Las Cuevas!

A couple of days ago when I was getting my coffee fix, Tio exclaimed "Hurry Penelope we've got to go." I find out later that we were set to see a cave with prehistoric paintings. I read about these before the trip and was dying to see them. In Asturias, there are several caves with these paintings. The caves are only open certain times of the year and allow up to 25 people in per day.

So we drive to San Roman and up a mountain with a tiny road to the cave (cueva). It's closed, Damn! I look in the door screen excitedly and say to Tio "It's amazing!" even though I just see the cave. "You haven't even seen it, yet." he laughs. "Another day" I say. 

We drive to Privia a small town nearby and see a beautiful little church that is a national monument. It had these amazing windows in the shape of a key lock and when you looked inside the church, the light that showed through them was beautiful. 

After Privia, Tio and I stopped to have a bite to eat and coffee. Sitting on the patio of a cafe, Tio begins to read the paper. He points to a picture of Condoleezza Rice and asks "Do you like her?" I say "No." 

"But why? She is very intelligent." Tio questioned. I agreed that she was very intelligent but told him she was just like Bush. Tio said "She serves him and the people and it is her duty." He had a point. I found another way to describe it for him. "Here's why I don't like her. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans she was in New York buying shoes. She didn't go there. Those people were crying out for help and the world was ready to give it but Bush said "No, we're good." They both weren't there." He nodded and understood.

We talked about the caves and I told him that the Prado in Madrid was good but I'm more excited to see the cave paintings. I told him about really wanting to see the Reina Sofia museum and Picasso's Guernica. "I remember Guernica" he said. My jaw dropped, I sometimes forget that Tio is 91. He told me how horrible it was. The bombs the German's dropped destroyed the entire city and killed a lot of people. He then told me that he fought in the Spanish Civil War. My jaw dropped again. He was a mechanic for three years in the war.

Even though we didn't see the caves, I still got a little piece of history.