A couple of weeks into this program, I got in touch with my friend Patricia. We grew up together in Bogotá and she moved to another city, Cali, a couple of months after I moved to the United States in 1999. After six years of not seeing her, while I was on summer vacation in Colombia, she came to visit and celebrated my fifteenth birthday with me. Later, I found out she was moving to Spain with her dad and I did not know when I was going to see her again. In the past years, we had only exchanged a couple of emails. When we spoke on the phone in mid-May, I told her I was in the country and really wanted to see her. I had a couple of free weekends and thought I could definitely visit her soon. However, between exploring the city and sleeping in after late nights, in addition to the assignments we had for class, I did not take advantage of those weekends. When she was in Madrid and called to drop by, I was away at Barcelona. It was at the beginning of last week that I realized my days in Spain were nearing the end and I still had not seen my friend. So I decided reading period would be the perfect time for our delayed reunion. On Sunday, I took a bus to the town where she lives: Tarancón. It is a little more than an hour away in Castilla La Mancha and is small in size as evidenced by the fact that she walked to the bus station to meet me. Her dad was with her too. It had been more than ten years since I had seen him and even though I did not have an image of him before that point, I recognized him immediately. I took a look at my friend and still saw that friend who sat next to me in my second grade class, the one next to me in a sofa the day of my baptism. It is amazing to see how people can grow and mature through different experiences, but still remain the same. That afternoon we sat in her couch and talked for hours. Then, she showed me around Tarancón, which she calls her little “pueblo fantasma.”
The next day, seeing as I already knew most of Tarancón, we took the train to Cuenca, which was an hour away. She had only been to Cuenca to run errands, so we were both tourists in this city. It turns out Cuenca is nominated for European Cultural Capital 2016 and after seeing it I think it deserves this nomination. As many other cities in Spain, it has a Plaza Real and a cathedral. This cathedral, though, was one of the first ones to be constructed under the gothic style. It was small in size compared to the other ones I have seen in the program’s trips to Toledo or Segovia, yet very intimate. Cuenca also has the famous Casas colgadas, which are three houses than hang over the Huecar river gorge. Crossing the bridge of San Pablo was also amazing because you have an amazing view of this area of the city. I had a great time with Patricia and even though my visit was delayed, I am actually very glad this was how I spent one of my last days in Spain and I hope not many years go by (as in previous occasions) before I see her again.
Lizzeth
