Málaga is back in the big leagues

Hello and welcome back to Life in Spain. Thank you for being here, and if you’re new, welcome aboard. You can always go back through past issues to catch up on life here.

Behind the video: what they don’t tell you

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I want to point you back to a video that means a lot to me, the one about what people don’t tell you when they move abroad.

This was a deeply personal one. The point wasn’t to attack Spanish bureaucracy, or to say the language is too hard, or that loneliness is the thing nobody warns you about. It was simpler than that. These are just realities you should be aware of when you make a major life transition, and they show up for almost everyone, not only me.

That’s not what sells on Instagram or TikTok. What gets the clicks is moving abroad as this glossy, life-changing leap, and nothing else. I get why. But I wanted to show the other side too, the parts I lived through and the parts I watched other people go through.

I’ll be honest about something else. Part of why I’m even here is that I followed someone living abroad before I made the jump, and watching them gave me the push I needed to actually do it. I’m grateful for that. This video is my version of paying it forward.

This week in Spain

There was football in the air this week, and for once the whole city felt it at the same time.

First, the national team. Spain beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 in their World Cup match, a clean response after a slower start to the group. But the story that really took over Málaga was closer to home. Málaga CF won promotion back to La Liga, Spain’s top division, beating Almería in the playoff final. It’s the first time the club has been back in the top flight in eight years, after a long slide that took them all the way down to the third tier before the climb back began.

You could feel what it meant. The city has been pulsing with energy, jerseys and flags everywhere, that particular kind of hope a town gets when a team that represents it finally makes it back. There’s a celebration and parade happening today to mark it. I won’t be able to make it, but if I can get my hands on some photos I’ll share them with you next week.

What I keep thinking about is what this does for Málaga beyond football. It puts the city on the map again, not just as a place tourists pass through, but as a name that sits next to Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, and Sevilla. That matters here.

One more thing happening this week: San Juan, the big local celebration with bonfires on the beach. I’m going to live it first and write about it properly in next week’s issue.

Sabor de España

This week I went about as far from Spanish food as you can get, and I loved it.

A friend took me out for Sichuan-style hot pot, something I had never tried until I moved to Málaga. Here’s how it works. You build your own bowl, noodles, meats, fish, vegetables, whatever you want, then you take it to the counter and tell them the sauce or soup you’re after, and they pair the whole thing together for you. It reminded me a little of Korean hot pot, but the build-it-yourself part is its own thing.

My friend lived in China for a while, and she told me this used to be her weekly lunch. Sitting there with her, getting the food through someone who actually knows it, made it better than any guidebook version could have.

This is one of my favorite things about living in Málaga. There’s so much variety here, so many kitchens from so many places. I’ll have some proper Spanish food to share before long. Until then, this was the meal worth writing about.

Before you go

I’ve been looking forward to filming more and showing you the smaller, quieter side of Spain, and I’m finally getting to do it. This Friday I’m heading out to film my next video, a small town here in Málaga province that most people skip, with one genuinely unusual fact behind it. My hope is to have it up for you by next week.

I’m going to try to do more of these, getting out to film when I can and bringing you along.

One more thing I want to start putting on your radar. In September I’ll be leaving for six weeks in Japan. It’s still a few months out, but I’m already planning to film at least part of the trip for the channel. Some of it I’ll be traveling with a friend, and some of it I’ll be out on my own. I’ll bring you along for as much of it as I can.

Which brings me to the thing I’d genuinely love from you. If there’s a kind of video you want to see, more quiet corners of Spain or something from the Japan trip, let me know. Hit reply, email me at hello@evanthewayfarer.com, or leave it in the comments on a video.

That wraps up another Life in Spain. I’ll see you on the trail.

Evan the Wayfarer