Tapas: A Spanish Interlude

In 1974 the Doucet family leaves Canada to spend nine years in Spain. PUBCOMMENT: Tapas has been translated into Spanish and has been very popular in Spain. The author, originally from Canada, is now living there. AUTHCOMMENT: My husband and I and our four [of nine] youngest children ... went to Spain in 1974 and returned to Canada in 1982. The Spain we experienced existed during the last of Franco's rule and the first period of adjustment to a new government under King Juan Carlos. It was the Spain of Aguadulce, a fishing community fast losing its identity to tourism; of Beninar, a village nestled in the mountains and about to be demolished to make way for a dam; and of Berja, a town that has existed since 711 B.C. There are two Spains: the one that tourists go to see, the flamboyant, pulsating Spain; and the other Spain, the one we chose, the very heart of nature. Aurele was fifty-seven and I was fifty-two.