Madriddles:

I arrived in Madrid after two cramped Ryanair flights -- Prague to Dublin, Ireland, and then Dublin to Madrid. I know it seems far from logical to fly to Madrid via Dublin, but when traveling on a budget one often falls victim to these attacks on common sense. I spent the two flights trying to stave off any negative effects of my hangover (having woken up only a couple hours previous), which was not necessarily helped by the flight being full of drunken Irishmen who, upon, our successful landing in Dublin, started cheering and clapping wildly. I suppose it provided some in-flight entertainment of sorts on an otherwise sparsely equipped Ryanair plane.

Once in Madrid I gathered my things and set out to find a way to my friends' apartment. I had meant to write down the directions my friends had provided in email before leaving Prague, but as mentioned in the preceding post, I was strapped for time. After dropping a couple of Euros on an internet terminal that refused to function properly and enable me to access my email, I opted for the information desk. I handed my friends' address to the woman behind the desk, and she thankfully gave me a nice overview of Madrid and its metro system before providing me with two helpful maps (she even highlighted on what route I should travel). Afterwards, I finally got in touch with my friends via cell phone and let them know that I was on my way.

The metro system proved to be fairly efficient, although it did take a bit longer to get to my friends' apartment than original expected. So, about an hour later, I dragged my bag up the hill and deposited myself onto their doorstop. Again, it was nice to see some friendly faces, and their apartment was packed with people who were visiting along with those who actually lived there. Relieved that I had finally arrived, I briefly regaled them with my tale before retreating into the bathroom for a much needed shower. I was still wearing the clothes I went out in, slept in, and traveled in, after all.

A bit later, with my hygiene back on par with the rest of civilization, we took to some casual drinking and light banter. It was one of my friends' 21st birthdays, and I had specficially arrived in Madrid on that day in order to prevent-him-from / assist-him-in killing himself. So over time the casual drinking because heavy drinking, and the light banter became, well, more light banter. Around 11:00 we went out for dinner, which was the first taste of the authentic Spanish lifestyle, in a way. We had a small but tasty meal of tapas in a cozy restaurant before taking our ever-growing crew (probably about 15 people) off to another bar. We went to a hookah bar which was mostly empty, considering the fact that it was a Tuesday, but was a good time anyway as we provided more than enough people for entertainment. We spent a couple hours having a few drinks, smoking hookah, and enjoying ourselves before people started to drop off (many had class the next day, after all). Regardless, a couple of us stayed and were determined to have a typical Madrid night -- namely, one where we got to see the sun rise -- random Tuesday be damned. After leaving the hookah bar we wandered the empty streets of Madrid for quite a while (like, a seriously long time) in search of another good bar, but around 4:00 we realized the night was over. We took a cab back to the apartment, where we had a few more [unnecessary] drinks, talked a bit, and took turns writing in a journal in the hope that it would provide lots of entertainment in a few hours time (it did). Around 6:00 we finally decided to pack it in to bed, and I found a nice cozy spot on the floor and went to sleep.

We woke up the next afternoon in varying states of decay, and I was certain that we were living the Madrid good life. Only one of my friends had actually made it to her class that morning, as the birthday boy had slept through his first two and wasn't looking so good. We all woke up around 12:30 and spent a couple of hours licking our wounds before finally making it back outside around 3:00. We intended to accompany our friends to their class in one of Madrid's art msueums, but due to their varying levels of enthusiasm about class in general we realized it wasn't in the cards. Instead, we sated our hunger with some doner kebab, forumlated a game plan, and headed out for some sightseeing.

Since I knew I was only going to be in Madrid for about 36 hours before moving on to Morocco, I hadn't put much emphasis on checking out the sites. I figured that if I was going to see the city, I might as well take my time and really enjoy myself, so I didn't pay that much attention to the buildings we passed. Plus, I had all those Madriddles to think about. For some reason over the course of our two hour walking tour, we got on a riddles kick. We traded, pondered, and solved something like ten riddles over the course of our walk, and most of us got so wrapped up in whatever we were trying to solve at the time that we only paused and looked around for a minute at particularly eye-catching sights. We continued on this way until around 6:00, when we purchased some food and alcohol from a nearby grocery store and returned to the apartment, feeling like we had accomplished much more during the day than we possibly could have, considering we were only gone for three hours.

Back inside, we enlisted the internet in our search for more riddles (by that point given the corny term "Madriddles" by yours truly) and attempted to solve them for a couple of hours over cheese and beer. During the couple of hours we sat there, random European sporting events flickering away on the TV in the background, people filtered in and out and we slowly prepared ourselves for another night out on the town. On the late side of things, my friend Chris from Prague arrived (we all would be moving on to Morocco shortly) and we headed out for another late dinner. We went to a local cafe and ordered a "Yemen burger" and a beer each. A Yemem burger, apparently, is a hamburger topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise, and a fried egg, to top it all off. It is several types of protein in one burger. It was delicious but messy, and after we all had suitably befouled ourselves and our plates, we headed back to the apartment.

There, around 1:00 or so, we really took up the call of drinking in the hopes of rallying for another solid night in Madrid. As it turned out, two hours later our efforts had resulted in us just feeling disgustingly full from all the beer, meat, and Yemen, at which point some people had to excuse themselves outside. A couple of us soldiered on, not wanting to throw in the towel, and around 4:00 AM we decided to go out on the town -- mostly just to say that we had.

So at 4:00 there we were, a couple of us outside, hailing a cab to take us to a club our friends had heard about but not been to. Long story short, it ended up being a wild goose chase, and after almost an hour of searching, we decided to go into the next bar we found. So we did, to interesting results.

We entered a place called Rick's, and since we had been walking around for about an hour on full stomachs and fuller bladders, we all headed straight (interesting choice of words) for the restroom. The bathrooms were packed with people, and we each had to wait before being able to relieve ourselves. At some point in the minute or two we were waiting there, a man tried to pass by and his hand lingered uncomfortably long on my back. Looking around and noticing the men -- everywhere -- I realized: we were in a gay bar. Finally it was my turn, and I used the bathroom quickly before waiting outside for my friends. The guys came out (again, interesting choice of words) first, and I reported my findings. They had come to similar conclusions. So for the few awkward minutes we waited for the girls, we stood uncomfortably close to each other in an attempt to look like we were "involved" and off the market. At long last the girls reappeared, and with a look of bewilderment we all hightailed it to the exit. On the way out, I noticed guys flirting, grinding, and making out everywhere, and I wasn't sure how we had missed it all on the way in. The pink and black decor should have been another dead give away.

Outside, we laughed at our mistake before the girls told us they still hadn't managed to use the facilities. Apparently the girls were in a long line of guys (not too many women for a women's restroom in a gay bar) waiting for the bathroom, and when it was finally their turn to go into the one stall, FOUR GUYS spilled out. Taken aback but still needing to use the restroom, the girls were about to go inside when another two guys cut them off and told them to wait their turn. At this point they decided to leave.

So as we all laughed it off, we strolled into another half empty Madrid bar around 5:00 in the morning and got a few drinks. To mixed results, around 5:15 we tried to start a dance party with everyone else in the bar, but aside from that it was an uneventful time. Around 6:00 the bar closed, and we reluctantly headed back. The night was epic, indeed, but more because of its schedule than any actual goings-on.

Back at the apartment we talked for a while longer before dozing off one by one. Three of us fell asleep in the same bed. Briefly, for me, as around 7:30 I had to wake up so that Chris and I could catch our 9:50 flight to Morocco. I woke up in a daze, repeated the by then routine practice of tossing all my stuff in a bag, and we went out to catch a cab. I dozed off for a while in the cab, burned some Euros on food in the airport, and used our three hour flight to Marrakech, Morocco, to catch up on some more much-needed sleep. By the time Chris and I stepped onto the tarmac in sunny Marrakech, I was good to go and ready for one of the wilder times of my life.


(Unforunately due to my short time and nocturnal activities in Madrid, I don't have any pictures from my time there. Hope all the text didn't get too boring.)