F - the next letter in the alphabet
Hitching in Spain has involved our staring, voluntarily or otherwise, at seemingly interminable streams of Spanish license plates (marked with the EU stars and a white ‘E’ on a blue background). I find that Espagna has greater affinity with the next letter of the alphabet, however, it is a land of fire and fiesta, frolic and fun – for us in particular, it has been alternately frustrating and fantastic.
The transition between France and Spain was not immediately discernible – we whiled away a lazy afternoon in the border town of Irún getting a kick continually running over the line dividing the two countries. Excerpts: “now we’re in France, now Spain, now France, no Spain, France-Spain-France-Spain......wait, which side am I on now?” Sometimes you’ve just got to find some way to keep yourself going.
Before long though, the delicate chansons give way to the raucous rhythms of the south, spice assails your palate at dinner (even in trucker food) and the soil acquires a more crimson hue. Our mustachioed trucker friend who drove us from Burgos to Madrid started dancing with his mates when we stopped for the night at the Autogrill, flashing us a toothy grin each time he caught our eye.
You can feel the heat in the architecture, too – flatter roofs, reflective white, strategically placed windows and courtyards, or through the extravagant eye make-up of practically every female on the screen (oh, and did I mention the eyebrow-raising frequency they manage to find excuses for aforementioned kohl-adorned females to nonchalantly strip off their clingy tops on national television?)
Spain just smoulders with flavour, whether you’re bumping along the mountain roads of Castilla-La Mancha, walking on the trails of Inquisitors and Conquistadors in Castilla y León, taking in the majesty of the sierras of the Basque country, marvelling at the lavish silent processions of the hermandad at Easter or downing that extra cup of water after that very salty bacalao.
We’ve been here longer than we’d wanted to be, but boy do I already want to come back for more.