Monday, July 13, 2009

Hour-by-hour forecast for Pamplona, Spain. Sunny with a chance of sleep, 0%.

Time for a quick recount of the past... 48¿? hours.

Saturday, 09:00am wake up to head to Montserrat
Saturday, 11:30pm board bus to go run with the Bulls. Heading to Pamplona

------------------------(insert fake time break #1)----------------------------------

Sunday, 05:00am arrive in Pamplona. See a preview of the apocalypse, bodies and trash strewn everywhere. People are still drinking.
Sunday, 07:00am get onto the road where the bulls are run. People are still drinking.
Sunday, 07:45am are on the wrong part of the course, police sweep a few hundred people and drunks off of the course.
Sunday, 07:46am realize we are not running with the bulls. shit.
Sunday, 10:00am buy a bus ticket back to Madrid. Cheap, €18, but leaves at 9:30pm. shit. People seem to have stopped drinking.

Sunday, 10:00am--9:30pm the families come out. Grandparents, parents, stollers, toddlers. They are only seen in times play the waiting game. We are getting good at it by now. Find a bench to sit/sleep on for 45 minutes. Sun moves and now you´re in the sun. Get up, repeat... Find a park that has been cleaned by the amazing street-sweepers (actual people, not machines) in Pamplona. Sleep either until the urine wafts over you, or people are loud.

Sunday, 09:30pm ridicule a bunch of drunkards being prevented from getting on a bus because they have plastics cups full of god-knows-what, and the driver knows better than that. Laugh at them.
Sunday, 09:30:10 realize this is our bus. Get on the bus, the only open pairs of seats are at the very back.
Sunday, 09:31pm the drunkards sit next to, in front of, and behind us. Loud, smelly, vomiting, and passing out on the floor in the aisle. Damn. They were speaking what sounded like a cross between Russian and German. Maybe they were Romanian? Don´t know, their Spanish was fluent too (I hope they didn´t know English, oops).
Sunday, 09:50pm abandon ship. Open seats ahoy! Scramble up to the front of the bus, find two open seats, glad to be out of there.
Sunday, 10:30pm go back to rescue the food I forgot from the hungry drunk folk.

------------------------(insert fake time break #2)----------------------------------

Monday, 03:00am arrive in Madrid. "Sleep" outside the bus station.
Monday, 05:30am get into the Metro station. "Sleep" at a table
Monday, 06:30am decide it is best to beat the rush hour cramming on the Metro. Get on a train, go to where our hostel is. Check in time, 12 Noon.
Monday, 07:00am shit. That didn´t take long enough. "Sleep" on a bench.
Monday, 08:30am arrive at El Retiro park. Realize that the shampoo has exploded inside my backpack. Throw a tantrum. Sleep in the grass.

Monday, 11:30am desayuno. Huevos Americanos, scrambled eggs on toast, with coffee. €4.50
Monday, 12:15pm check into the hostel. Room isnt ready yet.
Monday, 01:00pm room is ready. Take out laundry. Do laundry in a washing machine. €3, still worth it, worth every cent.
Monday, 02:00pm sleep.
Monday, 06:30pm wake up. I slept more just now than in the past two days. Those eye shades really help knock you out when you are tired enough, discover the new must-have for traveling.

Now, we´re going to go shopping for the trip to Morocco tomorrow. After that, dinner. I am so hungry. Where can I get two double-doubles and an animal style fries? Pleeeeease?

No comments: