11-23/25-07 Benalup

I had a great, special experience this weekend. Jose-mi, a guy I had met the first time very briefly at a meeting for people wanting to do language exchanges (intercambios), invited me to his hometown. He did so we met for the first time since our first introduction. It was crazy how much faith he had put in me as a friend! He then invited me to his flat for lunch where I met his two roommates, one of which was his brother. We had hit it off well.

His Dad got us on Friday afternoon and we zipped into the mountains to the town of Benalup. After meeting his fantastic family, we went off around town. I met his uncle and grandma first, then his friends who we visited in a matter of minutes (small town). After that, we met his other uncle who was at a little bar having some drinks at the local bar. Then, home again for merienda (snack), some TV, some dinner, and out on the town we went. The whole place was tiny! It’s not like Naselle where everything is spread out, it is a compressed little community. That sort of structure makes centralization of public places easy and also attracts all the youngins to the same part of town. We gave the town a gander, stopped to see an old man that was either drunk or the village idiot. I felt bad since we were there for just a laugh. After deciding the streets were not full of fun, we called it a night. The next day was slow and uneventful. We went back out that night though, doing a little botellin. We went over to his friend’s place where I met a whole bunch of his friends. I was a little weirded out by the fact that I was the oldest one there, Jose-mi at 18 the oldest Spaniards, and the rest: 15, 16, and a couple 17. Regardless, we all talked and I was indeed the spectacle. All along the conversations were in Spanish - a huge help to my overall skills. We went out to the discoteca. I was amazed that there was even a club in the town. There I met tons more people there. It was packed and was evidence that every town in Spain, including Benalup, has a place for young people to dance and get drunk.

Sunday was lazy and after lunch we headed back to Cadiz. I had a great time just experiencing the small town life of a Spanish family. The family had a really strong bond that was admirable. It seems almost all Spanish families have that bond and I wish that it would spread throughout American society too. In Spain, as it did drastically in America and still does, the family is losing the traditional importance. But, it is more due to lack of marriage and divorce. The Spanish family continues to have huge weight.

There was little to do in Benalup but I enjoyed it. His dad is a worker for the state’s water potency division and was really intelligent. Talking to him and Jose-mi’s brother (who is 22) I realized that Jose-mi, despite being ridiculously nice, was not that interesting of a person. His family would call him “delicado” (delicate) since he didn’t like to try new things and had to very clean all the time. He was certainly a pretty boy. Also, he wasn’t that interesting. Any academic topic I brought up would lead to him not being interested and me talking a lot. Regardless, the experience was great and I have an open invite to come back whenever I’m back in the area.