What Is It About Spain?
A couple weeks ago, Time magazine had an article about Opus Dei, the secretive Catholic organization. As I was reading I realized that Opus Dei started in Spain. As I thought about it, I realized how many extremely different religious movements and ideas have come from Spain. Here's the list I came up with in no time at all (in chronological order):

• Maimonedes
• St. John of the Cross
• St. Theresa of Avila
• The Spanish Inquisition
• Opus Dei
• Cursillo

Now, add the incredibly diverse ideas and styles of (in no particular order):

• Cervantes' Don Quijote,
• Generalissimo Franco,
  
• The Catholic Monarchs- Ferdinand and Isabel,
  
• Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali,
  
• Bullfighting,
  
• Flamenco and the Saetas of Semana Santa.
  

and you have just about as wide a range of the really great and the truly awful as you can get. Perhaps only Germany's checkered history can compete.

Of course many countries are filled with these same kind of paradoxes of style, culture, and history. Spain's location at the edge of Europe with a certain amount of isolation yet access to the Atlantic and Mediterranean give it the opportunity for different experiences. The STRONG relation to historic religion, yet a side of independence, builds in both the conservative and radical. The past 30 years since the end of the Franco era have opened Spain to growth and opportunity.

All this, and much more, makes Spain such an incredible and interesting country.