The Rain in Spain

Madrid

Our time in Madrid started with a 6 hour nautious bus ride to get there from San Sebastian. Maybe that was a bad omen. We finally arrived in Madrid and took the metro to the center part of town. We wandered around until we finally just picked a hostel. It was 50 Euro for literally a box. No windows or ventilation of any sort, no bathroom, just a bed in a box. Anyways, I was not feeling very well at all, but we went out to walk around the city and get dinner. For some reason, mostly because Jordi wanted to, we ended up at an all you can eat buffet that was disgusting. Kind of edible, but really not good. Then we went to an internet cafe that had phones so I could call my mom. As I was talking, Jordi was standing outside waiting for me. Some shady characters came up to him and started talking to him, asking him for cigarettes and trying to "play jokes" by playfully punching and shaking him - and taking our camera while they were at it. Jordi realized it too late, and they were already gone and dissapeared by the time he knew they had taken it. It was very heartbreaking for me as I was the one taking most of the pictures, and I love taking pictures. It had all our pictures from our coastal trip in France and the time we spent in San Sebastian. Our car trip to France was one of my favorite parts of our trip, so I am very bummed to not have pictures of it. Anyways, it was a really hard night for us, and we eventually fell asleep in our unventilated room. The next day, we woke up and mostly just wanted to get out of Madrid. We packed up our bags and figured out how to get to the airport on the metro. I was stomach sick and not feeling well at all, we were both frustrated over the camera, and also we had to be at the airport at 4 am the next morning for our flight - so our plan was to get a hotel by the airport and hide out til early the next morning. We got to the airport and ran around for at least an hour trying to look for someone to help us out. ("We don't have any information on hotels near the airport, you need to go upstairs." "Oh no, you need to go downstairs." "You need to go to that terminal" "You need to go to the next metro stop") Anyways, we finally found a lady who could help us, but all the hotels were booked because there was a conference. Besides, the hotels were over 200 Euro a night! So we decided to put our stuff in a locker and spend the night in the airport. We stashed our backpacks and got back on the metro. We went to Parque Retiro, which is probably the most popular park in Madrid. We got there and sat and had lunch, which was nice. Then we rented a row boat for almost two hours, which was really fun and beautiful, and very relaxing. We walked around the park a little more, and then went to Plaza Mayor for tapas and watching the preformers. It was really fun! And I was feeling a little better by this time. :) My Auntie Donna had told me about this little place in Madrid that has the only authentic Flamenco in the city. Since sleeping in the airport doesn't cost any money, we decided to splurge for the show. I had made reservations earlier, so we asked for directions and amazingly found our way through the alleyways to a little place called Casa Patas. Turning in from the alley, we walked through the doors to Casa Patas - it was all lit up, warm, decorated and fun looking inside. We signed in, and then had to wait at the bar for about 45 minutes before the show started. Everyone was either eating dinner or eating tapas at the bar, and everyone in the restaurant was there for the show. At 10:30 PM they shut down the bar and restaurant and ushered everyone behind the back restaurant wall, where there was seating for the show. The seating was shoulder to shoulder at tiny little cocktail tables, facing a small stage. It was a very intimate setting :) Out came the musicians - guitarist, violinist, drummer, and two singers - and everyone started cheering and clapping. I believe Flamenco has Moorish influence, as well as Gypsy background, and you can really hear this in the music and song. As soon as the music started everyone fell silent, for it was stunning. I could not believe how fast the guitarists fingers moved, and the voices were sorrowful and beautiful. The vocalists also do a little clapping thing throughout the whole show, which adds to the effect. Then out came the flamenco dancers - the man in his suit (who I had been talking to at the bar about the kind of cheese he had ordered!!) and the woman in her twirly dress (The cheese he ordered was from Galicia, by the way). They started dancing, and they were captivating. They move so fast and passionately. Actually, the whole ordeal is profoundly passionate - the singers, the dancers, the musicians. As Jordi observed, "Everybody looks like they are about to cry."

The show ended after midnight, and we had to wind our way through the subways back to the airport. We got our backpacks from the locker and went back to our terminal. By the time we found the perfect stairway to sleep under, it was almost 2 AM. We slept for two hours before starting our trek to Asia....