all felt part of a much larger, beautiful rhythm. I stayed for a long time, watching the light shift over the valley, perfectly content to be exactly where I was

That's it...Andalucia in your bones. That's what happened to me in Cadiz :) You have to let it sink in. The Western frenzy to get on with the day, to concentrate on what's coming next...that's gone. You just are. The timelessness of it, the existence. It's intoxicating. I was a college sophomore, going into my junior year. So much adjustment for me. So much pressure. I had to succeed--won't go into detail--but it all fell away in Cadiz.

We didn't go to Ojen, but we did go to Ronda. Why did we go to Ronda? I look at the map and it is so far out of the way. Took a train. That was certainly a trip into the past. I was startled by chamber pot and the bowl of water on the table (for washing up).

No shopping on my trip :)

This is a glorious post. Thanks for the blast from the past. You really capture the mood, the culture and the place.