Strep, Sandy & Segovia!

The week of "S"'s no doubt. I was unfortunately diagnosed with strep throat last Thursday and spent the majority of 3 days in bed drinking very bizarre concoctions of hot lemon water, downing ridiculously strong antibiotics and reading numerous pages of Hemmingway. Thanks to him I now have a new obsession with bull fighting and I can't wait for the season to start in May. I know its sad and the essence of animal cruelty but the way Hemmingway describes the motion and technicality of the matadors makes me very intrigued! Speaking of this new found obsession Marie and I went walking around our neighborhood and coicindentally found the Plaza de Toros which is Madrid's bull fighting arena! I was very very excited! Side note: there was a circus going on there and we ate some cotton candy. It was grand!

Continuing on with the "S"'s Tuesday night was a double birthday party and we celebrated the night away at our favorite spot, Cuevas! Given I was still consuming deadly antibiotics I did not consume any amount of alcoholic beverages and was the designated awkward sober person in the corner. Given this great responsibility I was the only one conscious enough to realize that Miss Sandra Venegas was far too intoxicated to safely take the night bus home. For those of you older responsible persons out there I understand that this may be a very scary thought, but in reality it was quite comical. One moment she was trying to tell the bus stopped at every bus stop and the next moment she was trying to find a way to sleep on the bus bench. Needless say I assumed responsbility and after much difficulty flagged down a taxi and tried to decipher Sandy's drunken spanish address. It was quite the adventure and I have to say it may be the definition of true friendship.

After a week of recovery I was well cured and ready for our group trip to Segovia. Segovia is about an hour North West of Madrid and from what I gathered its a tourist hot spot because of the aqueducts and the Alcázar (mini castle for the king). I liked Segovia a lot more than I like Madrid just because it was smaller and much more of what I had pictured in my head when I thought of Spain. It was also horribly horribly cold. I don't think I had ever been that kind of cold in my life. Like painfully cold. Despite the cold it was beautiful. The architecture was amazing and I wish I could tell you more but our guide Ricardo talked for far too long about everything and my interest level dropped very quickly, too bad I don't have the same patience as Beth. haha

My family and I get closer everyday and I felt very at home during Javier's birthday celebration with crazy children running around causing a ruckus and far too much food. Mercedes is still as caring as ever but I think having the grandkids around is wearing on her. Also Javier is supposed to have found his own apartment by now but he's stopped looking because his mother takes care of him and life is easy living with her, but I can tell it's getting to her :(

Sooo this blog was kind of a dude.. I'm lacking creative enthusiam right now. Hope all is well!