November 7, Monday.

I was so exhausted I slept for nine hours, and woke up refreshed, if groggy. After breakfast I took some much-needed catch-up time, as I was so far behind in correspondence.

Then we jumped into the Tesla and headed up winding roads into the impressive Sierra de las Nieves mountains to the town of Ronda, a beautiful town with the huge, very deep El Tajo Gorge running through the middle of it.

We walked around the town, which was famous for bullfighting, bumped into a very interesting little museum that showed the development of all kinds of old gadgets, like old telephones, sewing machines, typewriters, cameras, video cameras, guns, swords, pipes—you name it. Reflecting on the creative power of thought to come up with these ideas in the first place and then improve upon them little by little with various new, sometimes far-fetched designs was really fascinating to both of us.

We ate lunch on a balcony overlooking the deep ravine, had more wonderful conversation, and I really loved it there. Then we went back to Amanda’s house, where I took a luxurious hot bath, caught up some more, and that evening went to explore the beautiful old section of the town of Marbella.

I absolutely love old Spanish towns with narrow streets and little nooks and crannies everywhere. I don’t even mind when it’s touristy, because there is nothing like it in the USA. The United States isn’t even as old as the stone streets here—even before cobblestones. We had dinner in a restaurant with wonderful ambience but not-great food. Still, we had more great conversation, so I didn’t mind. It was a wonderful day all around. I’m so happy to be back in Spain, especially to a beautiful area where I’ve never been before.