Spain: A Secular Pilgrimage

We spent most of the month of October in Spain.  We wanted to experience the country's cultural, political and artistic diversity, so we moved around a bit.  We rented apartments for a week each in Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla.  Also, in a rented car, we visited the Rioja wine district in the north not far from Pamplona, and later the historic cities of Córdoba and Granada to absorb the Moorish-influenced Andalucía in the south... and many points in between.

A big part of travel, we've found, is what the traveler brings to the experience:  What is your perspective, what are your interests, what are your intentions?  What is your "mission"?  One writer has identified tourists in two groups: 1) Those who are consumers and 2) those who are pilgrims.  Pilgrims, as I understand it, are those--secular and otherwise--who take risks in new lands, often experience mild discomforts and leave a little of themselves behind, as they explore new depths in unfamiliar worlds. Speaking of visitors to that great, sacred city Kyoto, Preston L. Houser, in the Forward to Japanese Garden Design by Marc P. Keane, said: "... the pilgrims come to gain a sense of artistic heritage which will expand and enrich their cultural identities... For the shoppers, on the other hand, traveling is a kind of consumption called 'doing,' as 'doing' New York or 'doing' the Louvre..."

We were fortunate to be traveling with long-time Sacramento friends (and pilgrims) Larry Baird and Maggie Jimenez, who joined us in confronting the unfamiliar, and brought a lot of their own experience, research and perspective to the trip--sharing their unique ways of viewing the world.  Larry has a Ph.D. in Political Science and is currently doing research in alternative energy for the California State Senate.  (Spain, we learned is in the vanguard of wind power development, among other sources of alternative energy, and we saw wind farms everywhere.)  In addition to Larry's  jovial manner, we all benefited from this knowledge, and from his general curiosity and interest in philosophy and history.

Maggie, an energetic artist and photographer, was constantly alerting us to colors, shapes, textures and the way light played off the landscape. Thanks to her, we saw more of the visual marvels around us--from the works of turn-of the-20th century architect and designer Antoni Gaudí's in Barcelona to the those of the ancients that crafted the Mezquita of Córdoba and the Real Alcazar of Sevilla.   Maggie is--among other things--a mosaic artist. 

If you click on these two links immediately above, you'll see a few photos that will tell you why Maggie was in her element.      -- RCH

We Love Spaniards

It' been more than two weeks since we returned from our three-week tour of Spain, and its time to reflect.

We love Spain; but better yet, we love Spaniards.

This photo says it all.  Taken on Barcelona's Avinguda de Gaudí by our friend, traveling companion and artist Maggie Jimenez, the photo reminds us of the Spanish openness, eagerness to engage and generosity we found wherever we traveled.

These gentlemen, who were probably chatting in Catalan, might not identify themselves as primarily Spaniards.  Nonetheless, the Spanish spirit is there.

Spain is a beautiful country with a fascinating history which connects with our own in many ways.  And its art, architecture, cuisine and music are wonders to behold.  These next several blog posts will attempt to share some of that with you.  But what we most want to share is the Spanish spirit that captivated us so.

Much of our focus, then, will be on relationships we formed with Spaniards. In these posts, we want to explore, affirm and celebrate relationship--to borrow from a favorite writer who'll you soon meet here.

We'll be using links to photos and Websites to focus on details or broaden perspective.   If you have the time and interest to pursue a theme further, we invite you to click on the links we provide.   --- RCH

Spain: Olé, Olé; It's Heating Up for the Trip to Spain

It's heating up around here, in more ways than one. Sure, this week the all-time heat record for downtown L.A. was set at 113 degrees (this was before the official thermometer broke), but just a few days earlier, the sounds of Latin music had things really steaming on the L.A. Music Center Plaza.

In celebration of Latino Heritage Month, the Music Center's Active Arts program presented A Taste of Dance on Saturday. The hot dance sounds of mambo, rhumba, afro-Brazilian, among others, could be heard throughout the day. But the genre that really got my juices flowing was FLAMENCO.

We're gearing up for our trip to Spain--reading, planning, making reservations, all of which seems a bit abstract. But a brief flamenco lesson, from a professional flamenco dancer, and teacher suddenly makes it more real.

Our teacher, Linda "La Matadora" Andrade, dressed in gypsy garb and full of inspiring attitude, encouraged us to "stand erect, chest out, show some pride," and then introduced us to one of flamenco's simpler rhythms, the rumba flamenca. She talked of the energy of "palmas," rhythmic hand-clapping, and spontaneous and heartfelt shouts of encouragement--Olé, a gypsy's equivalent of "bravo."

She also told us of the centuries of migrating gypsies, who much like the American blues singer and the Argentine tango

dancer, came to express their souls in their art form. If everything clicks and you're in the groove, when you're feeling the vibe deep in your soul, then you're said to have "duende," she said. Then she got us moving... some of us only moderately "deep in our souls."

To recorded music, she had us clapping hands held high, clicking heels, and turning as we gyrate hips, our arms snaking to the sky.

Finally, she placed us in a circle to create our own version of the gypsy jam session, a " juerga," clapping and clicking heels and shouting olés of encouragement to the brave souls who dared show their stuff in the center.

"Matadora" is Spanish for female bullfighter, but the term is derived from the word "matar," to kill, which is what a matadora does to the bull at the end of the elaborate display of gore and grace we know as the bullfight. Just between you and me, I doubt that Linda "La Matadora" Andrade has ever killed a bull, but I do know from direct observation, that she is a killer flamenco dancer and teacher. She also has a killer Web site and Blog.

And she inspired this old gringo to pack his laptop in order to be able to blog from Spain--to make the trip a sort of pilgrimage where engaged creativity trumps detached connoisseurship.

More about this later.

                ---  RCH

(Click on "Active Arts" and "Spain" labels for related posts.)

A Blast From the Past

It was a blast from the past. Hooking up in Santa Ana with old friends from my OC Community Services Agency days. See photo of me, sitting with IT wizards Paul Cook and Jack Luster, below one of those marvelous El Tapatio Restaurant murals depicting traditional life in rural México.

Great conversation: from life in the bureaucracy to how much music is still playing in our lives. (Jack was the bassist in our "Bureaucracy Blues Band.") It had been 8 years since I had visited El Tapatio but, as I entered, I was recognized and heartily greeted in Spanish by Gloria--who's been serving there for 28 years--as if it had only been days since relishing my usual cocido chico con tortillas de maíz.

--RCH

Feeling Adventuresome? Go Fly a Kite.

Karl, a "worker bee" on the Long Beach Boeing C-17 Globemaster III engineering team, keeps a kite in his car, "just in case I come across a breezy hilltop on my lunch hour," he says with a smile.

A long-time Long Beach area resident, he remembers working as a kid at his grandparents' Ray's Shooting Gallery on the old Long Beach Pike.

He told me he is a Vegan and spoke highly of the health and ecological benefits of the dietary regimen. Then we got into Buddhism, for some reason. I suggested he read a little Robert Aitken, the Zen master who died earlier this month and who "... made Zen Buddhism workable for Westerners."

Karl spoke enthusiastically about his passion for bicycling. He suggested I take a look at the work of his friend, photographer and cyclist Russ Roca, who is documenting his grand cycling tour of the States in a blog called The Path Less Pedaled.

And there is another friend, Adrian, who is due to arrive shortly in Costa Rica after cycling through Mexico and much of Central America. It's notable that Adrian is touring using a "fixed-gear" bicycle, meaning there is no freewheel to provide the opportunity to coast; no need for brakes, a simple machine, synchronizing legs and wheels. "What's the purpose of that?," I asked. A moment's hesitation, a quick smile, then: "I suppose it's the challenge," he said.

Meanwhile, there's Karl, taking a break from work to fly his kite on Signal Hill... thinking about pedaling. Another sweet, Pleasant Encounter on Signal Hill.

(For more Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill, scroll down or click on slideshow in sidebar to the right.)

-- RCH

The Poetry of Artist Annie Stromquist

Artist, author and teacher Annie Stromquist, from the Long Beach neighborhood of Bixby Knolls, takes vigorous walks almost daily on the Hill. You see her zest for life on the trail and in her art.

Maria and I had set out for a rare early-morning walk on the Hill to help our niece and nephew--Marcia and Lee-- shake out some of the jet lag cobwebs lingering after their return flight from a vacation in France. Maria and Lee made first contact with Annie up on the Panorama Promenade; later the five of us had this Pleasant Encounter on the Hillside trail.

At age 35, Annie left her job as associate dean of Occidental College to pursue her life-long interest in the arts. After getting a third master's degree--this time in Fine Arts at Cal State Long Beach--she took up the life of an artist.

Now, a print maker, Annie creates mixed media works on paper which she calls "'monoprints', made by pressing a variety of found objects covered with ink into wet paper." What propels her forward, she writes, "is a fascination with process, and how I might push the medium I'm using in new, interesting ways."

She even wrote a book about print making: Simple Screen Printing: Basic Techniques and Creative Projects.

Her work is abstract--neither symbolic nor representational. Much like a Zen master preferring gesture over words to point directly to a thing's essence, Annie lets the materials, and her intimate connection to them, speak for themselves. She writes, "When an eloquent form emerges from a process that is, in equal measures, controlled and fortuitous, it conveys the essence of the revelatory of which art is uniquely expressive."

That's a pretty eloquent use of words, too! No purist, she told us on the trail that she's found that writing her blog, One Artist's Life, is (surprisingly?) helpful to her art.

Take a little time to click on the above links, and tell me, Would you agree that Annie Stromquist is both poet of the visual and the verbal?

(For the full Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill project, scroll down or see slideshow on sidebar to the right.)

--RCH

Four Words of Encouragement

"Good goin'," said I. "You too," said she.

Most Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill are fleeting: no opportunity to take a photo, no chance for a brief caption. Usually it's a friendly smile, a warm greeting, a word or two of encouragement. Today, Liz and I shared these four words of encouragement, and then met up again at the Hilltop for this photo.

I was powering up one of the steeper streets on the Hill when she passed me on her new baby blue road bike, complete with fingernails to match. This brief exchange, a flashing smile, and then it was back to work.

Liz, of nearby Lakewood, has been seriously riding since last October, and is happy to announce she has lost 57 pounds. But, to be able to keep up with her fellow cycling club members, she needs to improve her hill-climbing. So for now it's one day a week on Signal Hill. Tomorrow she's got an even longer hill ride on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Four words of encouragement and a final promise: "We'll be seeing you on the Hill and online."

(Scroll down or click on the slideshow to the right for the entire Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill project.)

-- RCH