What do you do for Thanksgiving in Spain? And what to be thankful for? Here is what we've found:
1) Be warm and dry. We're in another cabana (read: small mobile home that is found in commercial camping areas) just outside Caseres, on the way back north to France.
2) Find turkey to cook and eat. We found pavo breasts (turkey) but no drumsticks today. What they do with those we're not sure. Did find a packet of gizzards, but too much for gravy! We'll cook it on the stovetop as we have no oven and won't think about using the microwave. Fixins? Spuds, gravy, brussel sprouts, calabasa (squash) soup, but no cranberries.
3) Drink some beer (duh). Amstel. Have a fridge so this time it can be cold (a real hardship these last 4+ months in Europe).
4) Watch football. This will have to be soccer probably - can't get ABC, NBC, etc. to stream given the international agreements over imperialist yankee TV. Might try a college website that will stream, but we'll have to watch games in the wee hours of the 26th given the time difference.
5) Visit Caseres - the old town. Supposed to be fantastic, as all of these cities have been. Had one night in Sevilla on the way here - hostel, terrific food, found the old city and Jewish Quarter. As some Canadians at the hostel were relating (things that we knew), Cristobal Colon reputedly came from there and is buried there. Not impressed - he was geographically challenged and was something of a pendejo to the Amerindians. They also related that there is an interesting Museum of the Inquisition there - again, not interested (Jewish!). Anyway, we're thankful that we have the opportunity to do all of this.
6) Be thankful we get to see sights like the Rock of Gibraltar (see above). Went to the top on the cable car, saw the apes (tailless monkeys), and looked across the Strait to Africa.
7) Be thankful my camera still works. Has a spot that won't go away (yes, I changed lenses to test that). Developed it in humid France. See if you can find it in the image above. Will have to send the camera to Sony for repairs when the trip is done, then batch process about 20,000 photos in photoshop to fix about 20,000 spots in all of my images.
8) Be thankful for our health. We've only had 7 colds so far amongst the 4 of us. Those shots for typhus and hepatitis we probably didn't need, but we're gonna live anyway.
9) Be thankful for not getting lost in the Marismas (marshes) del Guadalquivir. The French National Mapping Agency map of Spain we've been using shows a road going through it along the Rio Guadalquivir. There is no road. Wanted to see the agriculture in this area that is resposible for the bulk of Spain's rice production (at a high cost to the marshes and river). Also, lots of truck farming under greenhouses, and some cotton production in the area. When the road ended we had to go all the way back the way we'd come in, then around. Dave hates that.
10) Be thankful for friends like all of you, loving family, and each other (still, even after 4+ months in tiny boxes called cars, tents, and cabanas with each other and no-one else).
Happy Thanksgiving All! The Aagaard-Shively
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