Two days ago I walked in to Cacabelos and as I passed the albergue municipal, there were men trimming the cedar bushes. The smell was wonderful. I wanted to take their picture because they were using hand tools. In the US it would have been electric clippers and a blower instead of hand trimmer and a rake.
On the way back I passed a delivery truck stopped on the hill going over the bridge. I got the feeling he wasn’t sure he should go up. Finally he decided to do it, and as he started up crates of grapes fell off the back.
I got his attention and gestured. He stopped the truck, got out, saw the mess, and got out his phone. After a brief but energetic call he began picking up the crates.
When I told the story at lunch, attempting to do it in Spanish, they asked, “Did you help?” I explained that no, I didn’t, because in my experience men who might have accepted help from a young woman won’t accept it from an old one. They get embarrassed.
I wanted to take a picture but doing it where he could see would have been beyond rude. So I took a selfie.
Once he got really busy I took this.
The WIFI at home wasn’t good enough to upload the pictures, and yesterday when I got to the library there were three papers waiting so I didn’t have a chance to update.
Travels and Adventures with Jane 