About two weeks ago .. .. ..

On another of Leon's chilly mornings I was walking through some of the deep and narrow streets in the ancient part, when from in between the drifting pedestrians my eyes met with the deep brown eyes of a woman similar to me in age, she was sitting on the stone pavings resting up against the wall, with a plastic cup in her hand.
I was not prepared to see her there - her mode and desires were obviously on a completely different level to everyone else around us. 
I felt caught on the spot (in contrast to my many pre considered ideas and intentions of hypothetical circumstances similar to this ....) .... as our eyes met again ... I offered her a smile,  and she gave me one in return.   With which I felt very warmed,  but still prominently unsettled with the stark inequality between our serendipitous paths in life.
My mind went to and fro with the whys and ifs as my feet continued to carry me away and I pretended to look into shop windows.
Each day since ... her smile has been with me,  and I've wondered of her children, if any, and of her life story that brings her to where she is now.
On these icy mornings I've wondered where she sleeps, there are large plastic recycling bins dotted haphazardly about these streets, there's one for paper and cardboard . . . I suppose she shelters in one of them. It's the cosiest available place I can think of.
I've wished I had've been prepared with the things I wanted to say and give and do.  But I know ...this is life ... and they say ... Be Prepared for the unexpected. Which is hard to do, because the unexpected comes in many forms and from many directions. So I ponder more . . . And I realise ....far better than to try to be prepared for the myriad of the unexpected - is to be present to the moment and live consciously.
Still each day I hope I'll see her again.
I keep thinking this time I'll be present to her.
This time I'll be awake and outgoing.
This time I will live consciously.
And not only with her. . .
I know full well that second chances like that rarely come round,  and that there are many many people in her position and worse off too. Yet since exchanging smiles with her something has awoken in me - that has enabled me to touch base with others like her, as well as the usual passers-by etc
Still ... hers was the smile that woke me up - I nick named her my Lady.
I have zigzagged those streets - not knowing exactly where I saw her nor if she always sits in the same place - but I just keep hoping  - whilst striving to live consciously and present to all - wherever I am - regardless.

More of Leon

I went to a different supermarket today,  further away and bigger. Leon is finally beginning to show signs of acknowledging the arrival of summer!  These poppies grow wild here, they're so bright and cheerful. When I first arrived here I was delighted to see them in ones and twos ..... but now just in the last couple of days they're blooming in big patches :-)
They sell eels in  the supermarket boys! Check this out!  It's a wopper too! And squid . . . But it's food here not bait. And some pretty mean Nd uglh looking fish . . . Merluza De.... something.  And Weetabix - original see? With no corners, makes them taste better somehow. And what do you reckon about these eggs? They're serious, they're not easter sweets :-) 
Their bike racks are quite different to ours - using up a lot more metal piping too.  On a clear day at any given time you can see about a dozen jrt streams criss-crossing the skies with half of them still in motion.
The Spanish aren't anywhere near as trigger happy with weed sprays as the Kiwis are- and I appreciate that? I think they may like the wild flowers as much as I do. :-)
I wonder if you can guess who this tall skinny grumpy statue fellow is? Without trousers or shoes.  He's a popular legend of Spain. I found him in the University grounds.  (Notice more jet zig-zagging going on behind him?)

Eerier areas :-)

We're all pretty familiar with the Cafeterias . . . Being for cafés / coffees. Well here they also have Fruterias being for fruit and veg.
And Pescaderia, pescado are fish.
And Peluqueria, pelu is hair.
Carniceria, carne is meat (think of the word carnivore).
Pasteleria, pastels being pasteries and cakes.
But when I came to a second hand store which also stocked brand new camp ovens, scythes, billies, pocket knives and camp burners etc....
I just loved the name they chose for that! 
A Ferreteria! 

2 hour bike ride :-)

Fredy lent me his bike today and the weather stayed good for the duration of my ride. It rained as soon as I arrived home. He warned me that here in Leon . . . There's a trend for stealing bicycle seats, so even if I lock the bike to a pole or whatever with the chain . . . Then there's a fair chance that the seat will be gone when I get back.  As you can see in the photo there's a neat little lock latch thing for quick and easy adjustment . . . Or theft as the case may be. Same goes for the back tyre . . . But they are not so often taken.
Remember that I'm living 2 stories up?  So it's either take the bike down the stairs (and risk making black tyre marks up the nice orange walls like Santiago did) or the tiny elevator which doesn't fit a bike length wise.
The bike trail was really nice winding through the trees alongside the river,  with prudent reminders every now and then to keep Right! Although mostly I was on my own :-)  So was happy to weave about as I pleased,   pretending every now and then that I was in NZ ;-) The air was the still very icy here today even though the sun was out, when I stopped riding the bike and therefore stopped making wind in my face it was ok . .   But really too cold for comfort when riding.
The markings on the trail told me I did 13 kms all up :-)  And when I look at  that seat ..... I'm pretty pleased with that effort!
For the first time on this whole trip I used my earphones, (a good 50 percent of people walking or riding bikes here have earphones in)
But I only used one . . . One ear for my music and one for the birds, crickets and frogs :-)
I said "Hola" to every other passer by, and I managed to pass them all on my Left!
Except for one! ! He was a pedestrian (no bike) and as we approached each other I could see he was more and more determined to stick to my Right,  so I let him, and as usual I said " Hola" . . . . Came the reply . .  
"Hello"   :-)
I enjoy the beautiful red poppies dotted here an there,  and saw small two thin lizards speedily scurry from their sunbathing rock as I approached . . . As if they had been sunbathing naked.
I heard a rather comical bird down by the river.... it sounded like someone sliding their teeth down a balloon-cherry . . .  In a bumpy manner. I peered an peered to catch a glimpse.  . . Then I realised I'd been duped by
frogs! :-)
Look at the size of the thistles they have here!

Ps . . . I tried to put the photos in order but they get rearranged in transit!

Just funny little quirky things that make me turn my head ...

English is often not well Interpreted here, but they obviously don't realise it because they very confidently print it out :-)
Such as the use by date on a bag of flour advises "Best before end" No numbers, that's it. One presumes it is best before it's finished.

A lady's t-shirt was advertising juice ... with added "Bounce and Vitality" . . . The word Bounce being  boldly emblazoned across her bust. I recon she'd not a clue what it said.

A child's t-shirt read "I like my garden with flowers
                                       In the morning I smell"
Oh dear . . .

So far nothing has taken me so quickly back home as when I was walking down the main street in central Barcelona, passing a reconstruction site and an electric planer started up! I just stopped and listened for a while.  It surprised me how exact and correct it sounded, like Nothing else around me did.

Clear confirmations that cigarettes are pretty cheap here ... Almost everyone smokes, and a large proportion of the butts seen stubbed out on the footpaths have a good 1/3 - 1/4 unused.

I have a favourite orange juice here as pictured, no preservatives, no artificial colours or sweetners and no gas  (sin means without) :-)

Remember what I was saying earlier on about the stability of the roofs here in Spain?  Well same goes for a lot of the buildings too, and I'm not talking about the ancient buildings either, take this 2nd floor up apartment I'm sharing, down in the foyer there is a series of sloping stress cracks near the plant. Then up here in the bathroom ceiling near the light there's a pretty big crack there ... An see the side of that building! ?!?     It really does give me a greater appreciation for the 3604 in NZ  ;-)

In Leon ... 4 ...

You'll see schools in the city centre,  imprisoning children that have likely never played on real grass, I'm not over exaggerating here seriously so far the only grass I've seen here states in Spanish  it is prohibited to walk on the grass except by obligation you must dispose of your dogs excretement. So peering through the bars to the school yard I see children playing on plastic grass areas patchworked with concrete.

A 4 hour walk in the country side, so nice!

I am given some delicious Spanish sunshine today.  To begin with . .   No,  it was just overcast.  Then around midday ... the sky cleared up and brilliant sunshine poured forth :-) Yet the air retained its distinct chill so that we don't forget there is snow on those mountains on the horizon.  Fredy & I went for a four hour walk leaving here at about midday, this time we went in a different direction to the city.  This time we went through some farm land and some very well used plain ol dirt tracks through the scrub. Then worked our way up onto a good sized hill that Fredy calls a mountain.  We were able to look out over the city. We saw quite a bit of wildlife too.
I saw 2 skinks in the end of a novaflow pipe that was buried end on in the concrete of a bridge I was crossing, I almost stood on them as they each  scurried  over the other to get into the hole first. We saw hawk-like birds an a pair of ... what looked a lot like wood pigeons!  Cousins I would say going by the way they moved and flew, size and shape too.... only their colours were ... milder. We also saw a pair of ciguenas (the ones that carry babies said Fredy,  hmmm if only it was that easy ae? :-)  yes they were Storks.  They are bigger than I imagined. There are a lot of Golondrinas (swallows) here, and it made me wonder ... when they get to NZ in spring they have chicks, right? Then they migrate to another country for another spring ... and another set of chicks? So twice a year?
Other birds we heard but didn't see are Cuckoos ... I just had to imitate back to them :-) And then this funny sounding bird that went " click-click-click-click squeeeeel!  :-)  We saw large ants with big nippers.... Fredy assured me that they are not big at all compared to the ones of his country ... easily 2 centimetres long!!  I saw an orange and white mariposa (butterfly,  but it moved too quickly for me to get a good picture of it. ) I saw a small heard of cows and some of them had bells on :-)  don't know why cos their paddock was flat an clear of scrub and bush there was really no way of losing them ...  An on the way back we saw 4 fluffy little patitos (ducklings) in the river.  When looking down from the hill top we saw an area of gatden plots with a scattering of small sheds amid, , Fredy explained that people rent these areas to grow vegetables in, ... what an amazing contrast of lifestyle especially when you have a look in these photos I'll post. ..to see the typical "back yard" these people have, all concreted over ... no natural ground ... and almost rarely used says Fredy.
In the distance we could see the Cathedral de Leon and could look over the whole city of Leon (population being about 120, 000) an we saw a series of snow capped mountains on the horizon.
When we arrived home Santiago had prepared lunch (dinner) for us, pork chops, salad and boiled platanos (bananas)! These bananas are a little different from the ones we are used to (more starchy but still sweetish) and and are cut into thirds or quarters, and cooked in their skins for about 30 mins. It's a normal "farmers meal" in Columbia Santiago explained. And of course it was accompanied by the usual box of juice and milk.  :-)
Then this evening Santiago made me another traditional thing from Colombia ... "agua de panela" a drink made from breaking a piece off this block of hardened brown sugar. .. boiling it with water and adding lemon juice, it is had either hot or cold, I had it hot :-) nice.

The next day we had tomato soup with (this time they were normal) sliced bananas in it!! Again a usual way of eating in Colombia :-)