jackandthecitylights.org

In order to save time both for myself and for anyone reading this I am not going to break it down into individual days this post.

A few people have asked how my flight was, so I’ll reflect on that first. It didn’t crash. Does that mean it was good? I don’t know what more to say… For 6 hours I sat in a giant metal tube stuffed full of people sitting in undersized recliners that don’t recline, breathing arid recycled air, and wishing they were somewhere else. It wasn’t bad it was just an airplane ride.

In the airport I learned not to exchange money in the airport. $15 American for 8 euros. The ATM provided a better exchange rate but even then everything is still expensive here for me. That’s okay, I can live off bread and water.

Once in Madrid I got to carry all one million pounds of my stuff around the airport, through the subway, and out onto the street where some nice people took pity on me and called a cab over and stuck two euros in my hand. Like the people who helped me the cab driver didn’t speak a bit of English, and I quickly discovered that the little bit of Spanish I had learned was useless unless I wanted to order a cup of coffee from him. This, I was to find, would be the norm here.

Outside my host’s house I realized I didn’t know what apartment he was in. That’s okay I’ll just call him with that pay-phone over there. That would have worked if I understood how European phone numbers work, but I didn’t. That’s okay I’ll just check my email. That would have worked too, if my battery wasn’t dead.

It turned out to be a long night. The first part I spent wandering around the neighborhood stooping into smoke filled cafes nestled in narrow alleys beneath apartments. The locals sitting at small tables shot me dubious glances over their tiny cups of coffee. With my pathetic Spanish vocabulary and strange questions I felt like some kind of alien that was invading a peaceful, quaint little world far removed from the one I knew. All I got were furrowed brows and shaking heads. I gave up and sat outside my host Julio’s apartment until he got home late into the night.

Julio was a terrific host for me. Being that he was an agricultural engineer it was a great start to my international sustainability research project. Even just his apartment with it’s double windows, double sliding doors, and foot thick walls was a great example of European efficiency and intelligent design.

The first few days I walked around in Madrid in a jet lag funk. I visited the touristy areas and slept in parks. In the morning on his way late to work Julio sped me around on his Vespa and showed me the points of interest in Madrid. After his six hour work day Julio took his siesta while I typed out emails. Later we went to the park to meet with his friends where we played guitar and laughed in the warm summer nights of Spain. Most days followed this pattern, and I began to understand life in Madrid.

After about 4-5 days staying with Julio I am now staying with one of his friends, Antonio, who I met in the park. After a few trips to the bike shop I have my bike all put back together and I’m ready to head off to my first stop Hontanillas. This place is owned by a friend of Julio’s. It’s an old ghost town that a few people have decided to live a self sustained life in. Without electricity, phones, or plumbing I saw it as a great place to start my learning experience.

From their I will travel to the southern foothills of of the Sierra Nevada in a region called the Alpuharras just south of the town of Granada. These are rich fertile farming lands where I will hopefully find some farms that are focused on organics and sustainability.

I do not know when or where I will find the internet again so it may be awhile till I can make another update or until anyone hears from me at all. At this point I have no idea what my future here in Spain holds for me.

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