Ahhh...the roller-coaster of emotions that is life. It is Easter Sunday today and I am sitting at my desk contemplating the vast and complicated laziness that has overcome me since I put Joaquin on an airplane back to the States yesterday morning. This past week has been packed with all sorts of interesting experiences, and I will do my best to relate them all in as truthful a way as I can, though I may have forgotten some stuff. So here is an account of the best Spring Break of my life:
After several months of begging, pleading, threatening, and blackmailing, I finally convinced Joaquin to come to Spain and visit me for Semana Santa, a week in which I had no classes and which just happened to coincide with his Spring Break. I picked him up from the airport on Friday the 14th and thus a week of blissful blissyness commenced. The first day was spent eating and napping, which was just fine with me. The second day, Saturday, we went walking around Madrid and saw all the most famous and iconic spots in the city, such as Gran Via, Plaza de Espana, the Royal Palace, the Cathedral of the Almudena (which we went inside), and then on to the Plaza Mayor, where we had a really cheap lunch of bocadillos (sandwiches) at a little bar called Casa Rua. Then we walked over to the Puerta del Sol, and up Calle Preciados to the Callao metro stop, where we headed on back to my apartment. It was a long and exhausting day, though I think that Joaquin enjoyed it, as did I. One of my favorite moments of the day happened when we were sitting in the garden in front of the Royal Palace. Joaquin looked up at the palace and said, "It's amazing how much they built with my gold. Give me my gold back, bastards!" I guess he's still a little bitter...
Sunday, we were real real lazy at getting up in the morning, and though we had major plans for doing all the cool free stuff that Sunday in Madrid offers, I think we actually left the apartment around 4:30 or 5:00. We headed straight to Retiro Park, where we walked around and looked at all the people and strange spectacles (such as magicians, fortune tellers, puppeteers, and cartoon characters making balloon animals) which filled the park. It was a nice stroll, and I took some pictures of Joaquin at the Plaza de Honduras near the big lake. We saw the Crystal Palace too, and also the statue of the fallen angel, which is apparently the only statue in the world of Satan, or something like that. Took a picture of that too. Then we headed out of the park towards the Prado Museum, which I thought closed at 9:30, but actually closed at 7:00, so we were too late. I was disappointed. Then we walked to Plaza Cibeles, the most iconic plaza in Madrid, I think, and on to my 2nd favorite tapas bar, El Tigre, where we had one round of drinks and a free plate of fried stuff, such as croquetas and patatas bravas. After that, we joined some friends at the San Gines chocolateria for churros and chocolate.
Day four was Monday, and Joaquin wanted to visit Santiago Bernabeu, which is the big soccer stadium where Real Madrid plays their home games. If any of you are familiar with the world soccer scene (called football here of course...and in the rest of the world too, actually) you know that Real Madrid is a really big deal. It was chosen by FIFA as the best football club of the 20th century, and has won more cups and trophies than I can even remember. Anyhow, Joaquin is a huge fan, and we went to take the stadium tour, where we visited the trophy room, the dressing rooms, the place where the team sits during the games, the box seats, and of course the gift shop. I learned a whole lot of stuff about Real Madrid during the tour because Joaquin is a veritable fountain of random facts about the team, and he shared them all with me. We took loads of pictures, and my only regret was that we couldn't see a real game there because the team was playing in Galicia, in the far northwest of Spain, during Semana Santa. After the tour, we went to J&J's Bookstore/ Coffee Shop where I bought another Clive Cussler novel. Dinner was kebabs, that strange mediterranean/middle eastern/who-knows sandwichy thing that you can find in shops on every street in Madrid.
The next morning was my first attempt at cooking something edible during Joaquin's visit. I chose French toast, which the cooking of sounded pretty basic and every competent woman I asked had assured me that it was the essence of simplicity. Therefore, I went into the task a bit overconfident, and what resulted was another kitchen disaster to add to my list. For some reason, the bread kept sticking to the pan and would not cook through. It just remained squishy and icky and inedible. So I got mad, gave up, and made him a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast instead. After that, we went walking to the Plaza de Colon and then spent a couple of hours in the National Archaeology Museum, where I was delighted to find that Joaquin is as much of a dork as me when it comes to old artifacts. Maybe more so. Dinner was at De Montaditos, a really cool restaurant where you can order little tiny bocadillos of different kinds, and which are pretty cheap. We each ate about 4 apiece. I think I had 5. Yummy.
Wednesday brought laziness and sleepiness again, and we got a late start. Lunch was at a small bocadillo place in Ciudad Lineal, about a 5 minute walk from my house, where Joaquin found that he really liked fried calamares. Then we went to the library and got a movie to watch later. After that, Joaquin wanted to go pick up some souvenirs, so it was back to the center we went. And I am not proud to admit it, but I finally lost a bet. There was this keychain in one of the shops that we had seen before, and Joaquin said it was the Costa Rican flag, but for some reason it looked funny to me, so I disagreed. The Thai flag is just like the Costa Rican flag, which the colors reversed, so I deduced that it was the Thai flag. Yes, yes, I know that doesn't make much sense, for I am guessing there are a heck of a lot more Costa Ricans who visit Spain than Thai people. But it really didn't look right. So before we left to go souvenir shopping, I had looked up the flag in a book, and Joaquin turned out to be right. It was the Costa Rican flag. Well, the bet was for ice cream, so after shopping, we went to McDonalds and I had a vanilla cone. For some reason, Joaquin didn't even cash in on the bet, so I am still the fatty one of the relationship. For dinner, I made a couscous casserole which turned out pretty good, surprisingly, although I burnt the cheese on top. Then we watched the movie I had gotten at the library, Memento, and I was glad to learn that there are actually a few movies that both of us can enjoy at the same time.
Thursday, we went to Segovia, which is a very cool town about 1 hour and 20 minutes to the west of Madrid by bus. It has a Roman aqueduct, a huge cathedral, and a medieval castle. I had gone there over Christmas break with Mom and Katie, but it was still interesting the second time around. We went on a tour through the castle and climbed the tower, though it was so windy that I thought I was gonna be bald by the time we decided to climb back down. Inside the castle were suits of armor, tapestries, and even the thrones where Isabel and Ferdinand sat. Maybe they were sitting there when Christopher Colombus asked them for money to fund his epic voyage to the Americas. Weird thought. We got hungry by the end of the day, and so we stopped in a little restaurant where I had paella and Joaquin had lasagna. Then we got back on the bus and headed back to Madrid. Dinner of pasta and boxed wine was at Biz's place, and we had a nice discussion about politics and probably several other topics I don't really remember.
Sad day, Friday. It was Joaquin's last full day in Madrid. We slept late and then finally got going around 4:00pm, I think. After a quick run to the chino for some party supplies for the night, we went to McDonald's for food and then saw a procession of some statues of Mary and Jesus that went down the main street in front of us. This was my first time to see a Holy Week procession, though Joaquin said they are common in Honduras too during Easter time. At the head of the procession was a huge rolling float-type thing with a big statue of Jesus on the cross, guided by many people dressed in purple KKK uniforms. At least, that's what I associate those pointy hat things with. I know that those costumes are traditional for Holy Week in Spain, but I couldn't help but to feel creeped out, watching them walk solemnly down the street, their faces completely hidden except for two eye holes in the mask. At least the costumes were purple. If they had been white, I would have run. To any Southerner standing around with their boyfriend-of-a-different-race, that's a lynching waiting to happen. After the procession passed on by, with drummers and trumpeters, women holding candles, a huge statue of Mary, and the majority of the church's congregation following close, we headed back to my apartment to get ready for the little party I had planned for that night. I prepared some little appetizer plates, none of which required cooking, so they turned out ok. Then Cate, her boyfriend Seth, her friend Ellen, and Biz came over and we sat around snacking and sipping on various liquids. It was a short party with an early end, because we still had to get Joaquin packed up for his 7:55am flight the next morning. We got all that done, took a short nap, and then called a cab and left for the airport. It seemed our driver was an ex-Formula One racer, because we got there in no time. After lots of hugging and sad smiles, Joaquin was gone.
Five weeks left for me. It seems like both a long time and a short time when I think about it. I hope it passes quickly, because I am ready to get home and see all my family, friends, and Joaquin again. I also miss my good, comfortable Southern culture. Spain is nice, but it doesn't have sweet tea!
No comments:
Post a Comment