Wandering Madrid -- Plaza Mayor

I spent a lovely day in Madrid yesterday. No self-respecting person in this city wakes up before nine o-clock, so I had the morning to myself; although I did have to put up with my five dolled up, alcohol reeking dormmates tumbling into the room at five in the morning. This seems to be the norm here -- dinner is at ten, party preparations last until midnight, and then the young people party until five or six in the morning. I wake up for the day just as the exhausted young people crawl into bed for the "night".

I headed off for Retiro Park around nine o'clock. It ended up being just a thirty minute walk from my hostel, and was such a straight shot that I didn't even falter with directions once. The park itself was absolutely breathtaking. The grounds were perfectly manicured, there were statues lining the walking/bicycling/running streets, there were fountains in every plaza, there were various playgrounds scattered about the area full of very happy children, and there was a beautiful lake in the middle, full of paddling young couples and black swans. I sat down on a bench and studied my yoga sutras for an hour, watching the runners and rollerbladers and frolicking dogs out of the corner of my eye.

A view from Retiro Park

Probably a bank. I hear that most of the new buildings are banks. 

Madrid

Caught in the middle of a protest

Fabrizzio Hostel

Fabrizzio. The crocodile after which the guesthouse was named. 

The glass chapel in Retiro Park

At two o'clock I met Jose Ramon (a friend from Pueblo Ingles) for lunch at a Spanish restaurant near Retiro Park. The food was delicious and fairly authentic. The dessert we ordered at the end was certainly unique to Spain; chilled milk mixed with lemon and sugar, then sprinkled with nutmeg.

After lunch, Jose Ramon and I returned to Retiro Park where we had our interview. It was the first interview I've done wherein I asked the questions in English and my interviewee answered in a different language. I needed to explain what a few of the English words in my questions meant. I never realized what difficult concepts faith and regret are.

After Jose Ramon dropped me off at Plaza Mayor (telling me that my boyfriend and I should come visit him at his house on the beach whenever we can), I went back to my hostel and Skyped Alex for a while. Up until now the internet connection has been so sketchy that it would cut out every couple of minutes and video calls were virtually impossible. The connection here is quite good, so I was able to see his face for at least half an hour, and that made my day (even more than the Spanish dessert I had at lunch).

I settled into my room to study yoga sutras, but my dormmates arrived and quickly filled the air with the same noxious cigarette/perfume/nail polish/hairspray mix. I quickly vacated the area and ended up watching "The Last of the Mohicans" in the main room with a very sweet nineteen year old girl from Germany.

A few things I've noticed about Madrid:

Spanish women are so thin. It's ridiculous. I could encompass their waists with my hands, and I have pretty small hands. The stylish women tend to wear very light, short dresses with a thin belt around the middle to emphasize their extremely tiny waists.

Everyone moves extremely quickly.

The Spanish government is trying to outlaw American restaurant chains like Burger King and McDonalds.

Spain has an excellent assortment of all my favorite things: olive oil, goat cheese, red wine, olives, and honey.

Well, I'm meeting another friend from Pueblo Ingles at the famous Spanish market today, so I need to get going.

Much love,

-Aimee