Spain So Far

near the piso I'm staying at

I love how many sweet old people there are in this city! Seriously awesome.

on the way to a farm an hour from Madrid in a town called Villa del Prado. One of the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in a while.

Springtime in Holland!

another reason to love Madrid: dulces. Been wanting to order Meringues but, between the two, still just can't say no to Napolitanas. Neither could the cashier that day.


La Teteria de mi Abuela--one of Biz and my favorite places in Madrid! I got to go here last night with a new Couchsurfing friend--so great.


It's been so nice to be following spring around the world this year--I got in a few warm walking evenings in Greenville before I left, and Madrid's spring was at its peak when I arrived, then I got to see spring in its glory in the Netherlands for about a week (Kuekenhof gardens: stunning. MILLIONS of tulips and other flowers). Now I'm back in Madrid, heading to Malaga/Nerja tomorrow for some Mediterranean organic farming adventures with WWOOF. I'm super excited, though, I have to say, there are a lot of appeals to staying in Madrid (which I was thinking about doing for a little while). The last week I've been staying with a friend I met in my TEFL course here about 3.5 years ago (already been that long?? No way!). She's stayed in Madrid and is now teaching English, writing, and starting a website where artists can sell their work with her husband Alberto, who she met here. (They are AWESOME--Laura's a UGA gal and kind of reminds me of my BFF Ellen, another UGA grad--very full of life, exciting new ideas, and interesting things to discuss.) I wonder what my life would be like if I'd decided to stay here for the past three years. It's good to be back.

Madrid is even more breathtakingly gorgeous than I'd remembered. The first day back, I would climb the stairs out of these metro stops and, even on the more "boring" streets, just be compelled to take photo after photo (on my super low-res iPod touch). There's so much cool art stuff going on in Madrid: the Prado, of course, and the Caixa Forum, which has a new free art exhibition every month or two. And a new place, La Tabacalera, which is a huge abandoned old tobacco factory-turned coffee shop / music venue / workshop space (offering about a hundred free workshops open to everyone, from French to Photoshop to Flamenco). Every Tuesday night at 7:30 the music venue becomes a drawing workshop. Models sit on stage with funky props around them and a couple dozen artists can do their work and meet other artists. There's a library in one of the rooms, a "clothing swap" in another, and a couple gardens anyone can take part in outside. It seems like a great place to meet people, too. Oh, and there are some cool nonprofits I've heard about in Madrid that would be so neat to get involved in if I were staying around.

Anyway, this city's got it going onnnnn. But I remember living here, and every time I would leave the city, I felt so refreshed--to breathe clean air, walk in the mountains, or even the streets of a smaller town. So, knock on wood, I'll be at this farm near Nerja for a couple weeks, then probably exploring a little bit of Asturias or Galicia, which I've never been to but of which I have heard nothing but marvelous, green, bagpipey, hard cidery things. Don't know how much internet communication I'll be able to do in the next couple weeks, but I'll try to update.