Saturday part uno

30 October
Yeah, I'm out of clever titles. Slept fairly well, but after the night before I'm just marking time as still tired. Gray and cold out there. Right now I feel very unadventuresome and want to go home. Or have a home. Or a surrogate thereof.

I mentioned yesterday feeling full. Learning more Spanish probably hels too. I haven't made tie to formally study grammar but my written vocabulary has certainly been increasing. Brain activity!

Host started some laundry for me; I don't know if it'll dry well, my hotelhad the advantage of 5th story heat accumulaton and a west window with sun, but I've got to Tuesday.

Host showed me a "pumpkin", what the US would call butternut squash. Wikipedia says pumpkin for winter squash is Brit/Australian English.

Del dia: green beans, salmon (bony), bread, and coffee. And wine. I said yes to vino de casera imagining a glass and got a whole bottle, which I've been too intimidated to try to open. Seems like a waste given my tastes. And if a €10 meal includes a free bottle of wine, and salmon... Dang, stuff is cheap. Host was surprised at my getting a brand new bottle but not at getting a bottle instead of a glass.

I have a full set with the bread again: oil, vinegar, salt, like yesterday's lunch. Host has many spices but no black pepper. Spain doesn't do pepper?

Started looking at Chile tickets. I'd assumued non-stop Madrid to Santiago would be easy. Nope, $5000. $4000 3 weeks in advance. Maybe you need an expensive plane for that distance non-stop. Cheapest flight is Swiss through Brazil 3 weeks from now; hanging around here would wipe out the savings. Next cheapest is Tuesday, but involves Madrid to Cali Colombia to Bogota Colombia to Santiago, and such extra transfers make me nervous. After that it doesn't much matter, Madrid to Bogota to Santiago apart from how long I have to wait in Santiago for the plane to La Serena.

Once again Orbitz fees are odd. Swiss is $900 list but +$400 in taxes and fees. Others are $1700 say but +$40 in taxes.

I finally walked by a Vodafone store. I could finally get a SIM card! For 3 days? Mind, it'd be nice to be able to look up Spanish on my phone.

Nap sounds good now.

Saturday part duo: finally, tapas!

Didn't actually nap. Part of what I want from transhumanism is a safe go to sleep switch.

Walked out, got some aerobics from elevating gradient, and then a View. Didn't climb that much so my area must itself be elevated. Saw a flower garden, dahlias? Went into a cathedral next to the royal palace, looked at the palace exterior. Stopped by a pharmacy, looking for more Breathe-Right nose strips. I knew a Paris pharmacy had equivalents. This one had the exact brand. Sweet! 21 euros though, rather steep. But I know fom experience that other brands (well, generics) don't necessarily actually work as well, so I paid. But I also noticed that the pharmacy also sold... bread, pasta, herbs, and eggs. Better bread choices than I'd seen in the alimentacion or supermarket, even. Hell, good pasta choices. So, um, if you're in Madrid and not running across a panaderia, since they're less ubiquitous than Paris boulangeries, check a pharmacy. Oh, remember the naval museum Chinese sign? I've seen more of that, and I now know it was kanji, not Chinese characters for Chinese. I know this because today's next event was the Sabatini gardens, a depression with hedges statues and a pool, and that sign has katakana and characters beneath the English. So Madrid's catering to English and Japanese tourists in part; I wonder if these signs date back to the 1980s.

Tangent: dollar is at 80 yen, vs. 100 2 years ago. Got 550 Chilean pesos last year, 450 now. The fact that it's only $1.60 to a pound makes me think the pound is weak.

From the gardens, the street seems to get freeway overpass dull for a while, and I was hungry. A restaurante y cervezia advertised beer or house wine and tapas for €1 so I went in there. The wine was decent, meaning I drank the whole glass without my usual entertaining grimace. The free tapas was eh, two pieces of bread one with jamón one with cheese, but then I ordered smoked salon with brie, and pork loin with red pepper; the last was particularly good. I also had two churros, which were apparently free. €9 for the meal, but I need an ATM soon.

Some sort of open market in a plaza. Looked at Inka silver and other jewelry, bought fancy cashews.

Walked down Gran Via from the other end to Callao, where I'd been before from the other way. Passed a strip club/cabaret on a street with Catolico in the name, which amuses.

Found a panaderia, bought a loaf. I didn't ask what it cost because it's bread in Europe, can't cost more than a few euros, right? And I've had trouble understanding people, he couldn't really have said 8.50, right?

WHAT THE FUCK. I JUST SPENT €8.50 FOR A KILOGRAM OF MULTI-GRAIN BREAD. THAT'S $12.

Thiis had better be the best loaf ever. More likely a lesson not to take prices for granted.

===

Home, hanging out with host and English girl, who recognized the chain as a really expensive chain from London. It is in fact good bread, with raisins and such in it, justifying at least some of the price. Better with the local butter than the brie spread I bought last night. -They'd made cake out of the butternut squash while I was gone: I gave them bread, they gave me cake and ice cream. They carved a jack o lantern face in the cake, I got to take the picture. -Talk of security theatre and bombs and Iraq politics, then dyeing hair and tattoos. Garbage truck at 1am, wtf?