Day 32: Thursday, February 17, 2011

Waiting in the airport...for 4 hours!

Today we left for the airport around 2:30 to catch our 5:30 flight.  Flying is definitely a process here!  We have to walk to the metro, take the metro to the train station, then catch a bus from the train station to the airport!  And we finally got to the airport only to find out that our flight was delayed for two and a half hours.  Kind of a bummer, because we purposely got the earlier flight so we could go out once we got there!

Once we arrived in Madrid, it took about 45 minutes to get from the airport to the center of the city.  AND, for the FIRST TIME, we actually found the hostel on our own, without having to give up and get a taxi!  Monumental day for us.  Our hostel was awesome; it was so centrally located and was actually really homey.  It wasn't huge, it was actually only one floor, with about about 10 different rooms in it.  But everyone (minus one) was really young and friendly.  There was a common room with computers and free internet, and a nice little kitchen.  When we arrived, they told us they were able to put us all in the same room, which was really nice!  However, we did have one other roommate...and naturally, she was the "minus one."

First of all, she was about 60 years old.  WHAT IS UP WITH THAT???  I thought hostels we're supposed to have age caps of about 30?  I guess not, because this is seeming to be a reoccurring issue, (refer to Paris post).  When we walked in, she was sitting pretzel style on her bed, eyes closed, clinging to a Rosemary necklace, praying out loud.  And when we left 30 minutes later, she was still praying...outload.  And on top of that, it looked like she lived there?  She had plants in the corner, two huge book shelves that she had clearly brought herself, food, bibles, clothes, and other personal belongings scattered around her bed, and clothes hanging on racks she had also brought herself. 

Amazing.

By this time, it was already about 1am, and we were all so hungry!  We decided to go to a restaurant called VIPS because we saw someone through the window eating a hamburger, and that sounded delicious.  However, of course, it wasn't.  It was actually really bad...really, really bad.  Not one person actually liked their meal.  With the exception of this Oreo milkshake (see right), which was amazing.  But other than that, they pretty much managed to mess up the simplest dishes imaginable, i.e., Caesar salad, plain hamburger, club sandwich.  Anyways, we vowed to never go there again, because it was awful. 

We finished around 2am, then decided to head back to the hostel and get some sleep!  When we got back, our roommate was still praying.  Concerning.  Who needs to pray for that long unless you killed someone or lit a daycare on fire or something.