We deposited my luggage at the hotel, Janelle filled me in about the riot/protests that had just happened and we grabbed some dinner with her husband and his work collegues. We end the night by indulging in the classic Spanish treat, churros con chocolate…
The remains of the riot I just missed
Churros con chocolate! I was imagining the Chilean version of this which is a churros with chocolate poured down the middle. This though, this was just a glass of hot liquid chocolate for dippin'. yum!
We spent the next three days touring the city in a freezing drizzle that only seemed to stop at night. During the day, Janelle and I would wander around snapping pics and just enjoying the company of a now transatlantic friendship. It was really enjoyable for me to spend time with a great old friend from a different time in my post college life (pre-massive climbing obsession). We walked around the shops, tried on silly expensive outfits and just chatted for ages! It was great!
They love their cow leg in Spain. Yummmmmm!
Janelle, her Mother in Law and Me
Madrid Arch
Goofing around
Calle Gran Via (The Grand Street) is lined with tall beautiful old school buildings
and more awesome architecture! It's funny as a Las Vegas Native to walk around and see all these international sites and have them be for real. I've grown up with all sorts of knock offs from the casinos that I have to remind myself when I'm seeing the real thing, that its the real thing!
JP and I out (window) shopping!
More beautiful Madrid!
with classic narrow European streets
Janelle ordered some weird weird weird tapa. It was shrimp and some wormy thing...she said it was super good once she sucked up enough courage to try it!
With Spains love of meat, I was struggling to find enough food that my picky stomach would take. I was really excited that Janelle (JP) and her man were keen to try a vegetarian restaurant. It was delicioso!
In keeping with the classic Spanish schedule of dinner at 9PM and nightlife not beginning till midnight or later, we would eat with and then bid goodnight to her mother-in-law and then we would set off for the evening, grab a drink of Sangria and then set up my slackline somewhere in downtown Madrid. We eventually settled on the downtown Plaza del Sol. Check out the blog I wrote for my pseudo-sponsers, Gibbon webpage:
http://gibbonslacklines.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=52 This shot was taken around midnight! Look how busy the streets are!
I knew that the later part of my journey was not going to be very culturally rich so when Janelle suggested we got to a Flamenco show, I was immediately keen! It was great! The music was beautiful and the lady dancer was wonderful in her flow-y traditional dresses. The dance steps of Flamenco involve a lot of stomping and can be at times quiet harsh. The expression and drama that was conveyed came off lovely and poignant for the female dancer but the male dancer was almost comical in his hyper dramatic air. Who knows though! I am certainly no critic of professional dancers! Regardless, it was a wonderful way to spend my last night in Madrid!
Blurry no flash shot (no photos allowed) of the dancers and musicians!
In order to save a bit of money (about 60 Euros!), I opted to take the bus from Madrid down to Malaga as opposed to the train (six versus 2.5 hours). I was a bit anxious upon leaving Madrid though since getting to El Chorro isn’t very convenient or easy with all my luggage. (Thank goodness for my language ability! Otherwise I would have been even more nervous!) There is only one evening train per day that arrives at the bottom of the hill below the hostels (about a mile uphill walk). Being that I wasn’t exactly sure how to get up the hill to the campground/hostel place I wanted to stay at, I opted to take the more regular train halfway there with the hopes of hitchhiking the rest of the way and making it to my destination before nightfall. (Not an ideal task with 150lbs of luggage!) Upon arrival to the Alora train station, I learn that it is on the outskirts of town, not on the main road. Damn! Hitchhiking just didn’t seem feasible especially because I was hardly ambulatory with all my kit. After some himming and hawing at the tiny empty train station, I went and asked the one person I could find for the number for a taxi driver. Luckily I then found two lost Germans that spoke no Spanish that were keen to split the cost of the taxi three ways making it rather cheap and very efficient way to get to La Finca de la Campana (my campground/hostel). The driver was also a great tour guide, telling me this and that in Spanish about the land.
The view of the Andalucia mountain range along the windy Alora road on the way to El Chorro...
Next up, PARTE FINAL: El Chorro!