A Guarda

Well, we dropped the kids at Spanish science camp...our work here is done. After getting them settled in a Jesuit boarding school where they will spend the next two weeks, Melinda and Maria drove north from Spain, through Portugal, and popping out on top in Spain again.

We only stopped to pay tolls. The last automated toll booth we went through FIVE credit cards (all unable to read) before having to resort to the last of our cash. After taking a full ten minutes at the booth and making someone wait behind, the automated voice chirped out, “Obrigada!!!” (Thank you!!!) before finally letting us through.

Portugal has the worst drivers. They tailgate, pass with no room for error, and cut back in too close for comfort. Surprisingly, we only saw the remains of three accidents. These people are seriously nuts. But we made it. 6+ hours with no pit stops. We were armed with junk food and the will to get to our destination in one piece.

We drove through the area of the fires from last year. I had read that many of the dozens who died were returning from vacations in Spain. I can see how that happened, and it’s horrifying to see the destruction. Ironically, I’m listening to the rain fall now. We are in the north where it often rains, but unlike last year, this year the rain is all the way south. The burn scar is already green.

We are now in A Guarda. Melinda was proud that she reserved a garage space at the hotel. 1) a parking garage in Spain is always bad news and 2) of course it’s two blocks away, so it didn’t protect us from the rain!😂

Melinda had the directions. Her Spanish is fabulous and she even had a drawing. However she missed “there are two garage doors” (ok, she heard that but didn’t fully understand it until too late.) We drive in the door and don’t go up because it was “street level”...so Maria turns the corner and Melinda has to help by getting out and guiding. After getting around the first corner, there is another...and it’s going down😳 A man tries to yell for us, but he’s too late. He simply sighs and says, “She will have to turn around. It’s easier to go up, but she must stay as far right as possible.”

Maria may have cried a little. She may have wanted to walk away...or just die. The only reason she made it down is that the garage wall has been chipped away to give a few inches more room. She didn’t know how she could get out. Is there a Coast guard-like service for parking garages?!?! Maria turned the car around and edged up the ramp. It was so steep and so tight that she had to hold the clutch for far too long and far too often. There was no wiggle room. No letting the clutch out and rolling at. All. There was no going forward too fast. An inch a minute was too fast. Maria might smell like burning clutch for the rest of the trip😂

I don’t know how we did it, but the Audi is out of the basement with not a scratch (yet...someone still can hit it tonight while it’s “safely” parked.) Maybe it helps that we are staying at a converted convent and Mary is right outside our door😂 You might get photos later, if we can face photographing the space. We are in shock right now. It’s 2:38 am. Maria’s personal best. She’s going to sleep and pray there are no parking garage Dreams! (Maybe she’ll dream of Costco and its enormous parking spaces😂)

And...by the way...we don’t know from where that man came or to where he went. Patron Saint of parking maybe?!?!Read more