Sunday afternoon, we finally arrived in Spain. And spent the night in a supermarket carpark. The supermarket was closed. It is closed every Sunday… there’s something we did not remember about Spain.

Next morning we topped up the groceries, had a Spanish coffee and set off. It still feels like we haven’t arrived at our destination yet. It makes me feel unsettled and disturbed. I’m starting to realise this happens every time and now might be a good time to get comfortable with the discomfort. Or at least stop resisting the discomfort. Maybe get comfortable deciding that everywhere we go we arrive at a destination. Or maybe comfortable with the idea that there really is no destination. This kind of travel means we will be continuously travelling until we turn around and travel back. I’ve never thought of it like that before. Is that what we do all our lives…?

On Monday after the supermarket we drove to the town of Palencia about 90 minutes south west. That night we found a tapas bar for dinner. Another thing we had forgotten about Spain, the Spanish eat dinner much later so no food at the first two places we tried. Number three was successful even thought we were the only ones ordering food. People were dropping in to meet friends, to stop on their way from work, from minding a grandchild or to watch football on the tv. Everyone was offered a tiny bread roll with a slice of ham, a potato croquette skewered on top. Sounds odd? Tastes surprisingly amazing and gives you a bit of an appetite for more plus due to the saltiness of the ham, an appetite for drinking. Ingenious marketing.

We ate our little rolls and stared hard at the menu. Everything was in Spanish and we could have done with a few photos, like the Japanese menus but it was not to be. We ordered four tapas dishes, or so we thought. We had actually ordered one (chicken, salad and chips) dinner and one tapas (spicy chorizo). It was all tasty and no one seemed to notice us eating from a single dinner plate.

Tuesday morning we walked into town for coffee. Two coffees, one pastry and change from €5… we had forgotten that about Spain too. When Denis left to start work I started my work – people watching. My favourite was the lady reading a book with her coffee while her dog snoozed on her lap, his little head supported by her arm. An older couple sat close together, arms intertwined, him staring off into the distance, her reading quietly to him from a newspaper. A younger man carrying a bulging, battered red rucksack with an umbrella sticking out the side. When he maneuvered his tray into a nearby table I noticed his ankles were very swollen. Had he been walking for days? Was he unwell?

Sitting here in this cafe, I have arrived, sharing space with these humans and this dog is my destination today. This is more than enough