Wonder and Wander

From the comfort of my living room back home, I envisioned us taking many day trips while we were in Spain. We would galavant all throughout southern Spain! We would see everything! We would all smile!Real life is more, well, real. I love adventuring, but I also love a slow morning at home and a little routine along with my coffee. There are also more obstacles than are at first obvious. We aren’t connected to a good train here, so we drive. But how do I get there? Where do I park? Can we walk from this unknown parking spot? Will it be worth the drive? Quick travel includes a hundred little questions, and they can sick the life out of you at times. In addition, Vance’s health an work mean that he’s often not available to be my sidekick, so I am the lone adult, parent, and tour guide rolled into one.I’m not feeling sorry for myself, but I have had to adjust my expectations along the way. I’m not being graded on the number of sights we’ve seen. Slow days are, in their way, even more important than sight seeing days. And we’ve had both.On our way home from Granada, we stopped for a little Indiana Jones-style trail I’d heard about. It was not well marked (oh, how grateful I am for our national parks system!!), but we found it.It is a testament to Vance’s improved health that he was able to join us in this hike. I’m still amazed and grateful. Exertion affects him so much more than the rest of us, and he really does have to measure out his energy by teaspoons. We don’t take family hikes for granted.It was a fun path on the edge of the Sierra Nevadas, along a gorge, over a river, along a rock face, through a cave–totally worth the detour. Me denting the not-our-car in a panicked reverse on a narrow, steep, one way gravel road? Ugh. I still don’t want to talk about that.Last week the kids and I took a day trip to Portugal. It’s only 45 min across the border, and everyone here raves about how beautiful it is. We didn’t get up to Lisbon or Lagos (one day!), but we explored some of the little towns and beaches nearby.Yes, there were lots of decisions, navigating and parking and figuring out what to see—and it was all worth it.It’s so easy to get to Portugal, and we left so spur of the moment, that I forgot to study any Portuguese. Yes, it’s like Spanish, but it’s also very different. I felt like my stereotype– the big dumb American who can’t communicate except in English. I learned hello, please, and thank you real quick over lunch. 😉One of the things on our bucket list was to go to a flamenco show. We had seen some performances on the streets that were actually remarkably good. Sevilla is the birthplace of flamenco, which is rooted in the gypsy dances of old. Even there, however, there is hot debate about where to find non-touristy “flamenco puro“. We drove back into Sevilla–it was fun to drive back by our stomping grounds from there beginning of our time in Spain. We miraculously found street parking AND our way through the maze of old winding streets AND made it in time to get a decent spot in line.True flamenco is supposed to be experienced in a small, intimate setting, because the musicians and dancers need to be able to communicate effectively to the audience. Flamenco dancers are judged by their duende–intensity of expression. I am no dance expert, but I think we saw plenty of duende at the Casa de la Memoria. The percussive, intricate rhythms flooded the room with inescapable emotion. The vocalist actually looked like she could have been part gypsy, and her voice was hauntingly evocative. Vance in particular loved watching the guitarist, and he was incredibly skilled. We were emotionally exhausted after just watching–it was that intense. It was the perfect capstone for our Spain leg.