Posted in Musings

We left Madrid and headed towards Granada in southern Spain via the bus. On the way we passed grove after grove of olive trees- for four hours! I didn't realize that olives were a major industry here. One mostly thinks of Greece and Italy when one thinks of olives. At least, I did. Not anymore. The trip was a bit uncomfortable because I was still feeling pretty bad. However, it was so good to get there and see the Irwins again! We miss them so much here in Guayaquil (For those who don't know, the Irwins were miss'ys  in G'quil for 15 years. We homeschooled our kids together a couple of years ago).

That evening Chris and Nicia surprised us with a visit from another G'quil miss'y friend now working in Granada- Paul Kaufmann. We had such a nice visit together. I missed seeing his wife Debbie who was out of town but we so enjoyed the time spent together sitting outside in the backyard visiting. Spending time with good friends, even though that time was way too short, was one of the best parts of being in Spain.

In the morning we experienced socialized medicine. I only had antibiotics for a couple of days and needed them for a week. We weren't sure how things would work out, so after taking Kaylea to school we went to a local clinic around the corner. We stood in line for about 1/2 hour with everyone else to get to the desk for help. We explained our situation (sick tourist willing to pay to see a doctor) and were well taken care of. I don't know if it was because we were tourists, or if it was because we had money to pay for the visit (it really wasn't very expensive compared to the States), or if it was a God thing (we had tickets for Alhambra in the afternoon and wanted/needed to see a doctor in the morning), but we were shown into the doctor's office right away and were seen to ahead of everyone else! Within about 1 1/2 hours I had my needed antibiotics.

By the time we got to Alhambra the antibiotics had kicked in and I was feeling really good. Good enough to spend 4 hours there! I could have stayed longer but we needed to get back.

Alhambra was amazing. I have wanted to go there for years. It was the second of the top three things I really wanted to do in Spain. It's a big place and you can go around at your own pace. It was just so beautiful. I love the Arabic style of architecture. It meets my obsessive compulsive need for symmetry. Everything is lined up so mathematically. All the doors are lined up perfectly giving these perfect views of things. The gardens are laid out very symmetrically. There is so much detail in all the decorations on the walls. It was fun to let your imagination go and wonder what it would have been like to have lived there as a princess or something. I have decided that my dream home will have lots of arches. They are such a nice frame for pretty views. The views there were spectacular and it was all very inspiring. I just loved being there and seeing it all.

God made man such a creative being. Even though man creates for himself he doesn't realize that the beauty he creates reflects God's glory, because his creativity comes from God. I find it so easy to praise God whenever I am in a beautiful place or surrounded by beautiful things- even though those things were made by men, for men. God's glory shines through because whether man realizes it or not, God is the author of that beauty. Am I making any sense to anyone but myself? I love beauty and was surrounded by it much of my time on this trip.

I'm having trouble putting my photos here so you can see them here on my facebook page.