After many `tomorrows,' search for abuelo is successful.

Byline: Marta Barber

MANSILLA DE LAS MULAS, Spain _ We had talked about it for years, my brother Tony and I: How as a young Spanish soldier my grandfather had gone to Cuba more than 100 years ago to fight for his country and fallen in love with the enemy, my grandmother. How we knew so much about the rest of the family, but so little about him.

Now, growing older and with grandchildren of our own, it was time. A few days, and our grandfather's past would be present again. Or so we believed.

``Abuelo'' hailed from Leon, the old kingdom northwest of Madrid, and claimed Mansilla de las Mulas as his hometown. And so we make our way to this town that celebrates its livestock tradition of` "la matanza'' (the killing) with festivities and fairs. The mules that gave the town its name _ ``manos en la silla'' or ``hands on the saddle'' _ are now gone, replaced by sheep. .

In medieval times, Mansilla was a way station on the well-trodden Road to Santiago, the 750-plus-mile path pilgrims for centuries followed from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. As we drive over the 12th-century bridge into the town, we spot ...