"Spain is the sort of place that never really made sense, but in the very best possible way." -- Anthony Bourdain

These are the words that echoed in my head as I arrived to Spain. It being my first venture out of the country, and my only exposure to travel being TV shows like Bourdain's, I struggled to picture what this might mean.

Even after I arrived, it took some time to accept that I was truly in another country, and not in some Disneyland-style manufactured Little Europe. Being dropped in Madrid during the weekend of the Champions League Final probably didn't help with that. It was so exhilarating, with soccer drunkards roaming the streets at all hours, and with constant music, cheering, and ~*ambient noise~*. Still, everything felt uncanny, like it was part of a movie set, and I found myself wondering if I was on an extremely realistic lot at Universal Studios.

As our time stretched from one week, to two, and as we settled into our semi-permanent home at the Pension, I realized that life here is carefree in many ways. I had never really understood the concept of cities that move slower (even after a brief summer in a small company town in Minnesota) but here, it feels as if time is thicker, gooey-er, melting in the sun like molasses. The days here feel longer. There's always time for a siesta (especially with the heat!) People seem less concerned with the silly American worries like working 9-to-5 and living in the perfect suburb. Laying on the soft, fine sand of Guardamar's beaches makes one wonder what you were ever stressed about before: what more does someone need besides ocean air, gelato, and Pension meals? It seems to me that once anyone's spent time in this happy, easy place, they can't help but continue to live their lives with the same carefree-ness.

If there's any souvenir that I could take back to San Francisco with me, it would be this feeling. The feeling that there's always tomorrow, that what really matters is the people you're with and the food on your table, and besides that, there's not much else to stress over.

Every city that I've been lucky enough to live in (for however short a time) has its own pace and its own unique feel. I've always thought that I was a big city kind of girl, but there's something so nice about the escape that a town like Guardamar offers.

In Bourdain's words: "Any reasonable, sentient person who looks at Spain, comes to Spain, eats in Spain, drinks in Spain, they’re going to fall in love. Otherwise, there’s something deeply wrong with you."

- cynthia

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