December autobombo extravaganza!

This month features my written work in three different places: first, in the totally free monthly English-language magazine InMadrid, where I have a piece about getting your hands on organic fruit and veg in Madrid on page 18 (pdf); second, in the not free (and somewhat difficult to find) Inside Spain, where I describe Spanish eating and drinking traditions at Christmas (pdf here); and, third, in December’s Condé Nast Traveler, where I have a very short piece about president-elect Barack Obama’s celebrity supporters (this one is in Spanish).

You can pick up a copy of InMadrid at any guiri-friendly establishment in this fine city; there’s also a list here. Your best bet for finding Inside Spain is to go to one of the places on this list. And Condé Nast Traveler can be found at most kiosks and all VIPS (this last location is recommended because you can pick the mag up and read as much as you want without buying it).

Lisboa in Condé Nast Traveler

Another piece of mine appears in this month’s Condé Nast Traveler. June’s issue features Lisboa on the cover and my write-up of some not-to-miss spots in the city at about the halfway mark. You’ll find the piece among the folds of a Canon ad, to the left of a map of the city.

Summer ends

Well, not quite, but just about. How can I tell summer’s ending? First of all, I’m back to my old habits. Excuse my absence on the blog, but I had a virtually internet-less summer (which, I can tell you, is a healthy break–try it some time). But now I’m back and slowly but surely I should be updating things around this place. Second of all, last night I baked. Oh glorious ovens, where have you been all summer? I made these and it was like flour and sugar and I had never been apart. A very simple recipe and highly recommended. Baked goods like these just don’t exist in the cafeteria of a monastery or on the hornillo at your campsite.

Comunión

I shot this photo on Sunday, May 27th on the beach at Sabinillas (map). The girl came walking very decidedly across the beach and stopped at the water’s edge. She was alone. We could only assume it was the day of her communion, though she looked a bit like a bride.

Road safety

April 23 through 29 is United Nations Global Road Safety Week. I discovered this when passing my local government offices in Moncloa and seeing the above life-size model outside. People stopped to check it out, and I’m sure it made all of them think, just a little bit. I hope you do too.

Semana Santa on the highway

For the past several years the Spanish government has mounted a huge traffic safety campaign for the Easter holidays. Between Miércoles y Jueves Santo (the Wednesday and Thursday before Easter Sunday) there are more cars on the road than at any other time of the year in Spain, which produces, as you can imagine, a good number of accidents.

I remember being completely shocked a year ago when, just starting a week-long road trip, my boyfriend and I were greeted on the highway by computerized signs reading, “Más de 100 personas morirán en la carretera durante esta Semana Santa (More than 100 people will die on the highway during this year’s Holy Week).” Chills ran up my spine. Holy crap, I thought aloud, that’s really morbid. My boyfriend shrugged. “That’s the point,” he said.

Basically, the Dirección General de Tráfico is looking to scare people into being careful on Spanish highways. This year’s campaign theme was “Hay muchas razones para no matarte en Semana Santa. Elige la tuya y hazlo (There are many reasons not to kill yourself in Holy Week. Choose yours and do it).” The reasons in the ads range from “Because you dig a girl at work” to “For your mom’s croquetas” and “To not break your head open on the asphalt.” The signs we saw on the highway this year included “110 people dead in Semana Santa 2006,” “Lo importante es volver (The important thing is to return),” “¿Tienes prisa? (In a hurry?).”

Vamos, enough to make you think a little.

But is it working? The DGT’s press releases show that for the past ten years, the number of deaths caused by accidents on the highway have exceeded 100. The hope was that for this year the number would be less than 100, in part because of the implementation last summer of the carné por puntos or driver’s license points. Every driver with a Spanish license is allotted 12 points, which he or she loses by committing traffic infractions. If you lose them all, you lose your license.

This year there were 106 deaths, just four less than last year.

What does this mean? That Spaniards are just dangerous drivers? I don’t know. But this year, the victims came closer to home: two were the parents of a good friend. The figures may look just like numbers, but when you think that every one of those was a life, the numbers start to look a little different.

Winter color

Wintry weekend

In light of the fact that a number of people sent me this week’s New York Times Travel section’s 36 Hours: Madrid, I thought I’d share with you my own 48 hours in the city.

Friday

14 hrs
1) LUNCH IN THE ‘HOOD

There’s nothing better than discovering a new and different place to eat in your own neighborhood. I’d walked by Raíces del Mundo (“Roots of the World”) a number of times before a friend suggested that we eat there. Raíces is a restaurant and fair trade store where you can also take world dance classes or see a show on weekend nights. A rare find in my very Madrileño neighborhood! With the 8-euro menú, we each had a salad from a different place in the world (the New Zealand contained kiwi, soy bean sprouts, lettuce, and a yogurt dressing), a tapa (like a Chilean empanada or a Mexican enchilada), and a drink. The food is good and a welcome change from typical Spanish fare. (An added bonus is that it’s around the corner from my school–great for the days when you just can’t stomach the thought of food from the comedor.)

16 hrs
2) SPANISH HISTORY LESSON

Wandering through the eclectic Conde Duque neighborhood (just south of my own) en route to buy movie tickets for later in the night, we decided to stop and check out an exhibit at the Centro Cultural Conde Duque. The exhibit, Misiones Pedagógicas (1931-1936), is both eye-opening and well-executed. The so-called Pedagogic Missions, carried out in the pre-Spanish Civil War era of the Segunda República, were destined to bring culture (in the form of art, film, literature) to small villages throughout the interior of the country. The highlights are photographs of villagers completely entranced by Charlie Chaplin’s silent movies, copies of art from the Prado, and books from the traveling library. In a documentary about the project, an elderly woman recounts a memory of her work as a missionary: “When I arrived, the villagers shouted, ‘Communist! Communist! Communist! When are you going to bring the movies?’” For me it was fascinating to learn about this facet of the Second Republic, the most progressive era in Spanish history–too progressive, perhaps, considering the ensuing war and dictatorship.

20 hrs
3) A MEAL AT ANY HOUR

Forget worrying about strange Spanish dining times: at Cervecería 100 Montaditos you can eat a delicious and cheap meal for under 5 euros at nearly any time of the day or night. This chain is sort of like a Spanish version of fast food: beer, wine, and olives appear on the menu along with 100 “montaditos”–tiny baguette sandwiches filled with everything from jamón ibérico con tomate natural to smoked salmon and cream cheese (salmon ahumado con queso Philadelphia). Almost everything on the menu (it’s like a chit–you check the sandwiches and drinks you’d like, bring it to the counter, and they call you when it’s ready) costs 1 euro, making it a very economical place to eat. We had dinner at the branch in La Latina with a friend who wanted to eat something before an evening flight.

21.30 hrs
4) THE SECRET GARDEN

On a night that was positively chilly–temperatures below freezing with an unbelievable amount of wind–we wandered into El Jardín Secreto (C/ Conde Duque 2) for something warm before seeing a late movie. Normally, this place is so packed on weekends that you have to reserve, but luck was on our side. Everything on the menu (hot chocolates, teas, shakes, cocktails, desserts) looked so good, we had trouble deciding. After enjoying a Persian chocolate and an “Orient Express” tea, we hurried across the street to the movie theater.

23 hrs
5) SPANISH CINEMA

It’s been quite a year for Spanish film. Penelope Cruz is the first Spanish actress in history to be nominated for best actress at the Oscars. But Volver didn’t make it into the best foreign language film category–a different movie did. Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-nominated Laberinto del Fauno is still playing at Cines Princesa in the Plaza de los Cubos (just north of Plaza de España). I highly recommend it.

Saturday

12 hrs
6) GET OUT OF TOWN!

One of the best things about Madrid is the ease of leaving it for the day. Since it decided to snow everywhere in Spain besides Madrid this weekend, we decided we couldn’t miss seeing it. Our destination was the walled city of Avila, best known for being the home of the mystic Santa Teresa, an hour and a half northwest of Madrid. The snowy Sierra de Guadarrama came into view almost as quickly as we got going on the A-6 highway. As we climbed to a pass in the sierra, the temperature dropped to -4 degrees Celsius (it had been 7 degrees C in Madrid) and, descending the other side, trees were laden with half a foot of snow. In Avila the temperature was -2 and the streets were still snowy. We wandered around inside the walls, enjoying the frigid but sunny day, and ate a bocadillo on a bench outside St. Teresa’s convent. We made sure to try the famed yemas de Santa Teresa (candied egg yolks) before heading back to Madrid.

21 hrs
7) DINNER FOR TWO

Madrid is full of fantastic and varied places to eat, but sometimes there’s nothing better than a homecooked meal. For under 20 euros at the neighborhood supermarket, we made a feast of fresh ravioli with a hearty homemade tomato sauce, garlic bread, salad, a nice Rioja, and even ice cream. Cheers to that.

Sunday

12 hrs
8) ART FOR ALL

Though I’d considered joining the crowds at the Rastro (Madrid’s amazingly enormous Sunday flea market), some friends convinced me to do it indoors at the Reina Sofia. So we ogled Picasso’s Guernica, cubism, and surrealism alongside the hordes–the museum’s free until closing at 14.30 hours. An unexpected discovery was a room on the 2nd floor with photographs of Madrid during the Civil War (which I swear were a new addition!).

2.15 hrs
9) FOOD WITH A VIEW

With a group of Casa Granada novices in tow, I returned to my beloved Sunday lunch place. We were a big group and luckily arrived just in time to beat the rush. Just as we sat down, hordes of people started piling into the rooftop dining room. We ordered a series of delicious raciones and enjoyed the relaxed and smoke-free (!) ambiente. The views across the southern sprawl of Madrid will never cease to amaze me.

I’m baaaack

Now that took a while. Updating the ol’ blog has been on my to-do list since I returned from the States nearly two weeks ago. Looks like it took spraining my ankle to change the tone of my weekend from skiing (indoors), parties, cleaning, and organizing to sitting at my computer with a bag of frozen green beans strapped to my ankle.

As for the lottery, we didn’t win. We did, however, get reimbursed for the second number that several of us bought because it shared the same last digit as the winning number. Better than nothing.