May 27 to 29—El Rastro and A Couple of Long Walks

Dear Family and Friends,

Each Sunday in Madrid, the locals and tourists clamor to shop along the open market of el Rastro (meaning “the Stain” because there were all butcher shops at the top of the hill where the market begins and the blood from the butchers would flow downhill). Boy what an amazing collection of people and wares! Of course, having managed to score an apartment in such an AWESOME location, it was just two blocks to the Plaza de Cascorro to begin at the top of this multi-street bazaar--the largest outdoor fleamarket in Europe! (Note that Martha's camera ran out of batteries early into our adventure, so you will have to wait for more photos of this collective until next week!)

We walked up and down the hillsides, looking at clothes for three euro and up; cheap bags, beautiful fans, tossed-about shoes, souvenirs, t-shirts, and socks; antiques and old junk; an alley of original artworks; electronics and tools, batteries and light bulbs; original handiworks; and even a pavilion of piercing accessories. So, what did Martha and Dani buy? We were pretty good, actually spending four euro or less each for the day! Martha bought a new eyebrow ring (she’s been looking for an all-green one ever since she passed up a titanium one on sale several years ago; today, she bought one from an awesome gentleman who took the time to find one for her that was not too long like the others that she owns). Dani bought a beautiful little blue cross with four colors across it creating a diamond-shape. Very pretty on her.

After the bazaar ends, people gather in the square to continue the party and enjoy the beautiful day outside. We joined them in Tirso de Molina, enjoying a band performing until mid-afternoon and watching the politicos gather. The anti-fascist guys—who wore t-shirts touting their anti-fascism, which is how we knew—were particularly interesting to people-watch, as they drank their large beers and smoked their cigarettes, and grossly blew their noses in the plant-life in the plaza. Not the kinds of guys to take home to Mom, that's for sure!

Martha ran back to the apartment for a moment, leaving Dani to continue enjoying the sunshine and the gypsies who had taken up the task of filling the air with music. Martha’s return found Dani talking with Rocky, a mechanic from Peru who had made his way to Madrid to live and work. We three had a nice time talking about Peru, North America (is Reagan’s daughter really getting heavily into politics?), and life as expats. He invited us to continue the conversation at a local pub, but we declined, erring on the side of caution. We may meet up with him again next week, however, which will be a nice distraction to look forward to, and a nice way to continue to work on our Spanish skills. (Well, for Martha to continue to work on her Spanish skills, as Dani is completely adept and Martha has found her comprehension of others’ lacking substantially! DOH!) The evening passed with rest, work on financial matters, and early planning for our next step. Looks like we will either be headed to Sarajevo come June 22 or directly to Bangkok to spend a few months in SE Asia.

Monday morning, Day 14: Happy Memorial Day! We have begun our third week away from home. In the morning, Martha worked on blog entries, trying to catch up so that she can begin her “real work” on the book she’s aspired to get published someday. Dani slept and slept and slept, finally getting out of bed around noontime. We went grocery shopping, now turning from our “vacationing” lifestyle to our “living” lifestyle of watching our resources carefully. Lunch was amazing, however, as Dani cooked a more traditional Spanish meal for us: chuletas (pork chops) from the butcher down the block, eggs, fresh bread, salchicas (tasty little sausages), and fried potatoes with salsa brava. (Martha has been craving something a bit spicier and this tomato-based spicy ketchup was just what she was looking for!) Apparently, we were hungry! Not the cuisine that we usually eat at home, but delicious, and great protein-enrichment for our afternoon walk.

And so we headed out, Martha “leading the way” to nowhere in particular, but back through the dahlia park of San Francisco, today on a bright sunshiny day, by the Puerta de Toledo with its grand white archway. Within about an hour and a half, we found ourselves South of the city and off of the map of central Madrid that is supplied in the Lonely Planet. We walked downhill and over an old bridge above the small river Manzanares—where much construction was going on along the riverbanks.

From the bridge, and many parts of the city, we could see the Estadio Vicente Calderon, home of the Atletico Madrid futbol team. Across the river, we walked along a more residential area with many shoe shops and cafeterias, stopping to buy razors for four and a half euro at a perfumeria.

Further towards the South, we found a busy highway with pedestrian path back across the river and took another right, again away from home. Although we are not sure what exactly we encountered, the brick buildings and park area where we sat to relax for a while seemed to be a cultural center of some sort. We did see signs for the Matadero Madrid, which we thought might be open-air brick-face buildings being made to house the bulls for local bullfights, but this speculation did not live up to Martha’s Internet search on the topic, which revealed that it is a project to create a cultural center for Madrid. At least we had part of it right! It seems that the construction is still going on in a lively fashion, as much of the area we explored was closed off to the public.

Back on our feet, we enjoyed a café con leche and the coldest cervesa yet found in the city, served in a white ceramic mug that may well have been chilled before service. Excellent. Back towards home, we took a wrong turn and ended up on the far side of Reina Sofia, followed by another wrong turn that left us saying, “Wow, there are a lot of different shops open than we’re used to seeing on this usual-street towards home!” for good reason. But soon, we were back at the apartment, ready for some more work on blog and books, and an early-to-bed Monday.

Tuesday, May 29, Dani awoke to Martha working on the blog-stuffs once again. (Almost caught up! I may be able to work on the book tomorrow … oh, except we plan to go back to the art galleries … DOH!) She made us breakfast (bread and yogurt) and lunch (a Spanish potato and egg tostada), and in-between spent some more time in Genesis as the morning turned into afternoon. Martha typed away, getting the next blog entry and its photos posted and beginning the next round for our adoring fans. *grin* Before we knew it, 4 PM had arrived, and it was time to stretch our legs!

Out the door, we headed Northwest this time, towards el Parque del Oeste (yup, you guessed it, 'Park of the West'). Again, we had wonderful sunshine to help us take photos of landmarks that previously had been overcast by the sky’s impending downpours. Martha was much more awake during this visit to the Plaza Mayor, and it was a warm, square-filled day for the tourists and the artists selling their glorious Spanish renditions in the shadows of the statue of King Felipe III. El Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena and el Palacio Real were very photogenic. Beyond the palace, we hit new territory for the two of us, exploring the Jardines de Sabatini (gardens just below the palace dedicated to the architect of the palace itself), where lovers lounged in semi-seclusion.

Both of us enjoyed seeing the Cervantes statue in Plaza Espana where the author sits above statues of his famous characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, as well as Don Quixote’s loves: the real Alfonsa with seeds to his left, and the fictional Dulcinea to his right. Children played all over the statues, and again couples and friends littered the grassy areas on this brilliant day. Somehow, Dani has managed to keep her helado compulsions at bay as we walked by numerous ice cream stands along our walk today!

Wandering, wandering, we came to “our destination,” an Egyptian temple called Templo de Debod, which Martha had seen on her previous journey here and had wanted to learn more about, since she considered it such an oddity to find an Egyptian landmark in Spain. It was about 5:30 PM when we arrived from our strolling, and the main building of the temple opened again at 6 PM! So we took some photos of the flowers (yes, it was Martha who took the flower pictures) and of the far-reaching view of the city to the West, and sat on the grass among the locals to soak in the evening sun.

Admission into the temple itself was free, and well worth it to enjoy the cool air inside and explore the many rooms full of hieroglyphics and details about the original location of the temple in Egypt.

The exhibit included information on why the monument needed to be moved (a dam was flooding the valley where this and other ancient Egyptian temples were located) and how Spain was gifted with it (the Spanish monarchy was instrumental in saving many of the landmarks before they would have been destroyed, so the Templo de Debod was a gift of thanks). Martha took photos of the hieroglyphs … the first that she has ever seen live, and Dani took photos both inside and outside of the temple. She even found a cubby hole to crawl through to scare someone in another room! Both were amazed at how large the inside of the building was, and then enjoyed taking more photos of the outside from the platform that housed two entry-way arches.

We finished the extended NW part of our walk into el Parque Oeste, along where the dogs were playing and students were making a film. Martha was getting tired and cranky by this time, so we stopped for some tapas—calamari and croquetas—before walking down the Gran Via, through la Puerta del Sol, along el Corte Ingles and the many shoppers out for the evening, and back home by way of a grocer to pick up snacks and a sketch pad for Martha for our gallery trip tomorrow!

Our night ended with lounging once again at the apartment, our feet tired but feeling good after covering well more than 10 miles in two days. Martha admits that she is about ready to smack our Neighbor-Lady of the Loud (or at least bang on the wall) as NLL just recently came home, blasted her music, and began chatting at the top of her lungs, once again. If we were trying to sleep here about midnight it would be one thing, but typing away and reading the Bible were not too much hindered by her antics tonight. But, NLL is something else … and patience (and ear plugs) will be needed in the coming weeks!!! Hope your night is filled with quiet satisfaction!

Much love,

Martha and Dani