Acid Jazz

It is nearly 4am and I just got home from another fun night out in Madrid. I originally hadn’t planned on going out at all. The family is in the Pyrenees for a sky weekend. I had planned on spending my weekend talking to Flynn and Allison online. I also wanted to update my blog with pictures and research my trip to London. However, that planned changed around 3pm this afternoon. Consuelo called to let me know that she would need the modem this weekend so she can get some work done. This meant NO INTERNET for me! This would be the first time since I left Seattle that I wouldn’t be in touch.

The only thing I could think of that would help distract me from the fact that I was out of touch was to get out of the house. Before the modem headed off to the mountains I got online to see what my local couchsurfing friends were up to. Couchsurfing.com is a network of travelers who work together globally to support world travel. They often coordinate local get togethers. I found that several folks were meeting at a jazz club in Madrid.

After bidding farewell to my beloved internet at 4pm I took a nap. Feeling completely cut off from everyone you care about can be exhausting after all. Sleeping helped pass the time. When I woke up it was 8pm. The Couchsurfers were planning to meet at 10pm, so I should start getting ready.

I got on the bus at 9:30pm. The ride into Madrid is a nice one. I am usually one of the first people on the bus because my stop is early on the line. As we make our way through Tres Cantos everyone heading to the bars and discos board. When we arrive in Madrid, I head straight for the Metro (subway) station. I have to make a Metro transfer and then I arrive at the stop the Couchsurfers recommended. It is nearly 10:30pm by this point, but I’m not in any hurry.

I have the street name and number of the Jazz club, but I don’t know where the street is. There are a ton of people around, it’s a hoppin’ Friday night after all. I start off down the street looking for the street I need. As I’m walking I hear the couple behind me speaking in English. I say hello to them. They say they are lost. I tell them not to worry, because I am too! They have a GPS system (TomTom) and are directed to turn. I wish them luck and continue down the street. As I continue wandering around, I keep my eyes open for anything familiar, but see nothing.
At this point I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I may not find the Jazz club. I’m ok with it though. I figure I at least got to see some more of Madrid and I am not at home twiddling my thumbs.

I keep walking until I come to a major street. There are large, old, well lit buildings around and I figure I must be on a street that could help me figure out where I am. I turn down the street and come to another Metro station. This station is the other one recommended by the Couchsurfers to get to the Jazz club. Victory. It is safe assumption that the Jazz club is somewhere in between where I am at this point and where I started my walk! I continue to the next corner and low and behold, there it is, the very street I was looking for. All I had to do now was walk to the right building number and I was golden.

Once at the club I found my group in the very front row. The Jazz band was taking a break. I had met Pablo last weekend, he is a Madrid native. He introduced me to a British woman who has lived in Spain for a year and Alana, a Californian who has been in Madrid a month. There were several other Spanish folks there, but I sat with the two English speakers. Alana, has been traveling Europe for the last several months and speaks Spanish, which makes here a good person to know!

When the Jazz band started playing we were all pretty blown away. Apparently, the style of jazz they performed is commonly referred to as “Acid Jazz.” As in it sounds like the musicians took acid before they played. It was awful!! Oh, it was so bad. I made it through a song and a half before I had had enough. Alana and I left and told the group to call us when they were done. Alana knew of a cheap tapas bar in the area so we started walking. Only a few blocks away we found a small standing room only bar. By the way, I had passed by it on my wandering earlier that evening! Alana ordered us two small beers and they gave us a plate of tapas to go with. The beer was ok, but the tapas were delicious. We had ham and chorizo on bread, potatos with a hot sauce, and potato and cheese croquets. I had been starving and these hit the spot!

After eating we met back up with the rest of the group and headed to another Jazz club. This one was supposed to have better music. While waiting outside the club I chatted (in English) with the other members of our group. They were all very nice and tried to understand me, though their English was limited. Once in the club we stood around and chatted. I am watching my spending so that I can afford to wander Europe in August so I did not have anything to drink.

At 2am Alana and a couple others were leaving so I went with them. Apolo, a couchsurfer, offered to give me a ride to the bus station. I gladly accepted. The station was pretty far away and since the Metro stops running at midnight it would have taken some bus navigation to find my way. After midnight the buses to Tres Cantos stop running, save one. The one remaining running bus only comes every hour. So I waited at the bus station for about 40min before my bus came. It was packed with people heading home after a fun night out.

The ride back to Tres Cantos was pleasant and uneventful. As we got into Tres Cantos I started to wonder where this bus would take me. I wasn’t familiar with it’s route and I wanted to get as close to my neighborhood as I could. I asked the driver if he went near a street near my house. I really wish my Spanish was better. He tried to tell me something but I did not understand. He mentioned my street name and I knew it, but I did not know if he was saying we would go near it or if we were not going near it. He was very patient and tried to help, but I just didn’t understand. Luckily Tres Cantos isn’t that big, so if I got dropped off in town it would only be a couple mile walk home.

I don’t know how long we were driving for, but it seemed like a long time. Then suddenly I recognized where we were! I was so excited! The driver dropped me off and I thanked him several times and started my walk home. I still don’t know if where the driver dropped me is actually on his route or not. My bus map at home doesn’t show that that bus goes there, but either way I was grateful! My house was less then a mile down the street and I was home in no time.

Once home there wasn’t much for me to do. Usually I would have gotten online to chat with Flynn, Allison, and whoever else was online. But this wasn’t an option. So I did the next best thing, I watched a few wonderful episodes of Futurama and wrote this account. Not having the internet has been extremely difficult for me, but I think it has helped me realize that I may be a little too dependent on it. Perhaps this is the wake up call that I needed to help me step away from the screen and into Madrid. I don’t know if I will be able to (or will want to) stay away once I get the modem back, but at least I know. And knowing is half the battle. =)