03/09/2022
Spain is so beautiful - especially Andalucía. I love it here more than anywhere I’ve traveled.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I fell asleep during a flamenco show last night, though. I have no excuse. I had tons of sleep the night before, I only had a couple of glasses of wine, I thought the whole thing was intriguing… But once all that foot stomping and hand clapping and Spanish guitar playing started, I was in snoozeville. I could possibly forgive myself as just a tired traveler, except the truth is that the last time I went to a flamenco show in Sevilla five years ago, I fell asleep during that one too. LOL.
I feel like it makes me something of a cultural knuckle-dragger, but dear God - I can’t help it. I even chose the 7 PM show instead of a 9 PM show to give myself a fighting chance, but nope. Lights out, Alice.
What does it mean? Ah hell, I don’t know. I mean, I’m not kidding when I say flamenco is not boring. It’s filled with drama and emotion and music and footstomping. Why does it put me to sleep? I just have no F-ing idea. Haha. One time, shame on me. Two times? Flamenco shows might not be my thing. Haha.
One of the greatest things, and maybe sometimes one of the worst things, about solo travel is getting to know yourself oh so much better. You need to like your own company, and sometimes that is a process. It definitely is not automatic because being alone in a strange place 24/7 and being your main conversationalist can be…odd. And you need to be able to just roll with it, whatever “it“ is.
After having traveled what must be close to 100,000 miles by myself in the last few years, I’d like to share a few pearls of wisdom that I’ve discovered along the way.
First, you just cannot take yourself too seriously. No itinerary anywhere for anything is written in your blood, even if you already paid for it, and if you wake up one morning and decide you don’t care about seeing something that day, then so be it. It’s your trip. Somebody else saw it and you can read about it.
Second, don’t eat at places that have signs out front in English and pictures of food on the menu. And Tripadvisor awards. Just saying, what you will get is a often a very watered down version of a true cultural experience at unfair prices because that’s what having a mass of tourists can do to to a place that started out as a cultural gem.
Third, don’t be afraid to eat at a place with a sign out front in English, pictures of their food, and TripAdvisor awards. LOL. Yeah, I know what I just said, but sometimes they are getting it right. My best tool, quite frankly, is Google customer ratings. This is by no means scientific, but I think a lot of times you will find as you wander around looking for a place to fill your belly is that places that are rated with fewer than four stars in Google reviews are very often the places that have signage in English and photos of food and all of that. But not always.
Fourth, some of the very best local places have a little to no presence on Google at all. Those can be undiscovered gem’s that will knock your socks off. Don’t be afraid of a place that has only three or six reviews if the reviews are good. Be prepared to need a translator of some kind, but it could definitely be worth it.
So I guess what I’m saying is good luck finding food. LOL.
Haha. Just kidding. I mean kind of.
Tip #5 - Sometimes we just need to shut that phone off. In the knock-your-socks-off undiscovered gem category, I stumbled into a place last night at 11:15 PM because I was completely starved and I couldn’t find a place that was open and so I was winging it. I couldn’t even find a convenience store to buy a crappy sandwich from. Google maps isn’t right all the time and it sent me on an hour-long goose chase looking for places it thought was open that weren’t, and I was getting hangry. But there was a place with not a lot of reviews (but decent ones) near where I was wandering that was supposed to be open late. I showed up there and, not s**tting you, it knocked my socks off. The place was packed full of Spanish couples and families and friends, and it was so beautiful and elegant and the food was incredible but not horribly expensive, and there was a local singer performing a few sets with his guitar. Look at the photos. It was one of those “holy s**t” moments. Okay, NOBODY spoke English, but we got by. It was so beautiful though and so great in every way that I could not believe the place was not filled with tourists. But I appeared to be the only one, seriously. It was special.
I could’ve gone into a hotel restaurant somewhere along the way as a sure thing for tourist food, but this was ever-so-much more incredible than that. Good things happen if you wander.
Fifth - know where you are wandering. I’ve definitely taking chances in my life when traveling and have placed myself in situations I had no business being in. I’m sure those stories very publicly to you, my friends, because I think it takes a community to learn from dumb things. I’ve learned a lot from those situations. But whether you travel a lot or not, your greatest tools are knowing more or less where you are, being mostly sober, and asking more than one or two people in your destination where it is safe and where it is not safe to walk. That conversation can happen with just about anyone, and if you are nice to someone who you are asking - a waitress or bartender or shopkeeper or hotel person or local stranger you talk to in a bar - they are going to tell you the truth. Just talk to more than one person. If they know that you are alone and you are not a local, my experience is that there are very many people out there who want to make sure that you’re safe in their destination, and I’ve been helped by many strangers, whether it was actually walking me home or calling a taxi for me or telling me where I should not wander. The true, decent locals and almost every place I’ve ever been are such incredibly good people. If you are nice to them, they will look after you like one of their own. As a funny aside, this reminds me of the story from when I walked into that very local Cantina in via deleted, Mexico, and the local drunk was so funny and sweet talking to me and it was no problem until he touched my shoulder and then the manager came over and told him he had to move. Lol. They will take care of you.
And if you’re still reading, there’s been a new development since I started this post. As I sat under an umbrella in a mist and drink white wine and drafted this message, a very handsome waiter name to Mohammed struck up a conversation with me. To be honest, I only sat down at this particular set of chairs because he was sweet to me even as I passed by. That is not always the case in Spain. Service leaves something to be desire in a lot of places. But anyway, Mohammed was just bold enough to ask me - after an hour of my loitering - if tomorrow he could give me an inside tour of Cordoba and take me to dinner and then take me to a flamenco show. Lol. Dear God. Say a prayer for me because, well, me and flamenco.
I also learned that he is a professional massage therapist in the Canary Islands but their season is slow right now so he is here in Cordoba with some friends and working at a friend’s taverna for fun and cash. And, if I wanted, he said, he would also give me a massage that I will not forget. LOL. Dear Jesus.
Quit it, Universe. This is turning into a Cindiland version of Eat, Pray, Love but I haven’t done nearly enough praying or loving. Hahahaha.
Cheers from Spain, or Salute, as they would say. I’ll be home in a few days, at least I pretty much think so, and I’m looking forward to hearing how your last 10 days have been as well my friends. 💜🥰🙏😜😬
