"We're going to feed on Sigüenza people tonight..."

...says Dafne as Maria dresses down a belligerent Sigüenza restaurant manager.  

Us as cave drawings

Saturday: Nefi, Dafne's gorgeous kitten, is the only one  of us who manages to get out of bed before 11a. I love this cat. And if it's the last thing I do, she will love me too. 

Nefi watches me on the toilet

After a leisurely breakfast featuring many chocolate treats (biscuits, cocoa, bread) Stella and I join Will on a run into town for picnic supplies. Their village is too small for even a corner store (Dafne says a man drives through once a week to sell bread) so we go to Següenza. A stop at the butcher's for cheese, a stop at the produce stand for fruits and vegetables, and a stop at a tiny bodega that features pigs legs hanging on the wall for Jamón Iberico. (This is love, pork-style. Dry ham that can be cured for up to 48 months.)

WWII bullet marks

Every exchange includes pleasantries and catching up. At the produce stand there's a bit of a wait so when one of the salesmen notices me & Stella ogling tangerines he catches our eyes and tosses each of us one to enjoy. As we eat the juicy tangerines in the warm sun, Will, Stella and I recognize how the chit-chat would drive us bats in the city, but here in the country's leisurely pace it's makes us want to move here full time. 

By the church once again, Will points out the bullet holes around the church's windows. In WWII soldiers hid out inside the church and therefore the windows were prime targets. I remember when I traveled in Berlin (pre-9/11) and saw the WWII pockmarks all over the city, it was the first time any war felt real to me, more than a chapter in a history book. The previous evening Maria told me the US has been involved in 25 wars since WWII. I double-check and she's right. It's unfathomable to me that the US President is needlessly flirting with nuclear war with N Korea along with playing war with Russia, Syria and whoever else is around. I scan the plaza to see if there's anyone I can quickly marry, but no luck.

I told Will "sometimes when you visit friends you sit in a bar all day.
I like this better." He said, "Yes, we make you work for your bar time."

That afternoon we drive a short distance to a another nearby mountain. We hike a trail to the top and eat our picnic on rocks overlooking the valley. This hike is longer and the topography reminds me a lot of California hiking. On our way down the mountain's brow, Dafne finds our shadows on the canyon wall and we do a photo shoot. 

Sunset in the village

Master & subject

I'm feeling not terrific from the wine I drank yesterday so when Maria & Will decide we'll stay in tonight rather than going out to another dinner, I'm thrilled. It's not a proper hangover, it feels more like an allergy or my body recovering from a supertoxin. I'm exhausted and eating gives me body cramps. I KNOW, it sounds like a hangover. But trust me, it's not. Regardless, we try calling the restaurant four different times to cancel our reservation and no one ever picks up and there is no machine. 

Near 11p, as we're about to sit down to a dinner Will's prepared for us, we get a screaming phone call from the restaurant manager. My favorite line is, of course, Maria's: "If I can't get a hold of you to tell you we're canceling, what am I supposed to do, use magic? Telepathy? Osmosis?" The manager keeps calling her a liar, so Maria emails him the screen shots of their phone log and effectively terminates their relationship. She is amazing.