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Monday, September 27, 2010

Mojitos y Caipirinhas

I had a great weekend!!....which will require more than one entry, of course.  On Friday, I slept until 12:30 and it felt great!  By the time I made it out of the house it was 6:00pm. Oh well.  I ventured out, with Chulo in purse, to explore the the neighborhoods around my apartment.  I walked to Plaza de España, which I had no idea was so close to me.  There I discovered a feria / mercado (a fair with vendors selling random things), and of course I was intrigued. Vendors from Spain and other countries displayed jewelry, artwork, food, and many other things I probably did not need to buy.  I decided to exercise some self control, purchased a pair of shades and some candied almonds (my fav!), and I sauntered back home. 

I am not sure if I stated this before, but I think my French roommate is bipolar!! She was sketch from the beginning.  I love the other two, from Slovenia and Italy/Spain; but Frenchie has a bit of a "tude."  Anyway, I guess she was in a somewhat pleasant mood on Friday, and she asked to to come along with her to Calle Serrano, which is a very pijo (uppity) neighborhood.  I said what the hell, and onward we went, along with our Slovenian roommate, Ivonna.  As soon as I stepped off of the metro, I knew that  Calle Seranno would definitely fulfill the stereotype.  The streets were lined with top of the line stores; Gucci, Prada, Cartier, La Perla, and many other high end Spanish brands.  We clearl did not buy anything.  We had more fun watching the 70 year old spanish women walk around with their silicone injected lips and busts, and fancy attire.  Only 30 minutes elapsed before we decided we should leave the pijo neighborhood and search for some real fun.

We got off the metro in Chueca, a barrio which is known to be very "vibrant."  The gay neighborhood!  We met up with some of my roommates' friends and they led us staight to a bar with mojitos for 2.70 euro mojitos; called Outlet.  My kind of place!  I was amazed at how cheap the drinks were, and also how big and potent!  I soon realized that the bar was becoming a cloud of smoke, so I sucked down my TWO large mojitos quicker than I probably should have in order to make a rapid escape from the smoke.  .....Things become nublado (cloudy). 

While chatting the my new French friends about our lives, we all realize that the large drinks have taken effect.  Frenchie is a lot more fun when under the influence btw!  Completely bipolar still, but fun.  We pick up some more people, and head to a different overly crowded bar to try to find some eats.  At the bar Tigre, it took us what seemed like years to place our orders.  Luckily though, many bars in Spain give you a free plate of tapas when you order a drink. So naturally, we ordered drinks!  At first Frenchie and I were going to each get Caipirinhas, but then we soon realized that these drinks were even larger (and stronger) than the mojitos. O boy.  So we ordered one to split, and coul still barely finish it.  We ate the plate of tapas like famished vultures, and then we dipped to find the next move.

After wondering around aimlessly for about 20 minutes, we ran into one of my newfound friends from the intercambio the other night, the astrólogo.  He introduced us to some of his friends, and we wondered about the streets to yet another bar; this one more like a club.  At this point, I was "bien tipsy," and extremely sleepy, which does not make for a good combination.  Also, I knew I had to wake up in the morning to go to Toledo.  I tried to make my exit, but as usual, the Spaniards told me I must stay. I managed to escape home, leaving my French roommate behind to carry on the party.

Getting up the next morning was not pleasant.......

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