Valencia Sign Language

What do you do in a park where many of your visitors might be from countries that speak different languages? Or, in this case, what do you do when your visitors might not even read? Simple...





For the boys.









For the girls.










For those with special needs.










Boo-boos.

Been there, done that.

I´ve always wondered how the Conquistadors could, with so few soldiers and so far from their base of support, force the natives of the western hemisphere into submission. The Aztecs or Incas had always lived in the deserts and mountains. You´d think they would have been able to run circles around the invaders and the Spanish would have floundered in the foreign, inhospitable terrain. Now...after almost two months crossing Spain from South to North and East to West...I have a different idea of who the Spanish were.

Plop a Spaniard down in New Mexico and he might easily think he was in Cuenca as in the photo above. We´ve seen wide, arid high desert; canyon country; mountains and plains. There is even a place along the Mediterranean coast where some 150 westerns were filmed in the 1960´s and 1970´s (most importantly Sergio Leone´s ´Spaghetti Westerns´...yoo hoo!). The boys in royal armor didn´t come from the medieval streets of Seville or Toledo. I suspect they were more than familar with the canyons and hills and knew how to hunt and make their way in dry, rugged terrain. The fact that they had that armor and those guns didn´t hurt either but, by and large, they probably felt right at home. Bummer for the Indians.

"World Heritage" as a Guide

In an earlier post, I mentioned places that had been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I first heard of this designation in 1995 when I visited a place in south-central India called Hampi. I had never heard of Hampi before going to India but I kept coming across backpackers who raved about this place of ruins set among fantastic rock formations. When I finally arrived, I could NOT believe what I saw. More accurately, I could not believe that I´d never heard of what I was seeing. The ruins were as interesting and expansive as any antiquities I´d ever come across which, at that time, included the pyramids of Giza, the temple of Karnak and other Egyptian sites; the Forum, the Colosseum, St. Peter´s and the rest of central Rome; the Mayan ruins of Tikal and Copan; the Acropolis in Athens and other Greek ruins, among others. Here I was in rural India standing in front of a bronze plaque announcing the World Heritage designation and I could see immediately that I needed to explore. I ended up spending three weeks there. God willing, I´ll go back.

Anyway, on this trip we keep coming across World Heritage Sites. We first noticed a plaque at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Then, a couple weeks later we saw that Carlsbad Caverns was one as well. Both were the types of destinations I seek: "You´ve got to be kidding me" destinations. I got on-line and found that Mesa Verde which we visted in Colorado is one, too. Now that we´re here in Spain, we´ve hit several. Currently we´re in Granada, home to the Alhambra fortress/palace, another site which we´ll visit in the next few days.

It´s become clear, if you want a destination that is without doubt worth your travel time and dollars, aim for World Heritage Sites. There are currently something like 850 sites. About 650 are "cultural" sites i.e. human built and the others are "natural" sites e.g. the Grand Canyon. It´s interesting to note that, of the 20 sites in the United States, 12 are natural sites. If you want to instill an interest in travel and history (and our future) in your kids, get them the map and subscribe to the World Heritage magazine. It´s good stuff. Here´s the link to the list: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

I also put the link to the right of the blogs on this page. Check it...

Hurry Up and Slow Down

Granada

We´re still racing...wandering...around Spain. The verb is unclear. Sometimes it feels like we´re hustling too fast to soak in everything we come across. We´ve alloted something like eight weeks to the Spanish chapter of our oddessy. Depending on one´s style of travel, one big city could easily take eight weeks. I lean more in the direction of ¨less (ground covered) is more (memorable experience reaped)¨. Tami and I strike a pretty good balance when it comes to time planning. She laid out an itinerary before we left San Francisco and does a good job of holding us to it. I have to admit, as much as I like getting to know a place more thoroughly, I am still the dumbfounded, excitable kid when we roll into a new city and it turns out to be more beautiful and fascinating than any desription we´ve read. I get a little manic looking at real estate prices, theorizing about business ideas, thinking about how we could get people to visit us...and on, and on. Tami´s pretty patient dealing with me when I get wound up. As our tour planner, she´s probably a touch more disiplined in remembering the dozen or so countries that lay ahead.

I have to shake my head in wonder that this little European jaunt was icing on the big cake of an Asian adventure. A wise friend and India booster back in SF, upon hearing our overall itinerary, remarked, ¨Geeze, just make sure you make it to India, my friend!¨

Yep, we bit off a lot. It´s a big planet, though, and so far, no regrets on this end.

Random Notes on Spain

> So...when we arrived in the country, being Americans, we expected (and loathed) the usual shakedown at Customs. We got off the plane, walked to the baggage area, got our backpacks and preceded to the first step of getting our passports checked and stamped. We walked through the small gate looking for the bag check area but....it was unpopulated. There were a few tables for checking bags but no one was there. Incredulously, we walked out onto the sidewalk.

> I'm here to tell you, if Spain is any indication, the Eurozone is firing on all economic cylinders. From the first bus ride in Barcelona we've seen more cranes and construction than I've seen anywhere in the States. The only difference between here and back there is all construction we see here is multi-story as opposed to huge swaths of land eaten up for single family, automobile supported homes. These folks are busy.

> Another difference I note is the staffing in the service sector. Spain is a country that does not seem to cook for itself. I can say w/o a doubt, I have never toured a country where eating out is such a popular pastime. (It makes no difference that most all the restaurants have the same dozen or so traditional dishes. These folks just love to hang out at bars and cafes and eat....and drink, of course.) The odd thing here is, almost all the places are staffed by middle-aged men. What's more, they seem to have carved out and maintained a position of respect that would be unthinkable in the US. Service is a young person's game there and looked at only as a step toward something better. Here, waiters and bartenders dress professionally, do their work with pride and age seems of no consequence. It's nice.