Nothing's easy in Espanya-land

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  Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands
Monday, July 21, 2008

Mood: brain zapped

Well as some of you know I had my handbag stolen on Monday night in Barcalona, which is always good fun. It had pretty much my whole life in it - passport, wallet, cash, credit cards, camera and all my photos, ipod, travellers cheques, plane ticket, immunisation certificates... everything. But I will explain the story in full in a minute.

So my last installment finished with me saying we were going again to the magic fountains, which we did - myself, Kristian, Alex and one of her friends. Before leaving town to head up to the mountain we went into the mini-market and bought some wine, cheese and biscuits (hmmm - not so Spanish as much as French!) and then went into this vegetarian shop which make these amazing pitas with falafel and salads. You pretty much choose what sauce you want, they hand you a pita with the falafel, sauce and lettuce, and then you go along a self service thing where you can add salads, beans, cooked vegies, antipastos... mmmm so yum. Then we caught the funicular (like a cable car but underneath the ground) up to the top of Montjuic, where the fountain is located, and wandered around past the Olympic stadium before stopping to have our dinner looking out over the city. The whole way up I had been smelling my pita and getting incredibly hungry, but it was well worth the wait as it was so delicious and the scenery was picturesque.

We then wandered down and took some photos, and sat on the steps overlooking the fountain, it was still light so we got to watch the sunset over the city and we cracked open the wine and cheese and had a second dinner waiting for the show to start.

It ended up that the show only happens Thursday through to Sundays, and so as it was Monday we missed out which was a shame, we still sat there till 11.30pm though, with all the other tourists, until it was clear that it wasn't going to start, and then we walked back down the hill to catch the train, only to find the station was closed as the trains had finished running, so we had to catch a cab instead back to Las Rumblas, at about 1.80euro each, so not bad. We were all going to head down to the beach to chill out for a while, but Alex and her friend wimped out at the last minute and so me and Kristian went down again by ourselves. It was a much nicer night than the previous, there was little wind and it wasn't as cold. But there also weren't any crazy poms skinny dipping to entertain us which was a shame.

It was here on the beach at about 2am that my bag got pinched, the only reason that I had so many valuables with me was because someone had been breaking into the lockers at the hostel and I didn't feel safe leaving anything there, and I had been soooo damn careful with my things up until that point, even walking around with my hand on the zip to stop pickpockets from getting into my bag, it was just 2 minutes when I wasn't paying attention and that's all they need to grab it and then they are gone. These people are professionals, they are like stealth. You don't hear a thing. It was the most horrible feeling to turn around and see it had disappeared, you instantly feel sick and everything goes through your mind. We madly hunted all over the beach to see if we could see anyone, but they were long gone. I called mum straight away and got her to cancel my credit card and things, then we just had to walk back to the police station and report it. I didn't get to bed till 5am, and I was up again at 8am to start trying to organise things.

My main problem was that I had absolutely no cash at all. Nothing. Dad wired me money which helped a million, and then I headed to the Australian consulate to try and get a emergency passport. It was nice to be in a little part of Australia for a while! And the lady that helped me was lovely, she answered all my questions and arranged for my passport to be ready when I arrived in Madrid. I will have to apply for a proper passport while I am over here as this one only gives me validity for 7 months and most countries require 6 months validity, but at least I would be able to get to Morocco for my tour which starts in 2 weeks. I also had to cancel my bus for that day and organise a new bus to Madrid for Thursday, which then set my plans back 2 days. I made a few phone calls and tried to sort some stuff out, but by mid avo my brain was fried so I went with Kristian to try and find the main train station so that he could buy a ticket to Madrid for the following day.

This turned out to be an adventure in itself. On our map that we got from the hostel it states there was a train station with the name of the regional train network on it, so we caught a train for like 30 mins to go and find it, only to discover that it was definitely not the station we were looking for, it was old and rundown and clearly nothing like the airport style stations throughout Europe. We then got on a train going the wrong way, and ended up further along the line, before realising we were going in the total wrong direction and had to backtrack, finally getting to Barcelona about 2 hours after we left there. Not wanting to risking it again, we went and asked at a tourist info desk, to find that it was in the completely opposite direction, and once there then had to wait over an hour for our number to be called to finally get a ticket. Crazy tiring long day. I was exhausted by that time after only having 3 hours sleep, and very very hungry. We stopped in on our way home to whats called the Travel Bar - cheap beer and food, and opted for the 1euro special of the night - curry. And it was damn tasty for one euro. It was about 9pm by the time we got back to the dodgy hostel and I just crashed out asleep.

Wednesday saw me go and pick up more money, running around trying to get a new mobile phone, and I spent about 3 hours on the phone with almost every company in the world, trying to organise replacement everythings. Then to bed early (about 11.30pm - that seems to be early for me these days) to prepare for my nice long bus trip in the morning to Madrid.

The bus trip was extra boring considering I had no music, though I sat up the front of the bus and listened to what the guide and driver were playing. Our bus driver was like African-American, and we were listening to all this gospel chill out oldies music - it was wicked. I ended up borrowing a pair of earplugs from the guide and watched an episode of the uk office on the tv, and the day didn't really go half as slow as I expected even though we left Barca at 8am and weren't in Madrid until 7pm. There was also one guy on the bus who had also had his whole bag stolen the previous night, so out of the 23 people on the bus there was 2 people who had the same thing happen, and every 3rd person that you speak to says that they have lost something here in spain. Which made me feel a little better.

Our guide took us out on the town on Thursday night to a couple of tapas bars, one which was dedicated to ham - there was hundreds of legs of it hanging from the walls and there was even a deli counter where you could buy it by the kilo - inside the bar. Beer and sangria were incredibly cheap, and you get a free tapas with your drink, so we stocked up and then headed to another seafood tapas bar. I couldn't afford to buy anything since im only living off the cash that my mum and dad have sent me, but they had sizzling garlic prawns and all sorts of yummy seafood delights. I just drank more sangria.

After the tapas bar we headed back and hung out at the bar in the hostel for a while, and then I decided I was hungry and so Kristian and I went to find some cheap food, we ended up opting for a Kebab (again, very Spanish) and wandering around the central part of the city till 2am when we decided that it was bed time.

An amusing thing about where we are staying is that its in the red light district of Madrid, and although its illegal, there are girls at all hours outside in the plaza in front of our hostel selling themselves. We cant help but laugh and stare at them when we walk past, some of them are the dirtiest hookers I have ever seen. Its amusing to watch them from the 2nd story bar in the hostel, there were even some girls turning away guys. And its very funny to watch men hovering around them, working up the courage to go speak to them. One morning when I walked out of the hotel at 10am there were at least 6 girl standing around the entrance to our hostel alone, the streets are full of them. Though considering it's the red light district, its very safe, there are cops everywhere. It seems in Spain that they have lots of rules but no one really follows them e.g. You cannot smoke in bars but everyone does, you aren't meant to drink on the street but there are can men everywhere, they have outlawed bull fighting but you can still go and see it here on a Sunday, and newly added to my list is the prostitution.

But in some happy news I made a new friend on Friday, and even though its only been a couple of days I think that him and i have started up a really really close friendship, its remarkable. We both love travel, writing, chatting, researching about the world. We are already planning to travel together, he is going to come with me around the rest of Spain and Morocco, and hopefully all the way to Africa if things work out. He's so white that you could call him albino, he's very small but he's super powerful and really smart. He already gets along well with all the friends that I have made here, everyone loves him and thinks he's really cute. Okay enough crapping on I will get to the point. His name is Larry and he's... my new laptop.

Hahahaha. Gee I have needed a little bit of humour considering the shit week I have had.

Yes so my family have enjoyed reading my blogs so much and after my complaining about how much it costs me to use the internet, and how inconvenient it is, they looked into and offered to buy and send me a super cute tiny little laptop and I love it so much already. Its about the size of a novel, and although it doesn't play cds or have much memory, its perfect for what I need and will make it a lot easier to update my blog as I travel the world, especially through Morocco and Africa when I might not have access to a computer for weeks. So I am incredibly lucky to have such amazing parents. They mean the world to me and I am so grateful - I love them so much. Thankyou so much guys.

So Friday was my run-around/waiting endlessly day. My passport was meant to be at the embassy but when I got there was told that they had stuffed up and sent it back to Barcelona... awesome. It wouldn't be back and ready till Monday. So I then needed the guy to write an official letter so that I could go to the depot and pick up my laptop without my passport, which was supposed to take 10 mins but I was waiting for over 40mins. I then caught 3 different trains to the airport and then a taxi and went through a 4 hour process of dealing with customs (why the hell did I not learn Spanish???) and doing a lot of patient waiting before finally after much frustration and walking I had it in my hot little hands. It was like Christmas when I got back to the hostel and unwrapped it, it was so exciting! This thing is brilliant. And the hostel has free wifi so I can sit in my room, in the bar, wherever. I let everyone have a little play around with it on Friday night before we went out to celebrate Byrons 24th birthday.

We went to a restaurant that we had been recommended by the guide, from the front it looked incredibly posh and expensive, and equally as impressive inside, but the meals were incredibly cheap. I had sirloin kebabs and  tempura vegetables for less than 8 euro. You would expect to pay at least 14 in a normal restaurant. Everyone loved their meals and our table shared a bottle of red before heading back and hanging in the hostel bar until the clubs opened at 12pm. I was exhausted after my day of running around and didn't go out, especially since I don't have access to money at the moment I am living off a very little, so as me and New Zealand Mark have started as a saying - (sarcastically) 'its just not in the budget'. Funny how I have to use that line a lot. Though when the boys went out they got jumped on by a group of she-men who were trying to distract them with their fake-she-boobs by pulling up their tops and shaking them in their faces, all the while trying to feel them up and grab their wallets/phones/whatever they could get out of their pockets. The boys managed to escape but Byron got his phone taken out of his pocket, so they went back and confronted them and they ended up giving it back when they saw that the big strong boys meant business. They were also quite drunk.

Saturday was a day of sightseeing. I went with Deborah and Mark to the Parque de El Retiro, a sprawling park in the middle of the city. Its one of the nicest I have been to, it has a big lake where you can hire rowboats, winding paths, huge big areas of lush green grass and massive trees. Its incredibly clean, as is the rest of Madrid. We sat for ages watching the lake and the asian tourists try and paddle their boats (its very amusing, they really have no idea haha), wandered around and saw a statue of Lucifer (the devil - he was portrayed as a fallen angel) and then sat on an area of lawn for a while, and while I fell asleep, Deborah read and Mark went for a run.

We met up with a couple of girls also on Busabout at 3pm to check out the contemporary art museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, as it was free entry for the afternoon. We were in there for around an hour and a half, we saw many Picasso's, as well as some less famous but equally as impressive artists. On our way back to the train station we passed an American hotdog shop which was ironic as Mark had said that morning that he wanted a hotdog and put the idea into my head too, so we each got an american hotdog from a girl that only spoke Spanish, and went back to the hostel to chill out. I was craving an icecream but the only thing nearby was a McDonalds so I resorted to getting a sundae instead - I even put together my first full Spanish sentence (so proud!) - say it with me guys - 'uno chocolate sundae por favour'. Im well on my way to becoming fluent! Hahaha. Later we played cards in the bar till about 11.30pm until we went to bed.

Today I did a free walking tour of the city, it was from 11am to 3pm and took in most of the major sights of the city. It was a stinking hot day today and so we tended to spend most of the time clinging to the shade. Our guide told us a lot of Spanish history, showed us churches, monasteries, the old royal palace, cathedrals, old ruins, squares, statues and all sorts of bits and pieces. We stopped in a brilliant tapas bar, where the menu is these small dinner rolls filled with 100 choices of fillings. The way that you order is quite easy, you get a piece of paper with the different choices on it, you put the number required next to the corresponding tapa that you want, you choose your drink, then you take it up to the bar with your name on it, they program it into their computer and give you your drink and receipt, then you wait for your name to be called and you go and get it. Each tapa was 1.20eu each so they were reasonably cheap, and they were very tasty. The bread was extra fresh which made them more delicious, as the standard of bread in Spain has been quite deplorable considering French bread was awesome and they aren't that far away from each other.
I had 3; tuna with tomato olive oil and onion, roasted chicken with ai-oli, and Spanish ham with brie. They were all very very good.

After our tour finished I went and had a look around for a new camera, they are pretty pricey here from what I can tell, but because it's a Sunday not all the shops are open and so I will have a better look tomorrow.

Now I am back in my room and just trying to catch up on some things now that I have unlimited free internet and a computer. I have figured out how I am going to get to Portugal in a couple of days which is handy, as long as everything goes according to plan. Tonight will be a quiet one, possibly watching Spanish tv and going to bed early as tomorrow I have a big day rushing around trying to get my passport, replacement credit card and travellers chqs, shop for a new camera, and go buy a bus ticket to Lisbon. Im about to have a vegemite sandwich for my dinner and i am halfway through a litre of milk. scrumptious backpacker meal comming right up. I also found a site to listen to some music which i have been craving.

Its been such a funny week, I cant believe its Sunday night again already. In a couple of days I will hit the 2 month mark and the time has flown incredibly fast already. Its been a little bit sad though, as last night I had to say goodbye to my NZ crew who I have been hanging out with since arriving in the Cinque Terre - which was 3 weeks ago. I also had to say goodbye to Kristian on Thursday night, he was the German sweetheart who I became very close friends with in Barcelona, he came with me to help sort out all my stuff when it got stolen, and then tomorrow I say goodbye to Natalie and Byron who I got to know quite well in Avignon and have been spending time with through Barcelona and here in Madrid.

So its been an eventful time here for me - but considering everything I think I am doing really well for myself. I was very surprised by how I handled the whole bag stealing incident considering I lost pretty much my whole life, I didn't cry or scream hysterically or break down, I just did what I had to do. The level of calmness that I felt was amazing, I can already feel travelling is making me more mellow and patient and accepting - not a lot is stressing me out anymore. And having your stuff stolen can be very stressful! I just try and be positive the whole time, because nothing good comes with a negative attitude. And how can you experience anything when all you let yourself see is the bad stuff?

After everything that Barcelona dished out to me, I still loved it. And I cannot wait to go back. There are still hundreds of things that I want to see, and some that I want to see again and again. It was definitely an amazing place. And I'm really enjoying Madrid. So far Spain is definitely living up to what I had hoped. And now that I have trusty Larry to keep me company and help me out, I think things are just going to get better and better.

Much love to everyone back home.

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