Don Quixote’s Windmills in La Mancha, Spain
Right before I came back home to Úbeda from traveling across France and northern Spain, I stopped off for two nights in a medium-sized town called Alcázar de San Juan about two hours south of Madrid in the flat region called La Mancha . How did I end up here, you ask? Well, in late December I was telling the parents of one of my private English class students about my plans for Christmas break, how I was going to make a loop around western Europe, and they were so kind as to invite me to stay with them in their hometown of Alcázar for the January holiday of Reyes (Epiphany) . Naturally, I took them up on their offer and had a wonderful time speaking Spanish, learning about how in Spain the Wise Men take over Santa Claus’ gift-giving, and getting to know a little-visited yet very typical Spanish part of the country. Windmills in Campo de Criptana In between cleaning up the house from the big Reyes dinner and presents-opening fiesta from the night before and heading back so...