The Rain in Spain

Just got back from a trip to Benalmádena, Spain. Finland gets so dark and dreary this time of year that it's nice to visit the sunlit lands once in a while. 

The ocean at dawn. Beautiful.

We had my niece and nephew along, so we did a lot of kid-friendly activities, like the Sealife aquarium. Here are some photogenic jellyfish. 

Cacti at the Parque de la Paloma. Some people had carved their names on the leaves. 

And a few of the paloma. A multitude of roosters, chickens, peacocks, and bunnies not pictured. 

We also checked out the local Barbie museum. It was actually pretty cool. Star Trek Barbies! As a bonus, the museum was located in the back of an awesome science fiction collectibles shop. I got a Jack Skellington doll with interchangeable heads and some H. R. Giger prints. Score!

Then we rode the cable cars up to Mount Calamorro and caught their birds of prey show. I've never seen hawking, so this was really interesting. The owl on the right is Olga, and my nephew got to pet her. Apparently it's considered lucky in Spain. Gotta buy him a lottery ticket, just in case. 

The view wasn't bad, either. The cable car made me a bit nervous at first, but it was fun after I got used to it. 

We also visited the Benalmádena Butterfly Park, a huge building where hundreds of butterflies flew free. Mostly they were beautiful, but that huge mothy one below kind of creeped me out.  

Here are a few more shots of the beach. Goodbye, sun, I'll miss you. 

Oh, and there actually was a bit of rain, but only on the first day.