Finishing What I Started: Cuenca, the Last Despedidas, and Vacationing with My Family

A somewhat-panoramic view of the old city on the cliff

Knowing my tenure in Spain was quickly coming to an end, I decided to take one last day-trip to a city that had come highly recommended by Benito but hardly mentioned by most other Spaniards eager to evangelize the beauties of their country. Cuenca is in Castilla-La Mancha, the comunidad famous for being the setting of Cervantes's El ingenioso Don Quijote de la Mancha as well as the region where Toledo, the capital of Visigothic Spain and the seat of government for Catholic Spain until Felipe II moved it to Madrid, is found. I caught a bus out to Cuenca in the morning and, upon arrival, began the hike from the low-altitude bus station up to the austere stone cliffs upon which Cuenca's historic, beautiful part of the city lies. Though the heat in this dry, sweltering part of the country was formidable as I ascended to the high part of the city, the views were so breathtaking that I could hardly think about the sun's rays and the torrents of sweat running down my back.

The casas colgadas, one of which houses
a modern art museum, the other of which
is now a tapas restaurant

Cuenca was a small, very quiet town, and I noticed that it was not mobbed by tourists like some other Spanish towns are. I enjoyed hours of solace walking around the stony architecture of a city built on the cliffs produced by the erosion caused by two rivers, the Júcar and the Huécar. Cuenca is most famous for its casas colgadas, or hanging houses, buildings constructed right on the edge of a steep precipice whose balconies hang over the cliff. They were really impressive edifices, even if one might not be able to take in the sunset in a relaxed manner on such a precariously positioned balcony! The city was full of other impressive structures, as well, from a large bridge (el puente de San Pablo) built over a gorge to the Gothic cathedral of which I took a slow, guided tour in order to savor its relics and history (and enjoy a much cooler climate inside its stone walls and shadows).

The facade on the cathedral had to be rebuilt after
it crumbled and is utterly impressive

After my return from Cuenca, I only had a few days left before my parents and two of my siblings came to Spain to begin a family vacation with me. This time was spent cleaning, packing, and saying last good-byes. I had many tender moments with my students, all of whom went out of their way to thank me for the year we spent together. A few kids who never seemed to enjoy class bought me a plush bull with a Spanish-flag-looking scarf. Others wrote me beautiful and sometimes comical notes, including Martín, initially one of my most difficult students who ended up being one of my closest buddies. After encouraging him not to tell racist and homophobic jokes at the beginning of the year, he and I started talking, and we eventually got close. He always put his arm around me in our PE class, and he always wanted me on his team. During one baseball game, we were on opposite teams, and my team had very few of the athletic kids. Martín was pitching, and I wanted to get a home-run for my downtrodden team of nonathletic 12 year-olds. I swung with lots of force, and the (fortunately) plush ball flew directly at Martín's gonads. I didn't hurt him too badly, and we ended up being able to laugh about it. His last note to me said "thanks for breaking my huevos," which literally means "eggs" and is how you say "nuts" in Spanish slang. Another one of my students, Fran, made me laugh, as well. Fran had always been laconic and slightly morose, though always pleasant and a good student. He told me he had prepared a song to play for me on his guitar. Expecting something to do with saying good-bye or expressing appreciation, I was slightly shocked when he started playing the riffs to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I danced like a crazy man to show my appreciation for his song, and the other students thought their American teacher was loco. We had a great time, with lots of mutual gratitude, a few tears, and the knowledge that we all helped each other have a good year.

Saying farewell to my fellow teachers and friends was also a pleasant experience. Kelly, my roommate, and I celebrated her birthday and our year living together by eating lunch in the restaurant of the National Opera of Madrid, an extremely swanky restaurant that created an unforgettable setting. I will miss Kelly and her astuteness, humor, and good nature. At my school, everyone pitched in both money and labor to prepare a delicious feast of which the main course were three gargantuan paellas. We all chatted on the patio of the kids' playground while eating tasty paella and other Spanish dishes. I said good-bye to many beloved people then and thanked them for welcoming me into their pedagogical community.

Nothing says "Spain" more than a large paella covered
in succulent prawns. ¡Buen provecho!

When all of my good-byes were said and done, and after I had handed over the key to my apartment, I spent the day in anxious anticipation for the arrival of my parents. I had one last lunch with Selma, my brilliant Franco-German friend whose idealism and occasionally sardonic wit keep me honest, and then I simply read in a cafeteria while waiting for my parents and my two youngest siblings, Amy and Josh, to arrive for our vacation together. That Friday, the 29th of June, was the beginning of Gay Pride in Madrid, supposedly one of the biggest gay pride celebrations in the world. The city had a special air about it--Chueca, the "gayborhood," was decked out in rainbow flags and full of information booths and gay couples. On the metro, I saw a young, twenty-something couple composed of one punk-looking guy and another athletic-looking type be subtly affectionate towards each other, and it made my day. While waiting in the airport for my family, I was just overcome with gratitude both for a great year in Spain and to be spending time with the people that I love the most and then going back to the United States with them. They finally arrived, and we all embraced and began to chat upon first glance. That marked the beginning of two weeks of an incredible vacation.

Our family awaits the arrival of the pizzas and the start of
the big game, and I look slightly drunk on enthusiasm

We started with a few days in the Community of Madrid and the near proximity. We visited Felipe II's spartan monastery and palace known as El Escorial, drove up to my school and walked around (and laughed about the Spanish curse words spray-painted on the building), saw the castle in Manzanares el Real, visited the city of Segovia, enjoyed the gardens and fountains of La Granja just outside Segovia, and even spent a day walking around the center of Madrid itself. These days were packed with Spanish history and walking all around to see some stunning sights. However, not every minute was spent on Spain's past: our family also ordered some pizzas and drinks and watched Spain slaughter Italy to win the Eurocup 4 to 0. Multiple of us were in our Spain jerseys, and we were in a crowd of Spaniards who burst into a rousing round of "Yo soy español" ("I am Spanish") to exhibit their pride at their record-setting team. It was such an enjoyable night to be in Spain, and all of us were exuberant that our host country had tasted such sweet success in a sport that means so much to Europeans.

Next came southern Spain where we spent some time in Granada at a hotel right at the base of the hill where the Alhambra rests. I had seen the Alhambra before, but it was a different experience to be there during the hot summer months and to do the "nocturnal visit" to the Nazrid palaces, which looked stunning in the artificial light.

The Alhambra's red and brown earth tones blend
harmoniously with the verdure around it

My beautiful siblings, Amy and Josh, enjoying the waves
of southern Spain

By this point, we were all a little tired and ready for some relaxation on the beach. Our next couple of days were spent along the southern coast of Spain, seeing towns like Algeciras, Marbella, and Tarifa. I had never seen these southern beaches before and loved their gentle yet consistent waves and the white-washed settlements in the rolling hills right above them. We all really enjoyed our tropical repose, but poor Mom was stung by a jellyfish and is still curing the blister and the rash that it left on her calf.

Dad bravely allows the snake to be stuffed into his
neckline and down into his shirt

Our next adventure was one of our wildest--we all caught a ferry across the short Strait of Gibraltar in order to spend a day in Morocco. I was quite simply shocked at how different Morocco was from Spain. Instantly after getting off the ferry, an aggressive salesman kept telling us to hire one of his tour guides. We gave him audience and heard him out, and we ended up deciding to hire one of his guides, which was a good decision in the end. Our tour guide was a seventy-something Moroccan named La Roussi who spoke remarkably good English and Spanish and who showed us all around Tangier. We saw quite a bit of poverty, a snake charmer who convinced three of us to wrap a snake around our necks, and an ancient tree bigger than any I have seen before. It was fascinating, and it really fueled my interest in serving in the Peace Corps to understand better other, non-Western cultures and societies of people who will live their lives in lower socioeconomic brackets than anything I have experienced in my privileged life in North America.

The coastal city of San Sebastián seen from our view
after riding a funicular

After southern Spain, we headed north, stopping only briefly in Salamanca to see its elegant architecture and attend a Mormon church there. The north of Spain was a region to which I had never travelled before, and I found it stunning. No picture of Spain is complete without seeing the lush, rainy, verdant lands of the north. I visited and toured the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela with my family and vowed that, before I die, I will do the Camino de Santiago and visit that cathedral again. We also traveled around the Basque Country and enjoyed once again the greenness of the land and the shades of greens and blues in their seas. It was beautiful and, despite my love for the Mediterranean beaches, probably more to my personal liking than the southern coast. I felt like I discovered a new Spain while in the north, and that was really rewarding.

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the end of
a long trek across northern Spain for many pilgrims starting in
the Middle Ages

Though rainy, the city of Paris still shines like the jewel it
is, with majestic buildings and manicured gardens all around

After exploring northern Spain, our last destination was Paris. We spent a day driving north across France, and we noticed both that France was quite a bit greener and much flatter than Spain. When we pulled into Paris and got stuck in the metropolis's traffic, we all wondered whether or not the Eiffel Tower would be easily visible. We turned a corner with our vehicle and, out of nowhere, we saw both a beautiful skyline of skyscrapers and the impressive sight of the Eiffel Tower, perhaps the most iconic symbol of that enchanting city. Though I had extremely high expectations for Paris after seeing Paris, je t'aime and hearing from many people how romantic and charming of a city it is, I wasn't let down at all and in fact think the French capital exceeded my expectations, difficult as that was to do. The city is literally crawling with tourists, which was not always comfortable and made me feel a little cliche just being there, but I suppose that's the price you pay to be in one of the most famous and unbelievably beautiful cities in the world. Our family visited Versailles one day and were stunned by the opulence and the grandeur of the palace and its surrounding grounds and other buildings now used to commemorate "toutes les gloires de la France" ("all the glories of France"). We also enjoyed warm Nutella crêpes while looking at the Eiffel Tower, and I felt in that moment so giddy to be embracing so many French stereotypes. We then waited three hours in wind and rain to be able to ascend the Eiffel Tower, yet all of us ended up thinking it was well worth it once we caught the breathtaking views of the majestic city afforded from the elevated vantage point of the Tower.

A great photo I snapped of the illuminated
Tower after having been high within it

In Paris, we also explored the Louvre and enjoyed seeing everything from La Joconde (Mona Lisa) to the enormous painted portrayal of Napoleon I crowning his Empress. We explored the Egyptian treasures for Josh and me, and we even saw things like the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest written code of law that actually predates the Jewish Pentateuch. Paris held other treasures, too, like sea-salt caramel ice cream, a cute, flirtatious boy who worked at the boulangerie where we got our morning croissants, and the Cathedral of Notre Dame, an edifice that inspired Amy and I to watch Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame the first day we got back from our vacation. It was a truly remarkable city, and my desire to go back there, learn more French, and live like a true Parisian is almost burning now. We'll see if I can make that dream come true.

Notre Dame, the city's central cathedral

Returning home has been so wonderful. The denizens of Laramie are extremely warm and open people, and it has been great to take runs in the streets I know best and just spend quality time with my family members and loved ones over meals, movies, workouts at the Recreation Center, and the like. I will miss Europe, but I'm also happy to be home. I know I will go back when I want to, and that fact consoles me. Thank you everyone for accompanying me and supporting me on my sojourn in Spain. I'm now back in the United States for the foreseeable future but know that my life journey will not end, and I will likely continue to update this blog, even if I change it's title and background image to reflect the fact that I'm no longer living in Spain. Thank you for reading and au revoir.