Saludos de Espana

Greetings from Spain! I can't believe that my vacation is already drawing to a close -- only 2 1/2 days left. It's been a fantastic trip replete with many siestas, dancing until 6 a.m., beach time, tapas, vino, and family time. The family reunion is tomorrow night, but the extended family is starting to gather. I've also been having some quality time with my brother, sister-in-law, and parents. It's been a blast.

Yesterday Chris, Lisa and I went to Tangiers. They wanted to check out Morocco and I've never really spent any time in Tangiers (the only other time I went to Morocco, I headed straight to Marrakesh). Well, Tangiers is a lovely city full of history and also full of incredibly aggressive vendors. After a frenzied walk through the Medina (the old city) being chased by drum, knife, shirt, carpet, lamp, mirror, bowl, plate, etc. salesmen thrusting their wares in our faces and haggling themselves down and we exhibited a lack of interest, we finally made it back to the bus and the port. I had unwisely suggested that we take a tour of the city so that we could avoid this -- instead we paid someone to deliver us into the middle of the lion's den (not before first bringing us to the most expensive shops for wares). Ah well... I ended up buying a carpet that I'm quite happy with (haggled down from $1500 to $350) and then bought a lovely vase. It was quite the experience. I can't wait to go back. Next time I will spend more time in Morrocco (though I think I've had enough of Tangiers).