Where Is Joey Today?

(post out of order*) The Exquiste Mezquita

Our 2nd full day back in Sevilla played a familiar unpunctual tune. It started with me seeing off Hwei and her friends from a night of tapas at Bar Esclava. By the time I saw them off from the bus station and made the long walk back to Santa Cruz and Mendez Pelayo I was pretty beat. I left a note for the Tios at the front desk but it never got to them so when they arrived early the next morning, we sent them along and decided to meet them there on the next train.

The ride there was on a quasi express train that gave the two of us some extra sleeping time. We rendezvoused with them at the bus stop all the tourists use to get to the Mezquita and headed to an open air cafe. The food was awesome which isn't always a guarantee in a centrally located touristy place as most of their patrons are one time visitors.

Their return ticket to Sevilla was three hours afterwards so we had enough time to lunch it up a bit head to the Mezquita courtyard and then send them off. Architecturally the place is pretty interesting, the courtyard is duplicated all over Andalucia. The arches outlining the former mosque feel like a forest of trees. If you align yourself just right, you may not be able to see from one end of the building to another.

We had just enough time to check out the old baths of Cordoba underground. The entrance to the place is non descript but the tour was interesting and worth the price of 1 euro. At the station we jumped on the first train back and purchased our tickets on board. Some of the trains in Spain allow you to do this with out paying anything extra. Really helps with you are pressed for time.

Back at Samay we made some breakfast for dinner and realized that Granny's French Toast is just so much better than ours it is ridiculous. We hung out with some of the typical assortment of travelers you see in the offseason (mostly study-abroad kids on vacation, long term travellers, and Australians). I met a girl who knew Hwei there so I sent some stickers that I had been meaning to give her. Funny how stuff like that works although I am getting somewhat numb to the coincidence thing.

We went back to the Alcazar the next day and did the typical tour pointed out the guy that looks like a colleague of Dad's and headed back to Samay where our Tios' luggage was hanging out under the stairs. They took a cab and went back to Lisbon via that crazy bus journey. We had our own trip the next day, Saturday, to Madrid. It was the same bus that Hwei and her amigas took a few days earlier. We had a really rough night's sleep on a hot humid bus. Around 3a we made a stop at a place called Pedro Abad in the middle of nowhere. So it stood as this neon bathed building in the blackness that extended in every direction to the horizon. Spain is kind of weird that way. I have know idea where the employees that work there actually live (maybe there, for all I know).

At the Madrid bus station there were lots of sleep deprived people awaiting their early morning bus ride to wherever. Once the metro opened Em and I jumped on and headed to Chamartin to take the train to Salamanca. We had 25 minutes for a quick chocolate con churros y cafe con leche breakfast before heading off westward. Without a place to stay, and no way to contact Enforex to get an apartment, we chose a modest pension across from the train station. I told the owner that I didn't want to pay anything over 20 Euros per person, so she scrapped her spiel and showed me a room in her personal apartment saying it was the best she could do. She said there was a huge demand for Semana Santa.

I already wanted to bite this woman. No there wasn't! She just got through showing us 3 rooms all empty! Not only that but Salamanca's Semana Santa didn't start in earnest until Wednesday! I called bullshit. Okay 18 per. She then asked us where we were staying. I told her I think we are looking for an apartment. "Oh I have another apartment in Salamanca...It is much nicer than this one". For the mere cost of 15 euros per night per person. I told her that was ridiculous, because on a monthly basis that was almost a 1000 euros. She answered with that includes electricity and water which is very expensive in Spain. She also said that because we were students we would be using a lot of electricity because we would have a light on to study a lot.

Seriously, incisors to molars from her lower eye to upper chin respectively. I was too tired to figure out how the reflexive nature of joder would apply to her so I just nodded dismissively and told her we were ready to sleep. She said we would be lucky to find anything for under 850. Yeah okay. We could have rented an entire four bed room apartment for that price...one a hell of a lot more central than hers. I really don't like people talking to me like I am a 3 year old and if you are going to BS me, please do it on a subject other than electricity.

Em's first impressions of Salamanca were pretty positive. The Plaza Mayor, in contrast to my last time here, was full of people enjoying a lazy Sunday in temperatures that could allow it to happen. The weather is described by locals as "Nueve meses de invierno y tres meses de infierno" or "9 months of winter and 3 of hell". We are in the overlap between our last month of winter and hell apparently because it is pretty much gorgeous here. Blue skies and 75/50 Max/Min temps daily.

So you can now resume normal viewing :)

--Joey

*This will be moved to it's proper place in the timeline after a month or so, if you need to find it, it will be in March 2008 :)