Wanderlust and Other Reflections

Will there ever come a time in my life when I read about someone else's adventures without being envious? A time when I don't get that familiar knot in my stomach and a sudden desire to drop everything and explore the world? Sometimes I hope not; and other times I can't wait since there's never money enough or time (there's plenty of world!) to do it all.

It's so bad that even reading fiction can bring on these urges to drop everything and hop on a plane. Reading El medico, I found myself wishing I had been born centuries ago to embark on a journey of such proportions at a time when the world was so much bigger--travelling from England to Persia in the middle ages! Nowadays it's hard to find an equivalent for such an adventure.

Even as a little girl, I was enchanted by the adventures of Laura Ingles Wilder. I wanted to explore the Big Woods, churn my own butter, and ride the prairie alone on my horse. I think I would have been a great pioneer. ;)

My current book, Captive in Arabia, the biography of an adventurous (and maybe crazy) French-Basque woman, Marga d'Andurain, has got me thinking: am I like that? She can't seem to stay in one place for long, and is constantly searching for adventure and escape from the routine. I think perhaps I am similar, but with healthy dose of common sense. One of her craziest adventures involved marrying a Bedouin man with the sole purpose of using him as a passport to visit Mecca, Medina and other sacred cities of Islam. This was in the late 1920's. No European woman had ever done such a thing before. She spoke very poor Arabic, knew nearly nothing about Islam (however, she was officially converted), was unfamiliar with the Bedouin customs; and if she was discovered as a fake, she and her "husband" would be killed!

That doesn't appeal to me.

However, the lure of undiscovered paradises, new experiences, hidden beaches, mountains, or exotic foods never lets travel get far out of my mind. A few weeks ago I got a mass email from one of my high school best friend's younger sisters who is working in Tajikistan at the moment. As I read about her adventures, I couldn't suppress my desire to experience such a radically different culture. Not even the first few paragraphs dedicated to the mealy worms found swimming in her favorite breakfast lessened my urge to rush to Malaga and catch a plane to Tajikistan.

Some of you might ask, isn't it enough to live abroad? Yes, except that living somewhere inherently means confronting the day to day, mundane reality of a place. In the beginning, those daily parts of life abroad are part of the adventure--they're novel--but slowly they become a part of reality to such an extent that they lose the luster of "otherness" and show themselves to be merely the way things are. Still, that transition from novelty to routine, is a gratifying experience in itself; it's a measure of just how much one has become a part of a place and visa-versa.

Having lived here for four years now, I certainly feel a part of this place. Spain and Andalucia have changed me and continue to shape who I am. When I travel back to the US for visits, I experience something like a dual reality: there is the American me, who knows the ropes; and the semi-Spaniard who is shocked by the enormity of Costco ketchup bottles.

Yesterday I came across this quote from Nelson Mandela: "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." The real beauty and adventure of travel are the experiences and opportunities to change that it affords. Perhaps, what I really love about travelling is the element of self-discovery.

Does that mean boredom with my Self is the cause of my feverish need to go places? ;)

My sister Maggie has just begun her own travel adventure. She's now arrived in Belgium where she'll be participating in the Rotary Youth Exchange program for the year. Reading her blog, "Bonjour Belgique", I can't help but think about how much this year will change her. Inevitably, I'm a little envious, but as they say in Spanish it's "envidia sana" (healthy envy). I'm proud of her for taking such a big step, and at the same time I can't believe she's done it. I left home for college when Maggie was nine years old, and somehow she and Lucy are still babies in my mind.

Maggie's exchange is irrefutable proof that my sisters are growing up. Lucy will be a senior at PHS this school year. And soon my parents will be empty nesters! While I can't believe that my "baby" sisters are getting so big, I am proud of the beautiful, strong, intelligent people they are becoming. In the case of my sisters, it's something like the opposite of Mandela's quote--seeing how much they have changed, forces me to see the unperceived changes in myself.

Summer Storms

It rained today! After last week's suffocating heat, today it hasn't gotten above 80 and we even had a thunder storm. It seems that Autumn will come...some time. What a relief to see cloudy skies after so much sun; variety really is the spice of life.

This late August storm caught us by surprise this morning. It was cloudy as we headed to the pool for our daily swim, but we didn't think anything of it until about 6 laps into it when it started to rain. We kept swimming, but when the storm was near enough to hear thunder, we got out of the water in a hurry! Today I only managed to get 800m in before the fear of electrocution forced us to leave. I'll go for a run this afternoon.

My garden is appreciative of this change in the weather, to be sure. Even my sun-loving tomatoes were beginning to tire of this heat. They have, however, continued to blossom, literally! There are a number of new flowers on my plants even if the ends of some of the older leaves are withering from the constant heat and sun, but so far I haven't seen any new fruit. What's there is still as green and hard as ever, but I have faith that it won't be long before I've got some red beauties on the vine.

My potatoes are no more. Yesterday I dug them up. What fun! If you've never harvested potatoes, it might just be about the most fun thing ever; it's like a treasure hunt! You start to break the ground around the roots of the plant, and little by little round yellow nuggets begin to surface. :) Next year I want to plant more just so I'll have more to harvest!

As you can see, they aren't huge, but a far better harvest this year than last! There are some decent potatoes in the group...along with the minis, cherry potatoes, as I call them. ;) I'm planning to make papas alinadas, those are boiled potatoes with aioli sauce--yum. My friend Antonio taught me to make my own aioli from milk, rather than egg! No salmonella for me, don't worry, Chris.

I love the smell of the world after rain!

Bar Tender in Training...

That's right, my wife's put me to work. Business isn't exceptionally good (unfortunately), but in summer she sets out tables in the terraza and at crunch time it's tough to handle orders inside and outside.

...That's where I come in--working 12:30 to 2:30am.

Yesterday was my first night. It's not all new to me (I have helped in the past), but I of course had to relearn a thing or two. I don't particularly like helping at the bar mostly because Angelines is a complete perfectionist when it comes to her job and I don't take orders or criticism well. ;) It's kind of a recipe for disaster. Last night was fine except for one moment when she told me to hold the bottle higher above the glass while pouring! (why?!)

So right now I'm getting ready for my second night on the job. Wish me luck. ;)

(I'm secretly hoping it's not busy so I can just come home...is that bad?)

Andalucía Desafío Doñana 2010

Sweltering in Spain

We're having a heat wave... does that qualify as "news" in Southern Spain??

Anyway, the past three days have been horribly hot: lows of 88 (that's around 4 am) and highs of 115! We've bought a fan and yesterday we had our siesta on the living room floor with the a/c and fan running. Around 9 or 10 o'clock, when it's a mere 90 degrees out, is when we can actually comfortably leave the house.

Yesterday the atmosphere was just oppressive; you could SEE the heat. The mountains nearby were almost completely hidden by a nasty, hot, haze. It almost looks like smog, but in fact it's hot air currents from the Sahara that bring desert dust across the Straight to Spain. So that's where the ultra-hot weather is coming from. Thank you, Africa.

As you can imagine, the heat isn't any good for working out. I was running around 9, but these past few days it was even too hot for that. Despite the otrageous temperatures, we have been getting our exercise at the city pool.

Just last year La Roda opened the new city pool--Olympic size. We go nearly every day and I usually swim between 1km and 1mi (that's 1,600 meters). Yesterday I did 2 km! So with all this swimming, I've decided to do a triathlon. I found one in Chiclana, Cadiz on the 12 of September. It's a 20km bike ride, 750m swim and a 5km run. Easy. ;)

In my searches for triathlons and other foot races, I came across one that looks awesome: Desafio Donana (the above video). It's a long distance triathlon--169km bike, 1km swim, 30km run-- but I think it's a good goal for next year. It goes through one of Andalucia's most beautiful and most famous Natural Parks, Parque Natural Donana. The swim is crossing the Guadalquivir river (the biggest in Andalucia) at its mouth and then running along the beach to the finish. It's a big goal...but I think keeping this in mind might just give me the motivation I need to continue working out and training through the winter.

That's all--off for my morning swim!

Thoughts on science

I finished El Medico this morning--great book. It tells the story of a young Christian man in the middle ages who travels to Persia to study medicine. Because of Christian-Islamic tensions, he disguises himself as a Jew with the hope of being admitted into one of the best schools of medicine of the time. It's an incredible saga and especially interesting for anyone who's scientifically or medically inclined.

I was struck while reading by just how long it takes for traditions, societies and cultures to change. The middle ages was a time when European doctors were at best well-intentioned but completely ignorant of most diseases and their respective causes and cures; and at worst, greedy, blood-suckers who capitalized on popular ignorance to line their own pockets, charging outrageous prices for minimal services. Medicine was nearly tantamount to witchcraft, and many doctors and other healers were tried and convicted of the crime. The Church believed only priests and saints to be the legitimate care-takers of the human soul and body.

In the Middle East, however, under Islamic caliphates, medical studies flourished and doctors enjoyed respect in society. Nonetheless, many of the findings and breakthroughs made in Eastern medicine didn't make their way to Europe for centuries; one exception being Spain, where there was a strong Islamic government for 700 years. In fact, in the novel, the main character is presented with Spain as an option for study since being Christian automatically makes him an ineligible candidate for the madrases of the Islamic East.

I also finally watched Agora. In the film, the Library of Alexandria, home to thousands of important volumes on everything from philosophy to science and medicine, is destroyed. The main character is killed for her pursuits in science and philosophy and especially her studies of the stars and the movement of the planets--namely that the Earth isn't the center of the universe. This is because her beliefs and practices, like those of doctors in the middle ages, go against the current theology of the time.

And for a moment I was glad to live in an enlightened age... But then I thought of things like stem cell research and same-sex marriage where religious beliefs and morals are still obstructing science and human rights and I realize that we've got a long way to go.

Will there come a time when people look back at us now and marvel at how we could have been so ignorant?

Magnum Opus

You are in the presence of greatness--behold my masterpiece! (ehem, humility is not one of my strong points. ;)

This is a huge cable spool that Angelines has had outside the bar for about five months. It's one of her outdoor tables. She's wanted to paint it for some time, but it wasn't until yesterday that we (really I) actually got around to it.

I started at 7:30pm last night, spent all night dreaming about it and woke up this morning early to finish before the heat became to suffocating. Seven hours of work, and this is what you get. Feel free to be awed.