A rocky canyon view of Río de la Venta in Málaga, Spain, with a concrete bridge crossing the winding riverbed between steep cliffs.

Birthday Mountain Excitement at Río de la Venta

LOCATION: Huerta de la Cueva, Málaga
YEAR: 2023
CAMERA INFO: Nikon D5600 + 18.0-55.0 mm

“It’s the wrong mountain!”

We parked up near the Río de la Venta in Málaga hoping for a nice walk along the old riverbed. We had heard there were prehistoric caves nearby around Huerta de la Cueva where ancient rock art sits tucked into the limestone.

It started off peaceful enough. Our three year old son was having a great time throwing stones and climbing rocks while we took in the canyon, climbing rocks like a trooper. Then my wife realized that a poisonous plant was growing everywhere that we definitely shouldn’t let him touch, so carefully we made our way up the river.

Things went downhill when we saw what we thought were the caves up on a hill. With my son on my back, we started climbing. It turned into an almost vertical scramble straight up the face of this enormous hill as the sun started going down and we realized we were lost, with no food, no torches, nothing!

We made it to the top only to find out we had climbed the completely wrong hill entirely. The hill we actually wanted was much smaller and somewhere else. To top it all off, it was my wife’s 40th birthday. I honestly do not know if she will ever forgive me.

I snapped this photo on the way back to the car.

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