25 years ago today I was sitting in a bar in Bilbao, Spain with my travel buddy and coworker Ryan Culby. After a long summer of work (camp) we traveled to Spain for an extended holiday visiting friends and former camp coworkers. We had arrived via bus in Bilbao and were waiting at the bar to meet with our friend Xabier Aranburu. He was coming from his home in Victoria to pick us up and take us back to his apartment where we were to spend the next couple of days.
Our Spanish was weak and our Basque was basically nonexistent. We sensed that the bar tenders were talking about us. We assumed that it was something negative about being Americans and/or not speaking the language. We brushed it off because either way they were probably right to one degree or another.
When Xabier arrived he excitedly tried to explain what was happening back in America but it really wasn’t making much sense. Once we got to his apartment we turned on the TV we could see the disaster unfolding. I was able to get a call through to home which would prove more difficult in the days ahead.
As I journey through Spain continued in the days ahead, we were constantly greeted with kindness, extended condolences and moral support. A few days later, once we were back in Madrid, we attended a rally in Puerta del Sol where the Spanish President expressed the condolences of the Spanish people and pledged Spain’s support to fight terrorism.
Where were you on 9/11?
