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Madrid

So far we have really enjoyed our time in Madrid. This evening we went to a RealMadrid football game and that was really exciting. Our seats were high up but we had a great view of the field. There were so many differences between sporting events at home. For example you were allowed to bring your own food into the stadium and there weren’t any lines for the bathrooms. The hostel that we are staying at has a very upbeat atmosphere and lots of activities. A woman comes to the hostel a few nights a week and cook paella. We ate that for dinner the first night that we were here. It was only two Euros for a decent sized plate. The second day here we went on a free walking tour that the hostel sponsors, although you were expected to tip the tour guide at the end. The tour was informative and the guide, a Columbian girl named Erica was funny, however there really isn’t all that much to see in Madrid. That same day we visited the Prado Museum. The museum houses an earliest copy of the Mona Lisa which was thought to have been painted at the same time as the original. This copy was recently restored and landscape similar to the original was discovered which had previously been painted over in black. The night life here in Madrid is pretty wild. Tapas bars don’t fill up until around 11pm, bars don’t get going until around 1am, and the discos are empty before 3am. It’s not uncommon for people to get home around 7am. Michael and I went to a tapas bar with a friendly Asian guy named Albert and a few girls from New Zealand that we met at the hostel. Albert who is from a town over from Michael was a riot, very hyper and he spoke Spanish fluently. He also studied abroad in Madrid so he was kind of our tour guide for the evening, ordering tapas such as fried eggplant, potatoes, squid, and even pig ears. We went out another evening with a couple of girls from Seattle, a girl form L.A, and a guy from Australia. We’ve met a lot of people at our hostel who are from Austral and New Zealand as well as California. Up until this point we thought that we were traveling for some astonishing amount of time. Almost everyone we have met here is traveling for somewhere between 3 months and a year and a half! Or like our roommate from Brazil who is staying at the hostel until he finds an apartment here in Madrid. It is fascinating talking to people who are from different places and backgrounds yet who are all united by the same passion to travel and experience new cultures. The last few nights Michael and I have made dinner in our hostel kitchen. Pasta and salad was a delicious yet cheap dinner. Last night we went out for Ice cream after dinner and walked around for a while. It was Saturday night and there were tons of people out. One of the main squares, Plaza Puerta del Sol was packed. There were probably between 20-25 African guys with sheets spread out on the ground selling fake purses and watches. Every so often the police who were visible in the square would walk or drive towards the guys and they would pull the strings that were connected to the sheets creating a huge bag filled with their merchandise and they would briskly walk away. The guys would walk 20ft at the most to a new area and spread their sheet out and start organizing the purses or watches again. This endless cycle and cat and mouse game went on throughout the evening. Between making the sale, constantly scanning the area for police, and making sure their merchandise wasn’t stolen; these African guys had their work cut out for them. Michael did end up buying a watch from one guys, and it was kind of entertaining to be part of the action. Originally, yesterday was supposed to be our last night in Madrid but we schedule the train to Malaga for the wrong day so we ended up staying for one more night. We leave tomorrow for Malaga. From Malaga we will take another train to Fuengirola, then a bus to Elviria where we will then be staying at condo minutes away from the Mediterranean Sea. Wish us luck in getting there. We are both looking forward to relaxing at the beach for the next week!