I have arrived.

The long streets are lined with ancient buildings and run down housing complexes. Motorists speed by on their scooters, while spicy Spanish women strut their stuff in their skin-tight, white jeans. Alleys at every other turn are filled with carts of fruit and fresh fish. Hay leche desnatada (watered down milk) in my coffee. I don't know where to go or what to say...finally i've arrived in Madrid.

"Quisiera Lacon a la plancha con queso y una cerveza." - those were the first words I spoke in Madrid. It was to order a sandwich and a bier at a little cafeteria called El Brillante. The sandwiches in Madrid are as basic as they come; just meat, cheese, & bread - it was good, though. The bier was even better, especially after all that traveling. It was a Mahou Clasica, which is supposed to be a popular draft in Madrid - it was good. I had three of them before noon.

The man who ran El Brillante was called Javier. He was an old man with a scary face, he had a huge mole right above his eye, but as I tried to strike up conversation in broken spanish he smiled and helped me through it. He asked me if i liked anchovies. I said I didn't know because I'd never tried them, so he brought me a little sample. They were heavily salted and extremely fishy, but, surprisingly, they weren't that bad - they went well with the bier.

Two beers deep I decided to try to talk to the man sitting next to me. He was eating a churro and drinking a cafe. I'm not really sure what he was saying most of time because he spoke so fast, but I just tried to keep the conversation going. By the end of it he gave me one of his churros and joked that churros go well with bier. He patted me on the back as he left and told me he'd see me tomorrow, "Hasta manana." I tipped Javier 5 euro, shook his hand, and told him that i'd see him in the morn for a churro and cafe, he laughed.

A little buzzed, and full of Lacon a la plancha con queso I went back to the Hotel Paseo del Arte for my first siesta...i think i'm really going to enjoy siesta!

-C.M. Stassel

p.s.

The women are beautiful. I'll upload pictures soon. For now here's a picture of the artificial pond and monument to Alfonso XII in the middle of the park that I live across from...