The sun was setting, and we still had to get to our cottage on the other side of this mountain.

I love being in the mountains. We don’t get to see many of them in Florida. But we had a pretty hairy drive home from Ronda. My worst fear was realized: We had to drive the treacherous road up the mountain to the cottage in the dark!

The drive from the provincial road up the mountain to Finca Mosca is incredibly steep in some places, and after awhile the road narrows into a single-track, unpaved “path.” If you meet an oncoming car, one of you has to back into a part of the road that is slightly wider so the other car can pass. This is all well and good in the daylight, but after dark it’s an entirely different ball game.

In the dark we did have the headlight advantage: We could see cars coming on the road ahead of us from a short distance (lots of twists and turns on this road), so we could pull over as much as possible before they arrived to let them pass. Every muscle in my body tensed as we rounded each bend. Would we be blinded by headlights in front of us? Would we have time to react? They don’t utilize guard rails much here in Spain, especially on these country roads. My imagination did its worst.

We encountered four oncoming cars in the dark, more than we usually encounter in the daylight, but at least we saw each one coming in time to find a place to pull over.

I announced, after we arrived safely home, that we were taking a day off the next day. No driving anywhere. I needed time to let my nerves settle before we descended the mountain one last time, but it was also our last day to enjoy the sunshine and views from this amazing cottage in the mountains.

Bonus: We invited our hosts, who live in the house above our cottage, to come down the hill for lunch. Now that’s my idea of a perfect day!