and I don’t know their names

As I sit on the deck of this hostel in Granada next to la Puerta de Elvira, in my peripheral vision are houses and churches and other buildings and trees on the hillsides, and I don’t know their names. It’s beautiful

This is the third morning sitting on this rooftop, enjoying the cool air, blue skies, the Greek yogurt mixed with apricot jam, bought from Mercadona on my first evening here

I first knew yogurt at a medical convention in the 1970s. Free range, my sisters and I wandered the exhibits, where a man gave us free samples of apricot yogurt in tiny pleated white paper cups. I can still taste the tart and sweet. I have been trying to recapture that madeleine

Yogi Bear; Yogi Berra; the yogi who met with the Beatles; yoga; Lilias, Yoga and You; yogurt. In my childhood they swirled together
French Madeleine is Spanish Magdalena. I didn’t know. Mary Magdalene, María José, José María, what names
Dannon yogurt used to come in waxed paper. They dropped apricot, albaricoque, a long time ago

In the US, we would say people in Spain eat slowly. In Spain, I suppose people simply say that they eat. Even in Burger King (I must admit that I’ve been twice on this trip). And when they finish eating, they sit and talk, la sobremesa. And then they walk out and sometimes stroll together, un paseo. Words for every day, the everyday

(They also smoke, a lot, outside. I don’t like it)
In the hostel at Cádiz, a German maths teacher outlined a downside to Spanish looseness with time. He said that he was tutoring a student and that it had gone well, so he asked the mother if they could set this as a regular time. She replied no, next week it would have to be an hour later. Then he asked if that would then be the regular time. She said, we’ll see, but then never responded and he lost that student

In his interpretation, the issue was that he was trying to confine her by establishing a regular time. She and her family needed flexibility
Punctuality is not the issue. The German fellow said that his student arrived on time too. And in my experience, intercity buses and planes run on time. Flexibility. Responding to others’ needs. Being more relaxed

Do you want to go out? A friend asked him later. No, I’m doing some work on the computer, he said. But then he realized he could just as well do the work later, when his friend wasn’t available. So he went out

I did feel more relaxed in Cádiz — children of all ages playing football in Plaza de Mina, maybe one or two adults nearby. The bartender giving me a friendly wink as I settled the bill for vermut, croqueta de bacalao, tortillita de camarones, patatas aliñadas

I hadn’t had any of those in Spain before this trip. Well, the tortillita de camarones resembles a Filipino dish, and the patatas aliñadas are similar to something I cooked up

In El Salvador last January I met people who traveled this way around Central America: deciding where their next destination spur of the moment, finding a flight or chicken bus there, arriving and landing in a hostel. It works. It’s about frame of mind more than anything

I visit hostels not only because they are cheaper, but because they are sociable. At least the best ones are. The staff, guests, gathering spaces, free breakfast at Casa Caracol in Cádiz were the best in this regard on this journey

I took BlaBlaCar on this trip for the first time — from Málaga to Cádiz, then from Cádiz to Granada — because it is faster, cheaper, and sociable. On the way to Cádiz I sat in the front and chatted with my driver in Spanish about parts of cars, classic rock from around the world. To Granada, we spoke a lot in English because the driver wanted to practice, and the other passenger was also from the US. I sat in the back with a friendly dog

BlaBlaCar means the train and bus infrastructure between two places isn’t as good as it ought to be
It also means trusting strangers to take you
You have to be flexible with BlaBlaCar. Both times the driver didn’t pick me up exactly when we planned. And because of atascos we arrived late in Granada. Pero después de todo, vale la pena. De hecho, aprendí mucho
The young woman from Mississippi who rode in the front as we drove to Granada arrives in a place and couch surfs

We were in Granada nearly seven years ago, staying just off Paseo de los Tristes, with a view of the Alhambra. I didn’t realize it was an iconic street

My BlaBlaCar driver mentioned it as a place to visit so I marked it on Google Maps
Then on my first full afternoon in Granada I arrived there. My mental maps of where I had wandered the previous day and of where I had visited in January 2020 suddenly snapped together like two jigsaw puzzle pieces

The place where we stayed. Where we had dinner. Where we watched flamenco. Where the children collected candy during the parade on the evening of Los Reyes Magos. The bus stop where we waited in vain after the parade to catch our bus to Barcelona, stopping only briefly in Valencia.

I arrived there by walking down from Albaicín and Mirador de San Miguel Alto, uphill and east of Puerta de Elvira, then heading south towards the river, on unpaved paths, passing modern dwellings carved into the hillside. We didn’t visit Albaicín on the previous trip so I wanted to go

We did see the Alhambra. So I didn’t need to see it on this trip. This trip is about finding a place to live in Spain

Living in a place is different than being a visitor
So I am staying several days in each places I’d earmarked as a potential place to live
I don’t need to see the Alhambra not only because I have relatively recently, but also because if I live in Spain I will be more easily to visit it again later

On our earlier trip we said it was like we were having tapas, a few days in Madrid and Barcelona, and in just a day each in Toledo, Baeza, Ronda, Seville, the outskirts of Málaga, Córdoba, and Granada. But now I think it was more like trying to sample from an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was too much, we were trying to stuff ourselves

On this trip I’m in Palma de Mallorca, San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, Málaga, Cádiz, Granada, and Madrid. A large number of places, but this time for a month.
My second trip to Spain, two-and-a-half years ago, was devoted to the Camino de Santiago, plus Madrid, El Escorial, Lisbon, and Porto.

Last night I watched the Steelers-Browns game. I believe in continental Portuguese. Because I could understand about 10% of it, and because it sounded like an Eastern European language

I want to go visit the Re-Read used bookstore now, before they close in the afternoon. Because why not? A different rhythm. The archaeological museum closed early on Sunday and I missed going. But so what? I couldn’t find the entrance to El Palacio de Dar al-Horra at sunset, so I ended up instead at a park, Placeta Cristo de las Azucenas, where couples kissed and people played music and friends hung out as the sky darkened

In the US sometimes I feel like “I’m doing nothing” and I feel guilty. But here in Spain, even knowing I am here only for a month, I might be doing the same thing but and then I think “I’m living as I wish”

One thought on “and I don’t know their names”

Kristan says:

2026-11-02 Mon 08:08 at 08:08

Ahhh you will live in Spain?! I am so jealous. And I love reading about your travels, because it reminds me of the many “tapas” journeys I have taken around that country too. ❤️