Out of the Frying Pan and into the Sprinklers
I’m just back from Andalucía, where it was a balmy 105° last week.
As a native Northern Californian, I hadn’t realized it was possible to feel that hot without actually being on fire.
We all know cultural odysseys with kids can be trying at the best of times. Kids already hate walking around all day looking at buildings. Throw in a little extreme weather, and things can head south fast.
That’s why I was so uncharacteristically permissive in Seville.
Now, I’m not a complete idiot. I’d read plenty guidebooks, and I knew late June would be hot. They don’t call Seville “the frying pan of Spain” for nothing. That’s why I had a plan. I planned to stay cool the Spanish way, with siestas and fans. For dire emergencies I also packed miniature spray bottles for the kids.
Let’s just say these cooling strategies were woefully inadequate in the pizza oven that was Seville.
Here are just a few of the things I wound up allowing to avoid spontaneous combustion:
- Ice cream twice a day.
- The purchase of €2 bottles of water.
- The pouring of €2 bottles of water over heads.
- The consumption of soda by a 6-year-old.
- Running through sprinklers on the way to dinner.
- Frolicking in slimy, green public fountains (the kind with used bandaids floating in them).
- Dinner at 11pm when it finally effing cooled down.
And that was just the beginning.
***
Should you take your kids to Spain (mind-altering heat notwithstanding)? Totally.
July 10th, 2008 | by Jamie Pearson 8 comments
1. Jennifer Margulis on July 10th, 2008
Temperatures climbed to 105 yesterday in sunny Ashland, Oregon, where we live now. Today it will be a balmy 95 and the whole town (of 20,000) is excited. Ice cream twice a day. I should’ve thought of that.
2. Wendy Perrin on July 11th, 2008
What a great blog you’ve got here! (This is my first time visiting.)
Hey, at least you weren’t in Andalucia in August. Every bit as steamy as July, but NO locals in the cities (they’ve all fled to the beach) and lots of dust and dirt in the air thanks to all the highway construction (which happens in Aug because that’s when the locals are gone).
Funny, we just got back from northern CA (mainly Sonoma County), where it was hot enough that we too let the kids eat ice cream twice a day and poured bottled water over our heads. (Of course, our ice cream and bottled water weren’t quite as pricey as yours.)
3. kimberly ford on July 15th, 2008
Okay this did not make me at all nostalgic for Spain. And wow was I glad I was there in the summer with a boyfriend and not kids! You are one brave momma!
4. Jennifer on July 23rd, 2008
I get shockingly permissive when traveling with my kids, too. It’s the only time I consistently allow them to buy some small piece of junk at museum gift shops.
I’m hoping that in the long run, they’ll associate travel with good things, as a result. Rather than associating travel with being incredibly bored and whiny while Mom makes them not run haphazardly through yet another art museum. :)
Love your site!
5. Jamie Pearson on July 23rd, 2008
jen,
I have a friend who buys his kids FRONT ROW tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters every year (and shlocky souvenirs too). He subscribes to your positive association theory. It’s critical to him that his children share his love of sports, so he looks on it as an investment.
I agree, but for travel.
jamie
6. Soultravelers3 on August 4th, 2008
Oh my, you are a brave mama! We love Andalusia and Seville is one of my fav cities in the world, but we make sure we are not there in the summer.
A good friend of ours there, grew up in Cordoba and says the locals are very curious as why tourists want to come in the summer heat….even they hate it.
Of course, last summer we ran into just as much heat in Italy ( in May!) and Greece and Turkey. Now that we are in the British Isles this summer, we understand why so many of them go to southern Spain in the summer for the sun. LOL.
One tries to avoid the extremes, but sometimes, you just get what you get. ;)
7. Jamie Pearson on August 4th, 2008
Soultravelers3: I lived in England for two years, and am one of those unusual people who l-o-v-e-s British weather (yes, even in the summer). Then again, I’m indoorsy. Stay warm!
8. Amy on August 5th, 2008
My heat stroke came while sitting at the Denver skateboard park for two hours on a hard piece of cement speckled with shade.
The boys, in their helmets because it’s Canby law, skateboarded continually for two straight hours except for breaks to come chug icy water from a cranberry juice jug. In the end they were bright red with sweat dripping down their cheeks and backs (which is an accomplishment in the dry Colorado air).
My point…We can stand a lot of heat when we’re immersed in something we love. Ice cream, air conditioned gift shops, slimy fountains! Whatever it takes to keep the gang happy. Bring it on!
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