10:30 am

Bob and I are beginning our fourth day together. It's been pretty wonderful. We're in Trujillo in Extremadura. We were just passing through and saw an old castle here, so we decided to stay. This is the kind of traveling I wanted to do. We took a detour off the main highway on the way and saw some beautiful little towns, mountains and countryside. I enjoyed Madrid, but felt a little on edge there. So busy, so many people. We stayed in a nice hotel just off the Puerta del Sol. We went to the Plaza Mayor and El Prado, but didn't do many other touristy things. We found a great outdoor gay cafe. Met three American students who were really nice. We got pretty drunk that first night, actually. We both even smoked cigarettes! But it was so nice to sit and hold hands. We talked about Bob moving here. He said he can't because he needs to be close to his parents. It's hard for me to accept that, but I can certainly understand it. He's such a special person. I'm just so afraid of "losing him" to someone else. That just wouldn't be right. I think we're destined for each other. Why can't we work out the details? Last night, after a nice dinner in the Plaza Mayor in Trujillo (home of Francisco Pizarro), we went up to the castle again. It was so romantic! Among the Moorish ruins under the stars, we kissed and professed our love for one another. Bob quoted from MacBeth. Said we should kill the king and drink hemlock. I thought it was more like Wuthering Heights. All this was under the watchful eye of the gyrating virgin. Legend has it that the Virgin Mary appeared here in 1275, so they've erected a shrine to her. the statue faces out over the city, but when you put in 25 pesetas, it's supposed to turn around and face inside. But it was broken. No twirling Madonna.