Feelings of the Day: Rituals. They help people make the abnormal, normal. They regulate daily activities. Every culture and person has their own. Visiting a graveyard can give a look into the rituals of how a culture treats their dead.
The path to and through the graveyard was lined with old cypress trees reaching up, tall and proud of their job of providing solemn guardianship. The property and markers of past lives were well tended. Water jugs, filled from the site’s fountain, were placed at graves to give liquid sustenance to the dead. The oldest grave that we found was from 120 years ago. Even at this early hour, on a Wednesday, there were visitors to the dearly departed. Although on top of a hill, because of the walls, you could only see the landscape by standing at certain points or when leaving the two gates. Instead you became focused on the permanent residents inside, as is fitting.
After a quick stop back at our residence, we took a walk to the Duero river (I called it Douro before but that is the Portuguese name once it crossed their border) and walked the sturdy steel and wood bridge to Almazan park on the other side. The tree filled park was veined with paths that provided calming ambulation in nature. Dotted here and there was a modern art object, created by local artists. A witch’s tower, used to keep a solitary prisoner, was for some reason also in the park. Perhaps it was to scare little hijos and hijas (boys and girls) who were misbehaving in the nearby children’s playground?
After finishing our walk in the park, we walked on another pedestrian-only bridge back to the original Almazan side. It was time for lunch at Archi Cafe, recommended by our hosts. There was only one table inside that had seats available, but the three ladies gestured that we could sit at the other end. The staff was very forgiving of our basic Spanish and my spouse ordered some red (Ribeiro) and white (Verdejo) wine with tapas: Castilian bread crumbs with cured pork (that came free with our glasses of wine, as is traditional), black olives, a white cheese in olive oil (so it will last longer and tastes better in my opinion), and pickle wrapped anchovy with two side olives. My spouse also ordered a racione (small plate) of calamari! All the dishes, in particular the sour saltiness of the anchovy/pickle and the light batter goodness of the calamari, hit the spot in our tummies and taste buds.
Time for laundry! Even though it had been only three days since we left, there was going to be more travelling in Spain in a few days and not a lot of time when we returned before we left for our next country. Fortunately the open loft upstairs, in our host's place, was open. After using the European style washer (smaller and less water usage) we hung it on racks up there. While we waited for our friends to return from their day’s activities we read, caught up on notes, and worked on our electronic journals (email and FB).
Having enough of sitting around, and needing more oats, we decided to walk to the grocery store. Ambulating in the higher elevation area of town we caught a good view of a stork nest attached to the spire of a church, but no storks. We picked up the oats, and after leaving went back and picked up a bottle of white wine (because can you really have too many bottles of good and cheap Spanish wine), then we walked back via the same general route.
At the point where we saw the stork nest we still saw no stork, but my wife wanted to wait a bit. Her prescience paid off! First one then a second stork, both with broad outstretched wings gliding serenely in the air currents, landed in the nest. She already had her Lumix camera, with the skookum zoom lens, ready for nature shots. The resting that the duo of storks were having did not last long as two other storks came in to take the nest! Before the new storks could get close the previous two launched themselves and gained altitude. For the next few minutes a graceful ballet of swooping and close dives between the four birds were performed before our eyes. I heard clicks from her camera beside me during the show. In the end, the two interlopers veered away in defeat and the original two landed in the nest. The event was over and she was very happy for the experience.
On our return we lounged for a short while until our hosts arrived with their Spanish friends. The bike they were borrowing was brought in, drinks were offered, then maps were brought out. The animated Spanish language continued into local travel hints, tips, and events. I only understood one word out of several dozen. We retired to our little residence, outback, and after reading for a while decided to check on them. As they were still wrapped up in their discussion we motioned that we would be heading to a place for supper. J came over and gave us a recommended spot so we went to the Blacksmith’s gate, where Hostal El Arco is (not to be confused with El Arco Cafeteria in town which is not as good).
We took a seat at the end of the basement bar, in case our hosts came by, and ordered our first wines and tapas: dense tuna with peppers and oil on top, and a skewer with olives, shrimp, and a quail’s egg. Both were interesting and delicious.
While we were eating I noticed some key words being spoken and looks from the bar patrons towards us, as it was obvious that we were speaking English with a North American accent between myself and my spouse. A friend of one of the bar staff came in, was greeted by her friend, and a conversation occurred in which the server was gesturing towards us. The server then approached, asked for our order, and after we replied passed us off to her friend for her to take our order. She introduced herself in English, as did we, and after taking our order asked where we were from. After taking that data back to her bar server friend, the server passed it onto the patrons at the bar. They gave exclamations and/or hand gestures and/or noises which I construed to mean we were ok being Canadians, in that we were not Americans. They left for their homes or for a smoke outside since the mystery was solved.
Our second round was two kinds of sliced meat on bread, cheese on bread, and two kinds of anchovy on toast (one in vinegar and one in olive oil). Stomachs full and sated we walked back to our residence, chatted with our hosts for a short bit, had two cookies, and proceeded to our domicile in back. Time for bed. 8.1km and 26 flights walked.
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