Strike, soccer

Wednesday the 29th, Spain had a general strike against austerity measures that the government is taking to do some belt tightening. The unions see it as a punishment for workers. We were not sure what to expect other than the transportaion system would be on limited service. Robyn was still sick and decided it was best to work from home that day which was a good decision just for the fact that she was not feeling well. The strike was more violent in some areas of Spain and Joey said they could not leave their area until late in the morning because of protesters. Around our area in Sol there was not much going except for a few protesters (one in a diaper) on until late in the afternoon. The strike culminated in Sol for this area so by 7:00 the streets were packed with protesters carrying signs and shouting out against the government. There were no incidents here though so that was good. The streets were covered in trash because the garbage service was cancelled as well. It was a mess but by the next morning everything was cleaned up and people were back to their normal routines.

Not much happened the rest of the week as we tried to take it easy so we could be well for our company coming in on Saturday. We did meet Eva and Ruben Friday night so Eva could help translate for Robyn at the hair salon where she was getting an allergy screening to make sure she did not have a reaction to their products before getting her hair done the next day. It turned out that there were several people in the salon that spoke english so it was no problem. The test did not take long so we all decided to go have a drink and some tapas. We spent the next 3 hours talking and having a great time. They are so much fun to be with and there was lots of laughter and good cheer. Ruben told me that when we go to South America that he could hook us up with some contacts to make things easier, better, and safer. We have made some long-lasting, new friends in Eva and Ruben. We have invited them to come to the states so we can show them some of our country and I believe they will when they can.

Saturday morning I went to the airport to meet Randy and Tracy while Robyn headed into town to get her hair done. First, I checked online to see what terminal their flight would arrive and then saw that their plane landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I took off for my 45 minute metro ride knowing I should have plenty of time to get there before they got through customs and picked up their luggage. It turned out that terminal 1 was the furthest terminal from the metro and it was a fairly long walk getting there. I was getting nervous because I did not see anything about their flight on the board and I began to think the internet site may have given me bad information. I stopped at an information desk just as Eva called me to make sure I had found the right place to be. I was reassured that I was in the correct place and was told where I needed to go to wait for Randy and Tracie. I had not received a phone call from Tracie so I was worried I would not find them but as I walked up to the area I needed to be in they were standing at the ATM. It was a relief for both of us because Tracy was having trouble getting her phone to work and we neglected to give them our address so they would have been lost. We got to the apartment and rested a bit and then went for a walk and to get some food. After our little outing I suggested that they go take a short nap because they had not slept much on the plane and looked exhausted. They were happy to lay down for a bit while we waited for Robyn to come home from the salon. They were still sleeping when Robyn walked in with her new haircut. I didn't know she was getting her hair cut and neither did she but it looked great! They cut it fairly short and she looked even more beautiful than she already was. Wow!!! After Randy and Tracie woke up, we all went out to get some dinner at a pizza place that Robyn had found that was supposed to be really good. We met Carly there and the restaurant really lived up to its reputation. We bought 3 different types of pizza and they were all fantastic. We will definitely be coming back to tghis place in the near future. We headed back to get some much needed rest as it was around 11:00 by the time we made it home.

Sunday we planned to meet Amanda and Carly at the Rastro flee market near Sol. This flea market happens every Sunday and dates back to medieval times. We met up with Amanda and Carly at the market and started checking out the wares. This was the largest, most attended flea market I have ever seen. The streets were literally packed with people shopping and the flea market seemed to go on forever down the streets. The girls had a great time finding things to buy. The prices were good and there was everything you could imagine for sale. Robyn found a pair of boots she liked for 20 euros. Everyone found things to buy. We made our way to this street that went downhill and was covered in a sea of people. We realized that this was a mistake because there seemed to be no way off the street now that we were on it. We slowly made our way down and finally found a side street so we could get out of the madness. We stopped at a little bar and got a much needed beverage. We lost Amanda and Carly in the fray and after talking with them on the phone decided it would be too hard to get back together so we went our separate ways. We were hungry so Robyn suggested that we try the Cuban restaurant a block from our apartment that Randy and Tracy thought looked promising. It was the right choice as this was some of the best food we have had yet. Every dish whether pork or chicken was delicious. The plates came with rice and either fried sweet potatoes or fried bananas. Everything was so good that Robyn and I decided to come once a week and try everything on the menu. It's good that we are finding a variety of good foods to eat. We headed home to rest and drop off our purchases before heading out to our first real soccer game. Robyn was staying home since she had to work the next day. We had a little time before we were supposed to meet Carly, Amanda, Amy and some other people from the bank for the game so we took a walk to see some of the local sights. The rain started to lightly fall as forecasted, but it was not a problem. We walked for a couple of hours and then came back so we could get on the metro to the stadium. We met everyone and went to get something to drink and eat before the game. We found a Mexican restaurant and luckily got a table and had some libations and nachos. We then made our way to the stadium in the blowing rain and found our seats at the very top of the stadium which was fine because we were out of the rain. The game was more fun than I imagined but that may be because there were a lot of goals scored. Real Madrid was much better than the team they were playing so it was a bit of a rout much to the pleasure of the home crowd. I managed to get a picture of 2 players colliding into each others heads. They were down for a while but both managed to get up even though they had the strecther there in case. We left about 10 minutes before the end so we could beat the crowd back to the metro but we still got in a sea of people trying to get through the turnstiles. Once through we actually had no trouble getting on a train for home. It had been a long day so it was time to rest up before the next day when we palnned to see the Royal Palace and some other local sights.

Adios