Travel: Spain, 2017

Once I got there, I was struck by the affinity I felt with Spanish culture. I wrote a post on social media during my travels that revealed my (very Latin) feelings: “My soul is diluted here.” Beyond the common cultural bonds, I was awed during my time in Spain by the lingering legacy of La Convivencia, or the coexistence, the era stretching from the eighth through the 15th centuries when Spain’s Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities thrived side by side. It is difficult today to imagine such a thing — Muslims, Jews and Christians generally sharing the same spaces, music and culture in peace. But evidence of their commingling abounds in Spain’s architecture, its food, its people. The unforgettable sight of Cordoba’s Great Mosque, a building in which Gothic columns and Byzantine mosaics support and adorn arches so characteristic of Islamic architecture, embodied that cultural convergence for me.

I saw another side of the spirit of Andalusia in Granada, watching performers play and dance flamenco in a cave. The Roma people at one time came to Spain from India by way of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, bringing their musical and dance traditions with them. Their influence permeates flamenco and adds another layer of complexity to the melting pot of southern Spain.

In Seville, as luck would have it, I arrived in time for Feria. The annual celebration reminded me, as a Carioca (or Rio native), of my home city’s Carnival. Each year, a whole city made of tents is assembled in Seville for Feria. And after a week, the ciudad efimera, or ephemeral city, is dismantled. The festivities showed me how proud the Spanish people are of their culture and history and how they celebrate it.