Mañana Madrileña

Well, it's day one in Spain.* Really strange being back here. It's so familiar (even Madrid) but more like I was here in a dream. It's interesting to see the things I remember...

Last night I arrived (finally) at the hostel. I decided to take the bus instead of a taxi, which would cost €40 as opposed to €2! But there was a fair amount of walking at the end of that bus ride and I got a little bit lost... But eventually I made it. After making my bed, washing my face and generally getting situated, I went back downstairs to buy my bus ticket to Murcia. This did not go as planned. But it did go in typical Spanish fashion: error message after error message. I can't believe haven't even been here 24hrs yet and already I'm off about this! Long story short, I will be heading early to the South bus station to buy my ticket.

When I returned upstairs a girl from DC asked if I wanted to join her to grab something to eat. And though I had considered just going to bed, food seemed like a good idea so out we went. I think the place we ended up at was called Lizarro. We shared arroz con mariscos which resembled a very basic paella. And I had a tinto de verano. It was great. Then we went back to the hostel where she joined people for drinking games and I did a brief stint on the computer before bed.

It was so nice to sleep... I was awoken around 2:30 when everyone came back from the bars, but returned pretty quickly to sleep. It wasn't hard, since the whole way here I only slept a half hour at the very most.

This morning I woke up early with the intention of eating free breakfast at the hostel but... It was not so appealing in the end. So I wandered out. After making a few loops, I came back to Miau, a nice little cafe where I could sit at the bar and not be bothered. I had a croissant ("curasán," apparently) and a café solo largo. And wrote. This.

Since my bus was at 1:30, I had some time to enjoy Madrid, so wandered down the street and found myself in front of the Botanical Garden (entrance only 2.50!) and so in I went! It was nice, but not super impressive, to be honest. The entire time I couldn't help thinking about how many beautiful gardens there are in Portland. But I do understand that this one serves a slightly different purpose... There were many beautiful trees (such as the pomegranate tree, which I have never seen before) and the Tree of Giant Orange. Singular. I did feel myself drawn to the piney areas and especially the Oregon zarzamora (blackberry), which apparently really belong in Oregon, cause these did not look especially appealing at all.

I then went up the street to the Retiro, feeling super nostalgic and wanting something familiar... I wandered through, looking for the places I remember seeing with Mimi when we had that amazing picnic a couple years ago. It took me awhile to find anything familiar aside from (appropriately enough) el Bosque del Recuerdo. But finally I made it to the pond (with very little time left before I had to head back and get ready to schlep all my things to the bus station somehow). I tried to record a small video of people passing by because there was a man playing a trumpet really beautifully. However, I'd hardly started the video when some man came up and started talking to me. He kept making "Dad jokes" and told me about the monument we were looking at. In the end, it was a nice exchange, though I admit that at first I kept waiting for him to say something creepy. . . Ha.

Since my bags were so cumbersome, I decided to take a taxi to the bus station. After eating a familiar-tasting bocadillo de tortilla (nothing beats the blandness of potatoes and eggs on a white baguette), and café solo largo, I found my bus and prepared for the long ride. Five and a half hours. With one unnecessarily long break in the middle at what should have been a deserted truck stop from some movie.

However, before terribly long, we were pulling into the bus station in Murcia and I could see Marta (my soon-to-be intercambio partner and personal guide through Murcia) waiting for me. . .

*Only half of this was actually written on that first morning. But I promise to catch up quickly!