My first impressions of Spain

It´s about ten in the morning. My eyes open quickly as I´m unexpectedly awakened from a half conscience sleep by a beautiful flight attendant putting a government form for entry on my lap.It's the same one who continuously brought me water when I asked for it in the middle of the night. I notice we're quickly descending I can see the ground out the window on the other side of the plane. It´s the first time I see a different continent with my own eyes. It looks dry and the color is brown. It looks like a desert, not what I pictured the outskirts of Madrid to look like. Before I know it, I start seeing lots of apartment buildings and a few high rise buildings I can see lots of mini cars traveling a long the highways. In no time at all a sudden jolt indicates we've touched ground I´m in Madrid my Journey has officially begun.

Everyone has gotten off the plane and were standing in line for them to stamp our passports and turn in that form we were handed. I take a look around as were in line the airport is under major construction work crews are painting the walls I don't know what to think of the airport to me it seems like every major airport i´ve come across in travel is going through some sort of renovation. I´m told to approach the customs agent at the window it will be my first encounter with a local. To my surprise shes gorgeous she has a warm smile and a calming Spanish speaking voice thank God I understand her and shes makes me feel welcome. Within the hour all of us have our baggage and are heading towards our tour bus to check in to our hotel.

As I look out the window I think to myself Madrid seems to be pretty much what I expected of it. Lots of pedestrians are going about there day and the traffic looks very intimidating. One thing that has shocked me is that I haven't heard one driver blare their horn and yell profanities like they do in New York City I'm kind of impressed. We have arrived at our hotel by the outside looks of it I'm kind of pleased I was kind of worried what we were going to end up in. Its very metropolitan and classy looking the floor is marble and they have modern furniture. As I get to my room I'm a little disappointed at the size of the bed...I think the one I had as a toddler was bigger but it´s ok I'm already exhausted so I'm sure it will do its purpose. Theirs only enough time to wash my face, brush my teeth and change my shirt we need to meet at the bus we have reservations to view the Palacio Real De Madrid.

I´m thanking God I can speak a little bit of Spanish. I´ve noticed that I'm getting a lot further with the locals than most people in the group are just because I attempt to speak it. Some locals plain out are disgusting me the way they treat the tourists if they don't attempt to speak it. Here's an example... it literally pissed me off when I understood a reply to a question a girl in the group asked. She simply asked in English how much an item cost and the waiter replied´´ a little more than bottled water and a little less than a gin and tonic´´ in Spanish what kind of an Answer is that no respect once so ever. I asked how much an item cost in Spanish and he gave me the exact price.

Another observance I´ve made is how visually stimulating everything is. I was shocked at how much detail and imagination go into the architecture in almost every bulding especially government ones. Everyone wasant lying to me when they said its hard to find an unattractive woman here. We Will see if and how any of my thoughts change about this magnificent country.One thing for sure is it is very very different from Los Estados Unidos.

Conversations I heard In Spain
While we were in Barcelona, Barcelona's soccer team was playing Madrid's soccer team in Madrid for the championship. You could tell most of the city was watching the game. The streets had few pedestrians and there was hardly any traffic at all. I could feel the excitement in the air as I stepped outside to see if I could see any of the fireworks I was hearing. Gary our tour guide was glued to the TV watching the game in the hotel lobby. This game was very important to Gary because he lives in Madrid. A couple minutes after being outside Gary joined me and was jumping up and down with excitement. When he was done jumping up and down he told me "Madrid won were champions". As soon as he finished that sentence he was on the phone with friends in Madrid singing what I think were victory chants that the team sings afer wining games.

The next day you could tell most of Barcelona was very disapointed. While walking the crowded streets Gary whispered to me, "look how disapointed everyone looks , I wish I had my Real Madrid team falg so I could go running through the streets with it but I wouldn't dare because id probably get my butt kicked". When I was standing still for a moment I could hear people talking about the game. The people very frustrated that Barcelona lost because they had a lead during the game. Also people were talking about which players will be playing next year and how they thought the team needed to adapt to have another chance at the championship next year.

Another conversation I had in Spanish was with Garys friend who had dinner with us the first evening in Madrid. I sat next to him and Gary during our dinner at El Museo De Vino. It came up that Gary was part Cuban like I was and he and told me that his friend had recently visited Cuba. He didn't speak any english but I understood his responses to the questions I had about his trip. I asked him if he thought it was safe to go to Havana and he said it was. The only real complaint he had was that there are lots of people trying to solicite you to visit certain restaraunts,clubs and tourist sites. He said it got very annoying. Im glad I had this conversation with him because im interested in visiting my distant family in Havana very soon.