"La patria Tía Abuela"

My friend José Luis Rénique has wished me an enjoyable stay in la Madre Patria -- the ¨"mother homeland" -- meaning Spain, of course. José Luis is from Peru, and he and I communicate in Spanish, but it's not my mother tongue. For me Spain is more of an adopted great aunt (tía abuela) than a mother. And I am a sobrino de crianza.

I want to say more about Spain, especially the fortunes of its Socialist Party (very high right now) and its Communists (much lower, but complicated) and how this red province (Almería was the last province to succumb to Franco in 1939) views its combative past. But that will be a future blog.