Advertisement
Published: April 24th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Tracie in our windowless room
Pobrecita... the ghost of Mauriano haunted her all night! It was dark by the time we arrived in Granada from Málaga. At a
luz rojo, a man on a motorscooter knocked on our window. He introduced himself as an official tourist-helper-man. We pulled over, and he called around to see if he could find us lodging for the night. Again, almost every bed in town was full of tourists who had made reservations in advance. We were puzzled as to how he knew we were tourists in need of help, until we remebered the ¨Pepe cars¨sticker on the side of our vehicle, identifying us as tourists to one and all.
Mauriano was his name, and helping lost
chicas was his game. At last he found a hotel nearby that had an extra room in the back that they could rent us for the night. ¨You understand,¨he said, ¨that this room has no windows, no television,
nada.¨ We understood, and were just happy to have beds to sleep in. He led the way on his scooter, showed us to our room, and carried our bags in for us. The neighborhood looked a little sketchy, but it was just one night.... Mariano was very nice, but we started to get a
little spooked by his excessive desire to be helpful. Long after he had left us in our Hotel (dos estrellas) we spotted him at the bar next door, and we really started to consider how stalking is dealt with in Spain.
Our room was really a back room where perhaps hotel staff could take a nap and it had a mysterious door next to one of the beds... possibly leading to certain doom. Tracie was worried all night that some weirdo (¿Mauriano?) was on his way in, and I don´t blame her. A room with no windows can be REALLY dark and spooky.
After checking in, we went out in search of food, and found ourselves in a real Spanish-slash-Middle East dive. The floor was so greasy that the chairs slid around on it as if hydroplaning. I ended up with a freshly toasted pita filled with an egg-omelette, tomato, lettuce, sauce and picante. Wow.
On our way back home, we saw a crazy woman waving a wooden chair around as if she were going to throw it.
¨¡Puta! ¡Hijo de puta! ¡Motón de mierda!¨ she hollered viciously at someone in a doorway. We decided it was
The long drive home
Mariela was a saint to do all of the driving for us... no one else knew how to drive a stick! definitely time to go home and lock ourselves into our windowless creepy room in our creepy neighborhood.
Mauriano didn´t break in and murder us that night. We woke up late in our windowless room and drove to the center of town to visit the cathedral before driving back to Madrid. As we walked up to the cathedral, a group of
gitanas accosted us. One woman grabbed my right wrist, and thrust a sprig of rosemary into my hand and started to read my palm.
¨No, gracias,¨ I said.
¨Espera.... Tu vida estará muy feliz con muchos años de salud,¨ she said.
¨No, gracias,¨ I said, trying to pull my hand away.
¨Espera.... Mucho amor en tu vida,¨ she said.
¨No, gracias,¨ I said more forcefully.
¨Espera.... Ganarás mucho dinero y estarás muy rica,¨ she said.
¨No, gracias,¨ again.
¨Espera.... Tendrás dos hijos,¨ she said, placing her hand on my belly.
¨NO, GRACIAS.¨ ¨Espera.... Tu vas a viajar para ver todo el mundo,¨ she said, wrapping my fingers around the rosemary and finally releasing my hand.
¨Pagame,¨ she concluded, putting her hand out.
I thought about it for a
second, and decided to give her €1. The story she´d given me was worth that. I pulled out a euro and handed it to her.
¨No, cinco,¨ she said.
I laughed and said no.
¨¿Dos? she asked.
I laughed and moved on.
When we escaped from the
gitanas we all compared notes. We had all received exactly the same fortune: happiness, health, money, love, two children, and a trip around the world. I guess it doesn´t pay very well to tell someone they´re going to be unhappy, alone, childless, poor and die young. I smelled my rosemary and laughed. We climbed into our Pepe car and drove home to Madrid.
At the metro station, Mariela, Cecila, Tracie and I kissed each other on the cheeks good bye. It had been a wonderful Semana Santa.
When I got home, Pedrito and Blanca and Belén and Pedro were home from Disneyland. The kids were excited to see me, showering me
besos and telling me about Mickey Mouse and Space Mountain. I was happy to see them too. It was nice to come home to a loving family after a long trip.
For the first time
Regalos
Receiving these paintings felt better than receiving authentic Picasso´s would have felt. since I´ve been living with the family, I painted with the kids, and it really brought Blanca´s walls down. I taught her how to paint trees, and of a sudden, she spoke English. When we finished painting, she sweetly said, ¨This is for you.¨and handed me her snow leopard. She kissed my cheek and smiled proudly. Then Pedro said ¨And this is for you,¨and handed me his Pokemón. He also kissed my cheek. I now have two beautiful pieces of original artwork decorating my room next to my bed. And I live with a family who loves me.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0533s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jill
non-member comment
You're the best!
I just wanted to thank you again for writing so much about your trip. It is great to see the pictures and read your wonderful descriptions. What a great way to keep a travel journal. You are giving me the itch to travel! Good thing Globe treker is on tonight:)