From What I Remember

I have been so busy doing nothing, that I have not put anything interesting up here for weeks. So, I will start with a few tidbits about my time in Spain and try not to be too wordy.

When you are travelling in Sevilla with a dog and you want to take a cab, here is a tip. Don’t wait on the street and flag one down. Despite the messy smelliness of most cabs many of them are reluctant to pick you up if you have giant white dog with you. You need to call the tele cab line and request a cab and specify that you are travelling with a “perro”. If you are lucky you can then spend the next few hours sitting in an outdoor tapas bar with various friends from around the world and a hot Moroccan waiter. While you wait for your cab to finally show up.

You might not appreciate the idiot who forgets to turn off his cell phone in the theatre, but don’t take your anger out on cell phones. They make travelling so much easier. Imagine ten years ago trying to meet up with friends who have been hanging out in Tenerife, in the Plaza de San Francisco in Seville? There would have had to be letters and calls before the vacation, emails and hope during the time and Seville, and who knows if you would have actually met up. A few text messages and Juan from Venezuela, Kim, Di, and me from Canada, Jo from England and Ro from Mexico ended up drinking cervejas on a patio in Seville.

Moroccan waiters never live in singularity. They always have a friend. So whether you want to travel to Morocco or get into a private tent during the Flamenco Feria knowing a Moroccan waiter can be helpful. Just remember to charge your cell phone so that you can call him when you are looking for a flamenco tent in the city center. An address book would never power down when you needed it.

Meeting a friend’s family can be worrisome. Are they going to be as cool as your friend? Are they going to be annoyed by your giant dog who will be endlessly searching for a hand to pet her? If you are lucky they end up being as nice and Roberto’s brother and sister-in-law Juan-Carlos and Jo. Kootenay managed to find two friends, one who would feed her chicherones and one who would pat her anytime she needed lovin’. If she could figure out how to safely swim the English Channel would probably be visiting them right now.

Spanish leather goods and flamenco fans and shawls are overpriced souvenirs, but if you don’t pick up the green leather purse you liked you will probably regret it despite the fact that it is over priced. And the shawl would look great with your black cotton dress.

If you are renting a car and planning to follow friends round Spain it helps you can get cars that aren’t as common as silver and black. When four lanes over Spanish drivers try to fit into two lanes of road it is hard to keep you eye on the lead car if it looks like every other car ahead of you and they just ran a yellow light.