May 10, 2011 Tuesday

Once again we arrive at the airport two hours plus early and because on our first leg we only fly to LA, we have to wait a long time, but everything so far is smooth and nice. We probably didn’t have to get up at three in the morning; we probably could have gotten up easily at 3:30, but maybe everything was easy because we were so early. 

May 11, 2011 Wednesday

Here in business class Iberia, flying to Spain from Mexico City.  The chairs stretch into beds. But I am awake and it is 3 am in Spain, although we are still in the sky. I think about how lucky we are to fly this way, in such comfort. And the food they served was wonderful gourmet. We are thankful for air miles and the chance to use them!

Sevilla May 2011

May 12 Thursday

We arrived easily, with all our bags. Stephanie, as planned, met us here and cooked us some wonderful avocado soup and shrimp cevici. 

Beautiful twenty-nine year old Stephanie, with her long dark hair and Yaqui face, could be mistaken for a Gypsy. Later that night, she returned to Jerez, where she is staying with her singing teacher, Chiqui de Jerez. Chiqui comes from a long line of Gypsy artists in Jerez. She takes Stephanie around and makes her sing for all her friends and family. She is proud of her industrious student. And Stephanie truly has a beautiful voice as well as the discipline to train it to Flamenco. 

Stephanie is living her own version of “living with the Gypsies” and being immersed in Flamenco, like our friends who were lucky enough to be in Moron de la Frontera in the 60’s and 70’s, when Diego del Gastor and other great artists were alive. Spain then was a different place and the foreign Flamenco addicts were accepted and taught. Now their stories are Flamenco history. But our young friends like Stephanie and Lakshmi are creating their own Flamenco legends. 

That first day in Sevilla we had short visits from close friends Lakshmi Basile, Juan del Gastor and his wife Lucy, Carlos Heredia, and later from Paco Fernandez, his wife Pilar and daughter Soleá. Soleá at twelve years old looks like fourteen, with the body of a woman. But her face and personality are still that of the loving child that she is.

In between our visitors, Freddie slept most of the day while I unpacked. Yuko, our roommate for a month, arrived from North Carolina. I should say “my” roommate, because Freddie plans to get to the beach at Palmar (Cadiz province) as quickly as possible. Yuko, in her forties, is slender, with long black hair. She is quiet and very nice.

Freddie and I did take a little walk today here in Sevilla, in our calle Feria neighborhood, and he walked more easily than he has since his massive stroke more than five years ago. He kept commenting on how much he loves Spain and its friendly people. The weather was pleasant and the streets, as always, filled with people enjoying their lives. 

May 13, 2011 Friday

We are at a Flamenco Peña with Paco and Pilar in Los Palacios, a little pueblo very close to the pueblo of Utrera. Paco is gong to play Flamenco guitar tonight and his old friend of more than twenty years, El Morenito de Illora, will sing. Pure, wonderful flamenco music is playing in the Peña right now while we wait. The show starts at eleven PM and lasts an hour.

The Peña is beautiful, with wonderful and historical Flamenco photos covering the wall. I took photos with my IPhone.

Our first full day in Spain and we attend an incredible Flamenco event, first row table, free, and with good friends. We have known Paco and Pilar for years and they have visited us in California. Paco Fernandez is Concha Vargas’ nephew and we first met his parents, Curro and Esperanza, in 1999. A year or two later we met Paco and became friends. Now slightly balding, with a little more weight, in his early forties, his easy smile and warm heart are still engaging. 

 His wife Pilar is model beautiful, tall and brown and thin, with long brown hair. She always dresses like a model, using her artistic eye to create a “perfect” look. Her father is a former guitarist who now repairs guitars, Andres Domingues. Her mother, a Gypsy woman who loved to dance but was not professional, died this year. We were very sad about it. 

El Morenito de Illora (pueblo de Granada), (whose real name is Guillermo Campo) sang incredibly. And Paco Fernández accompanied him exquisitely. They are both wonderful Flamenco artists.

El Morenito sang Malagueñas, Solea, Bulerias, Fandango, Siguiriyas, and more Bulerias. He was very moving. We loved his Cante Hondo (deep serious Flamenco singing).

I was so sorry that I hadn’t brought anything to record with, but having just arrived, I wasn’t thinking and I had no idea that this would be so good. Basically, we just got in the car and were taken. Too bad I didn’t even bring my Phone that has a recorder; I just had to record this in my memory. 

What a wonderful way to begin our trip. It feels like a good omen. –Quite incredible. 

End of Chapter 1.

May 18, 2011 Wednesday

I have been feeling depressed all night. The internet here at Angel’s (our landlord) has been out since last Friday, the day after we arrived. I know that I am a bit internet-dependent and this cramps my efficiency. I have had to go to the corner café, Bar Hercules, for internet and have been using my iPhone there so I don’t have to lug the computer. I feel disconnected.

The other plan gone astray is that Angelita Vargas is not teaching right now, because there aren’t enough people enrolled in her class. But I came to study with Angelita and thought that I would start classes the day I came or the day after. Here I am after a week with no dance classes. We are still working on it, trying to organize something small, but everything in Spain moves slowly. 

I am also tired, as I got up early this morning to take the bus back to Sevilla from el Palmar, the beach where Freddie is now staying. 

He and I went down on Monday, after Paco and Pilar took me to drop off my partially unlocked iPhone (which I had bought specifically to use here in Spain) at a shop in Triana. The technician there is a friend of Paco’s and Paco says that he is brilliant. I called today and Fran (Francisco), the technician wasn’t sure that he could unlock it. But, because it had an iPhone 4 case he had assumed that it was an iPhone 4, which can’t be unlocked, or liberated, as they say here. 

When he realized that it was an iPhone 3, he said that he would try and that he would get back to me in a few days. Right now I am using the phone that was supposed to be Freddie’s, so Freddie doesn’t have a phone, which means that I can’t call him at the beach. I did send him a message from the internet café a little while ago, in case he checks his email. Of course, now that I am back, I was able to find his old phone from last year, which is terrible, but which Freddie could have used in the interim. But I am planning to go back to the beach on the weekend, assuming that I get a ride. I can take it to him then, if I get to Triana to retrieve the card from the phone in the shop.

On Monday, when we arrived in Palmar, the Levante, the wind that drives people crazy, was blowing and the weather was cold. We got Freddie settled in a room with its own bathroom in Hector’s place. It is nice. Freddie will cook upstairs at the Azotea until it opens in late May. Then he has to negotiate cooking with the women who run it, our friends Mar and Aspi. 

Freddie has rented the room for a month and a half. After that it has already been rented to some other people. So we are still looking for a place at the beach to rent for July. 

Hector is an interesting character here at the beach. He was born in Mexico, but he was raised in Los Angeles. He had a successful career in New York City as a fashion designer, married and had three children. After spending some time in India, he moved to Spain and eventually to Palmar, where he bought this large white building. As I wrote last year, he rents the front part to an Argentinean restaurant. His home is in the back part of the ground floor and Freddie’s room is on the other side of Hector’s home. The L’Azotea, the social club which is now run by Mar and Aspi, is on the roof. 

Hector has been divorced for a while and lives the happy life of a loved bachelor. He is both charismatic and artistic, like Freddie. In fact, Freddie could be his father. Hector is only fifty, but will have his next birthday in June, like Freddie. His blue eyes laugh out of his brown face. He is very tall and a little heavy, but still extremely attractive. Like Freddie, everyone loves him and he has a big wonderful heart. 

The evening that we arrived we took Hector out to eat at the Cortijillo, a wonderful fish place almost next door. Of course we spent more money than we had intended. 

The Corijillo is the small, beachfront restaurant near where we stayed at the end of our visit last year. Our friend Jose owns it, but this year he rented it out to the big Jose, who is the cook. So everything is basically the same except that Jose-the-owner doesn’t have to do much. He stopped by while we were eating and they made him an omelet from eggs from his chickens. We all tasted it. He also ordered the fried long green peppers that I had forgotten about. I love them. Freddie and I ordered the navajas, a long shellfish that is a delicacy here. I have no idea what the name is in English. We also ordered French fries to go with it; they make their own French fries here and they are delicious. Freddie and Hector ate salads. 

My stomach was messed up, probably from the food in Mexico City, and this was the first day since arriving in Spain that I felt well enough to eat much and I was hungry, but not for salad. We all shared our food. Hector told me that he knew I was feeling better when he saw me eat the navajas with such gusto, which he told me later, can be hard on the stomach. They were fine on mine.

As we were eating, Jose told us about the guitar hanging on the wall above the entrance to the kitchen area in the restaurant. He had seen it lying in a field but left it, thinking that its owner would retrieve it. But when it started to rain and no one claimed it, he took it, but it had already been damaged by the rain. One of his workers, Juan, had tried to fix it and it had “no nails” glue smeared all over it. Freddie shuddered when he saw it. Jose has asked him to try to fix it and Hector has volunteered what tools he has. Freddie is in heaven. The only thing at home holding him back from this trip was his guitar repair work, which he loves and had just started to do again. Now he has that here. 

We slept very well that night on the comfortable bed and in the morning we walked down the small beachfront road, which is the main road, to the Kotadalu for breakfast. Freddie’s walking is so much better than last year. This trip he didn’t even bring his cane. 

When we got to the Kotadalu, we discovered that it is being remodeled and that there was no place close for breakfast. So we walked to the grocery store and bought food and I cooked when we returned. Freddie drank beer for breakfast. 

Later Hector told us that there is another place to go for breakfast. He may take Freddie there while I am away.

That day, while I checked the email at last with our portable modem and took care of business, Freddie helped Hector with some projects. The weather was cold but less windy than the night before. Later, Hector and a visiting German friend went to the beach. When Hector returned he said that the water was not too cold and was magnificent, so Freddie and I quickly changed clothes, grabbed towels, crossed the street and went down the small sand dune to the ocean. It was already around five o’clock, and the sun was out. We took a quick dip in the sea, and it was refreshing. Then we lay in the sun, shielded from the wind by a sand dune. 

Hector’s German friend Indira, was still there and we talked while soaking up the sun. Freddie left and Indira and I stayed and chatted until she had to go to a Yoga class. Even in Palmar there is Yoga, apparently. Indira and her boyfriend have a healing center outside of Vejer (a small, chic town on a hill above Palmar). Indira studied in India and combines a number of healing modalities into her own thing. 

When I returned, I took a shower and washed my hair and felt renewed. I heard voices outside and Hector was talking with Gila and Klaus, the older German couple we met last year. They are both writers and live in a house farther down the beach. They are a beautiful bohemian couple in their 70’s and 80’s. Klaus has had medical problems this year and had several operations in Germany. He looks older and slower than last year. But he is still driving, which he loves to do. Gila, slender like a bird, with shoulder-length grey-blond hair, is still beautiful and vibrant. It was nice to see them again. Gila does reflexology and offered to work on Freddie’s feet again. If I return for the weekend, we are invited for a Sunday breakfast.

Later, I was able to do a short shamanic journey and then I went up the metal outside stairs to the Azotea, the roof, to cook some dinner. The weather started to cool down again. We are not really into summer yet. It was so beautiful to look out and see the ocean and the fields and the little houses. 

Hector decided that the wind was quiet enough so he could paint his project. If the wind picked up it would ruin the paint job, but it didn’t until later, after the paint was dry. He was repairing a table that he had painted a picture on for another of Jose’s restaurants. Last year I included a photo of it, a mermaid. This year Jose has rented that restaurant out to the Kotadalu people who have made it into a Pizzeria, the second one in that small area.

The wind was starting up again and the moon was full.  The night was beautiful but cold. 

The next morning I got up at 7:45 AM, heated and ate my breakfast, and caught a taxi (ordered the night before) to Cruces de Conil to get the two-hour bus back to Sevilla. I had discovered, the day I took the bus with Freddie, that I could catch the bus at Cruces in addition to the one in Conil. Until summer, you have to take a taxi from Conil to Palmar, because the regular buses don’t run. But I also learned from Hector, that there are two local buses a day that do go to and from Conil and Palmar once or twice a day. On weekdays, until summer, only one bus leaves Conil for Sevilla and that is at 7 AM and takes 2 and ½ hours. My other option was to take the bus to Cadiz, which takes an hour, and then to transfer to the train to Sevilla, which takes over 2 hours. Last year I didn’t know of all these options. But I am hoping to get a ride down this weekend, because a ride usually takes about only an hour-and-a-half.

My roommate Yuko, just came home and we talked for a while. She is Japanese, but lives in North Carolina and teaches Japanese at the University there. She is another Flamenco addict and loves the same kind of Flamenco Puro that we do. We first met in a dance class, in 2007, and then met in other years too. She is a friend of Juan and Lucy’s as well. 

I decided to have roommates this year, to save money. The euro is very high compared to the dollar and now with Freddie renting at the beach as well, our expenses are big. But having roommates helps. Our friend Rina, from Atlanta and also from Japan, is coming in June with her daughter Akhane. The visits will overlap for about six days. Yuko and Rina are also friends. We all love “real” Flamenco. And I have met them both here in Sevilla. Rina and I see each other every year here and so we have developed a friendship. 

As I was talking to Yuko, I realized that I don’t feel depressed anymore. Writing brought me out of it. How wonderful. It is almost 1:30 AM and I was going to go to bed early!~ Lakshmi just called (she is home from work at Los Palacios Andaluz where she dances). I am going to start classes with her tomorrow, so at least I will be dancing. Good. I am ready.

Stephanie is coming early from Jerez tomorrow and I told her I would be up. Oh well. Time to go to bed. I am just glad that I feel good now.

End Chapter II. Check 1 and 2 for newer versions in the single copies!Thursday May 19, 2011

Oh Wow. What wonderful things are happening. I have done shamanic journeys for two days now in Spain and everything is turning around. 

Last night I emailed Chris about our internet problem. We first met Chris when he when he was in his early twenties and he attended UC Santa Cruz as a music major and started to study Flamenco guitar with James, our land-mate at home. Along with James, Chris accompanied the Flamenco dance classes that I taught.

That year Juan del Gastor did a residency at UC Santa Cruz while staying at our home. He inspired Chris, who took his classes, and when Chris graduated, he moved to Spain to study Flamenco more intensely. He stayed in Sevilla for several years. But one of his roommates’ friend visited from Germany and Chris fell in love and later moved to Germany to be with her.  

He just happened to decide to visit Sevilla for a month and showed up at our house yesterday, having just arrived. Later I emailed him from Café Hercules about our internet problem. This morning he showed up and fixed it! Now we have great wifi and we are grateful for it! We don’t just take it for granted. 

I took my first class (on this trip) from Lakshmi. We worked on Angelita dance vocabulary so that when Angelita starts to teach I won’t have to worry about what foot I’m on. The class was wonderful and I have another one tomorrow. My feet were so heavy when I started and by the end they were moving lightly and the right way! 

Lakshmi’s small studio is on the ground floor of her apartment building. Her building has only three apartments, one on each floor above the studio. The owner’s son, who used to live in Lakshmi’s apartment before she did, was a dancer. Only tenants are allowed to use the studio, but it is OK for Lakshmi to teach classes there and is very convenient. It has one barred window to the street and the metal door, which everyone uses to get to the stairs to their apartments. The residents store their bikes there. That floor also has a tiny room with a washing machine and a toilet. Just down a short hall the stairs start. Lakshmi is on the middle story. She has a balcony to the street and when we arrive, we call “Lakshmi” up to her window, and she either comes down or throws down the keys in a plastic bag so we can let ourselves in.

Lakshmi has been in our lives a while. A year younger than Stephanie, Lakshmi too has long dark hair and an exotic face with beautiful blue eyes. She is like a daughter to us, and even her parents refer to us as her second parents. They worry less about her when we are in Spain. She moved to Spain when she was twenty, to study Flamenco. She had been raised in a Faire family of performing musicians and she danced from the time she was a child. She imitated and learned from the Belly Dancers and Flamenco dancers who performed on the Faire circuit. 

Lakshmi has immense talent along with incredible discipline and her dancing looks very Gypsy. People are always amazed when they find out that she is American. Even her Spanish sounds Andalucían, with the accent of the southern Spain. She dances in a club six nights a week and performs at other Flamenco functions when hired.

This year when I arrived she lent me a small bike that just needed to have it brakes fixed. Angel took the bike to the bike store for me and they fixed the brakes for six euros. He lent me a lock, because bicycle theft is very big in Spain.

Immediately after Lakshmi’s class, I rode the bike home and arrived five minutes before Juan did. Juan taught a group cante class at the house with Yuko, Madeleine Perlman, and Madeleine’s student Diana. Yuko and I had already shared another cante class with Juan, so this was our second one this year. 

After the class I ate a little and tried to take a siesta but couldn’t sleep. A little later, Angel came and removed the top bunk of the bunk bed in the loft, so that the person who is in that room can now sit up in bed! Yuko had had trouble sleeping there because she had to get out of bed by sliding out first, so she could then stand up. Next Angel removed one of the twin beds from my room (as requested) and now I have space there. All that remains to be done is for our practice stage to be moved and set up.

Tonight Yuko and I went to see Ines Bacan and Tomas de Perrate and Antonio Moya. Of course many of my friends were there too – I saw Jill, and Lynn, and Lucy, Steve Kahn, and Madaleine Perlman (who took Juan’s singing class with us today). 

On the way there, I passed a structure that they have been building in Plaza Incarnación for years. It is finally done and quite ugly. But that night there were great crowds there and a demonstration was beginning. I learned later that this was one of many demonstrations going on in Spain right now. The people are tired of the economic crisis. They also want to be free to vote for people not just on their party’s ticket. There is a movement growing here. Our landlord Angel is very excited about it and sees it as one of hope. In Spain, people vote on Sunday.

After the performance, Antonio Moya (the guitarist for the singers) and I reminisced about when he carried Freddie up our steps in Soquel (California) after Freddie’s stroke. I had gotten permission to take Freddie to the show from Rehab, but after the show, which they dedicated to us, we took him up to the house to visit with the artists from the Arte y Pureza Flamenco troupe who were staying at the house. Freddie couldn’t walk up the stairs, he was still in a wheelchair and mostly paralyzed at the time. Antonio, who is big, carried him. I am sure the hospital would have had a fit if they had known. They did call the house to see where Freddie was! Antonio is another one with a big, good heart.

May 20, 2011 – Friday

As I do every year, I called Concha Vargas on her birthday today. She was in Cordoba and on her way to perform in France. She likes that I always remember her birthday. She is now living in Lebrija and teaching classes there. She says that students come from Sevilla to Lebrija to take lessons from her. We made plans for me to visit when she returns from France.

After my class with Lakshmi I was finally able to reach Hector by phone, to find out how Freddie is doing. Freddie was at the beach and Hector said that he was doing great. I have been trying to reach Hector for days, but we keep being out of sync. He returned my call while I was in the Ines Bacan concert with my phone turned off. Then I had to try calling Hector several more times, because he doesn’t always have his phone on him. 

I miss talking to Freddie. I am using Freddie’s phone and mine is still in the shop trying to get fully unlocked. But today the technician said that he may not be able to unlock it! He will know for sure by Monday. If not, I have wasted money on a phone and will have to buy something for Freddie, so I can talk to him while we are apart! 

I also tried to find a ride down to the beach but I couldn’t. Several people are going next week and I will definitely catch a ride with one of them. So, instead of taking the bus back after just having returned here on Wednesday, I have decided to stay here and rest. 

I haven’t been getting enough sleep because I have been having too much fun, and then spending a little time writing. I didn’t even have time to take a siesta today and I woke up earlier than planned. This room that I am now sleeping in has more morning light in it that the room that Freddie and I are used to sleeping in at this apartment. Yuko is now in that room. She likes it better than the loft. And I love the room I am in, except for waking up too early. And try as I may, I rarely seem to get to sleep early enough. 

After I returned from Lakshmi’s class I ate some lunch and before I knew it, it was time for the stores to reopen. I didn’t have any time to sleep or rest, although I did do another shamanic journey. 

I had many errands to do, but the first one took all my time. I rode the small, old bike that Lakshmi lent to me. It bounces a lot on the cobblestone streets and the seat is hard and I can feel it in my bottom hipbones. The bike doesn’t have gears, so I have to work hard, especially going up hills. On the way home I was riding down calle (street) Amor de Dios and another bike passed me, going more than twice as fast. Its wheels were normal size, not small and thick like mine. I am grateful to have a bike my size, but it is not easy to ride, and I rode for hours today, looking for a specific book. I did finally have success but I forgot about the other things I needed to buy. I have to finish by Saturday at 1:00 PM because all the stores will be closed after that until Monday.

When I arrived home, sweating and tired, Lucy was there with Yuko. We are still trying to organize classes with Angelita and Lucy had talked with her. Lucy had called me, but because my phone was in my pack while I was riding the bike, I hadn’t heard it ring. Right now, we don’t have quite enough people for a class with Angelita. The person who organized her classes last year has not been able to get her class going this time. Angelita is a great artist and should have a full class. It is more about advertising than anything.

This evening, after a shower and a quick bite to eat, my roommate Yuko and I walked up to Peña Macarena. Although I was exhausted and pushing myself even to go out, it felt so good to walk there. Ever since Freddie’s stroke we have taken taxis and I forget how close things really are in Sevilla. And the walking revived me as well.

Our friends Javier Heredia and Luis Peña were performing at the Peña (a Flamenco social club) along with two singers, a guitarist, and a female dancer.  Javi and Luis both do palmas, sing and dance. They are “festeros”, artists who perform at Fiestas and are multi-talented. When Freddie was still in the hospital just after his stroke, Javi and Luis, who were here on tour with Cihtli and Ethan’s Arte y Pureza, came to the hospital and danced and sang for him! We have known Luis since 1999, when he was still Luisito, when he used to hang out in la Carboneria. He was a young protégée of Juan’s then. Now he is a respected artist performing at the Peña and other places and countries as well.

Lakshmi rode her bike over to the Peña after her show at Palacios, still glamorous in her makeup –and always beautiful. She arrived at the end of the show, but we all hung out in the patio afterwards and talked and did a little dancing. Javi always likes to dance and when he recently stayed with us in California, we danced and laughed for weeks.

Chris was there (it is as if he still lives in Sevilla) and I saw and reconnected with many people, some of whom I remembered and some whom I didn’t! I have been around Sevilla for so many years, that I know a lot of people. Sometimes I forget how many people I have met and connected with here. But I did miss being there with Freddie! Of course, everyone asks about him and Luis especially wants to go down to the beach to visit him. But no one has a car. I keep asking.

One of the people I have also known since 1999 is tall Naoko, a striking dancer from Japan whom I met in Concha’s class in 1999 when Freddie and I were living at la Carboneria and Concha Vargas was teaching there. Naoko was already an advanced, star student then, and she is still studying with Concha and also with Luis. She also knows Yuko. The Flamenco world here is small, especially among those of us who love Flamenco puro, the old, funky Gypsy style. 

At the Peña I also reconnected with a woman and her daughter whom I had met in Angelita’s class last year. Her daughter had been devastated when Angelita’s class was canceled this year. She really wants to continue her studies with Angelita. She is in school but will be able to start classes after next week, if we can get them going. Meanwhile, I keep working on Angelita’s dance vocabulary with Lakshmi, but I want Angelita too!

I have to stop writing and get to bed. This always happens, but I do love to write. 

Sunday May 22, 2011

I am on the bus going to Palmar, via Cruces de Conil. I finally talked to Freddie last night and he really wanted me to come and Hector and Freddie said that the weather was beautiful; so here I am. –Total spur of the moment. I had been trying to reach Freddie by calling Hector since I left. I reached Hector once; he told me that Freddie was fine, but last night I finally got to talk to Freddie himself. Freddie has not figured out his internet so he didn’t get my emails. I will see what is going on when I get there. I also plan to get him his own Skype name so that we can Skype when I am in Sevilla. We have been missing each other.

So this morning, after not enough sleep, I got up very early so I could get a taxi and catch the 9:30 AM bus. As usual, I was ½ an hour early because everything moved like clockwork. But if it hadn’t ….

With no classes today and Angelita’s schedule being uncertain, I might as well be at the beach. Lakshmi is doing a gig in Italy today, so my guess is that our Monday class wouldn’t happen anyway. She was supposed to let me know. I may return Tuesday or Wednesday for class with Lakshmi if Angelita’s doesn’t start. I will take advantage of the beach and the pre-season quiet there. And I will be with Freddie, whom I miss and who misses me. 

End of Chapter 3.May 23, 2011 Monday  El Palmar

At the beach with Freddie– We have missed each other.

When my taxi from Cruce de Conil pulled in, Freddie and Hector were waiting for me. After I unpacked, Freddie and I took a long walk on the beach, up to the round circle near where the summer bus stop is. Freddie says that he has been taking this walk every day and this was the second walk of the day. He took me to a place to eat, and counting every penny he had with him, we had just enough money to pay, with only 25 cents left over.

Before I came, Freddie helped Aspi, Mar and Hector paint the Azotea and now his muscles hurt. I have been putting oils on him.

Last night we visited Jose, who was working on the house that we will probably rent in July. It used to be his mother’s house and is quite minimal. Jose is a local here. He is painting everything in the house and building some shelves. He has some new mattresses and new sheets. There is an outside sink and shower (in addition to the ones inside). It has two bedrooms, which we don’t really need, but I am sure that we will have visitors from Sevilla who will be happy about our extra room. Jose hasn’t figured out how much he will charge yet, and I just hope that he doesn’t decide to charge too much.

Jose is another artistic and interesting person. Freddie’s shoulders were still hurting when we visited Jose so Jose messaged Freddie with an herbal mixture he had made, which he had in a jar. He is a healer too. He is also an animal lover and has a loyal dog that he had rescued last year. This year he rescued two cute puppies that his older dog takes care of. Hector has named the older dog Bestia. Bestia, a large, shaggy black dog, is very intelligent and once helped save Jose when Jose was sick. I guess, they take care of each other.

May 23, 2011 Monday

The damp sand has ripples where the strong wind moved the water. It feels good on our bare feet. The wind has picked up today, but the weather is warm and Freddie and I braved the flying sand to wet our feet. The wind would come and go, but when it came, the sand stung my legs. When it went, it was heaven walking on the nearly empty beach. Yesterday there were hoards of Sunday people. Today the levante wind and Monday totally changed the picture. The dry warm sand messaged our feet and it felt so good! 

May 25, 2011 Wednesday

Today –overcast and windy, but not too cold. We have two more days left that we can cook in the kitchen upstairs. After that Mar and Aspi need it for their Lazotea. 

Freddie and I took a long walk on the beach today. When we got hot, we took a short dip in the still-cold ocean, and then walked on. The wind came up in gusts, starting to blow sand, but then it would die down again. Overall, it was pleasant and refreshing.

My Angelita classes will finally start on Monday, at Lakshmi’s studio. I am so happy. I guess I needed this short break at the beach. I have been walking, dipping in the ocean, eating, writing, and visiting with friends. 

Mar says that my Spanish is getting much better. I know it is improving, but there are some people who are still difficult to understand, although Hector assured me that Jose is hard for everyone to understand! I think that Jose said that we could use his refrigerator when we can’t use the one upstairs. I am still waiting for him to decide how much he will charge us for the rental. I am hoping that we can afford it. 

Mar has been trying to lose weight. She has been walking to the second tower near Conil, which is 3 kilometers, and then back, twice a day. She has invited me to go with her and I just may. Hector says that it is only half way to Conil. I want to walk all the way to Conil. 

I was going to return to Sevilla this week, but it looks like I may just stay here until Sunday. Relaxing has gotten the better of me. I am still waiting to hear the news re whether my iPhone has been liberated or not. Yes, everything moves slowly in Spain, except maybe the wind.

I forgot to write another piece of good news, although it is not really related to Spain. I hard order the new book of one of my favorite authors, Victor Villasenor. I inquired as to whether it would arrive before we left, because I wanted to read it on the plane. Victor’s sister, who handles this type of business, was kind enough to express mail it to me so I had it in plenty of time. I emailed back to thank her. Yesterday I received an email from her saying that their youngest sister, Teresita, was very much into Flamenco and she had seen on my email signature that I am too. She asked me to get in touch with her when we returned. I felt truly thrilled to now be connected to Victor Villasenor and his family. –Another gem to be thankful for.

Walking with Freddie along the ocean, feet in the cool salt water, I felt so grateful to be an in-shape, sexy, sixty-six year old woman. I felt beautiful and good and very thankful.

SPAIN CHRONICLES 2011

May 10-25 Writings
May 18 Writings
May 19-22 Writings
May 23-29 Writings
June 5-10 Writings
June 11-16 Writings
June 18-19 Writings
June 21-26 Writings
June 27 – July 9 Writings
July 17 – August 3 Writings
August 5-6 Writings