Chapter 2 En route

I enjoyed a week filled with mountain air, reading, and watching lizards slip away, but also a week of teaching online classes, lots and lots of emailing back and forth for my Story Lounge, and chats with my parents and their friends. So it was time to move on to my next stop: Joya Air art residency.

After a lazy morning along the Alicante boulevard, I boarded the Alsa bus for the five-hour drive to Vélez Rubio.
On board, I met a Dutch lady in her seventies who was going to visit her son.
He is a caveman, for real.
A few years ago, he got the right permits and, with his wife and two small kids, moved to the middle of nowhere to transform a cave into his home. My new Dutch friend would stay in a caravan while there, and by listening to her vivid stories and watching her twinkly eyes, I could see where her son got his adventurous spirits from.
My art retreat suddenly seemed like a beach vacation in Benidorm compared to her intriguing destination.

When we passed through Murcia, we noticed many people on the streets. Everyone was dressed up in white outfits—the men in boleros with either red, green, or bright blue, shiny fabric. The women wore beautiful white dresses with red, blue or green scarves. After a quick WhatsApp exchange with my Murcian friend, Jaime, I discovered this was the annual fiesta 'Bando de la Huerta'. The Kingsday of Murcia, so I was told.

When the bus stopped in the pretty town Vélez Rubio, my sub-final destination, I was the only one getting off and found myself on a hot, sparkly white deserted main street. Me and my bright green suitcase were ready for the next part of my adventure.