Spain

Some of our most devoted readers might be wondering where we have been for the past couple of weeks. The answer is: Spain! Scotty has a love for the country and has been wanting to introduce me to it ever since we've been togther, and we decided that there's no time like the present! So, a little over 2 weeks ago, we began the journey with a gruelling 13 hour plane ride, in which I didn't get up once. Whoa! We landed in cold, rainy Madrid and the party began. Our plans had us staying a few days in Madrid, 5 days in Sevilla, and 5 days in Barcelona. I was immediately impressed with the beautiful architecture, the metro system, the strange way Spainards speak Spanish (versus how Bolivians speak), and the sheer quantity of bars and cafes. We spent a good deal of our time in these cafes, sipping cafe con leche, reading, working Sudoku puzzles, and chatting. When we weren't sitting in cafes, we were exploring the cities on foot, stopping every once in a while to take in an art museum or cathedral, but mostly doing our own tours. We made up a game I call "If you had to..." which consists of questions like: "If you had to pick one of the 3 cities we visited to live in, which one would it be?" or "If you could bring one pet back from the dead, which one would you pick?" or "If you could take one piece of this art home, which one would you take and where would you put it?". We amused ourselves for hours with this game and learned a lot about each other too. Now for the highlights: in Madrid- the Prado art museum (I've only seen that stuff in books before!) and the awesome Sunday market that has everything you could ever want to buy at reasonable prices; Sevilla- the bullfight (I didn't think watching a bull being killed would be interesting, but they've made it an art form), Alcazar gardens, eating pastries; Barcelona- the beach!! renting bikes and touring around the town, great food, gorgeous old buildings and plazas. Barcelona was by far our best stop- mostly because it was the only city where it didn't rain and it was warm.

We're super happy to be home and this trip not only served as a rest time for Scotty and me, but a chance to miss La Paz and the community we have here, feeling all the more thankful for it when we came back. What a gift to be able to take a trip like this!