Sometimes I just miss everywhere I've been... ♥

No matter how much I may enjoy where I am, I'll get a wave of missing where I've been. As a traveler I've been asked over and over, "Where's your favorite spot?". That's the hardest question to answer. Like when someone asks, 'What's your favorite movie, book, song?" How do you pick a favorite song when there are so many great ones? I don't think I'm the only one afflicted by this.

When I want constructed beauty with secret spots, I miss Paris. When I want loud laughter, sunshine and instant friends, I miss Barcelona. When I want to walk for miles from sun up to sun down, I miss the Camino. When I want to refuel on love, good food, and easy living, I miss the South of Spain. When I want to sit on the floor drinking wine, chatter over coffee, and laugh till I pee my pants, I miss Toronto.

I have one month till I return to Toronto. Ask me a month ago and I had very solid reasons for returning. I was very firm in why I was going back. I knew myself so well though that I bought a ticket then... because if I didn't, I'd get caught up in the moment, and who knows how many months it would be before I felt the pull to go back. I have important people to see, jobs to attend to, a life to 'get in order'. Right? Well, listening to the waves of the ocean, that all seems impossible. I've made promises that I need to keep, but otherwise I feel like everything else can wait. Maybe I have Bocas fever and a case of Hotel California Syndrome but I think it's safe to say, the 'live by the seat of your pants' is the lifestyle for me. I don't think I'll be grounded in one place for too long, even a place I've missed so much. I give myself three months before these itchy feet are ready to roam again. I cringe and smile to start the ticking clock, 30 days till I touch home snow.

  

WEBSITE COUNTDOWN WIDGET

Photo credit starting from top, Paris by Jenn, Barcelona by Nat, Camino by Alex, South of Spain by Alex, Outside Toronto with Jus by Kate.

Ten days to christmas...really?

I have grown up with the North American Christmas craze. Every store beacons you to gaze upon it's glorious gifts. Going into a store can be dangerous because it ends up being 'one gift for you, one gift for me'. Decorations for every religion are piled onto everything as the Hallowe'en decorations are being taken down. Holiday tunes blare from everywhere putting you in the spirit or making you miserable depending on the day.

This year though I'm in a small city in Spain where the decorations aren't glittering with the same gusto. There are very pretty lights in most of the main streets. There is a giant tree outside city hall made of poinsettias and a big white and blue tree in another square. The stores have hardly any signs or lights or decorations but outside most store doors are pots of poinsettias.
Here children write letters to Papa Noel who begins the holidays AND the Three Wise Men who mean it's back to school time. I know Santa has Elves to help him with all his mail but I haven't found out who is secretary to the Wise.
The public television here has no advertisements, so no holiday cheer there. Then the channels that do have ads are predominately for perfume (which make me blush), ham legs (which make me cringe) and lottery (which leaves me confused). Where is their sense of over dramatized commercialism to show your love?
The lottery is what people turn to when they're old enough to know that Santa isn't going to be giving them a gift. People here say "Happy Christmas, Prosperous New Year" in the regular tone then very animatedly say "but good luck on the lottery!" and have a five minute conversation about their numbers and where they'll be. Tickets cost 20-23Euros depending where you buy them and people wait in line for up to four hours (in Madrid, Port de Sol) for their tickets, so says the Spanish news.


In other news, I'm at the only internet cafe in Almuñecar where I asked for a coffee with chocolate and they brought me this...
It's not a Spanish morning if there aren't a few heaps of sugar.
... needless to say it was a delicious-warm-coffee-chocolate-delight

Immaculate Conception Day, Pasapalabra & Rum

This quote attributed to Winston Chrurchill was recently shared with me...

"Nowadays we have reduced the world to a twentieth of the size it was 100 years ago. People can rush about frantically through the air. They certainly do not see the beauties of the world, and it is surely their responsibility to show that they make it better. It is a delusion to think that being able to move rapidly about from place to place makes people happier or wiser. As for the advantages of travel, they may be greatly exaggerated. In order to know anything about a country you must walk through it. You must sleep on its soil, pluck its foliage with your fingers. You must light your fires by its fiords and streams, and watch the dawn break beyond strange mountains."

It fits beautifully with the way of life I experienced on the camino and the life I would like to strive for as I travel.

The past few weeks I have been relaxing here in the south of Spain. Spending a lot of time getting pushed around my Abuela's kitchen, having Spanish verbs corrected by cousins, and dipping my feet in the Mediterranean. This week has been especially busy, what with watching as the city workers tend to the palm trees, visiting a Medieval market set up near the beach, and observing two holidays! 'Constitution Day' a civic holiday that not everyone had off work and 'Immaculate Concepcion' day where the church bells rang and fireworks bursted.
Wednesday I dropped in on an acting class where I read the part of Dorthey Simple in the Tennesse Williams play, 'The case of the crushed petunias' it was a laugh and I learned a few Spanish acting warm-up games too! (I plan to go back every Wednesday I'm still in Almuñecar)
Also to help with my Spanish self-education I've been watching a game show called 'Pasapalabra' (pass the word) where two contestants compete against each other with two celebrities at their side answering word game related trivia questions to rack up time points. Then with those time points the contestants stand on their own and race the clock answering questions in an alphabetical order, saying Pasapalabra for the words they don't know and thus hopping over the letter of their alphabet circle. It's brilliant and I learn more words every episode. It's bliss when I actually understand the announcer (who speaks faster than an auctioneer) and can shout an answer at the tv.
To add to the busy week I've had a couple day trips. Yesterday I went to Malaga to visit family. Today I went to Motril, the city of the sugar cane. There I stopped at a museum and the Ron Montero where I tried their 'Superior Taste' Awarded rum with hot chocolate. It was velvety delicious and I can't believe as a cold Canadian I haven't always been spiking my hot chocolate!
Keep warm Toronto!