Sevilla, Mexican food, Army bases

It's time for a story! A blast to my former life in Spain, in Sevilla.... in 1999.

It was my first year in Spain. There were five of us on the STINT team there and I was loving Spain, loving the adventure of life overseas, and excited about how God was going to work. We had now been in Sevilla all of a couple months. Since we had yet to find good Mexican food in Sevilla (Unlike the common American myth that Spain has tacos, burritos and is just the mothership of Mexico, Spanish food is NOT spicy and VERY different from Mexican food.), we had decided to throw our Spanish friends a real Mexican party.

We had heard from a reliable source (David - a spanish friend) that we should head to the local army base to get the food since they had American stores there with everything we would need. I had never been on an army base, but David assured us that all we needed was our US passport and we would be fine. So, Tawnny, Ann, and I found the bus that headed to the town where the base is situated, about an hour or so away. When we got there we looked for a taxi and told him to take us to the base.

We got to the guard at the base, showed him our passports, and told him that we were going shopping (that was our business on the base). He waved us on and directed us to the grocery store. We were in supermarket heaven. There were Pyrex dishes that cost half their normal price. Tawnny and Ann stocked up on Dr. Pepper. There were tortilla chips, flour tortillas, corn tortillas, salsa, chili pepper,... You name it they had it. So we stocked up. All we could carry in our backpacks and arms we bought.

So we get into the line to check out and as we are nearing the cashier I ask the man behind us how we get back to Sevilla. Is there a bus? Or do we have to call a taxi? Or what? He then asks how we got there and I of course tell him. We wanted to buy mexican food supplies for a party we were having, so we took a bus, then a taxi, and now we just needed to get home. He said that there was an employee bus that too off from the hotel later that day, but that he didn't know the hours. He then asked if we had a military ID and of course I said "no." He asks how we got on base. I tell him that we just showed them our passports and told the guards we were going grocery shopping. He says that we're not really supposed to be there, but just not to make a big deal of it. He says he has no idea how we're going to get back, but that our best bet is to head over to the hotel.

About this time we start to check out. I check out and then Tawnny checks out. Somewhere after we've both signed for it I must have asked the guy one more thing and the cashier then asks for our ID. Mind you we've already checked out. We say that we don't have a military ID and she begins to freak out, I mean really go nuts. "But you can't be here." "You can't buy this food." She just keeps on making statements, which we were obviously completely oblivious to up until now.

I offer to return it and she just continues to say that we can't buy it (when we already have). I ask for the third or fourth time if she wants us to return it and still all she can say is that we're not supposed to be there. So we leave and assume that the army police will now come to arrest us or shoot us or something horrible. Or that we will at least not make it back to Sevilla.

We sit on a bench. Ann and Tawnny drink their Dr. Pepper. We pray. And then we head over to the hotel.

We enter and there is CNN in English on a huge television screen. Since I now know we weren't really supposed to be there I just ask when the bus comes and the maitre-de says in about an hour. I ask if there is another one and she says no. So we sit down and I am fluctuating between just trusting it will all work out and expecting the police to come for us. The van arrives and we get on with all the employees and, while being fully honest, try not to disclose too much information. The bus takes us virtually to our house and all is well.

A couple days later we make an amazing mexican extravaganza, which our friends love, and for the next couple years I enjoy my cheap pyrex casserole dishes. Never again do I venture to an army base, but I will forever have imprinted in my mind the picture of us sitting there waiting for some men with guns or a bus to come by.