We had another great airbnb experience—a hike in the mountains along a river and across suspension bridges outside Granada. My parents decided that they’d like to do something really active before flying back, and this was our (rather gorgeous) solution. Trip was from 5-9pm, so the light was amazing.
On the way back into town, our guide Sonya and I had a wide-ranging conversation about global politics and more. She is a lawyer who finished school but didn’t find work in her field in a place she wanted/found it feasible to live, so she was establishing an airbnb business with partners and worked part-time at various other things. We discussed the economic and political situations in Spain and the US and shared our fears and frustrations, agreeing that so much needed to change in big systemic ways. One of the things I love most about traveling is having conversations like this. Person to person, hope is much easier to come by. I noticed so many common themes that keep coming up in conversations I have at home as well, which makes me think maybe a sea change is on the horizon after all… I can hope anyway.
Our other guide was trained as an archeologist and had worked to search for and uncover some of the 150,000 disappeared from Spain’s Civil War. He said the country is only behind Cambodia in numbers of disappeared citizens. I told him Sebastian was interested in history, and he encouraged him to read Marx. Seb smiled at that. I’m sure he will read Marx someday, as he continues to explore his own opinions on history and politics. On the way home, we discussed our countries’ short memories—the atrocities we don’t talk about, and so risk repeating.