Granada, Spain

The ¨Search for the Holy Grail¨ theme continued as we traveled from Valencia to Granada. We kept seeing signs for Murcia, and we couldn´t help but think of coconuts. ¨Murcia? But Murcia is a temperate zone. The coconut is tropical.¨

The 7-hour bus ride was filled with vistas of orange groves, olive groves, pomegranates, some corn, ancient castles, the Mediterranean Ocean, rocky cliffs, mountainside caves that serve as homes, and even snow-capped peaks as we got closer to Granada. Gary explained that Benidorm, a highly developed (like Cancun) city on the coast, is where all of the Madrileños hang out in June, July and August. He said that some of the clubs in Madrid even rent space in Benidorm to serve their regular clients.

The south of Spain doesn´t get much rain, and the colors are muted--rust, taupe, and dark green--and the ground is caliche-like. It definitely feels much different than the north of Spain, which gets lots of rain and is very green. It´s a different kind of beauty, sort of like the Southwestern U.S.

While we were on the road, Mariana and I reviewed our assigned chapters with the students. Everyone seems to be getting into the story (telenovela) that Spain is. I also enjoyed hearing what scenes they´d witnessed in Valencia and how they´d written or would write about them. Lee Gutkind, the author of the book I assigned, says that all good stories begin with a conflict, where you show a person or subject in action. We talked about the best way to start a story about Ish´s experience of having his wallet pickpocketed in Valencia. He´s the second person on our tour to lose valuables. Caroline´s purse was stolen in Madrid. Luckily, both of them were wearing their important documents (passport, etc.) under their clothes.

Gary bought ¨Open Season¨ for us to watch on the bus after our lunch stop. Aedan was very happy to have an age-appropriate film to enjoy, and she was also very happy to discover a pool at our hotel. We decided to give it a try. Some of our Alaskan busmates had already made it down, and they said the water was fine. Texans should never ask Alaskans for pool temperature advice. We jumped in and were immediately covered in goosebumps. Think Barton Springs in Austin times two. Invigorating, to say the least. I´m proud of two of my students, Erica and Sarah, who also joined the Polar Bear Club.

Tomorrow, we are going to take a guided tour of La Alhambra, another architectural marvel. This will be my third visit, but I´m still looking forward to its magic. Granada was the Moorish capital from 711 to 1492, and it still feels more Arabic than Spanish or European. After our tour of La Alhambra and the surrounding gardens, we will have time to walk through the Albaicin, an ancient Moorish market that hasn´t changed much, if any, over the years. Since we´re not taking the optional trip to Morocco, it´s the closest we´ll get. (It´ll be like going to Market Square in San Antonio instead of making the trek to Laredo.)

When we were in Valencia´s Cathedral yesterday, the audio tour spoke of some saint whose name I didn´t catch, but he was St. So and So, the Magnanimous. It made me think of a guy who works at the Domino´s Pizza near our home in San Antonio. His nametag reads Antoine, the Legendary. It cracks me up every time I see it. It also makes me think what adjective I´d like to use to describe me. Since magnanimous and legendary are already taken, I´ll have to come up with something else.