Just a coffee, please....

January 18, 2012 Rota

If you just dropped in and are reading this post as the first thing, please go back to January 12 and start there.  Then the next two will make sense.

So there I was in Bar Castillo, just across the plaza from my apartment, sitting at a table outside with my Kindle to entertain me, waiting for a woman that I had never seen before.  I was pretty much alone at the sidewalk cafe because after all, it was January.  But it was a nice day and at 4PM it is still pretty decent.  So I was drinking my coffee and looking around - trying to look casual because I had no idea where she would be coming from.  I was 15 minutes early because I didn't want her to have to wait for me.  After a while a tall woman was approaching from the direction of the cathedral. Hmmm.  There was nothing about her appearance that rang any bells.  I might never have noticed her except that I was waiting for someone.

She didn't have to work too hard to figure out who I was.  I was the only single person sitting outside and I was tall and looked like an American.  So she walked right up to me.  So both of us knew that we had made the connection.  Now, attraction is a funny thing.  All of us humans, admit it or not, have an image of our ideal mate - maybe several images, or a certain type that attracts us.  And often that attraction - chemistry if you want to call it that - is the basis for starting a relationship.  At some subconscious level we interpret that initial pull as an indication to go into action.  Well, in this case, there was none of that on my end.  She was pleasant looking.  Her hair was sort of the same color as mine - faded red or dark blond.  She was slim and shapely.  At 62 years old, she had some wrinkles, but had a smile and an animation in her expressions that was what caught your attention.  But I certainly couldn't say that I was swept off my feet.  But, nice even though not my stereotype.

So here I was - my first date with a Spanish woman!  She was really easy to talk to.  Having been a teacher for so long, she was accustomed to speaking fairly slowly and enunciating.  So I could understand her.  That is the hardest part - I can say just about anything I want in Spanish if I just beat around the bush long enough to get the idea out.  So we started talking and found it really easy.
Really easy - so we kept talking.  One topic followed another effortlessly.  Who knew it could be so easy.  I usually have more trouble conversing in English.
 
After we finished our coffee, we stayed and talked for a while more.  Then I suggested that we take a stroll along the Paseo Maritino - a sort of boardwalk along the beach that was only 100 yards away.  So we did.  After going way up the beach and then all the way back again, we sat down on a bench to watch the sun set.  All this time, talking about everything under the sun, but at an amazing level of comfort.  We agreed on all kinds of things and liked all the same things.  Our values were amazingly alike.  So the sun went down and we went on talking until it got cold.  Four hours had passed!!!

Finally, I walked her back to her car and saw her off.  I was pretty exuberant because it had gone so well and we had obviously gotten along extremely well.  She wasn't looking for a pareja, but I think that she would probably like to talk some more.  So I'll send her an email tomorrow and find out....