chit chat

After a series of hurdles and long queues in the Madrid airport, we fell back into our plane seats with relief. Most of our neighbors spoke English and we were going home.

The funny thing about travel is that it makes you appreciate home so much more. Now granted, I could have skipped the 8 inches of snow that we got the next day. But hey, after a month break from it, it wasn't so bad either.

I can't believe that less than a week ago, my husband and I were meandering the streets during the holy week parades in Granada. They are certainly interesting.

But now we are home and I am back to work! On my to-do list this week: the senior portrait website. Take a look at the end of the week...

As I first ventured down the narrow streets of Grenada, I grinned. For the first time in Spain, I encountered a place that spoke to me. The alley at the bottom of our hill is filled with tea houses, incense and Arab-African goods. And we have the choice of eating something other than Spanish tapas! Last night we had a delicious meal at a Lebanese restaurant, the day before we had dulces arabes (think baklavah).

Our street in Granada

And yesterday was the first day of Semana Santa, a very large celebration of parades down the streets every evening until Easter. Last night we saw a parade on the way home and today I found another. It's an interesting mixture of formality and informality, with costumes and structured groups, but people (locals and tourists) milling around between them at times. They move really slowly since they have to keep giving the guys carrying these huge floats filled with candles, flowers and statues a rest. After awhile, I just have to walk away since there is not much going on!

We arrived in Granada on Friday and have enjoyed not having a car any longer. We were very happy to hand the keys over! The train station (where the car rental was to be dropped off) was not marked very well and we drove by it twice in congested city traffic. Finally, we stopped at a taxi cue and paid a driver 5 euros to lead us to the train station, which happened to be 3 blocks away. But seriously, it looked like a bunch of buildings that could have been anything.

Shopping

Today we headed to the Alhambra which over 2 million people visit each year. It was beautiful and the only way we got through everything without a screaming child, was the promise of crackers, fountains or cheese. Oh, how simple our life has become...

Alhambra

We will be back in the states on Thursday and we are both ready to get back to life. The trip has been good, but there is a point where my mind gets mushy, then anxious to work again.

There's graffiti everywhere!

I'll be back in the studio next Monday and will return my emails and phone calls as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience!

On the train...

The past week has been filled with many naps and hot chocolate! They make delicious churros here, which are essentially just a fried bread. But pair them with a hot chocolate and you have heaven! (And hot chocolate here is more like drinking a Hershey bar.) The best bargain for a chocolate caliente y churro is in the village - only 1.35 euros. If you head into the larger city of Ronda, it's 3 euros. With the exchange rate as it is (and it keeps getting worse while we are here), I tend to have my little treat locally. Yum, yum!

Since last week, we have ventured into Ronda a few times and viewed the sites. The Plaza del Torros is a very important bull fighting ring and it's beautiful. It's not bullfighting season yet, but someday I would love to see a fight. Yes, I know they kill a bull or two, but the energy of the day would be amazing.

Alcazar in Sevilla

Last Sunday, we attempted to take a short day trip to an olive oil mill. It's about 20 minutes away. Well, not knowing the area, we took the windy, twisty route that took over an hour to get another village on the way. Being the American tourist with an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar roads, I had a trail of cars and motorcycles behind me. Trust me - if I could have turned back or pulled over, I would have. My husband drove back on another road - all we really can do about that day is laugh! We are going to try again today on the regular highway and cross our fingers that it is really only 20 minutes!

View from our bedroom

It's been in the 60s and 70s here. One would think that the beach would be ok with that weather, right? So, Wednesday we jump in the car and head to the coast for a day trip. It was pretty chilly here and a stiff wind had sprung up. No problem, we thought, the beach will be warmer. So here I get out of the car, with my mini skirt and flip flops, only to find it a bit warmer, but a wind that was even stiffer! Estella had to wear jeans under her skirt or she would have froze. Then, she spotted the playground equipment and headed on her own to play. If she can remember any of this trip, it's going to be of swings, pigeons and fountains! Needless to say, we hopped back in the car within 45 minutes and headed home...

One track mind...

Yesterday we went on a hike in the natural park up the road. It was a very lovely park with large trees and terraced hills. There was no underbrush, so we couldn't really get lost. On the road we came across several bands of caterpillars that were crossing the road in a chain. I have never seen anything like it - one of the chains was at least six feet long!

Chain of caterpillars

I can't believe we've been here a week already!

After a few days in Seville, we headed to the country home that we are renting for 16 days. It's near the town of Arriate and Ronda (which has a huge gorge that's breathtaking). It's been nice having a house to stay in, as opposed to a hotel room. The biggest bonus has been the ability to cook our own meals. We really can't seem to get used to the siesta thing here. Shops are open from 10-2, then close until 5, then open until 8. Which means that breakfast is at 10, lunch is at 2 and dinner at 8. Seeing as how we have a little one, dinner at 8 doesn't quite work for us.

This morning I headed to Ronda by myself to take pictures and roam around. It was adventure driving there and finding parking. Once I got lost, squeezed between a bunch of cars and almost gave up, I found a surface lot that I could manage to park our rental car without rolling it backwards of a steep entryway. There were a lot of tourists and I found them to be great props for my picture taking :).

On the way back to the car, I stopped at the overlook and met a Spanaird who I managed to have a conversation using my high school Spanish (which by the way, is getting much better!). At the end of our parting ways, we did the cheek kiss thing and then WHAM! I got a big smacker on the lips. I was totally not expecting it and I had to laugh the whole way to the car. I am just going to chalk it up to cultural differences...

I was going to pack light for this trip, but instead packed three film cameras and one digital camera. Since I have not developed any of the film yet (and won't until we get back to the States), I am going to only post my digital images that I kinda played with in iPhoto. It's not Photoshop, but it's all I have here.

Note to Self: Do not join any tour group with matching hats...

Two more weeks in Arriate and then off to Granda for Holy Week...