Late Night Riders

The wonders of the horse

For quite a few years we had five blond, blue eyed, freckle-faced young teen girls living with us. For some reason two of them were named Jessica. The smaller of the two soon became called Peque. The girls helped with the chores and rode horses but most of the time they rode around in my Nissan Vanette, singing and dancing to Madonna’s Like a Virgin. It was quite a sight when I let them all out of the car into the village.
Salaries were not very high then and the girls got some great work on horseback. They did advertising for discothèques and the Parador art exhibitions. They got paid five thousand pesetas a day for two hours to dress in the appropriate clothing, depending on the job, and hand out fliers and free entrances. It was a brilliant way to advertise. The girls would go one day to the market or beach and another they would go in the evening to the shopping centres. They caught the eye of everyone and had tons of fun doing it. Everyone remembered them and attended the advertiser’s events. When the Tuareg first opened they even took the horses there for the first week and once an hour an Arabic song (Didi from Khaled) would come on telling the girls in their scanty outfits that it was time to gallop full speed across the dance floor and out the other side. The Tuareg was on the beach so it wasn’t dangerous. They made good money and had fun at the same time.
Daniel started riding double with me from before he could walk. It was the only way I could get any riding time in. Once he had started school in Garrucha, I used to drive him there in the car. We always had to listen to the Irish group the Horse Flies, singing Hush Little Baby. Then I rode out and picked him up on horse back. We had great fun galloping through the river bed to our house. As he got older and went to the Mojácar School I used to take him and pick him up, bare-back on my horse until one day he asked me please could we go in the car because all the kids stared at him. I think they were all just jealous. But I know how peer pressure can be so we started using the car. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that he told me he used to be scared to death as we galloped full speed home through the river bed. To each his own, what some consider fun others find frightening or embarrassing.

Different strokes for different folks

What would be considered scandalous behaviour any where else was common place and normal here. Nothing here starts until midnight so if you go out before it is just you and the bartender. Diner is usually about 10:00 pm and you don’t go out until after. Here you don’t necessarily drink in bars or discos so they are appropriate for a slightly younger crowd then we are used to. On the week-ends we would take our five girls out and drop them at the disco just before we went to bed. The owners and bartenders all took very good care of them, making sure they weren’t hassled, and then we would pick them up when we got up in the morning or the owner would bring them home. The number of times Lenox got stopped by the Guardia to be breathalysed at some appalling hour of the morning was staggering. He always passed because he had just gotten up and all he had drunk was a coffee. The Guardia were sure he must have some secret, never showing an alcohol level, because it was impossible for someone to be coming from a disco at that hour and not have been drinking. They never believed that he was just picking up his kids.