I was pretty much stunned from the moment I stepped off of the high-speed train in Granada last Friday.  I still am trying to figure out if it was shock from the cold or the amazing beauty of the city.  Granada is in Andalucía, the southern most region of Spain, almost touching the African continent.  This gave me the illusion that I would be moving from frigid Ciudad Real to a more brisk, if not mildly warm, area.  Not to mention that the last time I was in Andalucía it was August and I visited Sevilla for a weekend.  It was here, along with the largest cathedral in Spain (third largest in the world - so they claim) and Christopher Columbus´ ashes, where I almost died from the suffocating heat and  was forced by the burning rays of the sun to run from shadow to shadow even while wearing 50+ SPF.

I was mistaken.

I conveniently forgot that the Sierra Nevada is located just next to the city... providing beautiful scenery for pictures of the Alhambra, a skier´s dream resort and a bone-chilling wind that whips through the old alleyways and around the hills.  I felt, despite having put on the majority of my clothes for the rest of the weekend, as if I were traipsing around in a summer dress and flip-flops.  Wrong again, Celia!

Oh, and Miguel didn´t have any gas to heat the water in the apartment... SO I didn´t bathe all weekend.  I guess that part isn´t out of the norm, gross, I know.  But I usually try to think of others around me when I am staying with them. 

I met Miguel about two years ago in Guanajuato, Mexico and - I may have already told this story - he is now working in Granada.  Randomly, about a month ago, my friend Jordan (met the first day of Master Plan at WKU) was wandering around the city all by his lonesome and met Miguel.  They were talking about their lives, where they were from, following the small-talk rules when I came up (Mexico--->Guanajuato--->Gringa--->Celia).  What a small world.  Jordan and I used this connection, and free place to stay, as an excuse to visit the wonderful world of Granada.

And what a wonderful place indeed: the most delicious falafel-kebap-burritoesque-wraps, major Morrocan influence, yummy tea, colorful people and the Alhambra just to name a few perks.

I got cornered by a gypsy woman as I was walking past the cathedral.  She shoved a sprig of rosemary in my right hand and grabbed my left; both of my eyes remained on my bag.  She began, in a stream of jumbled Spanglish, to tell me how it was a regalo and that money is bad luck and from the diablo (okay...) Then she began telling my fortune with bonita, preciosa and ¨so pretty¨ thrown in every now and then.  Her grip was firm and her insistance of my happy future was unshakeable... until I told her that I didn´t have any money.  She then said, ¨The rosemary is free but your future is not,¨ (right...) and held out her hand.  I gave her one euro... ONE WHOLE EURO... that is one fifth of my normal daily spending allowance.  She shook her head and said, ¨No, no, coins are from the devil, paper... paper is from God.¨ (uh-huh...) I told her I didn´t have more than that... which was kind of true as it was my last coin and I had yet to take money out of the ATM.  Not to mention that the smallest paper euro is the big fiver.  She then pulls out a little -empty- change purse while saying something about her being able to change my big bills for smaller ones and I had to turn my pockets inside out to get her to let go of me.  I got cursed and then stripped of my rosemary.  I guess my two niños are now doomed.

Later that afternoon, Jordan and I went to the Alhambra, I had bought tickets online before hand so we got to skip line and head straight to the good stuff.  And oh how good it was! I couldn´t stop gasping and ooo-ing and aaahhh-ing.  The woodwork and intricate designs in the stone are very impressive. Can´t really put it into words because the photos that I had seen before, and those that I took while there, don´t even do the job even though their worth is greater by 1000.

A quick tapas tour later that evening was hindered a bit by the fact that we still had our bags with us... but was convenient when I needed another layer of clothing to keep out the bitter gusts of wind that wanted to claim my outer extremeties. When we finally got home that night I had the chance to thaw out... Miguel, Jordan and I had to share the bed and because cooties evolve and become contagious to other boys with puberty I got the cozy place in the middle. 

Saturday we had an extravagant lunch of to-go döner kebap in Plaza Nueva with a bagpiping street performer and the changing leaves giving the afternoon a golden, mystical feeling.  Walking around in awe was pretty much the name of the game.  The tea salons were cozy; they had the atmosphere of something out of a fairytale... and I finally found an equivalent to the chai tea with milk that I have been jonesing for.  Miguel´s roommate and some of his friends cooked dinner and after I stayed home while those wild and crazies went out on the town.  My bones are old, my joints ache and I can´t feel my feet when it is in the 50´s so my setting foot outside of the apartment was completely laughable.  Plus I got a good 4 hours of sleep without having to share the blanket.

We met a cute little Argentinian chica named Luli who was staying in the hostal where Miguel works.  Friendly, artistic and without the Spanish accent... her best characteristic.  We spent most of the weekend with her getting lost in the labyrinth of the streets and happening upon the miradores (viewpoints) around the city.  We were sitting on one ledge and gazing at the majesty of the mountain, a flamenco show going on in the nearby tavern, when this group of graying Englishmen came and set up a movie camera and began filming part of a documentary tape.  You know, the kind that shows at the same time as a comedy show so you tape it to watch later and maybe or maybe not get around to?  Well, I must say that it was exactly as dramatic as in the films... ask me to reinact it for you in person... the accent kind of falls through the text.

All in all it was a fine weekend, last minute and a bit of an expenditure but worth it.  I arrived on Sunday with little time to think it over... I am planning a Thanksgiving feast for Saturday and there is much to be done.

Missing all of you... Happy Thanksgiving!

Love xox cr