what to visit in Malaga

Between 21 and 23 May Málaga welcomes the Southern Cannabis Expo Fair - an event which, taking into account the fact that the cultivation and consumption of cannabis are penalized, the event is not without some controversy. But this is not the first Cannabis fair held in Spain, and prior events have been a great success. The last edition in Barcelona, attracted over 19,000 visitors and had over 150 collaborating businesses.

If the consumption, cultivation and sale of marijuana is prohibited, what exactly is on display in these fairs? The Southern Cannabis Expo not only provides a space for companies engaged in the sale of cannabis seeds (which, of course, is not illegal) and related products to promote their wares- it also acts as a forum to focus on its medicinal properties, and discuss issues such as the treatment of mental disorders with the plant or how the consumption of the same acts in the brain.

Unquestionably, these are also the many controversial arguments for or against the legalization of marijuana. Is there a relationship between cannabis use and mental disorders? Is it beneficial or harmful? Contradictory research results in this field are constantly published, and certainly do not help to create a consensus from which to justify judicial decisions. Controversy about marijuana´s legality goes back many years, but, frankly it´s a subject which seems rather tired, especially if we compare marijuana´s relatively mild effects with the scientifically proven risks of tabaco and alcohol on health, and the fact that they are legal.

Cannabis is not only known for its narcotic effects, but also for being a useful industrial plant. There are many possible applications for it: Textiles, beauty creams, shampoo, plumbing supplies and birdfood, at the Southern Cannabis Expo you´ll find plenty of new and innovative uses for the noble weed.

If you want to know more about this controversial topic, we encourage you to rent apartments in Malaga and attend this informative event.

We all have our favourite escapes, pastimes and fantasies to flee the nightmares that sometimes plague us. Some choose literature, drugs, sports, music or nature and some prefer TV or computer screens. For the last 5 years, my 25 year old cousin has chosen to live in a virtual world, which seems to afford him more satisfaction than stepping out and dealing with complex human relationships… though in his videogames, he’s brave enough to even kill.

Better said, he plays for his life when he plays such games as World of Warcraft, StarCraft or Counter Strike, even though he never leaves the chair. Nothing interests him except for staying all day long in his room surrounded by cables and headphones and gadgets, plugged in like a hospital patient stuck in bed and nourished by a toxic IV drip. Even though it’s been years since we’ve seen each other, he prefers to shut himself in the dark, and forget about his talents as a chef or other adventures he could have.

On one hand I understand, the world of videogames is a fictional realm that allows us to take risks without assuming responsibility for the consequences. You have superpowers that you don’t have in reality, or create worlds which are more perfect and fair than the real world. I can imagine that this sense of power and security is very pleasurable for some people, and I don’t mean to sound like an armchair psychologist, but it seems to me that that being addicted to this type of media is an obvious symptom of malaise which warps one’s sense of perception of reality in such a way that the patient is no longer able to appreciate a sun ray or a romantic date. But there is a limit, don’t you think?

On the other hand, I understand that these are personal choices, and you can’t decide for anyone else, especially when they don’t listen or understand that they are damaging their health and personal relationships. Mi cousin has turned into a bored, depressed person who can’t imagine moving out of his parent’s house and barely knows how to talk to a girl. He hardly leaves the house, but not because he’s a tortured artist stuck in his ivory tower laboriously expressing his passions in a worthwhile masterwork. These games, and the attitudes they encourage, are destructive.

Unfortunately, my cousin Fabien is yet another victim to what seems to be an ever-expanding social trend. The countries with the most net-addicts are South Korea, China and Japan, where they have even begun to open treatment centres for hikikomori, a word in Japanese which refers to people who withdraw from all real social contact, often replacing it with technology addiction. Our machines are like nature, and are capable of conquering humanity as if we were just an ant farm.

All this being said, I like to think that humanity will never be conquered, even though our behaviours may shift or change, and that while these changes may be fascinating sometimes, its important to keep fighting, and make sure to seek help when we need it. I’m sure if I were to give him free trip to sunny Malaga, he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation, especially if I reserve his lodging with Apartments in Malaga. I hope he wakes up to smell the Jasmine!

History’s most extravagant painter who once declared “I am surrealism” was also modest enough to say that he loved publicity, and above all, that publicity loved him. Salvador Dali never tiered of announcing to the world that he was a genius, and the media never complained about his eccentric and provocative personality. Thanks to an exhibit organized by Fundación Picasso Casa Natal in Malaga, you can discover how much magazines, newspapers and other media were relevant to Dali’s artistic career.

Dali and his Public Image
The fame that Dali was able to reach over the course of his life (1904-1989) had a potent and single cause: he was very gifted in the art of constructing a public image. His wife and muse Gala also played a singular role, giving him editorial support, providing inspiration, and managing his work’s diffusion. Without Gala, Dali wouldn’t exist as we know him, and were it not for the media; we might not know him at all.

Perhaps we can see the best display of his facet of media provocateur with his publication of the Dali News, the mere title of which underlines his status and makes it seem as if he was his own country, a whole universe worthy of media attention. As he is. The magazine was only published twice, both times with the principal objective of exalting the genius of the artist and his wife and muse.

If dreams were Dali’s greatest ally, magazines, periodicals ads, illustrations, collages and other mediums were his faithful friends. Until the 16th of May, the exhibit will explore this oft overlooked aspect of the Catalan icon though the 246 works shown as part of the show titled “Salvador Dali and Magazines”.

Dali as a brand
Perhaps you are familiar with Dali and his surrealist methods. But did you also know that he wrote articles and designed magazine covers and ads? Dali collaborated with popular mainstream publications in France, Spain and the US, and did commissioned work for Life, Vogue, The New York Times and the Paris Match – just to name the big ones. He became the face of a brand of lipstick, and lent his image to marketing of perfumes, diamonds, stockings, drinks and luxury goods.

Perhaps all humans are really cubists at heart: our profiles are composed of multiple facets that make up a personality so complex that it is impossible to know everything. Dali’s personality is so incredible that it will never cease to surprise. Don’t miss this fascinating exhibit in the homeland of one of Spain’s other great artistic geniuses, Pablo Picasso.

Take advantage of this event to escape a few days to the south of Spain, you can find affordable lodging with all the comforts you need at a good price renting Apartments in Malaga.

We often overlook the fact that many religious principles were perhaps born out of practical concern for our health as much as a spiritual quest or divine harmony, though they are presented and interpreted as such.

Islam and Judaism for example both prohibit the consumption of pork because it is considered impure in both the Old Testament and the Koran. Who knows if this precept took hold because of exaggerated fear of parasitic contamination, or because people thought the meat was too greasy and difficult to digest in a hot climate.

Another practice which continues even today in more secular society is the practice of fasting, such as Ramada for Muslims, or lent for Christians, or other types of abstinence for brief periods. More than once scientists have pointed out that eating less can lead to a longer life. It’s not too hard to understand that if the liver works less, and arterial obstruction is avoided it’s good for health. Studies have also shown that a short monthly fast can be beneficial for health.

During the fasts during lent, the period of 40 days before Easter, Catholics and some orthodox and evangelical Christians consume only one daily meal, while during Ramadam, Muslims are only allowed to eat after sundown. Mormons fast the first Sunday of the month. Total abstinence from food may be very difficult to carry out if you work or participate in sports, as fasting can cause not only a feeling of physical weakness but also difficulty concentrating.

We think they might be on to something, daresay this partial fast seems like a good idea: giving up certain foods for example, for a period of 40 days, like in lent. For example, we could give up those tasty chocolate cookies we always have for dessert with our lunch. Not to worry, breakfast and lunch will give you all the calories your body needs to work without any problems. Summer is fast approaching and you should have already begun “operation bikini.” You wouldn’t want to have to give up your vacations on the coast in stupendous apartments in Malaga just because you don’t fit into your bathing suit?

Every day we hear about new remedies that can slow cell aging and their progressive degeneration. The eternal youth elixir, however, has not yet been discovered. For those who can’t stand the appearance of the first wrinkles, science has more or less found effective remedies. Would you like to look younger but are afraid to undergo to plastic surgery? You’ve probably heard about botox.

This substance (botulinum toxin type A) is a toxin that acts by temporarily paralyzing the muscles and smoothing the skin. Obviously, to achieve the desired effect, it has to be injected by a specialist in certain areas and in appropriate doses. Botox is a cosmetic product but it is also a drug. It started being used in the early seventies, mainly in ophthalmologic therapies, in the treatment of the strabismus and of the blepharospasm (uncontrolled movement of the eyelids). In the subsequent years doctors noticed that the subjects who had been injected with botox had a visible smoothing of the wrinkles in the treated area.

Many famous people have used this substance to look younger. Its major advantages are its easy practice and the fact that it is a non-invasive method with much less risk than surgery. The disadvantage is that treatment must be repeated every 3-5 months, because its effects do not last over time. The price is around 400 Euros so it is not suitable for all the wallets!

However, there are other ways to restore youth, (at least spiritually) such as a few relaxing days on the beach. Would you like to live a life similar to those who are famous? Why don’t you spend some days in Marbella (Malaga) where celebrities such as Antonio Banderas, Beckham or Cheryl Cole, among others, have huge mansions? Take a nice walk along the sea and feel younger than ever by imagining life as a celebrity. To sleep well without spending too much money, rent Apartments in Malaga and make those wrinkles disappear!

Though it is true that the bullfighting has as many detractors as followers around the world, it is also true that when the bulls are transferred to the art world, nobody has anything to object… Quite the contrary! The first solo exhibition of one of the most important figurative American painters of the second half of S. XX has finally come to Spain. Eric Fischl is presenting an exhibition called ‘Bullfight in Ronda with watercolours and large paintings in the CAC Malaga.

The New York painter was inspired by a run on the Goyesca de Ronda Bullring in 2007. In fact, this exhibition summarizes many of the keys of his painting. Today, Fischl is the most quoted figurative painter in the American market.

The show includes a total of ten works where the artist reveals how he understands bullfighting through paint. In the paintings the backlights in the bullfighters stand out and only he provides a single emotion to contemporary painting.

Fischl’s unconformist character has his works take him to new ways of experimentation, so nobody was surprised when the artist got stunted before the bullfight in the Goyesca in 2007, with an incredible line-up that counted with the Rivera Ordóñez brothers, Francisco and Cayetano, and with the Colombian bullfighter César Rincón. That was how the painter ventured to draw on the world of bullfighting, so far unknown to him.
His paintings are closer to photographic frames than to predictable and balanced compositions. In ‘Bullfight in Ronda’ the figures can appear blurred or bullfighters may cross in front of the main figure.

To recreate the bullring, he selects a viewpoint where he sets the characters, preventing the development of a landscape. Fischl, besides a painter, is also a sculptor and a photographer. Discover this versatile artist at the CAC Malaga until April 4th. Andalusia awaits you in a festive atmosphere, because the Semana Santa is coming closer. Immerse yourself in the warmth of its people and rent Apartments in Malaga to discover the perfect accommodation.

We are more connected than ever before. The internet has represented the biggest shift in communications since our ancestors first figured out that one grunt can sound different from another. Information technology means that around four exabytes of information will be generated this year – which is more than the previous five thousand years combined. The number of Facebook users is 360 million, and growing. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third-largest in the world, behind China and India. One in eight couples who married in 2008 met online. We have five times as many words in the English language as we did in Shakespeare’s day, and we are now faced with an amount of information in one single day that our great-grandparents would have faced in an entire lifetime.

But our brains haven’t changed in 40,000 years. Can they keep up? The simple answer is yes, they can; at a price. While we are becoming smarter – or at least more informed – our capacity to feel, and to empathise with others, is dropping away.

Processing trauma (like an image of a starving child on our TV) takes time. Around 7 to 9 seconds in fact. We register the pain, or fear, or joy, in an instant but it is the front part of our brain that works on producing an evolved response… Like crying in empathy, or being excited for our friends. When we’re stressed, that part of our brain is considered ‘less important’ and stops being used so much. And stress is caused by information overload.

There have been plenty of warnings about the damage that information overload can cause. When the ‘Mental Bandwidth’ is maxed out, we’re likely to crash. Not true: the part of our mind that suffers from information overload is called working memory – like RAM – and your RAM is upgradeable. Your brain can build more, and make the existing working memory stronger.

The problem is that the frontal cortex, the front part of the brain that controls ‘humane’ responses isn’t so quick to change. We take on way more information than we can respond to emotionally. This means we are numbing ourselves from each other. Ironically, in an environment of information overload, we need the support of other people just when they are too stressed and withdrawn to offer any.

This is when we find ourselves looking for passive ways to stop thinking. Pulp TV programmes, mindless net surfing, all of these are the modern equivalent of fire-gazing: Giving our brains permission to switch off for a while – not to process information, but to process emotion.

Sitting still and staring into space may not help you learn anything, but it may help you care more about your friends and family. The same goes for reducing the amount of information you take in, or at least increasing the breaks between Information Feasts.

Relaxing and taking a break from it all can be as easy as renting apartments in Malaga, the idyllic get-away location.

Making love, having sex, getting laid, or whatever you want to call it, is fun. You feel invincible, sexy and wild, and that’s a good thing, really. But sometimes, in the heat of the moment, things can get rough and maybe even painful. Before we start to give you an overview on the most common or weirdest sexual injuries, let’s just point out that there’s nothing to be ashamed of. If you think you need a doctor, go see one. And remember that he has probably seen worse things in his life.

The most common is a friction burn, often referred to as a carpet burn. Maybe you came home after dinner and you didn’t make it to the bedroom. So you took of your clothes in the hall and made love leaning against the wall or on the carpet in the living room. Hot, but painful. Imagine having a large carpet burn on your ass and not being able to sit on a chair for three days. Tip: take his t-shirt and put it under your back.

Speaking of not being able to sit, that brings us to anal sex. If you take your time, use protection and (water-based!) lubricant, it’s pretty safe. But… the tissue in that area is extremely sensitive. So take it easy, tiger, because you can cause anal fissures and other wounds. If you do it regularly, you should know that in extreme cases it could cause weakening of the muscles, making you incontinent.

And please, don’t insert things in holes where they don’t belong. Surely everyone remembers the episode of Jackass where Ryan Dunn shovelled a toy car up his ass. But again, doctors have seen worse. There are reports of people who inserted sausages, light bulbs, grapes, candles and dice. In 2008, more then 10.000 British people received medial treatment for having, well… “things” in their “things”.

It also happens more often then you think: concussions! Smacking your head against the bedside table or the wall often ends up with a ride to the hospital instead of a huge orgasm. Bite marks, deep scratches or bruised spots in your neck due to over enthusiastic sucking; you might want to think twice before cheating on your partner.

We saved the worst one for last, sensitive boys can stop reading here. Although it is rare, it is possible to break your penis. For example, if a girl is sitting on top you and your penis slips out of her at the wrong moment. It doesn’t have a bone, so it is actually a rupture inside that will swell up in minutes, turning your penis literally black and blue. Have it treated as soon as possible to avoid complications.
Better safe than sorry, at least now you know what you are up to. There is nothing better to provoke a passionate night than hot temperatures and fabulous cocktails. Rent Apartments in Malaga, and enjoy the Andalusian way of embracing life.

Apocalyptic theories are reinvented every day. Some Spanish families, facing the potential end of the world announced by the Mayan calendar in 2012, have invested money in renting a collective bunker. The fear of death can lead to uncontrollable extremes.

21st December, 2012

The Mayan prophecy announced that the world will end in 2012 due to climatic disasters and that all mankind shall receive the light of knowledge. Others do not speak about extinction, but about changes in human behaviour or in the physical structure of the Earth.

The price of survival

The Grupo de Supervivencia de España 2012 (Spanish Survival Group 2012) has 165 members, 50 of them are part of the bunker project. They have rented an underground atomic shelter that can accommodate 50 people. The collective panic grows, and the collective bunkers increase in Spain: we can see some examples in the Sierra Nevada, Madrid, Barcelona and the area around Huesca. Each person paid 200 euros to reserve the land and will pay between 1,000 and 2,000 euros in total at the end.

The psychotherapy opinion highlights a dangerous and old trend: the masses manipulation and the easy way to generate fear. The same occured with the panic of terrorism or the Swine flu. Facing death, people react and take refuge in many ways. The bunkers are just one more.

Carpe Diem

Instead of worrying about what might happen, you better focus on what is happening right now.

Facing the alleged Y2K of the new millennium many people decided to spend all their money and do whatever they wanted because supposedly the world was going to end.

Forget about the end of the world and do not miss the opportunity to travel. Buy now some tickets to an Andalusian town and fill your lungs with Mediterranean air, rent Apartments in Malaga, they are comfortable and cheap.

Surely you’ll have some souvenirs at home from your past holidays. A keychain of the Colosseum in Rome, a magnet from ‘mind the gap’ in London, a miniature Eiffel Tower from Paris… These are the typical, plastic junk, made in China and sold for exuberant prices in shabby tourist shops. But this year, it’ll be different. You are going to come home with the most interesting souvenirs that will make everybody jealous.

Rahela Khorakiwala is an Indian woman who has a passion for water. Everywhere she goes, she takes her labels and plastic bottles with her to collect samples of water. Her large collection of 360 bottles includes water from the South Pole, Lake Michigan, The Jordan river and the Masai Mara in Africa. You could do the same thing with sand, rocks or seashells.

If you want something more exotic, how about Panda poop? In the Chinese province of Sichuan, the officials were fed up with cleaning more then 25 tons of Panda poop every month. Now, it will be smashed, dried and sterilized and a local handicraft shop will turn it into bookmarks, notepads etc. It also comes in all colours! It is said that panda poop doesn’t smell bad at all, and even has a sweet aroma that smells a bit like tea.

How about a piece of rusted barbwire in a box! It is sold at the border between North and South Korea, and for less then 15 dollars it’s yours. Maybe it’s not something to hang above the fireplace though. If you’re looking for some kitsch for your bedroom, why not buy a Mosque alarm clock during your visit to the Middle East? It comes in pink, blue or ivory and wakes you up every morning with the Azan (the call to prayer). Nice!

Are you in for some adventure? Then take some typical souvenirs from your home town with you (especially if you are going to another continent) and ask the locals if they want to trade it for something strange. You might end up with beautifully decorated chop sticks in Asia, a weird poster or table cloth from Eastern Europe or some useless gadget in America!

In Spain, you can find loads of ‘typical’ souvenirs such as fans and plastic flamenco dolls. But why not by something useful and more special, such as a bottle of olive oil, some saffron, a flamenco CD or Jamón (cured ham). Rent the best apartments in Malaga, and take a bit of Spanish culture home with you.