I returned to sleep after my early morning note about my Brazil dream, which I posted a few hours ago (because I couldn't sleep). I recently awoke from an even more vivid dream. This time I was on the road, traveling with my family and my parents, but I could not actually figure out where we were. It looked a little bit like Pennsylvania but it also had elements of Europe.
I walked away from our small hotel to take a stroll in the countryside and noticed the sky behind a distant hill turn a midnight blue. It reminded me of El Greco's View of Toledo. I moved back up the hill towards the hotel because I wanted to take a photo, and frame the shot so that it would be an obvious reference to the famous painting. In the short while that it took me to ascend, a bunch of tourists had gathered to observe the changing sky. By the time I was among them, the sky had lightened and there was a beautiful rainbow. Then all hell broke loose and the hill had a volcanic eruption, which showered the region in mud pellets.
I ducked into a little alcove and was spared from the filthy downpour, but still got messy. I realized everyone I was with was probably packing up to leave and that my father would be concerned about his rental car. I could not remember our room number so I found the somewhat hidden front desk, and a seated southern European man behind it kissing a deformed styrofoam head, which was decorated with a stylish little hat and had some elements of a face.
He was taken by surprise but not embarrassed, and not very helpful. I returned to the narrow hallway by the lobby and saw a young American couple wearing swimming trunks and a bikini. Their healthy, youthful skin was covered in a thin coating of mud. They had apparently been to a local mud bath spa, related to the active volcano, and gave a funny look to all the guests running around who were worried about getting dirty.