Granada

We arrived in Granada in all of its oppressive heat and humidity mid afternoon and went for a quick swim in the hostel pool (more like a large bathtub, but honestly, even a bucket of cold water would have been an incredible blessing).  Swen, Gillian and I set out on the cobblestone streets to find Iglesia de la Merced, where we watched a stunning sunset from the belltower. 

The next day I wandered about all morning, in my favorite sort of half-lost/half-wandering adventuring where you stumble on the best sort of randomness the city has to offer.  I had coffee on the brightly painted pedestrian street Calle Cazuela where you can people watch to your heart's content.  I made friends with this little old lady when I asked for directions to a certain Casa de los Leones, and she decided it was enough on her way to accompany me there. She had a daughter in Miami, and that was in the United States, so even though I didn't know her (she asked three times)  it was enough of a connection for her to kiss me goodbye (and tell me to be on the lookout for her Maria). I poked my head into the workshops of Casa de los Leones, which are actually pretty incredible. A non-profit grants all sorts of artists different spaces to showcase their pieces as well as work on new ones,  so I spent a while talking to a stone/ink/impression  (? I still really don't understand how people were to buy his art) artist and watching a splatter paint fight between others.

It's rather unexplainable, but I loved this city.