{"id":4580,"date":"2021-05-19T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4580"},"modified":"2021-05-19T23:24:52","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T23:24:52","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/05\/19\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-52\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 52"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They spent midday in Monterey, where they first stopped at the aquarium. Though Kepa had often gone to the beach to relax, and had even gone spearfishing in the ocean when he was younger, he had never really appreciated the multitude of colors that ocean life displayed. The tall glass panels revealed an almost dervish dance of fish that mesmerized Kepa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite laughed as she pulled Kepa away. \u201cYou\u2019d think you\u2019d never seen a fish, country boy,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa shrugged sheepishly. \u201cNot so many at one time. They are fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I\u2019d known you\u2019d react like this, I\u2019d have taken you to more aquariums.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Buber’s Basque Story is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

They left the aquarium and found a small spot on the water for lunch. Maite ordered fish and chips while Kepa ordered a burger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat? A burger? Here? With all of this great seafood?\u201d exclaimed Maite in exasperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa smiled. \u201cI\u2019m just a country boy, after all. And American burgers are simply awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite shook her head. \u201cSometimes, I really can\u2019t understand you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d replied Kepa with a smirk, \u201cat least I keep you guessing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite laughed. \u201cThat you do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lunch, they got back into their rental car, this time with Kepa behind the wheel, and continued south toward San Luis Obispo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook at that,\u201d said Maite, pointing at a sign as they turned onto Highway 101. \u201c\u2018Historic Route, Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa shrugged as he accelerated the car down the road. \u201cWho was he?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d replied Maite. \u201cBut, isn\u2019t Anza a Basque name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it? It\u2019s not one I know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think so\u2026\u201d began Maite as she tapped on her phone. \u201cBai! This guy was an explorer back in the seventeen hundreds. His dad was from Gipuzkoa, from Hernani to be exact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, a Giputxi, that\u2019s why I didn\u2019t know it. That\u2019s pretty cool. Seems like there were a lot of Basques around here even before the sheepherders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road took them inland, past large swaths of farmland and rolling hills covered in brown grass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always expected California to be more\u2026 lush,\u201d said Kepa. \u201cIt\u2019s all farmland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd what isn\u2019t being farmed seems pretty dry,\u201d added Maite. \u201cI guess we only ever see pictures of the coast and the big cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t much longer before they saw a sign telling them that San Luis Obispo was only thirty miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot much longer,\u201d said Kepa. \u201cI\u2019m ready to stretch my legs. I don\u2019t know how these Americans drive for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite laughed. \u201cYou\u2019re just not used to going anywhere. How often do you even leave that baserri?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI leave it enough!\u201d replied Kepa defiantly. \u201cI\u2019ve been to Paris and even London.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFair enough, but you took a train to get there, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, what\u2019s that?\u201d asked Maite as she pointed out the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bright point of light hovered above a sign that pointed toward Bakersfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They spent midday in Monterey, where they first stopped at the aquarium. Though Kepa had often gone to the beach to relax, and had even gone spearfishing in the ocean when he was younger, he had never really appreciated the multitude of colors that ocean life displayed. The tall glass panels revealed an almost dervish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1bS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4581,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580\/revisions\/4581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}