A Plane, A Train, But So Far No Automobile

But there's still time...

Yesterday I officially departed Madrid for Barcelona. Keeping up with the theme on this trip that nothing really goes according to plan I ended up not getting on a train to Barcelona until 3:45pm. My first 2 choices of 11:45 & 1:05 were both already sold out at 11am...*el sigh*...So I had lots and lots of time to cool my heels in Atocha Estacione. I think the most interesting (and somewhat odd) thing about Atocha is the rain forest that they have in the centre. I kid you not; there is a rain forest in the middle of Atocha - they have mist/rain going at all times and all sorts of tropical foliage to go along with it. Sadly you cannot walk through the rain forest as they have it all cordonned off but I took pics to be posted later. And again my amazing ability to attract strange people showed itself while I was waiting. I am sitting there writing in my journal when an older gentleman sits down and wishes me ¨"bon dia" - I return the greeting and go back to my writing. But that of course is not the end; what followed was him doing his level best to converse w/ me in Spanish (he had no english) and I was pretty much sticking to 'lo siento' and 'no se'. He then tried to buy me a drink more than once, sang the Spanish national anthem to me, told me he was looking for a "mujer sympatica" and then finally! gave up and wandered away...Do I wear a sign that I am unaware of? Or is the fact that I just can't be rude and tell anyone to leave me the hell alone?

So finally it is time to go through security (just like at the airport only slightly less militant) and then wait for them to announce which platform for my train. I know that some people were surprised that I took the train but I enjoyed it so very much. There is something, well romantic about seeing a country by train. You get such a great sense of it and it's very civilized. For me the best part was seeing the olive groves - scrubby, gnarled little bushes studding the hillsides; seemingly random but with an order to everything. Also saw lemon groves which (along w/ the look of the landscape) actually reminded me of being in Arizona - it was kind of surreal in that aspect. Even though I knew that I was of course in Spain, seeing the red dusty terrain, outcroppings that are more hill than mountain and the lemons - again a real sense of the surreal. Eventualy (4 hours) later I reach Barcelona! A friend of the family met me at Sants Estacione (muchos graçias Joaquin) and helped me get to my new home, the Mambo Tango Youth Hostel. I will say that even having only been here a day that it is one of the best places that I have stayed. I will post more on that and my first day of experiencing Barcelona later.

Bon dia todos mis amigos y familia!