APRIL 13 / MAY 18, 2022
REDSTONE • REVIEW
PAGE 13
TRAVEL Traveling in Spain with a curse of disasters By Terry de Castro Redstone Review LOS ANGELES – While I know that it can’t possibly be true, I enjoy entertaining a long-held belief that I have a Spanish curse. It’s a dramatic notion, and I’ve spun some yarns out of it; it’s almost a romantic fascination. I’ve traveled to Spain nearly a dozen times, mostly for concerts with a British band I’ve played with on and off for the last 20 years. I’m not saying that something bad happens to me every time I go to Spain, but I have had more mishaps there over the years than I can keep track of: a stolen purse, a lost bag, missing money, stolen shoes, food poisoning, a head injury, and a ludicrous passport fiasco. I have been inside two Spanish police stations.
I must clarify though, that these incidents were not complete disasters. The curse is not malevolent, it’s just mischievous. I ended up getting my passport back, I got my lost purse back, and I even got my bag back. The head injury was minor. But I do admit that when I stumbled to my knees onto a gravel driveway after grazing the top of my scalp on a low iron gate while carrying a heavy amplifier, I shouted, “Spain hates me!” Perhaps understandably, when I planned to travel to Barcelona this past December to do some recording with the band, I was a little apprehensive. Anyone who has dared to travel in the last two years knows that it now requires extra effort and comes with some added inconvenience. The first time I left my Los Angeles bubble since the beginning of the pandemic was for a trip to the Twin Cities last April to visit my parents.
I took another trip to Boston the following October for a wedding that had been previously canceled due to Covid. Those travel experiences felt fairly normal. Everyone seemed au fait with reduced services and requirements to mask up and provide proof of vaccination. I was surprised at how relatively easy it all was. It was only when I took a trip overseas that things got cranked up a notch. When I’d planned my Spanish trip, Covid cases were down all over the world, and concerns about traveling seemed to have calmed a bit. Then came Omicron, and everything became considerably less calm. Before I set off, I had to complete some not-entirely-simple-to-navigate digital paperwork. I uploaded the required documents onto the Spanish Travel Health Portal and checked the rapidly changing travel restrictions daily. I was set to meet my fellow musicians from the U.K. in late December, but it was not at all certain if travelers from the U.K. would be allowed to enter other European countries. Cases were climbing exponentially over there, and the U.K. was becoming known as “Plague Island.” I was not even sure if travelers from the U.S. would be allowed to enter Spain with the rise of cases here. I continued to check for changes in restrictions up until my departure date, and for better or worse, on December 28, I flew to Barcelona via Paris. When I landed on December 29, I could not help indulging ominous thoughts about my Spanish curse. Arriving in Barcelona was shockingly easy, and I sailed through immigration and customs. Two of my band mates had driven down from Brighton, England and they met me at the airport. We went out for our first tapas meal (outdoors), in Sitges, near where we would be staying for the week. We toasted the end of the year with a glass of Cava, the fizzy white wine that the region is known for. The curse wasted no time. I woke up that night with violent food poisoning. It was from the same culprit as my previous food poisoning years ago, in Madrid: bad shrimp. Well, at least I got it over with at the beginning of the trip, I thought. Not quite, though. Two of the five musicians in the group, who were still in the U.K., tested positive for Covid and would not be joining us. We decided to record as a three-piece with the cello player who resided in Barcelona. That idea lasted until he
tested positive the next day. A couple of days later, I developed congestion and a sore throat, and as my symptoms progressed, I became more and more convinced that I had Omicron. An antigen test showed a negative result, which was some comfort, but if I tested positive 24 hours before my flight home, I would not, and rightly not, be allowed to fly. With the recording canceled, we kept to ourselves and spent our time outdoors, hiking, walking on the beach, drinking Cava on the patio of our little rented house, and walking in Sitges, Tarragona, and Olivella. It certainly was not a hardship, and it was an absolute privilege to spend time in another country. But it was also, unsurprisingly, quite nerve wracking. I was worried the entire time that I might not be able to return home, and the shadow of the pandemic was omnipresent. The obvious life-threatening risks of passing the virus to a vulnerable person are terrifying. But the pandemic has added a layer of subtle anxiety to traveling (and to everything). I could not help but fearing that if I passed Omicron to anyone, I might disrupt their life, strand them someplace, or just mess up their plans. I questioned the wisdom of traveling in a pandemic, especially with a Spanish curse – surely, I was tempting fate. As lovely as it was in parts, I do not think I would have taken that trip in retrospect, and I definitely would have avoided the shrimp. Terry de Castro lives in Los Angeles where she teaches yoga and works for the PBS series and arts organization, Craft in America. She was a member of a British indie rock band called The Wedding Present and continues to stand in on occasion.
Town Continued from Page 1 Crystal Trail in honor of the tireless work and hundreds of hours of volunteer work done by Crystal White during and after the flood. She is a member of Lyons Volunteers which is now a part of Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fund. The third proclamation dedicated the 4th Avenue Bridge as Janet and David Orback Bridge. Janet was a leader in helping people to find their way during and after the flood. She continued her work helping others for years after the flood. The board granted liquor licenses to two establishments; one is Marigold Lyons, 405 Main St. a new Italian restaurant owned by Theodore Adley. This is the former location of Bella La Cema restaurant. Adley said that there are plans for some outdoor seating. Several members of the town board expressed delight that a new Italian restaurant would be opening soon. Mayor Angelo said, “My wife can’t wait.” A second liquor license was granted to Moxie, the bakery located at 355Main St. after a presentation by owner Andy Clark from Louisville. Later the town board passed a development agreement with Moss Rock Development LLC.
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