Sunrise in Spain

I am sitting at my desk in my one person room, marveling at how, for one thing, I have a one person room for the first time ever in my college experience (and my own bathroom too!) and for another, that I'm in Spain.

I think it first hit me when I flew into Madrid’s Barajas airport at sunrise yesterday. The sky was stunning. I admit I don’t see too many sunrises, but this one was particularly beautiful, deep shades of orange, red and yellow, manipulating themselves into a myriad of shades as they bounced off the clouds.

Not a bad way to start off this adventure…

I was blessed to have a good friend send her friend to find me at the airport, and after some wandering around and a major fail when I tried to use the pay phone (what did we ever do without cell phones?!) we somehow managed to bump into one another. He graciously helped me to figure out the Metro and get set to go on the bus that drove me the 6 hours to Málaga, where my friend lives on the Southern Spanish coast.

My family hosted my friend this summer for a month, so to be able to meet her family and see where she lives (when she’s not hard at work in Madrid) was wonderful. I’m grateful for their hospitality. I was served an incredible dinner of tuna salad, Spanish tortilla (made of egg and potatoes – it’s really quite good), tiny shrimp in a spicy sauce, clams, shrimp (with head, feet and tails still attached), calamari fried in olive oil and bread, with grapes and a melon I had never had tasted before for dessert. It was excellent, but all through dinner my friend’s mom kept bringing out different items, and right when I polished off one kind of seafood, I had to find room to try another. Next time I'll know to eat more slowly!

Spaniards eat late, and by the time we were all said and done, it was around 10. I was tired, but I really wanted to see the ocean. My friend took me to the playa, where for a few minutes I swam in the Mediterranean. The warm water came as a pleasant surprise in the cool of the evening. I floated on my back watching the lights of planes flying into the Málaga airport and the smattering of stars above them.

Today my friend drove me to Granada. I was immediately taken in by the city's charming streets. They are incredibly narrow, often cobblestone, and some of them date back to Roman days. The buildings also are particularly striking – many of them appear to be ancient. Apparently there’s a law in Spain preventing a new owner of a building from tearing up the building’s façade, so as to preserve the historicity of towns and cities. It’s no wonder that the center of Granada looks like it is stuck in time.

We wandered through Granada, stepping aside against the walls occasionally to allow for a passing bus. The buses here are small in order to navigate the narrow streets, and in many spots, cars are not allowed -- just buses and taxis. This makes for relatively stress-free walking in the city's centro. The bigger concern for me was the cobblestone streets. When we were walking downhill I was particularly cautious and found myself looking down a lot, especially after I saw a woman fall. Tall clumsy girls and rock-covered streets don’t mix well.

And oh, does it get hot. It was in the mid 90s today (around 34 Celsius) and it wasn't miserable, but I made the mistake of walking all over the place without any water! The saving grace is to find a bar or restaurant and buy a drink (that comes with a free tapa). For just two Euros I got a Fanta and a delicious vegetable dish that made for a perfect snack. Or, if you’re really lucky, you might stumble across the fun discovery I made today. There are fountains with small spigots that pour water into a large stone basin below. You just go up and stick your mouth under and take a gulp! They are fine for drinking from, unless marked otherwise. Sometimes they stick the spigot into the head of a lion, which I think takes a drinking fountain to a whole new level.

Speaking of new levels, I took a bus up to el Mirador de San Nicolas, which is an outlook that offers an incredible view of the Alhambra, a palace from the days when the Moors ruled Spain. We listened to three gypsy men playing flamenco and singing while taking in this spectacular feat of architecture. La Alhambra sits on a hill overlooking the city, and the people who climbed to its highest tower must have had an absolutely stunning view. From where I sat, they looked like ants on an enormous, intricate sand castle that the ocean hasn't been able to wash away, despite the tides of intense change and the turbulence of conflict... (let’s hear it for cheesy-trying-too-hard-to-be-profound metaphors! Ole!

Hasta pronto!