Sevilla and Malaga

Well, I didn't think it could be done, but Spain has managed to top itself. Up until now, Sevilla was my favorite city of my travels, but Malaga has been able to keep the best part of Spain, (insert siestas and names of drinks here), and add the beach to the whole experience!! The people are friendly and even though most of them don't speak English they will work with you and try to get you what you need. That's another interesting point worth mentioning: they may not speak English, but they have no problem singing along to American music. The best was my cab driver singing along to Blondie after we were forced to draw pictures when the language barrier became such a problem...Ha!! Everywhere I go I hear American music...In a way I think it's sad. Music is such a huge part of culture that to give it up for the likes of Brittany Spears or T-Pain it seems a shame.
I didn't realize I hadn't explained what the drinks were that I was raving about. Caipirinhas are like mojitos, but have lemons as well as limes, without mint and are made with Brazilian sugar cane rum. Tinta de veranos is my recent favorite and literally translated means the "color of summer". It's similar to sangria, but not as sweet and stronger. It's made with iced red wine and a kind of carbonated lemonade...my description doesn't do it justice. I don't know what I'm gonna do with all these new habits when I get home.
I spent the past 4 days in Sevilla and Malaga and I have to say these are my two favorite cities in my travels to date. Although Madrid is a major city in Spain it has the impersonal feel of well, a big city. Sevilla is the fourth largest city in Spain, but hasn't lost it's small town feel. I'm taking well to the siestas in the afternoons. (Any country that can incorporate nap time and getting drunk at lunch into their cultural customs has my vote!) I'm having a blast and thinking of all of you. I miss you and want you to know you are here with me.
I finished "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and cried at the end...great book. I'm now reading "The Great Gatsby":)
My favorite quote from the book...so far:
"It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of reassurance in it that you may come across maybe four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood; believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey."