Being fortunate to have travelled and spent time in many wonderful places, at the end of the day, outside of the U.S. of A, I think I'm most comfortable in Spain. It's not that my Spanish is so good (although I could improve if I stayed around and worked at it)....it's really the people and the ambiance.

In 2002, when Ken and I sailed on Moonbeam (or 'Oldbeam' as we now call our prior boat) across the Med in Spain, I felt that way, and nothing has changed. The locals are extraordinarily helpful...and many of the issues with which we are confronted are not your regular tourist issues ("¿dondé el banco, ¿dondé el bano, por favor.) We have boat issues, and even the less technical ones can be complicated in a foreign country.

For example, on Moonbeam, we have two sets of custom-fitted sheets for each of the berths. The up-side is they are of good quality and are a soft fabric. The down-side is that they were no match for the power of commercial laundries. (Muslin would have stood up better.) So, one of our nice fitted sheets is in shreds. I could see that Port D'Alcúdi was not going to be an easy place to find a replacement. While the Captain baby-sat the mechanic on his various projects, off I went in search of a new sheet. (Let's face it: it's like kidneys. You only need one, but if something happens to it, you have none)

I went to several places along the quay and everyone tried to speak or did speak English, but, it was not looking good for finding a sheet locally, and I was thinking I would have to take the bus to the town of Alcúdia as several people suggested. Then in one of those moments of divine intervention, I looked up and saw a sign for the tourist info office. I went in; the agent spoke perfect English, (as well as French, German, and Spanish as indicated by the flags on her name badge); she did some research on the Internet, and came up with 'Casa Sandra' on a small side street in the port area. OK...I have Mini-muffin with me (my phone's GPS) and I set off on my mission. It was not easy to find, but with a little help from the locals....there it was!

Fortunately, Sandra spoke English. The shop had an interesting combo of items...mostly fabrics and other sewing accessories. As I waited for my turn at bat, I started to think that this was a place for custom sheets (which would not have worked out) but, no....she did have some fitted sheets. She asked me what size I needed. Uh-oh. Does the world not have standard sized sheets? I took out my phone, accessed the 'converter' and converted 60 X 80 inches into centimeters. No problem. They call it a 150 sheet. And...she has them in any color as long as it is white. My last choice was between 50/50 (rough) or cotton (needs ironing). OK. Life is choices and I opted for soft and wrinkled instead of coarse and neat. It's a boat!!!!! I felt like I had worked the system and won! It's a good thing I'm not a betting woman, because I wasn't betting on success, although I was going to pursue it relentlessly. Besides, as my friend Edie says, "what else did I have to do?"

When I found my way back to Moonbeam, the fix-it man was still plying his trades. The shower pump, which had been replaced in Italy was now again replaced with the one Bob and Lorelei brought over with them, and he was now working on a fix for the 'garage' door, which needed some TLC. The pic above is of the mechanic doing his woodwork on a 'workshop' he set up on the dock. I'm using this pic, even though the theme of the blog was the search for a sheet, since I don't think a pic of a white sheet would be of interest.

So, back to how I started this blog: Here in Spain, it is so much easier to accomplish things as opposed to, let's say, in Italy...which I do love (particularly the food) but it's a lot more laid back...not helpful when you're trying to get things done. The mechanic here said he would be here at 9...and he was! In Italy, he said he might come Saturday morning or he might not. He did not! And, people here do try and speak English, and many of them speak very well. Also, they do take a two-hour lunch, from 1-3, but at 3 PM sharp, they're back! In fact, while we were at a cafe having a wonderful lunch and chatting it up with the owner, the mechanic passed us on his way back to Moonbeam....and, it was only 2:15. I like it all.