A few weeks ago I got an email from Mary, who was going to be doing a road trip through Spain and was interested in a tour with me, even though she saw that I have a two-person minimum (since now all my tours are private and so I can’t add others to existing groups). And THEN she wrote…

Special pleading as follows: I’m 78 and have been to Spain three times before. This will be my last. I’ve always wanted to see Flamenco in a Peña-type setting but have not felt comfortable on my own. I’ve seen more touristy ones but not great. I speak Spanish. I am very interested in food though I avoid the label “foodie.” I am a retired lawyer and in the process of retiring as the guiding teacher of a Zen Center. I hasten to add that I eat and drink most anything.

And well… how could I say no to such excellent pleading? So I said we could probably work something out and I checked out peñas for her. Meanwhile she wrote back saying that instead of a tour she would like to invite me out for lunch while she was here. Which happened today! Somehow we avoided the usual “how did you get from _______ to _______ ?” question, which both of us have answered more times than we can remember. Anyhow, we had a fabulous lunch and I have set Mary up with a list of places to go and, of course, great places to eat. We will try to meet up again before she leaves but as this weekend is actually quite a busy one for me (figures, all the other weekends this month are quiet) it may end up being just lots of WhatsApp chats. Still, what a lovely encounter.