Barcelona – October 13-20

By Leyla

Arriving in Barcelona via bus from the airport to Placa Catalunya, we clutched our belongings as we navigated the throngs of tourists and traffic, to our apartment in the Barri Gotic. Every person whom we told we were spending a month in Barcelona had the same response –keep an eye on your belongings in a City where pickpocketing and thievery have reached absurd levels. We found our ridiculously skinny street just of Las Ramblas. It was instantly clear that no light would find this street and that the level of noise was beyond anything we had experienced. Even before we found #26 Carrer d”en Roca, we had the sinking feeling that the apartment we had rented for an entire month was going to be a huge disappointment.

At this point, given that our pace has slowed somewhat, the strokes get broader and I won’t be reported in such detail our daily activities. Our first week in Barcelona, I spent much of my time negotiating with our Airbnb host (and uselessly talking with an agent at Airbnb) to see if she would let us out of one month lease early. Ultimately, she had agreed to cut our visit in half. We spent the week getting acquainted with the City. Mark and I had surprisingly loved the double decker tourist bus we took in Quito, so decided to get tickets for the one in Barcelona to get the lay of the land. The weather was cloudy and rainy but we managed to sit up top most of the time and get a great overview of the City, staying out of our apartment for 12 hours per day the first few days in the City. We found good restaurants and ate 3 course meals. We took a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter with an engaging guide named Ali, a history and classics major, who moved to Barcelona from England 16 years ago. We took every opportunity to see anything Antoni Gaudi had designed. The Sagrada Familia is astonishing, La Pedrella and Casa Bastilo amazing, and Park Guell inspires me to imagine living in this failed real estate development from the early 1900s.

I also needed to deal with my broken tooth. While walking through Gracia (a cool neighborhood we wished we were living in) I stopped at random dentist office who it appeared was also an acupuncturist. After she told me that it would be impossible to bond the broken inlay and that she would need to reconstruct the tooth using small titanium screws, I went running from the office. Dr. Higgins, my dentist in Boulder had provided me with a name of a dentist he got from someone that once worked in his office: Dr. Fernando Alaejos. I called Dr. Alaejos the next morning, and he answered. He spoke English well enough for me to understand that he wanted me to come to his office the following day at noon. Taking the metro for the first time, my destination was Besos, practically at the end of the line. Walking through a very local neighborhood, I easily found the office and while the receptionist didn’t seem to truly understand why I was there, she kindly welcomed me to the waiting room until Dr. Alaejos came out of the examination room. I had brought with me the broken inlay, which Dr. Alaejos expertly placed in the space it had come from, stating, to my great relief, that it would be no problem to bond the broken piece and could I come back at 5pm. At the appointed hour, I arrived and after being shown to an upstairs room, Dr. Alaejos was joined by two younger dentists. I asked if he was training them to which he replied: yes, they are the future”. We chatted a bit about retirement, which I understood for him was tricky and even with his limited English, it was becoming clear that Dr. Alaejos enjoyed engaging philosophically. After a few attempts to place the tooth, it was clear to Dr. Aleajos and to me that the inlay no longer fit as it did when he first tried. He seemed horrified and asked how long I would be in Barcelona. I told him we were leaving on Saturday for San Sebastian but that we would be back the following Thursday. From what I understood, he wanted to see me before I left for San Sebastian and that the visit involved coordinating with another dentist who had a special piece of equipment and that it might be necessary to meet at the office of the other dentist. Dr. Alaejos called the next day and we made an appointment for Friday at 5pm at his office. I was introduced to Antonio, the other dentist who came over by scooter. The piece of equipment appeared to be a laser device to create a digital impression for a new inlay. I recognized the digital maneuvering of the outline as something I had seen Dr. Higgins do and in this way, it became clear that I was indeed getting a new inlay. Dr. Alaejos asked if I had time the following morning before our flight. I came back the next morning and the new inlay was finished! I have no idea how he got it done overnight on a Friday, but there it was, and there again was Antonio. So two dentists worked on me, after hours, and created a new inlay overnight. I was already incredibly moved by this amazing act of kindness and generosity, but when Dr. Alaejos refused payment, I started crying. In our 3 visits I had come to deeply appreciate this wonderfully kind man. I insisted again on payment, and even my tears did not dissuade him. He said all he wanted was a postcard from one of our destinations. I wrote down the website for triosjourney and this seemed to please him. I cried all the way home on the metro, thinking about what gift I could give Dr. Alaejos that could adequately express my enormous gratitude. I also pondered the difference between how things work in the U.S. and how things work here.