Guapa !!

Guapa is perhaps my favourite Spanish word, because it sums up what I love about the country and the people. It's to do with an emotional openess and the direct way in which they deal with one another.
It's difficult to translate properly but means something like "the beauty of being utterly yourself". Spaniards use it all the time to one another. When I lived in Spain and we were watching my daughter dancing at the local fiesta this is what the crowd shouted for encouragement. As they did to all the others.
I remember well the first time this deep appreciation of the self struck me. I was in the Almoradí town square in summertime and my sister's neice was flamenco dancing. She looked so confident, so proud and sure of who she was and why she was strutting her stuff on the stage that it moved me to tears. The crowd shouted Guapa ! Guapa ! and her chin was high her eyes were raised and met the crowds acclaim confidently and without a trace of arrogance. She was gorgeous and affirming herself in dance. It was, for a moment, the most true and profound thing I had ever witnessed.

So, here is my Guapa home from work waiting for me to open the door and get a surprise at her snowed on self. She set it up knowing that it would raise a smile. Guapa !