HOLDING HANDS AND SMOKING

I have noted while sitting outside enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening that people everywhere walk about the streets holding hands or linking arms. It is heartwarming and charming to see older couples, young couples, short and tall couples, fat and thin couples, mother and daughters and even fathers and sons walking arm in arm or holding hands. It is the European way and also the custom throughout Latin America. Everyone greets with a kiss on both cheeks and a hug.   

The Spanish show their emotions in every aspect of their life. They talk with their hands and face. A woman across from me having a wine throws her hand up, then down, then left, now right and her eyebrows are doing the same.

At the Sunday Mass in Santiago the choir director raised his entire body up and down, arms extended wide to guide the choir. I lost count of how many squats this man did. Bending low then raising up to encourage the choir to raise their voices.  And even though there is emotion in their language the atmosphere is very laid back, the don’t walk from place to place they saunter.

I also noted many more smokers and this is true in much of Europe.  Many in business suits, some in casual wear or work clothes.  Many roll their own cigarette. In the USA if we saw people rolling a cigarette in the street or outside a café, we would question the “type” of tobacco they were using, but here, it is just that, tobacco. I googled highest lung cancer rates per capita and was sure Spain was on the list, but actually Russia and Eastern Europe have higher rates along with China.

From Santiago de Compostela I took a train south to Seville. We pass some 50 miles of olive groves and I think of all the olive oil I have consumed here. Most restaurants bring a bowl of olives to the table with the wine. There are over 200 different varieties grown in Spain and each has a distinct flavor.

The Plaza deToros in Seville is the largest and most important bullfighting arena in Spain. The arena holds 13,000 and has a Baroque facade dating back to 1762. It is actually quite barbaric and hard to believe it is still practiced in Spain. I read that the bullfighters are treated like rock stars and can make up to 100 grand per fight. But the poor bulls are always slaughtered after the fight which seems so unfair.

The Seville Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic structures in the world and has ceilings that are some 140 feet high. The only son of King Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile was baptized in this cathedral. Both of these structures were within walking distance of my hostel. They are beyond words or photos- you just have to be there.

At my hostel I encounter a young woman from Denmark and a young man from Poland. Both are students and taking classes via zoom and decided they may as well travel and study.  One of the perks of living in Europe is that all the countries are just a short drive to the next country. It still amazes me how different they are in language, food and culture.

Two couples from Seattle Washington sit with me for coffee one day and ask me what it is like to travel alone- at my AGE!!  Good grief you would think I was almost 70. I tell them it is like life- there is a flip side to everything in life.

For the most part I enjoy all the perks of doing what I want, eating when I want and staying in a museum as long as I want. One of the times I would like to have a companion is when I get lost. I tried to use my phone for directions to walk to the train station a few miles away. I refuse to pay a taxi. I hold the phone with the top of it north, but it seems to keep pointing me in a circle.  Hmmm maybe I need to hold it up side down with the top south, nope, still taking me in circles, OK maybe I need to be upside down.

This is when I want to travel with someone young. My friend back in Missouri has a daughter Molly who is a wiz at computers and such and I want to scream ”Molly, help!!” but I don’t want to call or text her for advice or directions I just want her here, with me to just take the phone and do whatever needs to be done to make it right. I am a slightly older dog and not into learning too many new tricks.

No matter how lost I am I seem to always find my way and I tell myself in those lost moments, you can reward yourself with a nice meal and a glass of wine once you get to where you are going. Yesterday I found the right bus -#32, the right train and then the correct subway to my next stop and went out and had a ½ liter of Sangria to celebrate. Then I got lost walking the ½ block back to my hostel because of the Sangria!