Ma Lord, It's Madrid! (sorry, that's kind of a dad joke)

Oh my goodness are we just a couple of cornballs on this walk or what?

The further we walk the cheesier we get and, as we have not yet really begun to walk, things will likely only get more desperate in the coming days. 

We started this journey in Madrid after a surprisingly smooth flight across the Atlantic. Our seat neighbor was a Spanish teacher. She taught us a lot of useful Spanish, including, “I would like to check in to my room early” which we didn’t end up needing because we got lost on our way to the hostel. More on that later. 

See why we got lost? Not a worry, though! Tian has taken five years of Spanish! Bueno, right? No. The struggle was real in Madrid for the first three tourists who walked up to her asking for advice and for our initial forays into asking for directions ourselves. 

We finally figured out our little barrio in Madrid but Tian never figured out why everyone thought she knew what she could explain where they should go. She doesn’t look terribly Spanish but all the Spanish-speaking tourists thought she did so Tian was bombarded with requests for information. And her Spanish improved with each awkward exchange!

Maybe it’s the black t-shirt?

We walked out of the hostel this morning at 5:30 to catch the 7:00 am train and found the streets FULL of partiers. It was pretty exciting stuff what with the couples doing the unspeakable in dark crevices, puddles of vomit, and the squares full of singing and dancing in the predawn hours. No one asked for directions and no one stopped us even once as we dashed through the streets. 

And now we are in Oviedo, on the pilgrimage route, preparing for 16 miles tomorrow. 

Wishing us a Buen Camino during which so many people ask Tian for directions. It’s good for the Spanish!