Windsurfing Andalusian style in Tarifa

In March last year, there was a video circulating on social media of a guy interviewed on what comes next. The question was simple. “You have two choices. A and B. What do you choose: A: To work from home staying together with your wife and children for one year and B…”

“B”, the guy replied instantly.

My wife and our three teenagers have had 16 months of home office and home school. Our apartment is not big, some 85 square meters. Our cats, Silver and Lurven had a good time, I believe, having us around all the time. My ageing mother also enjoyed having us in the neighbourhood.

It all worked out quite well but our oldest hated it. June 2021 we reached a point where we kind of had it. And it was on a sunny day in that month that Norway’s minister of health announced that international travel could resume, with a few restrictions. The EU digital Covid-19 certificate was soon to be launched.

Global inequity

I had just finished a report on the secondary health impacts of Covid-19 in humanitarian crisis settings. The contrasts are stark comparing to minor adjustments in our daily lives during the last 16 months. People in Syria, Tchad, Afghanistan and Madagascar that barely had access to health services before the pandemic were totally cut off from even the most crucial health checks. Millions of children were left out of life saving vaccination campaigns.

The kids have talked about going to Spain for a long time. We lived in Cuba for 2.5 years when they were little, but they had never seen Spain, so I checked airline ticket on our veranda this sunny day in June. Two hours later we had booked flights, Airbnb’s, rented a car and booked windsurfing gear in Tarifa, Spain.

Tarifa

I have been to Tarifa two times before. This was after I had lived in Gran Canaria and got beaten in Pozo Izquierdo in the early ninetees. Tarifa is nice, but cannot really compare to the hammering, stable trade winds in Pozo. But for our oldest, the conditions are excellent.

So, we had a stay over in Portugal and landed in Malaga October 3. We picked up the car and drove through the hyper tourist areas down the Costa del sol. We passed Gibraltar, this tiny place overseeing half of the seaborne trade passing through it. It is still partly under British control which is a heritage from colonial times and even more so after the nationalization of the Suez canal. 2.5 hours later we arrived the old town in Tarifa and found the appartment.

If it is a myth or true, I don’t know. But the tale is that to protect locals from pirates, the old buildings in Tarifa are constructed to confuse intruders. The apartment we rented had the weirdest entrance door. As we entered the building, the first stair was fine. But then, we zigzaggeed our way through a couple more stairs and finally the actual entrance door, appeared as door into a closet at the end of a narrow passage.

If you ever want to experience charming, lively, down to earth, local restaurants in Spain, you will find this in Tarifa. No Hollywood movie could portray it better than one of the tapas dinners we had one evening. Busy waiters, friendly and effective and great food. The kids’ eyes were wide open. So where their hearts, my wife and I told ourselves.

Time for windsurfing

My daughter has looked forward to this trip for months. I have taken her out on the water since she was little, in Norway and Cuba. She loves it. We went down to the club at the beach and checked the wind and gear. The first day we had light Poniente winds from the West. We waited till the day after when the Levante from the East kicked in with stronger winds. It was great. Really.

Not since 2012 had my daughter windsurfed in real warm waters. Light suit, lots of space on the water.

I had a couple hours go myself and in just seconds, it felt as if months with home office and pandemic restrictions, face masks, testing og stress disappeared. I enjoyed it, but at the same time had the millions of people pushed into poverty and misery in the back of my head.

As I am writing this last bit, it is January 7th, 2022. The Omicron variant caught most of the world with surprise (except the virologs perhaps). At the Red Cross we are raising concerns how global health inequity is part of the problem: Without access to universal health, the infrastructure needed to get the worlds’s population vaccinated is lacking.

It is a parallell to climate change and the state of the oceans. We are all in the same boat and need to act accordingly.

From Tarifa heading West

After a few days in Tarifa, we headed West and stopped at Zahara de los Atunes. The beach is almost empty of people. Very few tourist hotels have found their way here. The wind and sea temparature is not ideal for the average tourist. That doesn’t meen it is not great.

Next stop was Cadiz, one of Europe’s oldest towns and where the first conquistadores, including Christopher Columbus, departed to discover the world. Cadiz was the model when the Cuban capital Havana was built.

On our way back to Malaga, we passed through Vejer de la Frontera and Ronda.

What can I say. This is a trip I really recommend. Eight days of rich, old, tasteful, Spanish culture, windsurfing , beach and great food.