Yuman shares Spain adventure

Four months ago, former Roll resident and Antelope High School graduate Becky Buchanan embarked on a eight-month experience of a lifetime.

From the Tuscan-looking landscape filled with tall cypresses amid endless grove of silvery-green olive trees, to the majestic valleys sunken below the haze of blue-gray mountain peaks in the distance, the experience has been nearly everything a 23-year-old Yuman living in Spain could expect.

"When I got off the plane in Granada, I was so excited to start my adventure. I wanted to dance around and sing all the way down the runway until I got to baggage claim."

Buchanan's flight left the Phoenix International Airport at 7:20 p.m. on Sept. 27, arriving in Granada, Spain, at 9:25 p.m. the following day.

"I was so happy when I got here. I watched bag after bag go by until I realized there were no more bags, just me, two security guards and about three very angry-looking Spaniards saying things I didn't understand … I didn't see my bags for another three weeks."

She added about her flight, "I had two layovers: an hour-and-40-minute layover at the London Heathrow Airport and a two-hour layover in Barcelona. They were both too short to get out of the airport, though. The first leg of my trip was 10 hours, but it wasn't bad because I had a row to myself, the food was fantastic and the wine was free."

Born in Yuma, Buchanan lived on her family's farm in Bard until she was 8 years old. That year her family moved to Roll, where she lived until after graduating high school. Most of her family still live in and around Yuma.

After high school, Buchanan attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where she received her bachelor's degree in communications and Spanish. She is in Spain for eight months working as a language and culture assistant through a grant with the Spanish government.  

"I took a two-week summer class in Spain in 2007 - one week in Madrid, the other on Barcelona. I fell in love with the culture and the language and dreamed of someday becoming a part of it."

While she is enjoying her time in Spain now, Buchanan admits things were difficult for the first few weeks and that it took some adjusting to her new way of life.

"Since I stepped off the plane and planted my feet on Spanish soil, it has been an adventure. It hasn't been the adventure I thought it would be and it certainly hasn't been the adventure I wanted it to be. Nonetheless, it has been an adventure.

"At first everything just went wrong. Once I got through that, I had to get used to a life I didn't know existed ... it was sink or swim ... I haven't drowned yet, I think things are looking pretty good."

She added, "The first couple of months, the culture shock was more than I could have imagined but now I love it. It is still hard sometimes to be away from family and friends. But I have learned so much about life and so much about myself since I have been here that I wouldn't trade it for anything. Also, in the grand scheme of things, eight months isn't that long."

One of those difficulties happened the first day Buchanan arrived in Spain, when she found herself in her hotel tired and hungry, with a granola bar and no toothbrush or pajamas.

Among other things, Buchanan said she discovered her "international" cell phone didn't work; she still hadn't heard anything from the school she had gone to Spain to work for; and she had accidentally packed her computer charger in her lost suitcase so her computer wasn't going to last very long.

"I sat in that cold dark room and felt more alone than I had ever felt in my life. I felt like Cameron Diaz on 'The Holiday'; she gets to a charming little faraway place and wants to leave by the first night.  

"I wanted to talk to someone I loved, see them, hug them, anything that would make me feel less alone and not so far away. I just wanted to cry but there was no one there to hear me and I didn't see how it could help in this situation. Then, I cried. I cried to myself, because sometimes that's all you have. Then, I slept."  

Buchanan said she eventually made her way to the small town of Santa Fe. The town, she said, happens to be the namesake to all the Santa Fe's in the United States and named by Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) in honor of the Spanish crown on his journey to the New World.

"The people here were very friendly. The man at the front desk of my hotel, Javier, spoke some English and between the two of us he told me how to get to the center of town to buy some clothes and other necessities.

"I don't know how much time you have spent in these small ancient Spanish towns but I found that the map and the place were two completely different things. Streets began, ended, twisted and turned with no rhyme or reason and just to make things a little easier, the street names changed along the way and had no signs for identification."  

The struggles continued, but Buchanan said things slowly began to come together as the days passed. Her mother, luckily, knew a Spanish couple who recently moved back to Spain from Yuma. The couple helped her get in contact with the school where she was to work.

"I don't know what I would have done without them. The problem was, the town I needed to get to was so small I could not find public transportation to get me there and no one I talked to had even heard of it; at a population 600 it's not hard to know why."

Buchanan's mother's friend finally got her in touch with the English teacher at the school. The teacher, Victoria, gave her directions to Martos, the town where she lived, and picked her up at the bus station when she arrived.

"She was about 20 minutes late, which I have found is the Spanish standard," Buchanan said. "No one is ever on time, but when they see you they greet you with a welcoming smile con besos, or with kisses."

Martos is a small town located in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to Buchanan, the city is said to be the first producer of olive oil in the world, with a population of about 24,000 people, most of whom don't speak any English.

"It looks like a little boat of a town amongst a sea of olive trees as far as the eye can see in any direction," Buchanan said. "The town center is built in the side of a mountain going up to the ruins of the old castle at the top called 'La Peña.'"

The Spanish people, Buchanan said, put a lot of value on relationships, quality time and enjoyment. She said if they are walking down the street and see someone, they know they stop to talk even if they are running late already.

Technology is also not a part of their lives like it is in the United States, Buchanan said. Their phones are about five years out of date, computer skills next to none and she said she has yet to meet anyone who owns a dryer for their clothes.

Buchanan said after two weeks of living out of hotels, Victoria helped her to find an apartment in Martos.

"I finally had a home away from home. It is a 'modern apartment.' By modern I mean there is no central air-conditioning, no dishwasher, no garbage disposal, no oven, a temperamental hot water system that runs on bottles of propane, the smallest washing machine I have ever seen in my life and a clothesline for a dryer.

"Every time I got closer to feeling settled in my new home, five more culture shocks would magically appear.

"They have never heard of a Starbucks and there is no such thing as a superstore where everything you need is in one place.  At first these things irritated me and I wondered how people could live like this.

"I'm starting to see things differently. I have to admit, the mom and pop cafés where you can get 'churros con chocolate' and sit with your friends for hours lost in conversation with no dirty looks from the server is really nice."

"Going to five different stores to get the things I need has proved to be enjoyable as well, for two reasons; one - walking up and down these narrow, hilly and windy streets is making my booty look fabulous, and two - because when I walk into a store they all know my name, are genuinely happy to see me and try to communicate with me even though they know my Spanish is broken."

Buchanan said her neighbors are what she called the "typical Spanish grandparents," who are always looking out for her.

"I don't understand most of what they say because they have very thick Andalusian accents. The situation is similar to someone who speaks some English trying to understand someone with a Cajun accent; which is difficult even if English is your native language. I understand now they are trying to look out for me and it's actually kind of nice to know they are there."

One day when Buchanan locked her keys inside of her apartment, they let her stay with them until she could get hold of a friend who had the other set of keys.

By the time she got the keys, Buchanan said, her neighbors had a room prepared for her to stay the night and they wouldn't stop trying to feed her, just in case she couldn't get back into her apartment.

As it turns out, there also must be some truth to the old adage that it is a small world, because despite being so far from home, Buchanan has actually found two other Yumans who are in Spain studying Spanish for a semester.

"I'm so excited to meet the girls. Even though we have never met, I feel close to them because we have the same roots. I almost feel like I have family coming to visit," Buchanan said. "When everything around is so foreign, it is nice to have a little piece of the familiar. It's amazing how someone you have never met can make you feel so close to home, and when home is that far away it's a great feeling."

Although all three are living in different parts of the country, Buchanan said they are getting together this weekend for what she called a "Yuma Adventure in Andalusia."  

She continued, "I can't wait for the weekend! I never thought I would get to meet people from Yuma during my time here so when I heard they were here, I got in contact with them immediately."

Buchanan said she couldn't believe it when her mother phoned her and told her about another girl from the Yuma area who was going to Barcelona to study Spanish for a semester.

Buchanan contacted the girl, Shannon, through Facebook and the two have since become friends. Through Shannon, Buchanan met Janelle, the second girl from Yuma, who is also in Spain.

"This weekend is our first trip. Shannon is coming to stay at my apartment and see what it is like in a small Andalusian town," Buchanan said. "On Saturday we are going to see Granada and meet up with Janelle to visit the Alhambra Castle and see the sights."

Buchanan is scheduled to return to the United States in June, but until then laughingly says she plans to "find a purpose for her life" but mostly travel.