"Where's Waldo?": Andalusía
Posted on April 30 2021
"Where's Waldo?": Andalusía
Up until this past Sunday night, the "photography gods" had smiled on me during my trip across Spain ... if the days weren't perfect, at least the light and the weather were still more than manageable ... then I arrived in Andalusía, usually the warmest and by far the sunniest region in the entire country, and all hell broke loose.
Up until this past Sunday night, the "photography gods" had smiled on me during my trip across Spain ... if the days weren't perfect, at least the light and the weather were still more than manageable ... then I arrived in Andalusía, usually the warmest and by far the sunniest region in the entire country, and all hell broke loose.
It has been "unpleasant" for the past two days with cold gale force winds and low dark banks of clouds bursting with rain and sleet.
I managed to get some decent shots in Cordoba, Lucena and Priego de Cordoba on my way to Granada yesterday, but nothing as good as previous days.
And to show you just how much we antiques road warriors suffer for our art, I managed to get the car stuck in a mud pit in an olive grove while stupidly trying to get just one last clear shot of the village of Alcala la Real off in the distance before the light went to hell.
Fortunately, I was able to hike out (I looked like a Papua New Guinea "mud man" by the time I reached the highway), flag down a lovely local couple in a van held together with baling wire and duct tape who took me several miles down the road to a gas station where they called for a tow truck belonging to friends of theirs, and we managed to resolve everything in under 90 minutes .... and all for the modest sum of $44 (including a large tip).
I had almost forgotten how extremely warm and funny Andalusians are. It's pleasant to be around people who always have a smile on their face and a joke on their lips. And thank God that I had studied in Seville and learned my Spanish in Andalusía - otherwise there would have been no way that I would have understood the villagers who helped me yesterday.
And, no, the little side road that I nosed into to execute a 3 point turn did not look like that mud pit before I entered...
Connect