When I told people I was headed to Spain, they all said it’s so hot there. Hot? They don’t know hot. It’s hot here, Spain was not hot by stretch compared to New Orleans. When I told friends we were going to Spain for vacation with Tin, those with kids said you’re crazy. Tin was a perfect trooper and enjoyed the vacation immensely. When I mentioned to some that we would take a three day jaunt to Tangiers in Morocco, some were horrified that we would bring a 16 month old child and warned of the heat, the hawkers, the crowds, the chaos – we saw none of that, instead we saw kind and funny people, child loving people, and heat that was comparable to Spain. In both countries we stayed in places with out air conditioning – that is unimaginable here in New Orleans. We were told not to drink the water, eat the vegetables or fruit, or pretty much do anything in Morocco – we did all of these things and had some unbelievable meals of tangine, cous cous, figs with cheese and honey. We had an arugula salad with shaved parmesan and poached eggs that we repeated last night here in our house – divine!
While we were in Andalusia, a friend from Marbella was there and said Michelle Obama and Sasha were arriving right after we left the coast. I just read that Fox news report:
Fox News reports that prior to the first lady’s arrival, the State Department had issued a travel warning to Americans advising that “racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain.” The wording was reportedly removed from the State Department website Monday, ahead of Michelle Obama’s arrival in the country Wednesday.
I have never seen a people more enamored by a little boy that the Andalusians were with Tin – he wasn’t Afro-American, he was pretty near Jesus Christ Superstar status. Also, the Andalusians have a program where families are taking in Saharan war refugee youngsters for the summer – treating them to beach, ice cream, three square meals a day, family love and open arms. I can’t imagine such a website warning exists – it makes no sense whatsoever if you spent anytime with these people.
Michelle – tune out the noise – enjoy your glitzy vacation with your daughter, the presidency is an incredible drain on all of your family’s resources, whatever it takes to relax and rejuvenate – do it.