as happens
we slept in
even later
even later than before.
woke around 10
and were so sluggish about getting out
that we skipped eating anything entirely
last day in the city
gotta catch a train at 13:36
or something
so we were driven
Leo had some shopping to do
and wanted to attend mass
.. i wanted to walk through the park
and see if i had found anything for Madrid.
we walked to the main square together
and separated there
i walked down a street i’d never taken
and
wouldn’t ya know it
there was a coffee shop with free WiFi right around the corner!
(grrrrr)
no bother
i walked on
enjoying seeing the back of the town for the first time
the valley falling down
the beauty..
i walked up to the top of the hill
some old monastery of some sort
a huge boulder with a body polished into it
trees.
and the cathedral looming over everything
(from a distance)
nice
i took lots of pictures
the trees in bloom
the vines
the peeling walls
walked around the park
then back into the city
up the already familiar streets
to sit at the terminal
and…
get not much in return.
i guess i’m no spring chicken anymore
after the internet
it was raining
and raining very hard
i found
that the streets are so narrow here
that if i walked against the wall
i didn’t get wet
natural rain protection
rivers pouring down the old stone
i got back to the hotel… not drenched
met up with Leo
and he was in a panic
rushing
i kinda ignored it
went and got some Tuna Empanada
and threw my stuff in the cab
rushing
to get to the station
to wait and wait for the train
water dripping through the ceiling on me and my bag
no one cruising in the toilets
i put on my ipod
and walked up and down the platform
enjoying the cute men
the city all around…
the train was more modern than the ones we’ve had in spain so far
we settled in next to eachother
and ate our empanada
then had some chocolate
some wine
savouring
sharing with eachother
and i read “Death in Venice” to Leo
almost right in his ear
silly
such a pedantic writer
so obsessive
i wonder if other passengers could hear and understand?
i took lots of pictures of us in the window
really enjoying the distortion of the double glazing
feeling bored
feeling restless…
couldn’t really sleep well this time
wrote for a while
til the battery died
no plugs like those good german trains…
When we got into Madrid
we were tired
and i was tired of being tired with Leo
cranky
where’s the fucking Metro?
no where…
did the Metro get blown up around here?
and they still haven’t fixed it?
how the hell do we get to where we’re going?
we walked around and around
looking at maps
but there’s a metro
and commuter rail
and i couldn’t figure it out
eventually
we gave up
and took a Taxi
(there was this cute chubby red bearded hippy kid eating a sandwich, sitting on the ground… i’m not generally into hippy kids… but i love the red haired ones for some reason… we smiled at eachother)
the taxi ride made Madrid look horrible.
just horrible.
really. horrible.
like an american city.
we were silent.
tired.
when we got to our street
it was more interesting
all the crap shops, of course
but graffiti everywhere
yeah
the meter said 9 bucks
but the lady charged us 19
i could understand that… and “surplus” but the rest of what she said was too rattled for me to get it.
Leo paid.
we were supposed to stop here to get the keys to an apartment we had booked on line…
but we didn’t want to have to walk anymore
so we just got a room at the Hostal
cheaper anyway
and Leo
the dear
bought me two extra nights after he left
put it on his card
so i could just rest a bit
and free internet here
of course
couldn’t get a signal to it from my bed
but there was an open network from someone else that worked just fine
i tapped in
and off we went to find something to eat.
on our little map we saw a bar called “Bear’s Bar”
not creative, but clear
we stopped in.
the music was pretty good
not common, but 80’s british pop music
two really hot bears talking to eachother
one was a Friedel
eyeing Leo
crap beer
but ok
eventually
the bartender asked us where we were from
… He’s British. From London
we had a nice little chat
he explained that up til midnight
for every beer you buy you get two
which is about right
seeing that the beers were twice the price of other places we’ve been…
so we had our two beers.
pretty empty bar.
not much going on.
but nice.
we talked with the bloke for a while
i asked him about a place to eat
and he told us a place all the bears went, right around the block
cheap and good.
alright!
we headed out
smoky
cluttered
small
and
Terrible.
the worst food we’ve had on this entire trip
Leo scolded me for asking a British person about “good food”
a strange short … what? tranny? draggish?
i don’t know
very campy, a bit of make up
but in guy’s clothes
he demanded attention and respect
yes honey
but we got out of there as quickly as well could
(even the wine tasted like it was cut with grape juice…)
then went back to that same bar
and told him so
… he seemed genuinely shocked that we didn’t like it…
he told us about the other bars
the most cruisy
a place called “leatherbar”
which wasn’t really a leather bar, but the name stuck
another called “HOT” was a bear bar with cruising…
we decided for that the next night
and took off to Leatherbar
yeah
not too many people at the bar
but the back room was crawling
a downstairs
lots of dancing
you know
people grabbing
but not committing
and back upstairs
there was a beautiful artist type
long hair, shaved face
i let him take me back in a cabin
but we understood the attraction we had for eachother wasn’t sexual
and when he couldn’t speak english
it was over with hugs, kisses and appreciation
then i walked into the dark room
a black boy had me on my knees for a while
vomited a bit
but he just loved it
going going
some other cute bear boy wanted some time in my mouth
but he kept moving my hand back to his butt
i stood up
licking his nips
some other guy on his cock
he grabbed my dick and put it against his ass
pushed back on me
i rubbed his belly
let him ride
til he shot
hot ropes in my fingers
i kissed him in the dark
all these bodies in the dark
i felt disassociated
and fled
enough beer
enough disconnect
Leo was tired
sitting on the steps
waiting for me
i was so drunkish
i got us back to our street
but missed the door
we found it together
and got up stairs with not too much trouble
though they wouldn’t just open the door
we had to try and convince them.. in spanish, that we were staying there
up in the room
Leo passed out pretty quick
and i got on the computer
so happy to have it connected again
i got on Skype
and called my mom
she was happy to hear from me
called Eli
had the talk with him
he called my life “cliche”
which made sense when he said it
then just started to hurt
a part of me connected to my friends
dying off
i called Arthur
didn’t get through
called Nayland
nope.
so i played around on line a while longer
another hour or so
til i was wound down
and it was sometime around 4
then
even i
slept.