I just love international travel. New sights and smells. People pushing right past you as if they had never seen a line before. Lots of languages you don´t understand. A new sense of all the energy that is around and the excitment, and all of that is just in the Newark airport.
We ended up leaving Newark about three hours late last night. Because of a weather system there was grid lock on the run way, and our plane was so large that it could not be moved from the hanger. The plane was a beautiful brand new 777. I cashed in miles for this trip so I got myself a business class seat. Other than the man who sat next me and scolled me for sneezing (“Do you mind?”). It was an awesome trip over. A seat that reclined almost to flat. Two meals (dinner had four courses). We were even given little travel kits when we got on the plane that had tooth brush, tick tack, a brush, blind fold and socks. The socks were to put over your regular socks, so you could take your shoes off, but not get your socks dirty. They bearly got over my heel. We left Newark after midnight and I didn´t sleep at all on the flight over. Not on purpose, that is just the way it worked out. So I am trying to plow through today, so I can get moved over to local time as fast as posible.
My Spanish Okay, so it is pretty rusty. Meaning I don´t rememeber much. I was able to get to about two in the afternoon before I used any Engilsh at all. In that time I was able to figure out how to get downtown and check with five hostels before I found a room. Which might sound good, but I think I have uttered about 9 words so far.
Home (for tonight) I am staying in a very small hostel tonight. It is really, just and extra bed room in someones house. They have three guest rooms. When I checked in I needed help finding where to pick up my boots and the son of the family helped me. He came out of the kitchen where he was making his lunch. He was in a bathrobe and slippers that looked like Chuck Taylors, with the toes breaking through the tips. Very odd.
The boots So this was my hope. I was going to find some small shop where my boots had been hand crafted. I could see the process. I would take pictures. We would laugh together and become life long friends. So the guy I bought my shoes from is really a reseller for international export. When he sent me directions to pick up the shoes, he sent me to the people he buys the shoes from. They had no idea I was coming and it wasn´t some small shop. The best way I could describe its Lue Talber Ranch Outfitters for Flamenco. It was three stores of flamenco wackiness. Fans and dresses and shoes and boots and shalls. It was out of controle. There was a teenager who easily weight three bills who was trying on a dress shirt right in the middle of the store. This is when the only Spanish ended. It took us a while to sort out what was going on. The guy I had bought the shoes from had not contacted the store. Luckly one of the ladys spoke English.
¿Come se dice ‘find a room’? On the subways there is an amazing amout of PDA. And I am not just talking about 15 year olds who don´t have rooms to goto, but folks of all ages. It is not just sneaking a peck here and there. They are full on groping each other. Folks of all ages.
Subway I spent sometime on the subway today to find the bus station for my trip tommorow to Granada. I have realized that I have done so little plannign for this trip. I had no idea what Madrid was like, how to get from the airport, where I was going to stay, or anything else until I was on the plane over.
Other oddities I have only seen one set of leg warmers, so hopefully there return has died before it started. I was offered a Tokyo massage today. There were three women with babys on thier hips out begging to gether. All three of them were eating icecream.
Tommorow is simple. Mass here (somewhere) and a bus trip to Granada.

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