10/9 Cadiz

Today was our last full day in Cadiz. It’s not a big city, perhaps 120,000 people (half the size of Jerez nearby) but as we’ve said, full of history. Our train leaves early tomorrow so we just walked downtown, scouted the train station and made our way back by the “other road”. There are actually many streets but just a couple main roads. The east side is more like the harbor side (think San Fransisco) but we have been on the west/Altantic side. Unlike Christopher Columbus (who departed from Cadiz on his SECOND visit to the New World) we discovered nothing new.

The weather wasn’t very conducive to lingering anywhere outdoors (but had we continued on the Camino de Santiago we would have endured 45 mph winds, driving rain and general misery!) We did make a very small detour on our way as a park about 500 yards north of us has remains of a Phoenecian and Roman aqueduct. 2500 years ago they knew how to make a precise boring through stone, carve the stone to make a flange, line the cavity with lead (not sure how smart the kids were!) and set the slope to control the water pressure INCLUDING several U shaped digs to drop the pressure (I presume by leaks?). Incredible engineering to be sure which involved some REALLY smart people and I suspect a ton of cheap (slave) labor.

The irony to me is the remnants of this 2500 year old engineering marvel are just sitting out in a plaza/park (a dog park at that!). The plaza also has remnants of an old Roman house and funerary items and carved stone for cisterns… I wondered how many people sitting in the park or living around it were aware of what is right under their nose? Made me wonder how many times I must gloss over or ignore something really special right under mine?

Spain has a lot of public space. I hesitate to comment too much on “Spanish Culture” because; A) It’s a broad brush and my sample size is not extensive, and B) I suspect I am just as observant as those people watching their dog while ancient ruins sit 50 feet away. Fair warning: If it is, indeed, wise to take many things with “a grain of salt”, take my thoughts with a salt block.

Spain does a really good job of creating and USING public space. I suspect this is because many homes lack the space we are used to and a “small yard” in the States would make one a land barron here. Homes are comfortable and functional but do not seem nearly so spacious. A couple bathrooms and showers I have seen here appear too small to change your mind in. It all works, but don’t drop the soap.

I think someone coming from Spain to the States would wonder why there aren’t more people in the public parks or sitting out visiting. I really like my space but studies also suggest we’d have less depression and even less dementia if we were forced to be a little more social. Camille and I had lunch in a restaurant with 6 tables (I counted them). Delicious, and inexpensive food, but 4 people on our left, and 8 people on the right. They were well into their meal it looked like when we got there and, yes, we were done well before any of them were.

I remember my mom saying, “don’t talk with food in your mouth” and judging by the conversational noise I am not sure anyone was actually eating… Maybe that is why the Spanish take SO LONG to finish (or we take SO LITTLE time to finish)?

So, here I am, again, like Dr Seuss’ Grinch (minus the feet in the snow) who “puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore”. I found the ancient ruins because I LOOKED for them. I am not sure their presence in the park made anyone’s day better (the dogs probably helped more). I have a tendency to want conversations to be “purposeful” or productive. I look for meaningful exchange but maybe like the Camino the point of a conversation isn’t the goal or exchanging information, it is the process of connection to someone else? That may sound as revelatory to some as saying “the sun comes up EVERY day” but for someone like me who isn’t a morning person, I find the reminder helpful.

In the medical world, schedules and other factors push providers “right to business” but those extraneous conversations should also be our business because they are part of a healthy community. Those conversations help build the connection and the trust (a process called “joining”). I am sure small talk is important in almost every context actually. I have been thinking about the church in Wilmot quite a lot and I am reminded that even those conversations about the weather are important and in the context of building relationships, perhaps even holy.

Probably no one in Lancer’s (a bar in Wilmot) or the Cafe is thinking about their small talk building bonds and community but that process is older than the aqueducts of Cadiz and perhaps even more overlooked. The aqueducts once upon a time brought life saving refreshment to a community. In that sense the aqueducts and small talk may be very similar and, at least from my perspective, both overlooked.

Buen Camino!