LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO LILLYANNA!

Of all of the memories that I have of our trip, the people that I have met along the way have left the most lasting impression. When we landed in Moron, Spain, and had no idea what to do or where to go, or even how to communicate with the Spanish, we had the amazingly good fortune to meet Lillyanna ( I am not sure of the spelling of her name).....as I told you in a previous blog, we divided into three groups when we landed in Spain, and our small group of nine was heading in the general direction of Italy. We had no idea how to even get out of the Spanish Air Force base where we had landed....we had no idea even where we were. Enter Lillyanna. Born in Peru and raised in Bolivia, she spoke fluent Spanish. She walked with a limp and used a cane, unusual for someone her age (in her middle 40s)......she led us to the dining hall where it was cool (it was 97 outside) and walked several blocks to a gas station to call to find us a cab into the town of Moron. Before long, a very small car arrived to take 9 of us and about 18 suitcases into town. Well, Lillyanna took over from there and within 10 minutes along came a van that could carry all of us into town. We were told that we HAD to go to the police station within 48 hours to have them stamp our passports, which was a problem since the police station closes at 1:00 and by now it is about 2:00 and NOTHING interferes with siesta time. Well, using her Spanish charm she somehow coerced the police station to stay open until we got there. She handled all of our paperwork for entry into the country and schmoozed the police to stay and help us. She then led us through the city streets where we dragged our luggage for about a mile, huffing and puffing to keep up with her to get to the bus station...we had to really hurry or miss the bus, and we had a really hard time keeping up with her...and SHE was the one with the handicap. After talking to her later, we learned that she had been involved in an explosion in Iraq while serving there with the US Army. She had been in the military for 23 years when she was injured. She spent a year at Walter Reed Medical Center and was told that she would never walk again. After seeing people around her give up and give in, she said that she was going to walk again. She was in a wheelchair for two years, during which time her husband left her, he did not want to be married to someone in a wheelchair. She got herself out of the wheelchair and started working out every day. She is now stronger than any of us that were with her. She managed to get us on a bus and into Sevilla, onto a trolley and then found us a great little place to eat. She acted as our tourguide for the two days we were in Seville, helping us find great places to eat, interpreting for us and our waiters, helped us to find a place to stay, negotiated cheap rates for us on a tour bus, and was incredibly helpful to us, we could not have gotten around in Spain without her. Her attitude was incredible and her service to our country remarkable. Her positive attitude and desire to help people was an incredible inspiration to us all. She was a little Spanish angel sent to help us out of a tough situation and made it amazingly enjoyable for all of us, and she didn't have to do it. She now travels Space A often, staying in hostels and enjoying her life in spite of her disability. I am so blessed to have met her and the memory of her and her story will always rise to the top of all of my many memories of this journey. Thank you, Lillyanna.