I had everything I needed for the beach in Spain, in summertime. Jeans and jacket, an x-ray of my hand...
Well, I mailed the insurance stuff on the way, and we were going to go to Chipiona and meet Concha and Rafael and Frasci there at night for the second concurso de Fandangos. Tonight though, it was not going to be cool.
We (being Mai and I) took the bus to Sanlucar de la Barrameda. Horses racing on the beach, Manzanilla (the climate is just exactly such that a different kind of yeast thrives there, in what would otherwise be sherry), beautiful houses, an awesome pedestrian area, some of the best tapas around, drugs... what more could you want. (Yes, being a small town and on the coast, it is a major area for that).

I cannot stand much sun. It could be being burnt last week, or having heat stroke and other bad heat experiences before. Or my constitution or blue eyes aren't made for the intense light. I need sunglasses darker than the usual ones. I laid in the shade and had a towel over my head while Mai swam and sunbathed.

I tried a different kind of manzanilla today from the other three I've previously had. Very good. Very cheap. E1.3 on the beach for a glass of manzanilla. People in Canada don't really go to the beach. Maybe once a year, if that. Some people might make it 3 times. Here, they go all the time. On a Saturday evening, a bunch of 50s - 60s average looking people that in Canada would normally being at home, are hanging out in the bar on the beach, relaxing together.

This morning at the post office while the proper looking lady that could have gone to the Tabernacle (church of my childhood) she looked that kind of conservative, while she was processing my envelope, a guy also in his late 50s, early 60s or so came in and they were talking about whether the other employees were in or on holidays. When she mentioned one woman, the man said, "Oh, that big whore, ha ha ha!" in a very jolly and endearing way. "Puta" is most often used in a positive sense. Don't try to understand. Then the man said, "she's pregnant, isn't she," which had absolutely nothing to do with the use of the word puta/whore to describe her, and they continued to discuss this probably very upright, nice young lady that they both were obviously good friends with and fond of.

At Sanlucar beach, a major public beach, the occasional woman was topless, as is the norm at most beaches I've been to. I understand that some are topless and some aren't but it seems like at most, it is acceptable. Very weird for me.

Someone recently told me that in his travels around Europe, in Sweden (or somewhere north), they give you dirty looks if you answer your cell phone on the metro. In France, they have a spot in between the cars, for cell phone use, and in Spain and Italy, people talk all around you on their cell phones. Ideas about basic things are so different that it is impossible to say which ideas are "right" and which are not. I guess that pretty much summed up what I have felt/decided/pushed myself to understand, in my time in other countries.