He Llegado - I have arrived

Bliss.  When I placed my foot off the plane in Madrid and onto Spanish Soil this early morning (Sunday), I felt its magic.  Wispy clouds hung in a bright-blue sky and then the reality of the Madrid Airport pushed my mind into overdrive.  My España Aventura (Spanish adventure) had begun. 

The moment I walked up the ramp, I was handed an orange-colored voucher with my name on it along with an urgent suggestion to "hurry to gate H24 for my connection to Malaga."  Looking around me, I saw groups of people rushing forward to one of the six gates and I followed like a gaggle of geese chased me.  Once the security people stamped Madrid on my passport, I was off and running again.  The gates were clearly marked toward the gate's letters and I kept "H" in my sights as I rounded corners on the long concourses, sped up four escalators, jumped on two trains, fast-walked across two moving walkways and then caught the shuttle bus across the tarmac to the waiting Iberia Express airplane.  The crowds filling the escalators, bus, trains and concourse looked like a slow-moving expressway of ants.  And I'm sure I walked ten miles.

Once on the plane, I sighed with relief and noticed the airline attendants wore dresses the color of the Spanish flag.  Excellent.  It made me smile and then one hour later up, across and down again, I landed in Malaga.

I knew Miguel Alba Trujillo was meeting me with a sign "Hawaii" on it depicting my descendant status for Spanish ancestors who had immigrated from Spain to Hawaii, I arrived at the baggage gate expecting to be on pause position going through Customs.  But, no!  The Customs had already gone through my bag (not sure how they got them closed since I'd stacked them tight) and I was soon off and running again to find Miguel.

We recognized each other immediately.  I didn't even see the sign.

He'd told me he was bringing a director of documentaries to chat with me also, but the day changed from regular bliss to an adventure out of a movie.  Literally.  Besides the director, there were also two young men - four men in all.  One was the camera man and the other was the audio man.  I was being filmed arriving, walking, talking and the documentary began.  What fun.  I wore a microphone just like uptown.  And then we five squeezed into a car and Miguel drove me to my hotel in Estepona with conversations being recorded (my Spanish wasn't as bad as I thought before I left home) for the beginning of my Road's Scholar Tour at the Estepona Palace Hotel.

I was delighted to learn they want to film me for the documentary in several other towns during my 3-month stay in Spain.  Miguel has offered to take me to the towns where my Ruiz family are from over the next weeks.

He has written a book titled SS Heliopolis, about the first emigration from Andalusia to Hawaii and the sugar cane fields.  He gifted me a personalized copy of his book (in Spanish of course) and he hopes to one day have it translated into English, so many of the Americans and English descendants can read the story he researched four years before publishing.
Since my book, (The Girl Immigrant) Historia de tuna niña emigrante is similar, we have a lot in common as our quest for filling the blanks of family trees expands.

MY HOTEL IS BREATHTAKING.  White stucco against the blue sky and palm trees framing the back courtyard with the ocean as its natural curtain beyond...pulls me toward it like a bee to honey.
My room has a balcony with a view of the ocean and more palms, but the back patio (I use the term loosely as it is massive) is where I sit now to type this narrative.  This photo was taken from my balcony.

The hotel's back patio is encircled with a serpentine wall holding up tiny purple flowers sprinkled at the perimeter.  There is a slight, balmy breeze ruffling my hair, birdsong is all around me and the sounds of the ocean breaking over the sand are lulling me after my very long plane ride.  I see the turquoise waters blissfully moving by with gentle white caps and fluttering palms sway in tandem with the birds' friendly songs.

Peace.  Gentle and kind.  It surrounds me.  I feel Spain's embrace in every direction.  I see white-washed tiers of hotel rooms amid more flowers, terra-cotta floor tiles and wicker chairs (my favorite.)
My first day.  Amazing.  I've now been awake (mostly) for 24 hours and I'm waiting for jet lag to sing its siren song.  For now, I'll just sit back and listen to all the sounds and prepare for my 6 o'clock tour orientation in the marble and palm-filled lobby where I will meet my fellow Road Scholar posse and Emmanuel, our tour director.  Life is very simpatico for me today.