Granada is like a video game

 When I was a child, one of my first and favorite video games was Dig Dug. It was for the Atari. It was a basic premise. It was a dude in an astronaut suit with a shovel. He would need to dig for a different fruit or vegetable each level. He would have to dodge something like Pac-Man's ghosts in order to reach the desired fruit or vegetable. In the early levels, they were quite normal. Apples, bananas, etc. But as you reached the higher levels, the fruits and vegetables got more exotic. Eggplants. Pineapples. Maybe even papaya.

Today, we arrived to Granada, in Andalusia, Southern Spain. After a five-hour bus ride, we wandered out on the town to find a hole-in-the-wall bar. No more than 15 people could fit in the place at once. The bartender has to climb under the bar between Annette and I to get out to bus tables. There are two staff members there. One bartender/bus boy and one grill master. And he is truly a master. With each beer comes a different tapas. Each tapas is the unique creation of the grill master.

Annette plays Dig Dug

It's like playing Dig Dug. I wonder what tapas awaits us in the next level. And for the first time in my life, I am torn about what size beer to order. There are three sizes. The pint is the largest. The cana is the smallest. I don't know what the middle one is called. I call it “la media.” With each beer comes a tapas. So, the larger the beer, the less frequent the tapas. The smaller the beer, the less beer. Perhaps you understand my dilemma. We only made it through three rounds tonight before it was Game Over. Hopefully, tomorrow, we can continue where we left off. It is what we promised the bar tender: “Volvemos manana.”