Spanish Parts

1.
Traveling through Spain in 2001 with my best friend Bronwyn proved to be more eventful than I anticipated. We landed in Madrid after the 8 hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, prickling with excitement, immediately searching for the adventures of our combined fantasies. Anything could happen and so it did...
Eagerly we collected our car rental, tossed our backpacks and cheap duty free liquor onto the backseats and hastily left the airport, ignoring the typical rip off of additional driver insurance. We visited the Prada and all the Cultural spots that first day, burning blisters into the soft skin of our frantic feet. Bron and I were both passionate about art and architecture. Madrid's treasures thrilled us, raising our love for life to a tempo that we telepathically acknowledged but were unable to comment on. That night we found a backpacker's lodge right next to the Retiro and met great people from all over the world doing the same thing as us.

We had both wrangled three months off our respective jobs naturally hoping to squeeze the maximum out of our sojourn before Bronwyn said, "I do" to Gareth, her fiancé of five years. Bron was experiencing the whole series of pre-wedding jitters. My supply of soothing words for her was drying up, as I was just not turned on to a life time commitment to one person. Call me young, enthusiastic or just plain fickle, but I yearned for and chased the thrill of meeting new people all the time without the encumbrance of a permanent lover.

We stayed in Madrid for another four days to take in as many of the sights we could and to be with our new found friends before embarking on the next exciting slot of our adventure. Next stop was Toledo which is about an hour South of Madrid. Wow, what a city this was, our eyes were opened to such beauty and we reveled in the places of interest, the Museo de Santa Cruz, the Castillo de Oropesa and much more. We decided on a whim to spend at least a week in this enchanting place and to explore the surrounding areas.

It was on the second last night that fate stepped in while we were sitting enjoying tapas in a small tavern next to the Mezquita. We met David. I was immediately floored and intrigued by this good looking and very well traveled man. His knowledge of Spain was exceptional as he had been living there on and off for the last two years. He was by trade a surgeon, but this was just one of his many vocations. He had done so much and he was completely fascinating to talk to. I immediately warmed to him, probably because we were also pretty buzzed from the drink. We talked for many hours that night, him and I doing most of it while Bronwyn sat quietly sipping her sangria. When the sun was just touching the horizon we decided it was time for a rest before the days fiery rays began in earnest.

2.
After a long period of sleep, Bron and I woke late in the afternoon. There was a message waiting for me from David asking if we would ...

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