calpe Rock came from in the landslide.  The geography is quite spectacular.  Wild herbs grow everywhere - lavender, thyme, rosemary, bay trees, which makes everything smell amazing.  Our 'guides' are the husbands of the two organizers, who have their own holiday businesses - yoga/pilates and bootcamp.  They only work together 4 times per year when they do this holiday.

Most of the people that work the holiday are expats that left a whole other life behind to start again in Spain.  I found this all very interesting.

Up the hill we went, stopping at a small church that was locked up tight. Don't worry though, I took a picture through the keyhole so you could see what it's like.

The guys knew a lot about the area and pointed out all the different neighbourhoods - like the area that was given to Hitler and is now almost exclusively inhabited by Germans.  There were also the little lookouts scattered along the hills that were used to spot pirates.

It was a fantastic hike and I wouldn't have missed it.  Back at the hotel, we picked at a salad they had clearly packed for us at least 2 days before - with dressing - indelible.  Since there was cloud cover, I spent an hour by the pool and then I went to my food intolerance session.

Almost everyone had done this and the conversation at dinner was always along the lines of how were you going to go on without wheat/wine/yogurt .  I was fairly proud of myself that I offered up my finger and let her test away because we all know I was probably not going to like the answer.

Food intolerance doesn't mean you are allergic to it.  It means your body doesn't like it and generally thinks you shouldn't eat it.  Headaches, snottiness, gut ache, bloating and water retention are all consequence of food intolerance.   So she had this little box of things you reacted negatively to and my box was full before she was halfway.  

Brace yourself Teddybear, but list is: all citrus (lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruit); cocoa (knew that); MSG; mould (knew that); yeast (including the yeast my body produces); mushrooms (suspected this); yogurt; all cheese; vinegar; and all alcohol (except for rubbing alcohol).  

So when you think about that - its pretty horrifying.  Because yeast is in everything.  Also tested for very low B vitamins; which come from yeast!  Without lemons and vinegar, the lovely salads I eat every night will cease to exist.  Major sigh...

So what they recommend is you eliminate everything for 4 weeks and then reintroduce one thing at a time.  You eat a bunch of it on day 1 and if you are okay, you eat it again on day 2. Because you haven't eat it in 4 weeks, your 'reaction' should be more noticeable.  It might be okay for a couple of reasons - your body was just feeling unhappy about the food at the time and it's actually okay or other intolerances were so great that it was making you intolerant of things that are okay - so if you eliminate those then you can have it.

Once you know if it is a real intolerance, you have 3 choices: don't eat it; eat it in moderation every 4 or 5 days; just eat it and except that your body doesn't like it.

I went back to my room and showered and packed.  Then I headed off to my last treatment - a Chavuti massage, which is done with the therapists foot will she hangs on a tripod over you.  It was absolutely amazing - best massage ever.  Unfortunately, this meant I missed the last Pilates session - boohoo.

Dinner was chicken shish kabob with butternut squash and cabbage; our soup was curry vegetable (most likely left over from the other night).  It was good.  The 2 Amercians left right after dinner to fly to London and then on to the US in order to get back to celebrate the 4th.  Most of the others went down to the beach for a glass of Sangria.  

Gill and I stayed up and chatted with the sisters we liked, and then headed off to bed.  Tomorrow, we head home and have to decide whether we are going to make any lifestyle changes.