Spain- Dive an Alley...

In some places, you should never do down alleys- places like, let's see... hmmm, East St. Louis.
But in the villages of southern Spain, you must go down the narrow, at times dodgy, and in many cases totally amazing side streets. It is down these paths that the real fun begins. It’s here real travelers earn their stripes. It’s called alley diving- the headlong pursuit of adventure.

Have courage and go.
Or in the words of former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, my least favorite Def. Secretary, (I do have a favorite), lean forward!My most memorable memories have come from walking randomly through towns- picking alleys (the ify-ier the better) and seeing what comes up.
Over the years I’ve bumped into a former opera singer- then 90 + years old- sitting with an old dog outside his door singing at the top of his lungs, or the family butchering a screaming hog while his kids watched wide eyed, or the sweet old chatty lady who shared some nasty home made booze, or the former CIA agent ( hmmm really) and his assassination stories, or the most educated drug dealer I’ve ever met ( 5 languages!), or the…
Cheers to the people I’ve met down these alleys.
Traveling is not always about the monuments, the food, the exchange rates- it’s about the people you meet, the people you share a moment in time with, and then leave.