The Mayer Family

This past weekend we traveled 8 hours north to Burgos to visit the church that gave us the invitation needed for visas to live in Spain. We were able to attend a wedding of an African couple Saturday night at the church. It was a neat mix of cultures, as most people there were Spanish, but with a definite African touch to the wedding. We also enjoyed getting to meet a lot of people from the church, and were thankful for their hospitality and love for us, as well as their patience with our Spanish.

Dennis & Connie Byler, our kind hosts, who work with the Burgos church

On the way home we saw a beautiful old castle sitting up on a hill off in the distance, and decided to take a break from the long drive and investigate. We discovered the Castillo de la Muela on the top of the hill surrounded by old windmills in Don Quixote country. It ended up being a wonderful break from the drive, and it was fun to pay only 4 Euros for our family to explore the almost deserted castle. After lunch in Consuegra, the town below the castle, we were back on the road again.

Inside one of the old windmills

The view that Ellie and Wendy are seeing outside the windmill window

Castillo de la Muela (behind the windmill)

Standing at the foot of the castle, looking out over the hill at the windmills lined up

Here we are at a restaurant in the village. We are glad that Ellie has a way of entertaining herself (at times) with only her fingers. She is playing “bugs”. Notice Evan’s comment about the guy at the table behind us who is counting coins for the restaurant. When we walked into the restaurant it was around 1:30, a little too early for lunch, but the man said it would only be about 10 minutes until food would be ready. So we sat and waited and waited, observing the waiter loitering around with seemingly nothing to do. After about 30 minutes of waiting we finally figured out that we were supposed to be sitting further back in the restaurant at different tables if we wanted to order meals. Of course, that was obvious…right…..!? So we relocated ourselves and were served immediately by the loitering waiter. The “adventures” of being a foreigner.

It’s good to be home again, and we’re getting back into a bit of a routine again this week with school in the mornings for Evan. Evan’s days also include our doorbell ringing at precisely 3:30 each day when Miguel gets out of school. They spend the afternoons playing together. Today Evan sat on the couch for ½ hour before he came, impatiently waiting, and constantly wishing to speed up time. We’re glad for a good friendship for him. Evan & Miguel didn’t see each other over the weekend of course, since we were gone, and exchanged big hugs and smiles today.

Of course we need to include a random Ellie picture
-Wendy