Barcelona-Madrid Spain Lent Escapade

We had quite some time to spend for the Lent Season so Maecel and I decided to couchsurf Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) together and then later go our separate ways, me to Lisboa and Fatima, Portugal while Maecel is going south of Spain...

It was the best 24-hour bus ride (not that I had ever been to one until this) okay, maybe I should paraphrase that, the bus ride to Spain was not as bad as anyone would have thought especially when one considers the time travel involved. I mean the bus-stops where certainly worth it, Belgium, Champagne, France, some part of Germany and Switzerland maybe and then yeah Spain finally after a day (haha). Well, I have been enjoying my Eurolines escapades so far and I am very much thankful that these affordable bus trips are available for student-fit budgets.

Anyway so after that quite enjoyable bus ride and many 'not yet' responses from anyone who would want to answer that woman who keeps on asking if we are there yet in Barcelona,  we finally heard the bus driver answered yes, we are here and while I was a bit exhausted with that long trip, the overwhelming feeling of finally arriving in Spain has definitely overridden it. So I got out of the bus, went to the main terminal station (Estacio de Barcelona-Sants) looked for a payphone and called my mom to check in with her my location and then called Maecel (who took the plane going to Spain and arrived of course a day earlier than me) to tell her I was going to grab some lunch first before heading off to where she was. So I had some lunch at one of the restaurants in the bus station, traced the metro line where I could go to where Maecel was and finally met her around 3pm at Starbucks after being lost for quite some time (note to self: in asking or giving directions, you have to make sure to give the building number and street name) haha well, getting lost could be fun sometimes but not so much when you just came out from a 24-hour bus ride carrying your 10-day worth suitcase...ahahaha

So we headed off to the house of our host. He was really kind to have us despite having a bad flu. His name is Patrick, he is originally from the UK but has decided to live in Spain for quite awhile now teaching English. We enjoyed his stories from the hitchhiking adventures to the street singing fund raising for a friend and many more advises on some more fun things to do in Barcelona and in our future escapades. Maecel and I visited some local bars in the evening and bumped into some pinoys who actually turned out to be Maecel's ka-province (the tagalog word seems to be out of my mind now) haha. The following day after saying goodbye to our first host, we went off to explore the city. It was good Friday actually and I realized how the La Rambla (famous street in Barcelona) depicted the huge difference in culture we have with the Spanish people these days. I mean I was calling my mom to tell her, how I know for sure the Philippines is so quiet today to commemorate the death of Jesus and yet in an entire different country (oh who by the way where the people who introduced Christianity to the Philippines come from) seems to have no trace of silence, none at all, especially in La Rambla, you can totally get  lost in the crazy crowd there!

I spent most of the Saturday in the host's house trying to make the papers that we were suppose to submit along with our exams but I just could not put myself into it...Later that afternoon, we waited for our 2nd host who came later with his friend. His name is Raul and his friend is Inake, both come from the other side of town, Catalan (who has a very interesting territorial  independence-conflict with Spain in general) Maecel and I noticed how a lot of flags were displayed in the houses and buildings to express their sentiments towards the government. Turned out our host was a race car driver so it was not surprising that we were going more than a hundred in speed from Barcelona to Catalan. It's a good thing they decided to let us pass by the mountain top where we could see the view of the city and also pass by the first Olympic stadium (I must say, at this point while experiencing all of the thrill of couchsurfing, meeting new people, being in Spain and what not, I was rendered speechless inside yet overflowing with joy).

We arrived in Catalan around 7pm, dropped off Inake as he was still going for late night shift at work and then headed off to our host's flat. He showed us to our room. Maecel and I freshened up and helped him prepare the kitchen as he offered to cook some Spanish omelet for us. So we had a sumptuous meal, chatted for a bit about our next day's plan and then headed off to bed. I remember having trouble with finishing all of the papers I needed to submit by this time. So to sleep around 4am trying to finish at least one of the 3 papers. We woke up around 9am the following day, prepared ourselves, had some coffee and left for Montserat. Maecel and I could not feel more lucky that our host was eager to drive us. It was about an hour trip to a very high mountain but when we reached there, we were just breathe taken by the beautiful view. Never mind the very long wait in the traffic because of course a lot of people wanted to go to the monastery that day since it was Easter Sunday! We head back to Barcelona around 5pm, had an early dinner and purchased our tickets for Madrid.

Since our bus was scheduled later in the evening, Maecel and I again thought about killing the time by trying to hit some of our papers. I was of course not in the mood for it so I decided to take a walk around the plaza near the station. Later, we proceed to the other bus station where our bus to Madrid was arriving. I was excited to find a massage chair at the bus station and I spent 1 euro for the best 5 minutes ever! hahaha I decided to submit 1 of the 3 papers before our bus left and then spent the next 6 hours sleeping. We arrived around 9am in Madrid, decided to grab some breakfast first, used the toilet and waited until our host replied as to the direction of his house. Our final host together was a lawyer. His name is Manuel (how could I forget that name? it's the same as my dad) although, nothing personal, he definitely looks hotter than my dad. hahaha (oops no offense meant pop). This guy was so sweet asked Maecel and I immediately if we had clothes for laundry as he understood that we were still heading off to our next trip in the next five days...I decided to stay in his flat the whole afternoon to continue with the papers for submission while Maecel went out to look for a nearby Starbucks shop to do her work. Our host was going out to meet a friend he stood up and then said he'd proceed to the gym later. He got home early however after his gym session and was so kind to make me a sandwich while I was still trying hard to work on my paper. Later, we were watching an episode of 2 and a half men and then he went on telling me about his love story. This guy surely wore his heart in his sleeve. Maecel returned home later and we continued our chat until the wee hours. He was very sweet to ask us to extend and if not remember that we have a place to stay if we decide one day to go back in Madrid. We exchange warm hugs as we were leaving the following day.

Since we had a good number of hours to wait before we head off to our separate buses, we decided to stroll around the plaza and get a piercing if we are able to find a shop. We did but we did not push through with the piercing as the lady explained that we are not able to get it once it is installed. I guess Maecel and I did not get her explanation very well and we both ended up backing out. Anyway, I went on my stroll, Maecel again looked for a Starbucks shop to work because as it turned out, she ended up strolling the other day instead of working. Later that evening, Maecel and I was not able to meet before heading our separate ways. So I hopped off to my bus to Portugal and Maecel I'm sure was somewhere in that same station for her bus to the other part of Spain.

All in all, my experience although very brief in Spain was simply the best! I may have dreaded the colonization, the colonizers and what the Filipinos experiences in their hands during that time but I certainly do not dread the country that I was able to visit this time...hopefully I can come back here one day =)