Long Overdue

Second week in Madrid. Finally starting to get my feet on the ground and actually experience what the country has to offer.

Madrid is an incredibly lively city. I feel like I´ve only visited the places that are teeming with tourists (Latin American and English speaking), so I´m ready to get going on exploring some lesser frequented parts of the city.

This weekend, though, I got out of the city for a bit.

First, on Saturday, the program took us on an excursion to Toledo, just outside of Madrid. The town is beautiful, old, with these narrow streets and painted buildings that look like a movie set. It was one of those places where you feel bad shuffling around in a big group of tourists. It felt more like a place that deserves to be found. Anyway, on our tour, we got to see some pretty amazing things. There´s an incredible mixture of Christian, Arab, and Jewish culture in the history and architecture. Saturday was also one of the special days a year (I think there are two) when the convent in Old Toledo is totally open to the public. What I loved was how excited our guide got when he found this out as we walked by, excited enough to risk not making it to the other places on our tour to show us this. The weather couldn´t have been more perfect for a visit to a town like this, either.

Sunday my señora took my roomate and I out to Cercedilla, which is about a 40 minute train ride west of the city. Cercedilla is one of those little Spanish mountain towns that you imagine, with the winding streets and red rooftops...even the mountains are postcard-worthy. We took about a 3-4 hour hike, ate our sandwhiches at the top where you can see all the way down into the valley and the town, and I explained Ultimate frisbee to my señora (of course I brought a disc up the mountain with me...you never know). Belén is a fun woman. She´s done a part of the Camino del Santiago (which is one of my dreams), and gives me a lot of advice about how to meet Spanish boys, and how to be more like a Spaniard. I have yet to ask her why I see so many Spanish guys at the bar, but not many Spanish chicas...it´s a curiousity I´m trying to figure out right now.

Sunday night I took myself to Parque Retiro, which is Madrid´s equivalent to central park. The thing is gorgeous and huge. Keeping with the Madrid mood of a constant party, every Sunday night, in this circular-columned place by the lake, there´s this massive drum circle. People bring their african drums, beer, and friends and dance around and listen to music. It´s such a blast.

I still have yet to find the Ultimate team here. I´ve found their website, and I know they´re called Los Quixotes, which I love. But they´re as elusive as any other team, and I doubt that their website has been updated in the last 6 months. I´m sure I´ll find them soon.

I´m of to Lisbon, Portugal this weekend by a stroke of luck--a spot opened up at the last minute on a trip for international students, and two of my friends are already going. I´ll try and post some of their pictures (since I don´t have a camera anymore, I´ve been guilting my friends into taking pictures of me in cool places).

Last week was rough, yes, but I always, always am trying to remember this: Should I have stayed home and thought of here?

The answer is obvious.