I Wanna Dance all, Dance all Everyday

I Wanna Dance all, Dance all Everyday

I am quickly finding that I have a lot to write about and a lot on my mind. I'm not going to cut my writing short, but I am going to provide headers to each topic. That way, if you, the reader, are uninterested or only want to read about something specific, you can jump around. Oh! And I've been updating the Pictures and Videos section of the blog, so check those out for more images and such.

Thoughts on Madrid

Graffiti in the City:

On this trip, I'm really trying to avoid looking through that glossy and dreamy tourist lens. But it is difficult when you enter a new city, especially those with fantastic reputations, to push yourself away and analyze it objectively. Of course, this doesn't mean you ignore the good things each city has to offer. Instead, I think, it means you have to be more open to accepting the bad qualities within each location.

With that said, I find little fault in the center portion of Madrid in which I stayed. Even greater still, after walking a good portion of the cities SE and central regions, there was little that I could place a statement against. The architecture was splendid- both new and old- the streets and other infrastructure were either in great condition or currently being repaired. The office buildings looked like something out of a science fiction movie, glaringly-shiny or light-absorbingly black, they appeared powerful and official. The only bit of wariness I have with Madrid's construction was the ever-present graffiti.

Some of it, I'm sure, is artistic. But graffiti always leaves you wondering- why was this placed here, who placed it, and what was their intention? Was it to gain attention, mark territory, or to add flavor to a neighborhood? I'm not sure. I remember reading an article about New York City a while back, specifically on cleaning up the city during one of it's harsher times. At this point in NYC's history, the subways were littered with graffiti and gang signs. This scared people. During the time, crime was present in all regions. To eradicate the problem, the city focused on cleaning the subways, rinsing them of the dirtiness that graffiti produced. As a result, two things happened. First of all, crime was reduced as the subways regained a better relevance in the city. Secondly, graffiti spread from the subways to the streets. Even so, the crime rates dropped significantly, and it would appear that the focus fire on specific areas aided in reconstruction of NYC's representation as a safe place. As for how this relates to Madrid, I'm not certain. At the short glance I had of the city, it was difficult for me to come across harder issues.

Homelessness in Madrid

Just outside of a local McDonalds a man sleeps next to a cardboard sign and a plastic cup.

I didn't take the stance I wanted to initially with homelessness in Madrid. I came into this project urging to approach and talk with people on the streets, but I wasn't able to do that in this city. Maybe it was a lack of courage or a lack of understanding, but here I only observed from a short distance. Still, I did my best to look at it with an analytic eye.

Compared to Phoenix and Tucson, the habits of  the homeless I saw in Madrid were nearly identical- and it makes sense. Find a busy avenue or street, preferably with tourists. Get a sign to tell your story. Ask for money. Either that, or find a parking place for the day with an empty cup, hat, or box. This is the surface level, of course. There are many homeless people that don't beg or make themselves visible on the streets- I am only discussing what I was able to see. One difference I would like to make note of is the grouping of the homeless. In Phoenix and Tucson, I rarely see different people that are homeless chatting on a street corner or taking breaks. There doesn't seem to be a sense of community but rather an overwhelming lone-wolf mentality. In Madrid, however, I noticed several members of the same ethnicity talking with each other. Looking further, I could see that these same people would set up on a very large street, each one of them at a strategic section, in order to maximize their efforts. This gave the act of asking for money a much more business-like image in my mind. Additionally, it put me off from going up and talking with them. It was disruptive.

Currently, in Barcelona, I'm finding that this isn't the case here. But I still have a few more days to see the city, and hopefully I can  find out a little more by observation and conversation.

Early Musings in Barcelona

Barcelona greeted us with wind and an extreme amount of dark clouds. Raindrops floated in the air at low quantities and the language of Catalan was far more present than Spanish, to my chagrin. Our nerves were on edge, too. From little sleep, the long bus ride, and the lack of a place to stay the night. We made base camp at a chain-like restaurant near the Barcelona-Saints station called Pan & Company. Plus: there was an outlet to charge the dying laptop. Minus: internet access was restricted to thirty minutes. Good thing I’m quick with my keys and faster with a mouse. CouchSurfing fell through again, which was really disheartening. So again, we went to the second option- a really cheap hostel. A place in Barceloneta, a neighborhood in the southeast of Barcelona, had one that was reputable for being clean and relaxing. Perfect.

Hostel #1 of Barcelona

Still, we had to get there first, which took over two hours of hiking through the city and getting lost and mangled in avenues and boulevards. It was a harsh contrast to our arrival in Madrid, where we had a good amount of time to kill before even having to worry about finding a roof over our heads. Here, we as time dipped later and later, it was becoming a real concern. By pure luck, though, we came across our target hostel and we each let out a little yawp of joy. Then more luck: we got the last possible beds available. Ahhh. I couldn’t imagine how distraught we would be if we were sent away.

But how is Barcelona? Pretty. Rough. Rustic. It’s right next to the water, but many times the city doesn’t even feel like a port-kinda town. Poverty is more present here than it was in Barcelona, especially along Av. Parallel (less so along Av. Meridian and near the Arc de Triomf). From what I’ve seen, there are plenty of parks in the city- wondrous ones, too. They have secret gardens and tiny museums, even some wild tidbits of architecture and statues. Many homeless live in the parks, though. Walking through the Park de la Ciutadella, I noticed groups scattered around water refill stations and on the benches (around 10:00am).

A Secret Jungle inside a Building!

The beach  at Barcaloneta, which has a reputation for being crowded, was absent of people when Chris and I visited it on an early morning walk. Excuse the unsteady hand, I had just been skipping rocks for the past thirty minutes and was trying to avoid getting sand on the camera!

We haven't really seen the sights of the city yet. Today, I think, we will see what we can. We are getting ready to trek through the city again to find another new place to spend the night. This one is back in Barcaloneta, closer to the beach. I found it for a great price on AirBnB. It will be our first time using that website, so hopefully it will be a good experience.

Regrets, Fixes, and Bad News (in that order):

Phone: It was a mistake to not bring a phone. While it does save a good amount of money, having a phone would make life so much easier. Many organizations and websites require a phone authentication via SMS or a call. Luckily, I’ve been able to get by with Google Voice. But with a phone, I could provide my own WiFI tethering in places that lacked it, and I could use it as a secondary/primary resource of communication. At this point, if I have to call a number I’m screwed. Email is all I got.

Ryanair: No regrets yet, but plenty of fixes. I’ve been doing research on several of the airports we will be flying into and realizing that there are some major logistical issues. For example, in the upcoming flight from Barcelona -> Milan, we won’t be arriving in the city of Milan. Instead we will land in the city of Bergamo, 50km NE of Milan. This creates the issue of having to get a connection by bus or train, which increases the overall budget.

Dreamhack: Some of you may know what this is, but in case you don’t, it is the world’s largest videogame event. It’s enormous. Chris and I were hoping to see what it was like first-hand, but we’re pretty sure that isn’t going to be possible. Originally, we thought it was located in Stockholm. However, it is in the city of Jönköping, which is a $150 train ride away.

Wrapping Up
That's it for now. I did my best to catch up on things. I'm not sure if I wish to discuss typical sights- we've been to several museums, explored the Botanical Gardens in Madrid, and found monuments around both Barcelona and Madrid. If anyone has a specific question about that stuff, you can always ask me directly by email or a quick message on Facebook. I'm around on WiFi when I can, and I'd be glad to answer any questions!

For now, it is time to abuse the Urbany Hostel's "All You Can Eat Cereal and Oranges" for a little longer before diving back into Barcelona.

Hasta luego.

-Sam