he pours the wine into his coffee cup

AL arrived in Sevilla a few days ago (I really don't know how to keep track of time anymore- AL & I spent fifteen minutes yesterday arguing over the correct date), and my travels suddenly took a much more cerveza- and rioja-soaked feel to them. I would say that AL is some kind of Hemingway wannabe, except that AL has only read Old Man & The Sea, and definitely does not get into any sort of deep conversations when he's tying one on.

Not that I'm minding much. I am really happy AL is here in Granada with me, but I'm equally happy that he did not arrive a day sooner, glad that he finally manned up today and went for a walk on his own. Granada is lovely, but it is hot, seriously, blindingly hot. I had established an entire rhythm in my travels to combat this kind of heat. I would start early, explore around a bit, duck into a place for lunch just as the sun was starting to get unbearable, then tuck myself into my hotel for a few hours to relax until the afternoon. Then in the late afternoon, I would explore again.

That schedule is not amenable when AL is your travel partner. For one thing, he requires coffee in the morning. And not just a coffee on the go. It's the one Spanish thing he's fully embraced, the habit of sitting and having a cafe con leche, a light breakfast, and soaking it all in. And for someone a foot taller than me, someone who could do a triathlon on a whim tomorrow, he walks awfully slowly, and gets tired of walking really quickly.

But that's life with a man-child, and I knew what I was in for, and because our time in Granada is so plentiful, I really do not mind. We marvelled at the Alhambra yesterday, we went into the Albayzin neighborhood today, drank Moroccan tea and ate tagine. We bought azafra for my mom and the aunties from an especias shop near the Cathedral. The only thing I really must do now is visit the Parque Garcia Lorca. This would be the sort of thing that AL would not appreciate in the least, so I am hoping he will come back to the hotel exhausted and in want of a siesta.

Tomorrow, we leave for Barcelona, where SP will be waiting. Our housing arrangements are a little more dicey there, but y'all, it's Barcelona. How will that not rock?

I do hope that once AL leaves on Wednesday, the trip returns to being a little more pensive and inward. Having AL here truly is great (would I have had cost to drink both jerez and manzanilla in one sitting otherwise? I think not), but I feel like I spend so much time planning things out for us or just dealing with him that I don't spend a lot of time thinking about these amazing things that we have seen. Today at breakfast, I tried to pull out my journal to write while AL ate. About two words down and AL was asking me a translation question. Tomorrow, I'm totally playing pick-and-roll and letting SP handle him for a while. I would feel badly for making him sound like such a puppy-dog/toddler, except that anyone that knows AL will agree that he is exactly that.

p.s. The song of the week is dedicated to the last few days we have spent in Granada, which has this really interesting Arabic influence. Plus, I just had tea called "El Sueno del Alhambra" (how can you not order a tea when it is named that?) at a place called El Kasbah.