Feral Boy: Vertrecht to Ethpana: Wheres the love?

So, we finally had enough of our slumlord, no heat, and no internet. We moved to a new apartment tonight. The neighborhood ain't pretty or interesting to be honest, but we are pretty happy about the change. So i have a backlog of things to write about. We have taken a couple weekend trips around Spain because it's easy and we wanted to escape aforementioned prison. I understand something better now. For a while now i have been wondering why I don't love Spain. Am I more picky that I thought, do I want everything to be just like home, am i too rigid, am I failing to understand/appreciate the culture, am I too old to appreciate adventure anymore, am I ADD, do i need ridilin, do i need testosterone replacement therapy, do I need vitamin A? I'm just sort of ambivalent about most of my time here. I seem to obsess on the things that annoy me. Everybody else that you talk to just freaking gushes about Spain and they are totally enamored with flamenco, tapas, partying all night, sangria, etc. For me: flamenco=kinda boring for me and also kinda ironic that Spain wants to claim this and still hate the gypsies, tapas=catfood, partying all night=my early 20's, not now, besides it costs a fortune i do not possess, sangria=ok, but i'd prefer just a beer. I just wondered when I'm going to feel the same way as all these people...is it just not for me or am i missing something? I figured it out. Here's the deal, I have been introduced to Spain ass-first. In other words, Madrid is Spain's ass. People are jerks, its really crowded and noisy, you have to spend alot of your life on trains and subways, and you pay way way way too much for way way way too little. Living in Madrid feels like you are about to get trampled and then have to pay for it.

On consecutive weekends we went to Segovia (N of Madrid), and Granada, and I really did love them both. So,I do love Spain (I also loved Barcelona and Toledo, and I thought Alicante was passable with its castle and nice beach) I'm just living in the wrong place, and unfortunately that can't change in any easy way. We'll just have to visit better places. Segovia was an easy and cheap train ride over the Sierra Guadarrama to the north. In reference to Segovia, the travel guide said that "travel writers are challenged to use enough superlaxatives". This sounded pretty rough, these poor writers are really getting blocked up in Segovia. But upon closer examination it was "superlatives"..so welcome to constipation free Segovia!. We were rather late in leaving on a Saturday, so we decided to stay overnight in a cheap hotel. When we first arrived and made our way to our target hostal, we thought this was going to be a beautiful city, then we got to the hostal. I rang the bell. Then someone shouted from a window "Deme! = Speak to me (command form, this is how Spanish people talk, in direct orders. You just have to get used to it. They claim its not rude, but it still feels that way sometimes". I said "Tienes habitaciones = do you have rooms?". They shouted "No = no". That was it...not "I'm sorry", or "I have one tommorrow". Just NO. So we figured, oh well the people are donkeys like the Madrilenos, so we're in for a treat. But except for that minor annoyance...we found another cheap place and had a great couple of days. It was cold and the nearby mountains were snowy, which I liked. This is another Medieval city that was previously a Roman city. So we wandered around the narrow snaky streets, by the obligatory gothic cathedral, and downhill a little ways to a great view of the Roman aqueduct bridge. (We're short on pics heres b/c I forgot my camera, and Becky's wasn't charged...so use your freaking imagination, a little effort is all I'm asking for here). It was all accentuated by the twilight-lights coming on but still a little light in the sky- and the snowy mountain backdrop. We even found an art exhibit with a piece by Andy Goldsworthy for only 2 euro. That was a score.

The next day we visited the Alcazar (fortress; pictured above). Sleeping beauty is in the turret on the left. Winnie the Pooh trotted out the drawbridge an gave us a balloon. Then we rode "Mr. Toad's Spanish Inquisition" . Yeah, it looks kinda Disney, but it was where Isabella and Fernando started their joint rule, and the unification of modern Spain, and the conquest of the Americas, and the inquisition. It was super cool inside. There were a bunch of suits of armor, and it became apparent that the knights who wore them were total shrimps, 5 footers. Seriously, who did these little people fight?4 year old girls? I guess our modern industrial world is capable of growing much bigger people due to much better nutrition.

Then we went to Granada to visit Teresa who is teaching English at the moment. I know her form Flag, and she happened to have another friend visiting from Arizona, and the place she was renting was owned by a woman from Moab (the city i lived in before Flagstaff). So that is really odd. Aside from being a century old building, it has been redone by the landlord to be a stereotypical Moab house with wood floors, chili ristras, wood stove, and pictures of yogis. It only needed a climbing wall to be complete. They said the landlord (who actually lives there) leaves something to be desired, but the place rules. Its above Albayzin, the moorish quarter, which is like a very steep sort of maze built on a hill side. Right nearby are the cave houses of sacromonte, historically occupied by gypsies. It has 2 terraces, one on the uppermost roof with a beautiful view. It was up here when we were in shock and awe about how much better her house was than ours, that she told us she pays 250 a month to live there. For reference, we paid 600 a month for misery and got hosed on the deposit by our former landlord.

The view is cool all around, most striking being Alhambra, the moorish palace complex that occupied the rocky hill across the river from Albayzin. This part of Spain is really rich in its Moor-arab-muslim legacy. Our first full day we walked up the hill to Alhambra, and Becky's head was really hurting. We were worried that this was a sinus infection, in fact we almost didn't make the trip, except that the alternative was to stay in our dismal apartment, which is not good for sick person either. Later in the day, after a nap, when her whole face was about to explode...we decided it was time for medical help. It being a holiday weekend we did not have the option of going to a normal health center, rather there was only a few open which were all basically emergency rooms. We were really dreading this experience, theoretically anyone has a right to medical care but we didn't know what kind of shit we were going to have to go through, and how much we would have to pay for going to the E-room instead of making a normal appointment. After 5 minutes of confusing garbled conversations and a short wait, we were seeign the doctor. We managed to express all the key symptoms, and the doctor readily agreed it was a sinus infection. Meanwhile a nurse in another room was prepping an anti-inflammatory shot (he almost gave me the shot, by the way, not knowing who was the patient). After the shot, we were given some drugs and a prescription which we claimed at a pharmacy across the street. So on a national holidayit cost 4 euros and 10 minutes to get a cab to the e-room, about 20 minutes of diagnosis and treatment, followed by a purchase at the pharmacy of 1.50. So all you people that think nationalized health care is a bad idea...what can you say to that? It was the smoothest running thing I've seen in a while (except for me almost getting a needle in my ass, like some sit com).

When we finally visited Alhambra this is what it was like. The key thing to notice is these guys were detail-oriented. Every surface is covered in intracte plasterwork, and I am challenged to use enough superlaxatives to describe it. So, check out the pics.