Script Exerpt

"The Route of Don Quixote"

"En un lugar de la Mancha de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme..." Thus begins one of the most read and certainly one of the funniest novels ever written, The Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote de la Mancha.

A notion that is bandied about, but which we have never been able to corroborate is that the Quixote is among the top five books read in the world. The novel did make Life Magazine's selection of one of the most important events (96) in the world in the last one thousand years.

The fact that the story begins and ends in La Mancha is also one of the longest running jokes in history, because after nearly 400 years La Mancha, meaning stain or blot, remains just that, a blot somewhere in Spain; not a destination, but "un lugar de paso."

Some suggest that the etymology of the term La Mancha comes from the Arabic meaning "dry land" or "land without water", hence the need for windmills (as opposed to water mills) for grinding or milling grain.

It is a region of Spain through which people pass on their way from Sevilla to Barcelona or Toledo to Murcia, as they did in Cervantes' time with perhaps only a pause in La Mancha to eat or rest, and then continue on their way. Many have heard of this place, but few ever really visit.

The notion that La Mancha is a space in Spain through which people pass is still held. Even in 1992 when Spain hosted the Olympics in Barcelona, the World's Fair in Seville, and Madrid was declared the Culture Capital of Europe, Manchegans lamented the fact that no one stopped and visited La Mancha; opting instead for bullet trains or jets to cross La Mancha on their way to someplace else.

For those willing to explore off the beaten tourist track, the fictional meandering of the intrepid knight errant through La Mancha is a worthy adventure.