Robyn.Bowles.es

Ugh, I feel miserable. All night I slept with a wet washcloth over my nose and mouth to try to humidify the air I was breathing. It hurt my throat just to breath. I was more concerned about the pain than suffocating.

April IM’d us from Amsterdam and suggested a large Meijer – type store called Alcampo where we might find a throat spray. I’ve already purchased some expensive throat lozenges (16 for 3.60 Eu); and some Ricola – they haven’t done much for me. So we navigated the Metro system on our own and found the mall where the store is. This month is the season for “Rebejas!” – we see signs all over the place – it means “big sale”; I wanted to shop, but felt too miserable.

Alcampo did not have any meds, so we went to the Farmacia in the mall. These Farmacias are everywhere, and basically the only place where one can buy medicines. They also carry some lotions and other “beauty” products, but everything is either locked behind glass doors where you can see it, or in the back. So I looked up how to ask for a throat spray, and the pharmacist got me some (4.50 Eu – tiny bottle). I used it right away and my throat BURNED!! It made my eyes water! I guess after the initial burn, it did help a little.

So my regimin is Advil, Ricola and burn spray every few hours. I’ve also gone through four packs of “travel tissue”. I sound pathetic, I feel pathetic, and apparently I look pathetic! Maybe if I try to ignore it, it will go away. . .

So, on a more adventurist note: I read that there was a festival going on now for La Virgen de Paloma – so we decided to go find it. First we stopped for dinner at Vips – a chain convenience store / Denny’s-type restaurant in one. I had pizza and Samuel had a burger and fries. I know, how boring; but considering we have 2 years to explore the culture, it felt safer than trying a real Spanish restaurant.

We then pulled out the map and found our way to Paloma street where we figured the festival would be. When we got there we found a large church with a few people staning near the entrance, and some kids playing across the street. No festival, but it was good to explore. It even rained a little bit this evening! And by “little” I mean I felt about 10 drops of rain, then it stopped. At least the cloud cover was nice.

I decided that I am going to do a weekly survey in order to compare some of the cultural differences between Madrid and G.R. These won’t be very scientific, but I thougt it would be fun. My surveys will be based on observations I’ve made so I can prove or disprove them by my “scientific” data.

My first survey will be of obesity trends of Madrileños. Of course, there are many variables: tourists is one of them. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to tell who is or isn’t a tourist, but obvious tourists I won’t count. The other thing is age. I think I will just do young (less than 40 yr old) women to start.

Some other survey ideas will be smokers, and English-language music played in restaurants. If you have any other ideas, let me know!

I think that tomorrow we will check out a museum (which is free on Sunday); and perhaps a large street market that occurs every Sunday. We’ll see what time it is when we wake up!

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