¡Viva España!

In this blog entry I’m going to teach you, amongst other things, how to waste two hours to save two euros.

                Now before I begin, let me clear something up. There is a common saying that “time is money” so the idea of trading two hours for two euros may seem a bit ridiculous to many of you. But you’re missing something: my time isn’t worth money at all. I lack any steady source of income and aside from my occasional exotic dancing I generally lack any source of income. My time really is worthless… monetarily at least. I suppose I could write Pokémon fan-fiction or something along those lines, but I’d rather be a full-time stripper than sink to that level.  Besides, it’s not really wasted time if you’re having fun.

                So here’s the trick to saving a few euros. When people leave the airport most tend to think they have a few options: they could take a cab; take a bus; or they could take some sort of train to their hotel. But there is one other option. Now most upscale hotels tend to have a shuttle service to and from the airport so all you need to do is find a hotel that’s near to where you want to go and take their shuttle into the city. It’s that easy.

                Now you may have to be a bit creative. Why don’t you have a reservation number? Perhaps you’re meeting a friend who is already at the hotel. But I’d guess that 90% of the time no one is going to question you, but if they do, begin planning your escape. In my case I managed to pick the slowest shuttle bus filled with the most talkative group of Floridians this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It was completely worth saving two whole euros. That’s enough of Ben’s School of Thriftiness for this entry, but there will definitely be more to come.

                Madrid has been a blast the past four days. From late-night Jazz concerts to Flamenco dancing and from gratuitous amounts of “empanadas” to plate after plate of Spanish “tapas” the past four days have been mentally and physically fulfilling. The only drawback has been me freezing my “culo” off; it turns out that packing very light for Peru means not having warm enough clothes for a Spanish winter.

Jazz with a Brazilian flair. Complete with a blind guitarist and a long-haired pianist.

                My confidence in my Spanish has improved greatly. I find the Spaniards are very  willing and happy to work with me even when I struggle to find the right word or struggle with that damned subjunctive tense. My increased confidence in my language skills has allowed me to enjoy the past few days with very little formal structure. I can leave the hotel and walk in any direction I desire for as long as I desire with the confidence that I could always ask someone for directions back to the center. Just last night after a half hour of indecisiveness I decided to jump on the first bus I saw and ride it until something perked my interest. I just happened to get off the bus in front of the National Museum of Art where, by luck, there was free entrance every night from 19.00-21.00. In the span of about twenty minutes I went from having no plans to a full night of entertainment on the cheap.*

                I’ll spare everyone and skip any sort of list of “Things I did today!”, but if anyone is interested in hearing more about what there is to see or do in Madrid feel free to ask!

                Tomorrow I leave for Lima, Peru and in many ways tomorrow marks the start of my “true” adventure. At a used book store I managed to pick up a 1.5 euro copy of Voltaire’s “Candide” (in English!) so that’ll give me something to do. The book seems to be very fitting as it is, according to the back of it, about a the misadventures of a traveler named "Candide". How poetic: an American picks up a book, in Spain, about a French traveler where he takes it across the Atlantic where he leaves it in Peru for another traveler to find. Cool.

I'll see you all in a week's time from much, much, further away. Adios!

* It’s worth mentioning that many museums have offers like this. The majority will offer free admission after a certain time as a sort of “giving back” to the community. Take advantage of it.