On Saturday morning, well rested, I fixed myself a light breakfast and was off to practice by 2. There was a race on Sunday, so many people did not come to practice. In fact, there were only 3 of us. Nonetheless, we proceeded with our usual Saturday workout; 15 uphills. My legs were screaming at me by the time we were done. I was anxious to get home, and fixed yet anoter yummy plate for lunch. I ate and chatted with my roommate. We chilled for a bit, and then decided to fill my day with more fun. My roommate and I, (the one who just arrived) decided to have yet another exploration of the city. (I think she is my favorite) We took the metro to La Latina, and walked down Calle Toledo. As usual, we saw a plethora of cool sights, small bars, etc. We saw a huge market as well. We stumbled across a shopping mall, where I discovered another location for my team's sports store. Yes, we have a store. Team Leister. I had done enough shopping for the day, so I just kept my eye on some items that I may want in the future; running gear. We walked back up Calle Toledo, in search of Plaza Mayor, a famous area of Madrid which I had visited before. We stopped in our tracks when we saw a huge candy store in front of us; I meant huge! We went in and took pictures, and looked around in awe. I couldn't help but buy something. I couldn't decide, so I picked what was most familiar; mojito and champagne flavored candy!! I left with two bags of sweets and only paid 1,75 euro. Sweet! Literally.
The walk to Plaza Mayor was short with our sweets in hand, and as we walked up to the huge gateway entrance we paused for another photo opp. There we soooo many people in the Plaza, it was crazy. We walked around leisurely, taking in the beautiful architecture before us. On the other side there were many street performers, doing some strange things and some Freshmen college students being hazed. This is very typical here, and very public. The students, guys and girls, were forced to walk around draped in garbage bags with signs that read "throw and egg at me for 1 euro." So, they stood against a wall and had a plethora of eggs fired at them. Crazy, but funny at the same time.
We left the plaza through the back way, only to discover that it led us right to the Puerta del Sol, another famous/tourist area. Amazing how close things are. We walked through the extremely crowded streets of Sol, where we saw many more bizarre street performance; such as a man with 3 heads, a voice impersonater, two "wild things" creature, and more. We walked through the Museo de Jamon, a famous museum/restaurant where they display the joys of....HAM! Ham is a Spanish delicacy/necessity. Our feet were beginning to feel the adventures of the day, so we randomly chose a route home. It was the right one. In 15 minutes we were at our front door; pooped. We cooked and sat around trying to devise a plan for the night. My roommate Tatiana had not been out in Madrid at all yet, so we were determined to get into something great. Of course doing so on the "Spanish clock." Sidenote: [Spaniards do everything later; I think because the the ciesta during the day. It's like making up for lost time. Lunch at 2 or 3pm, ciesta til 5pm, dinner at 9 or 10pm, fiesta/night out at 12am or so. Spaniards will easily stay out until 6am, as that is when most clubs close.] It takes most people a while to get used to this "Spanish clock."
We left the house around 12:30am and had no clue where we were going. We knew we were cute, and wanted to dance. A serious catch to this Spanish rythm is that the metro only runs until 1:30am nightly, and thereafter there are night buses (which are hard to find) until 6am, when the metro re-opens. Essentially, you either party hard until 6am, or walk your ass home in heels!
I wanted to meet up with some of my Fulbright friends at this weird "Ice Bar," where apparently it is ice cold inside and they give you jackets and cold drinks. We took the metro to this sketchy neighborhood, where we found the bar at a random corner. There was a stuffed polar bear at the front door!! Strange. After they told us it was 15 euros to get in, we quickly said no thank you and rushed to catch the last metro to the centro. Again, we had no plan, we just walked around and took in the strange nightly happenings of Madrid. We saw sooo many things on the street, that I can't even begin to tell you. Ok, I will tell you a few. There are small Indian and/or Asian men on every street corner, selling beers for 50 cents, and umbrellas for 5 euros. At any given time of the night, you can be sure to see people (young and old) carrying grocery bags full of open liquor through the streets; sometime they ditch the bag and just carry the open bottle around. It's completely normal. There will always be a group of teens signing/chatting some crazy song down the street. For example, "Toca mi cho cha," which means touch my *****!!! We wondered around some more in search of a good spot, until we saw a handsome young man in a "leather outfit" (figure it out) come out of a door that read "Gula Gula." No idea what this means. Our interest rises and we follow him. We open the door to the "club/showroom," and we find him pressing two girls against the wall kissing them passionately as they smile and enjoy....at the same time!! We are awestruck at what we had just seen, but we asked anyway if we could come in to "the show." The shirtless gentelman said no, so we jetted.
Next stop was Havanna Club, which looked pretty cool from across the street. We went in, and to our dismay it was an older crowd, bad music, and filled with smoke. We left after ten minutes. At this point we were tired of walking around aimlessly in heels, so I called my new Spanish (intercambio) friend to see what they would get us into. They met us in no time, with 2 new Spanish friends, Laura and Jose, and of course they knew where to take us. Although it was now almost 3am, we didn't want our night to be in vain. They took us to an apparently famous club, called Sala de Sol. We paid 9 to get in, but most cover charges here come with a copa (a drink!). The club was packed wall to wall, and they were playing music which the Spaniards call "funky;" which is pretty much old school pop/soul. I swear I heard some James Brown. Spaniards to not really freak each other on the dance floor as we are known to do in Chicago/Atlanta. They stand around, drink, talk loudly over the music, and have the occasional dance bug/battle. I had a good time actually, but my feet were killing me and my roommate looked beat. I gave my besos, and we headed to the door around 4:45am. Before we could make it to the door we were ambushed by a group of (friendly) Spanish guys who were dying to dance with us. They grabbed our hands and began to do a variation of "stepping/footwork/salsa," or whatever you want to call that. I began to "step," Chicago style, on my own and they were absolutely amazed. This was hilarious, because at home, someone would have stepped in to school me. But they quickly followed my feet. They twirled us around for about 10 minutes, and then as I tried to head to to door again, they spotted my hair! O lord. It was in its usual curly fro and they were completely enamored. I had three Spanish guys rubbing their faces and hands through my hair like they had just discovered gold!! Wow, lol. We made it out by 5:15 and would have stayed to wait for the metro at 6am, but had no money left. So we walked. 20 minutes home in heels and no jacket!! Horrible. Note to self: wear flats, bring a jacket. By the time we reached home we were nearly crawling to the door. Surprisingly, neither one of us were tired anymore; just physically beat. My head and feet hurt badly, and I felt a cold coming on. I ate some nutella and made some tea, when I realized I was supposed to meet for practice at 10am; I was almost 7am. Not happening! I slept until 2pm on Sunday.
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