Friday, May 09, 2003

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

- Groucho Marx


The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The Plain

So here I am in a Madrid internet cafe just off the Gate of the Sun -- or Puerta del Sol in the local vernacular.

There was some flack in the email queue today about my list of things I miss while traveling -- essentially Ninja the uber dog and my laptop.

What can I say?

Ninja is that kewl and I like the web like I like coffee... lots!

Today I bought an hour for € .70 -- essentially a little less than a dollar -- which is about half what I paid while in Cozumel. Go figure. Then again, it is before noon and the natives are evidently not day walkers. The system changes the rate based on capacity and the cafe is fairly empty now.

At the same time I snagged some breakfast -- a salmon sandwich, some Orange/Apple/Lime/Kiwi juice, and the largest cup of black coffee they´d sell me.

One stop shopping at its finest.

In three hours I board a chartered bus for the trip into the mountains.

The meet and greet party went well last night. Mostly women and about two thirds of the group is American or Canadian. There is an Aussie and a handful of Brits. No Kiwi or Irish have materialized yet.

Of the weirdness so far this trip -- the guy next to me on the plane was from Mexico, but spent tons of time in Laredo; despite all the travel guides saying minorities are a rarity -- I´ve seen more African extraction here in one day than I usually see in a year in Laredo; the parents of the owner of the village I´m going to are from San Antonio; a tortilla is an omelette... seriously -- that´s what they call them; Mayo is the dip sauce of choice for all things fried; and no one looks at you twice for eating a salmon sandwich for breakfast.

Nothing majorly bizarre yet.

But in the immortal words of Vincent Vega -- Its the little differences.

posted by Bohica at 3:07 AM