Algeciras to Madrid

(Written 6pm July 2nd, 2009)

I am sitting on the train en route from Algeciras to Madrid. I am surrounded by a sea of green and a backdrop of blueish mountains in the distance. The green is almost wholly olive grees, with the only variance being those groves that are aligned perfectly, and those that are more chaotic. Whitewashed houses speckle the horizon, and the occasional town in the distance. In the beginning, we traveled through the mountains, through tunnels and along beautiful gorges. I kept falling asleep - so I went and had an espresso. Now we seem to be in a large valley heading in the direction of Cordoba. The train itself is quite comfortable, I have no one next to me, and teh snack car is one train up. I rarely feel any vibrations from the tracks, and the cars are exceptionally clean. Amtrak should try modeling their service off of these punctual and clean trains with friendly staff. It might turn around the use of trains in America which seems to have declined rapidly over time.

I am surprised how much spanish I remember when I need, although the phrases are gone - but the vocab remains. I am pleased to say I have received a few compliments on my spanish. Of course, grammar is another story. But I can get the point, even if I implicate myself in the same conversation as being a he, a she, and a we (el, ella, nosotros). I am sure with time it will get more focused.

I wish I had my camera ready, on the left, I just glimpsed a beautiful little white washed town flowing over a hill and into a valley of olive grees and grapes. On the top of a steep mountain overlooking the town was a beautiful castle.

As I mentioned in my blackberry post, I met a very nice family on the ferry also traveling to spain (I guess that is rather obvious as we were on the ferry to spain). We chatted about other adventures and far off lands. They live in Ohio, but the mother was born in Morocco, and kept a house in Casablanca. They were kind enough to give me their numbers so that should I be in casablanca again, or Ohio, I can stay by them. I shared my information as well, should they be in the city (for those confused about the concept of "A city" and "THE city", please speak with a New Yorker, any resident of "THE city") I can give them some ideas of places to explore.
In the station, after a sidewalk lunch, and some clothes shopping (unsuccessful, no linen shirts to be found), I met a mom and daughter traveling together also waiting for a train (they tried to book a hostel using my blackberry, but the final page wouldn't load, unfortunately). They had gone into Morocco for a few days, and were on their way back into Spain. The daughter, just finished university, and is planning to teach biology. The mom now lives in Costa Rica, and we chatted about the American School. Perhaps a sign since less than 24 hours before, while letting Genna take some time to explore the different bag options, Susannah and I threw around some ideas for our respective futures, and the American School came up as a method of exloring new international locales, while working at the same time.