Spain – Day 6 & 7

And…we’re back!  We are back in Madrid after wrapping up camp.  The hotel we are staying at doesn’t have free WiFi available so I haven’t been able to post anything.  I finally broke down and paid for internet usage for 24 hours.  Some needed to check in on funds in the bank and some needed to get messages to spouses, check emails and do work.

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind.  We wrapped up camp in Toral, packed up and loaded up to leave by 5 pm.  We originally were supposed to return to Madrid via train but somehow the tickets were not purchased a head of time.  By the time we tried to get tickets, there were only 4 first class tickets left to purchase, that meant one of us who have to hitchhike back.  Our next best option was to rent 2 cars and drive back ourselves.  Some of us rode in style (see pictures) and we were teased that we were living it up as rock stars.

We bid our goodbyes to everyone at camp and we hit the road.  We followed Pedro Suarez and Alex Wickham back to Madrid.  The drive was smooth and we made good time, making it into Madrid in about 3+ hours.  After quickly checking in and returning our cars, we were out and about again.  Pedro and Alex were going to take us for a night on the town.  We hoped on to the Metro (subway) and made our way to the city center (Plaza Sol) and from there we started our adventure.  We have walked bazillion miles in the last 24 hours and we are sore; all this and we haven’t even gone on our planned sightseeing trips to Toledo and Sergoiva.

There is so much history, culture and diversity in this city.  I am thoroughly enjoying myself and learning much.  I am very thankful for this opportunity to travel and hopefully I’ll be able to be back and visit more places.

After our night on the town, we came back to our rooms around 3:30 am.  Most of the guys have never been to some of the places we visited last night and most have not stayed out this late in a long time.  We decided to sleep in a little before tackling the new day.  We left the hotel around noon and took the Metro into town again today.  We checked out a lot of historical sites and even spent 2 hours at an art museum.

The people we have met at camps are very gracious and have gone all out to make us feel comfortable and taken care of.  We are humbled.  Tonight, one of the leaders, Daniel,  took us out to see the city of Madrid via a car.  He gave even more information and background on the city and culture.  Then he took us (and bought us) for a very traditional Spanish meal (to these parts) in the bull-fighting district.  It was a great meal and we tried things we don’t typically consume.  Fun times!

Well, I am going to wrap up for now, need to sleep a little since we have an early start to catch a train to Toledo.  Here are picture highlights from the last 2 days:

Last night of camp and this was game time, hosted by Daniel.

Everyone cheering us on as we were made/asked to participate in the games.

Dance portion of the night begins

Here they go!

 

Of course we couldn’t leave out our own camp dance tradition.

And we push it, push it, push it…

We put the gas in, we put the gas in…The Lawn Mower baby!

After the campers went to bed, we were invited to a “after party” with the leaders.  We had some traditional meats and some local drinks (except for the Coke).

This is one of the drinks they had (0.9% – not sure why they even add the alcohol in it – I hear it tastes better just as a lemonade drink).  Drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation is a cultural thing and acceptable here.  And no, mum (I know you are reading this), I didn’t have any. :)

Peter and I toasting a drink called Bitter Kaz.  It is like it’s name says, Bitter!  It is made of some herbs and roots or something like that.  We said we would try anything they gave us and this one is definitely an acquired taste; not even every Spaniard likes it.

(L to R) Daniel, David, Tan and Jona – great guys!

(L to R) Noemi, Daniela (baby), Samuel & Aaron.  This was Aaron’s “missing the kids” moment.  He even carried Daniela later on for a bit.

Our team with the team from Galicia, Spain.  We’ve already gotten email from Ishmael, their leader, about how much the camp meant to them, the encouragement they received and what God has in store for them.  Really cool to hear!

Delia & Carlos – a great couple we got to know, very musical team.

A typical exterior of homes in Toral.  Notice the white shutters over the windows – that’s to keep the cold out of the houses.  Very interesting.

Tan and his team, teaching the people new Spanish worship songs they can use back at their various churches.

Some of our new friends.

Peter and I traveled in style – this was our ride to Madrid.

Our other rental car.

One final pose from Tan.

Our hotel room in Madrid has one of these – the all in one bedside counter (radio with built-in speakers underneath & volume control, light switches, & room service call button).  Old school baby.

Buying our Metro train tickets.

A Matrix-like waterfall display in the train station.

On the train.

Arriving at Plaza Sol (Sun Plaza) – the city center of Madrid.  Unlit Christmas tree in the background.

Plaza Sol is where distance is measured from in Madrid to the rest of Spain – so it is 0 kilometers.

Our dinner destination – the best Calamari in town, served in a sandwich form.

 

My Calamares sandwich dinner – it was good!

The Haagen-Dazs Theater – I was hoping for the ice-cream actually.

I can’t resist taking a picture when I see a Chinese restaurant – they are everywhere!

Cool architecture and cool lights to illuminate.

Moroccan Kebabs – they were oh so tasty!  We thought we were getting skewered Kebabs as we know them from home.  Yummy!

The Honky Tonk  - our last stop of the night (1 am by this time).  This is supposed to be the best place for live music and it is free of cover to enter.

The band for the night were doing covers of Janis Joplin – not quite our cup of tea, but they were good players.  It was a very smoky joint and we were quite out of place.  But it was a fun night nonetheless.

One of the students at the camp asked me if I heard of this place called Foster’s Hollywood and I told him no.  They were puzzled since the advertising here is Spain is that it is the No. 1 restaurant in the US and we had not heard about it before.  The draw of this place – free refills!

Our first stop – the Egyptian Temple.

 

A little background on the temple.

Our next stop, the Royal Palace.  This is one end of it.

Palace garden.

Changing of Guards Ceremony.

In front of one entrance.

Outside view of the courtyard.

The other end of the palace and courtyard.

Tour guide Peter.

The cathedral across from the Palace with a 5,000 pipe organ.

A Spanish street.

Peter, Pat and my attention was drawn to this store.

This is a cool indoor market/food court.

Tapas Sushi fusion.

$1 Euro for the Tapas Sushi fusion.

Reminded us of home.

We were drawn to this pastry/dessert/confectionary booth.

I love this because it is only in European movies or movies set in Europe that you’ll see scenes like this.  So cool!

Next up, Plaza Mayor.  This plaza is where people were killed during the inquisition.

Monument to the Plaza Mayor.

Overweight Spidey “performing” in the center of Plaza Mayor.  I think he would and should have been “killed” for being a joke.

A pit stop at Starbucks for a chocolate frap.  They could figure out my name so it became Jaiver.  So you can call me Jaiver Wei now – it is my new Spanish identity.

The Invisible Man also made an appearance (no pun intended) and was posing for pictures.

In the midst of all the cultural and historical buildings you have a huge CK billboard.

Congress building.

The Westin Palace Hotel – very opulent.

Stopping one more time…this time for souvenirs.

Dinner destination – Puerta Grande.  It is a bull-fighting reference meaning the grand entrance/exit of a bull fighter after an excellent performance at a bull-fight.

The real deal – wall is filled with pictures of the fights.

Our traditional spread.

Peter showing some love to the bull (which we referred to as Tan Molina).  Hopefully Peter doesn’t get a zit on his lips in the morning.

That’s it for today, I am way past my bed time.  Until the next available opportunity, good night.