Serious About Siestas

While in Spain, we learned about the siesta, the magical time in the afternoon when it was time to relax and escape the heat of the midday sun.  People left the streets.  Many businesses and restaurants closed.  Most Spanish people retreated to their own homes for a few hours of down time.  At Pueblo Ingles, there was a special need to embrace the siesta - we needed to recover from the 9am-11pm schedule of speaking English and the 11pm-??? schedule of partying into the night. 

During the siesta we did a number of different things.  There were times when I sat in front of the computer and tried to catch up on blog posts.  There was the last day at the Abadia de los Templarios resort when Susan and I realized that we weren't going to have another opportunity to use the swimming pool and so we cooled off and did just a few laps.  There was some built in time after lunch (our schedule at Pueblo Ingles had a 2pm lunch remmber) to read a good book or to spend some unscheduled time talking with a new friend.  Most of the time, Susan and I fully adopted the siesta and slept away the afternoon in our little air-conditioned room back at the villa.  This was a great way to recharge for the evening and, more importantly, escape the heat.

Heat in Spain isn't completely oppressive.  It's similar to a slow baking oven.  We experienced it on our honeymoon in Morocco.  Plenty of temperature.  No humidity.  So with plenty of water, occasional shade and a breeze, it's really bearable.  There just wasn't any humidity to deal with.  As long as we're not exerting ourselves outside or forgetting to hydrate, it's tolerable.

Now that we're back in Milwaukee, we're living through a long week of intolerably hot, humid, sticky days.  We water the plants at night.  We go to exercise at the gym at 9pm.  We keep the windows closed and the air conditioners on for a good portion of the day and night.  We eat more fruit and less meat.  And we've reverted to our Spanish practice of escaping the midday heat with some quality shuteye.  Granted, it has started to mess with our ability to fall asleep at 11pm at night but staying up later isn't such a bad thing once the sun has set and the temperature dips into the low 80's.  We welcome the siesta.  We endorse the siesta.  We love the siesta!