Letter 6
Elías Ruiz to Carmen Ortega
18th August 2002 (from Cádiz)
Dearest Carmen,
How quaint that sounds! I've obviously never been to Pueblo but it sounds paradisiacal! I can almost imagine spending my life somewhere like that, drinking wine in the sun and going swimming in the lake. It reminds me a lot of the summers I used to spend in Barbate. My dad used to drive me and my mum out there as soon as school was out and we'd stay in a villa they owned. In fact there was a beach there called Nuestra Señora del Carmen. If there's any chance you can make it back here before the end of the summer I'm taking you there. I just wish we still had the villa.
All that said, I couldn't imagine not living in a city. If you have to walk more than fifteen minutes to find an ATM it's too rural in my opinion.
This weekend was surprisingly good. The weather cooled just a little on Friday so I went for a walk and did some writing in the park. When I got home there was a voicemail from a Spanish guy I met when I was in India last year. He was back in Sevilla and wanted to meet up, so he got the train down yesterday and I showed him around Cádiz. The tour was a lot like the one I gave you actually, we went to the Plaza de Mina, the Roman theatre, Candelaria Fortress, etc etc. We went to a bar after dinner and he met a Portuguese girl who was on holiday so I lost him pretty quickly after that.
How has work been? I hope you weren't too hungover yesterday.
With all my affection,
Elías.