we both
seriously
need rest
we slept
we woke
we slept more
at around 11
i think
i crawled in bed with Leo
we just cuddled
tired
the thick blue shiny curtains keeping out the light
the double doors keeping out the sound
no.. the heavy shutters keeping out the sound and light!
the rolling shutter like they have in Stuttgart
there to keep out hail
here to keep out heat
i gather
the room is a cool dark cave
we get out of bed around noon
open
let the light in
look at maps
what are we going to do today?
stagger outside
have to leave the key at the desk, si
food food food
no
no food
just a coffee
ok
we go into a fancey little cafe on Hortaleza
Leo gets a coffee and pastry
my body can´t take anything like that now
i have fresh squeezed orange juice
i drink it really slowly
we sit and talk as he drinks and eats
looking at the people outside
the big glass window
looking in at us
such handsome men here
when Leo is done
i still have half my glass left
i down it and we head out
… the notice that the waiter had taped the menu the the window for the passers-by
upside down
we tell him
no spanish
he understands
and thanks us.
now where do we go?
i have the map
how about that Monastery first?
we amble down the big shopping street
cut off
and head to the monastery..
but it JUST closed about 15 minutes ago for Siesta
oh, sorry about that.
the square..
i get a bad feeling about the homeless people here
this city is strange..
we look down a shaded street
and see a steeple
and that´s … generally, the direction of the Cathedral
so we go there…
another old church
we go in
nice
small
ok
nothing as beautiful as compared to anything we´ve seen elsewhere
so we spend some time in there
Leo nodding his appreciation at a mass happening in a Chapel
then we head off
continuing on the street
a boy sitting on the corner
two cans of beer next to him
an angry look
his hand held out
we walk by and head up the street
almost every shop is church goods!
monstrances
vestments
crosses and tabernacles and eucharist boxes
geeze
Leo is loving it
i´m still having a little trouble stomaching all the dead guy stuff
mmmm, dead guy
roasted
hmmm
we break free of that street
and head to the Plaza Mayor
which isn´t really all that beautiful
and is obviously the tourist place
though i am pretty hungry now
we’re certainly not going to eat here.
where’s the cathedral?
we walk down the street
is that it?
no…
Ah, there it is
huge
looming..
ok
we cross the street
take the steps up
past the beggars
and into the church..
it´s huge
i think it´s the largest height roof i´ve seen yet
but it´s very bland
maybe a hundred years old
probably not that old
not really very interesting
bland
i have to pee
so i let Leo look around
and i run around looking for a toilet
none in there
so i go outside
none right around
i go down the street towards the park
but nothing there
just straight dutch people talking with eachother…
have i ever seen straight dutch people before?
it seems a shame
straight dutch people
they look so… odd…
tight…
their language
even that isn´t as fun as i usually enjoy hearing it
hmmm
but i can´t pee here
because they´re here
otherwise
i could just let go in the grass
ok
fine
i go back up to the cathedral
and notice the palace beyond
OK
i go in
toilets
yes!
but they are behind the entrance plaza..
i don´t have to pay
but they give me a ticket
… and i have to go through security.
so i take off my belt
my jacket
my camera
argh!
put it through the x-ray
and run into the toilets
Thank You.
so
i´m inside
maybe i should look around?
i walk out into the courtyard
i can’t help it: i´m just not interested.
so i head down
back out
and Leo calls me
.. i answer and tell him to meet me outside
in a minute
and when we meet
he tells me how utterly boring that cathedral was
liked one altar piece…
and what shall we do now?
i look at the map
and we head up
toward the opera
maybe one of these buildings is the Turkish Embassy?
i need to get my visa…
don´t see it
they all look like embassies, though..
we head down the street to another small plaza
and there is turkish food here…
not the embassy
but i´m hungry
and Leo agrees to eat here.
unfortunately
it´s bad gyros
super processed
not so tasty.
there are good kebaps.. and not so good ones
this missed the mark.
but we have our falafel and showarma and beer
and decide to head to the sauna Principe
it is not shown on the new gay map
though the address is different than the Spartacus address
we assume it´s in the same area: on Principe street..
we walk down a road
into the Puerta del Sol
big square thing.. all under construction
through that
past The House Of Pork!
though it´s called something in spanish
amazing
huge pieces of dried pig hanging from the cieling everywhere
gleaming glories of sausage in the window
hm..
get to principe
and .. .the sauna is not there anymore..
so where is this new address?
it´s probably just small side street
we walk around and around looking for it
no sauna
but beautiful
beautiful beards
beautiful eyes
bellies
hmm
when we find that suana
i´m sure we´re into for a wonderful feast
but where the fuck is it?
we ask people
look at maps.
No.
mmm
ok.
i remember passing an internet cafe
so we walk back
find the internet
i look up the address on line
and
Ah,
it´s just north of where we ate the mediocre Kebap
Ah.
damn.
s´ok.
we walk
back through the Puerta del Sol
this time up a different street
past the big statue of the bear eating the madrona berries
north of Gran Via
we have to find San Bernardo
and there it is
but i get distracted and get us lost in a maze of chinatown streets
that´s not what we want.
grrr..
we head back to San Bernardo
but now that´s another big street
it takes me a while to get oriented again
and then we to
Terrazata de Beatas
donde esta?
there is a Terrazata
and it´s a million stairs heading up
Leo doesn´t like stairs
so we go up the hill round the back
and i tell him to wait for me in the square while i scout ahead
so he doesn´t have to walk up hill so much if he doesn´t have to
he´s tired
he´s ok with that
so we do.
and yes
this is it!
i´ve found it!
a little yellow sign poking out into the street saying
“Principe”
i go back and fetch Leo
and we go in..
not expensive
nice hot sauna
showers
large hot steam room
there is this lecherous old man
desicated from meds
and constaly grabbing at me and pushing at me
i have to dodge him over and over again
and the first guy i touch in the steam room
he´s kinda like a mexican
but much too pushy for me right now
Slow Down, boys…
it´s all kinda a blur
i know i played with someone
i forgot who
i forgot everything about it
did he take a piece of my mind?
did i lose my life
snatched in some lechery i wasn´t aware of?
then i saw this big bear that i thought was hot
and familiar
somehow
through eye-glancing
and suggestion
we got eachother in a room
and played a while
he really liked my butt
and i liked everything about him
he was just working to make me cum
letting me enjoy the ride
but clear where he was going
upon destination
we tried to talk with eachother in bad spanish
then realized he was from London, and i..
we´ll
we’d been talking on line years ago
so we chatted for a while
talked about things
seems he´s a conesseur of saunas
when i told him my travel plans
he told me all the great saunas to go to..
and saunas are OK
but really i´ve only been going to them with Leo..
they aren´t my thing…
right?
i tell him i´m going to Turkey
he says it´s a waste of time
no good sauanas there…
.. hopefully there´s something more interesting in Turkey than saunas..
i don´t know
we play a bit more
then separate
out on the hunt again
i see a big man that look almost egyptian or something..
i go and sit with Leo for a while and talk in the bar
drink some water
a pitcher of water out for us to drink
good..
but i can´t sit with him long
apparently he´s had plenty of fun and just needs to rest
but i want that egyptian guy
i go and find him
he´s interested
so we go into a cabin
and he´s just a big bodied latin male
and he´s very forceful
and he does his thing
it´s nice to watch in the mirror
and when he cums
it´s over
and he´s gone
well
ok then.
i walk out of there
and see this old guy
he smiles at me
and take me into his room
a much bigger cock than the much bigger body guy
who was not egyptian, just spanish from Toledo..
this daddy
probably in his late 60s
he just wants me to suck his dick
which is very nice
and i take him to the edge a few times
before sliding down that water fall with him
it´s nice
and he enjoys how much i´m enjoying his body
licking him all over
he tells me he needs a little rest
then wants to go again
ok
i´m gonna go get some water
but i walk out the door
and am pulled into another cabin immediately by a shaved-face very furry daddy
thick corse fur
he´s italian and spanish
he speaks no english
but he tells me that we are friends..
can we be friends?
just me and him?
yeah, i guess so
we play
but he doesn´t want to cum..
he takes me out of there
into the steam room
apparently
just to show off
because he wants to have sex with me there
but not let me touch or be touched by anyone else
not even look at anyone else
ok
this is annoying
he wants all my attention
what´s his birthday?
oh, he´s a Leo! how nice..
fuck you.
i leave
and he tracks me down
convinces me to go to another room with him
and i do
but he doesn´t want to cum
he just wants to monopolize my time
and he tells me i must spend the evening with him
which i tell him is impossible
it´s my last night with my friend who´s leaving tomorrow
no, he says
you must spend the night with me
at that
i leave him
and tell him to fuck off
i take a shower
and then see the old man i played with earlier getting ready to leave
asks if i will go again with him
oh yes!
fun
not posession, thanks
so we go back
and have another good ole time
(grin)
then i´m ready to go
so i head to the sauna and spend some time sweating
stretching
resting
cold shower
and go to find Leo
who´s talking with some fascinating syphony conductor
yes yes
ok
i´ll wait a while
they get another beer
so i wait
while the posessive italian guy keeps trying to convince me to go with his hot self
(fuck you)
pursing his lips at me
swaying his head
smiling
No.
i leave the bar
and go to get dressed
tell Leo i will meet him outside
breathe the air..
and try and figure out how to set up my Movistar voicemail..
change the language to english and get it sorted
walk down the street
and then Leo is there..
We head out
back to San Bernardo
and towards Gran Via
i´m starving for electrolytes again
so we stop into a little shop…
just a juice
and some water
and the girl at the desk is flipping the fuck out
she´s going crazy at this british kid
simple misunderstanding
but apparently
she´d had enough all day
she´d going nuts
and Leo is taken aback
we´re both just wishing we could get throug there fast
i try and facilitate by offering change
but she´s just rushing and pushing
Leo says
“she reminds me of Bridget”
oh come now
we walk down the street
and i look up a the sky
You know what´s going on with her, Leo?
it´s her Period
new moon
gotta have compassion for the girls
she should be home sleeping
or in a forest chilling out
not having to deal with stupid people
but yeah
freaked out..
we walk down the street
and i notice this really beautiful man
with long hair a big bushy beard
Leo
how come i never see men like that in america?
unless they´re crazy homeless people..
or Nayland…
he does look a lot like Nayland´s current look
clothes are a bit more on the conservative side
my eyes stay on him
and as we come to a phone booth
he turns quickly on it
sticks his fingers in the change slot
then screams at it
and starts banging the receiver up and down
Oh.
He IS a crazy homeless guy.
well, ok.
we head back towards the hotel
get some warmer clothes on
and head out to the restaurant that J recommended to me earlier today
gave me vague directions
but i think i can find it
we walk down Infantes
and up Liberdad..
but where from here?
now his directions fail
and Leo and i split up
looking for the restaurant that “obviously serves Galician food”
nothing in site…
maybe we´ll walk down that block one block further?
ok, maybe just to that next place, yeah..
and there it is
probably…
J told us the guy who ran the place looked like a Farmer
which was enough of a reccomendation for me.
and it was
there was a big table of guys in there
otherwise empty
we got a table against the wall in the corner
and the waitress (wife?) spoke no english
what is this meat? this fish?
she gives us a food translation card
ah…
Leo asks what that dish is
she brings out a Huge chunk of meat
oh oh oh
OK he´ll get that
it´s Veal.
i get Cordero
we get wine.
it’s good
we share
we talk
but Leo wanted to have The Conversation About Us here
thinking it would be a quiet restaurant
but another table of business men have come in
and both of the tables have had enough drink
now they are very loud
so we just chat
eat
and go
walking back through the Chueca square
lots of kids out drinking and talking in the cool night air
we decide we´ll have a night-cap at the HOT bar we´d been told about last night
so we walk back down to Infantes
and head in…
what´s that?
they´re playing Pulp´s last album
all the way through
we drink strong whiskeys
Leo´s Friedel is there from last night
and there are some incredibly cute bear dolls by the window
incredibly cute!
i took a picture
but it´s just a blur
one kinds reminds me of Urso..
it´s the glasses
it´s the transformation of quiet nerd boy
into the hottest most adorable bear
… well, to look at..
that mouth! those glasses!
that thick beard
stocky body
so so cute…
and his friend is even shorter than he
tatoos all over
different beard, more like mine
but short, of course
we smile and wave at eachother
Hello..
drink drink
Pulp is playing
i´m dancing
i´m so happy
somehow
Madrid has escaped from what most gay bars everywhere suffer from:
Diana Ross (or is it Summers? or both?) and the Village People
they aren´t playing some corporate blend of pop hits from the 70´s and 80´s
they have real people with CDs
playing music they like
it´s so nice.
and these men are beautiful..
and look
over there
is that posessive daddy from the sauna
fuck him anyway
he smiles
as he comes up from the dark room down stairs
tht´s right, buddy
i hug Leo
and i´m glad he´s with me.
but that´s enough
it´s 1am
and Leo´s gotta catch his shuttle at 4am…
so we head back to the Hostal…
on the way back
there is a girl on the street corner
selling beer, i guess
and candy bars?
maybe cigarettes
i wave at herr
Bueno Noches
she echos back in her quiet small voice
and a smile..
up in the room
i had downloaded the South Park episode about The Return of Chef
coz i had read about it in Nayland´s journal
so i tell Leo we have to watch it together…
we do
and we´re both laughing
and shocked
which is good
what the fuck?
i´m glad there are people like that in the world…
making that shit..
then Leo and i cuddle up
and we have our Conversation
what to say
it always comes back to the same thing
i have my understandings about things
my understandings are always fixed and closed
but they do grow
slowly
we just communicate
mercury being direct again
it works better
he lets me know how he feels
as do i
and we hold eachother a while
now it´s 2
so i let him sleep
while i sort through the photos
and burn him three CDs of all the photos i took on the trip with him
i intented to finish writing about our trip
and get a .pdf LJbook of it
but i didn´t have time for that
and the LJbook server was having trouble anyway
but it was nice to sit there on my computer
so fucking tired
but trying to do stuff for him..
while he lay there
snoring
last time i´d hear him snoring for a while..
i woke Leo at 3
and he got ready
continued…