The Best Conversation on Paper

I asked him to move a bit, so I could plug in my computer. A few minutes later, he got up, and looked at the photo of Connor I use as my background image.

"How many?"

"He's 16 months?"

"You have 16? Young, you?"

"No, no, Connor," pointing at the pic, "is only 16 months,"gesturing with hands stupidly.

"You too young for 16 children."

I went to the notepad. I happen to have a bottle of Museum Crianza 2003. Spanish wine. An hour, and the bottle, evaporated. He said it was good. Even without Spanish, I knew he was being polite.

Alberto is from San Sebastian, the northern part of Spain where it rains a lot. Cold too. His 12 yr. old boy likes to surf, and his 5 yr. old girl is bored. He thought the Cliffs of Moher were too short, and that Killarney was the prettiest city so far. Alberto likes stone towers more than castles.

God Bless Alberto. He's dragged his family 1100km through Ireland over the last 5 days. That's just silly.

"I like drive. My wife, no. Kids, no. But my photo..." And like that silly uncle that keeps showing you the one trip he took to Egypt, Alberto showed me every photo in his camera, over and over, until the battery crashed. We played a game, show a pic, find it on the map.

I showed him Connemarra, and gave him my map of Kylemore Abbey. He liked the wine more as the bottle waned, and wanted to see Kansas. (Yes, Jen, I swear he said Kansas. And, no, I didn't mention you.) This is Alberto's second family trip. He dragged the clan through England last year.

"Does the language barrier bother you?"

"No language. I no speak English."

Fair enough brother. We used up 3 sheets of notebook paper to converse. Maps, drawings, sketches, broken sentences, and calendars.

I drew a man in a wetsuit. I'm not good at charades, so don't pick me. Alberto explained that he wasn't a tailor, but he knows one in Barcelona. Alberto was excited about Spain beating Italy. Took 10 minutes to learn that Spain hadn't beaten Italy in 88 years.

We're meeting tomorrow to exchange pics again. I'm off to the Aran Islands, he to Connemarra.

Best conversation I've had in Ireland.