June 6th 2012- I arrived in Madrid and discovered that the belt clasp of my backpack wasn’t holding and would continue to come undone rendering the burden of my 70lb + backpack entirely on my shoulders. Being that I was in the middle of the city, there were no backpack stores around. After being directed several times in broken English, I finally found a store that sold them. However, after walking over 2 miles carrying the load solely on my shoulders, the damage was already done and my shoulders were feeling bruised.
With the belt strap now properly working the weight was mostly lifted from my shoulders and now transferred to my hips. In order to keep it working I had to synch the strap tight, which after another couple miles of walking, bruised my hips.
At the end of the day I found a beautiful park to rest in. I was quite surprised at the number of people in the park on a Wednesday afternoon. I sat on a bench looking over a lake where dozens of people were drifting around on rowboats. I watched people rowing but there were also buskers, people selling glasses illegally, and when the police would drive by they would quickly pack up and walk away. There was a Micky Mouse handing out balloons to the kids and another man blowing the biggest bubbles I’d ever seen. He used two sticks fastened by a rope, which when pulled out turned into a circle and held the soap. There were also people playing soccer and other sports, thespians rehearsing and various other activities going on.
While sitting on the bench, Jenny came and sat down next to me and so I started a conversation. She was from the Philippines and separated from her husband and 2 children, who are being looked after by her parents. She is working here as a house and baby sitter because she couldn’t find work in her own country. She was the first I was able to share gospel principles with so the days hardships were all worth it.
As dusk approached I found a nice quiet place to sleep. It was warm enough so I didn’t bother with a sleeping bag but just spread out my foam mat and went to sleep. Living in England these past 5 year cause me to forget a vital fact about parks in arid countries. They have sprinklers. This discovery manifested itself at 1:10 am. There was a sprinkler head just a few feet from my head but to my good fortune it began pointed away from me. I rushed to throw my gear over the wire and brush fence just in time keeping my exposure to nothing more than over spray as I packed up to find another suitable location to sleep. After wandering around for a time, I found that I was locked in. Therefore, I moved to a park bench to sleep but my body is not yet hardened enough to be able to sleep on such a hard surface so here I sit writing and will now begin my studies.
June 7th 2012- A day of torture J. From the park I had to walk some distance to see the royal palace. I started off at 6:00 am and when I got there I found that it was closed for repairs and even the gardens were closed. That was the last of the tourist things I wanted to see so I figured I will just head out for Barcelona. I then discovered that the road to Barcelona was on the opposite side of the city. I walked for miles with my thumb out but nobody even took a second glance except for a few smart alecks putting their thumbs up to me as they sped by. I finally got to the outskirts, past the airport and was now in a desolate lonely area of the freeway. Surely someone would take pity on my out here. I had been told by everyone that I asked directions from that nobody in Spain picks up hitch hikers. After 2 more hours walking backwards along the freeway with my thumb out and blisters on my feet, I finally succumbed to the admonition of the Spanish people, proving to myself that sadly, they were right. I crossed the freeway to find traffic going the other way and still nobody would give me a lift. I finally got back into Madrid and found a bus to take me to the bus station where I could get a bus to Barcelona. With the severely limited funds I have, I decided that I would not be able to travel around Spain and Portugal as I had intended. After Barcelona I will head to Southern France and continue there. However, I will have to stay a few weeks in Barcelona while awaiting my solar battery.
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