the kindness of strangers

i spent the day waiting for my train to Belgium, i was slightly disappointed that i would not have more time there, but when i got Mechelen Belgium i made sure i would have enough time to sample a few local brews and there famous french fries. i would take Al´s french fries with cheese sauce any day however, there weren't mind blowing in the least. I was not able to eat any waffles but the beer was top notch. Not Budweiser but it was still good, none the less. i was nervous about my ride and i thought a few triples might do the trick, at least that's what i told myself to justify having a few relatively expensive beers. Geoffry met me three hours later at the bus stop in a Renault convertible. sick. So i hopped in and we spend down the road to his house, i showered and had some "bicky" flavored chips. i am not sure if Lays has done this in the states but they seem to have had compositions for new flavors all over the world and this was a winner. don't ask me what it tastes like but they were good. We spent a few hours waiting out the traffic before we got on the road. the trip would take 15 hours or so driving through the night. We took off at 9pm and picked up two other people who were also in need of a ride. Charlot and Braum in the back me and Geoffry in the front, it was a great crew in fact. They were all truly cool people. i did my best to stay up through the night but i dozed off a few times waking to find that i wasn't chained to a tree somewhere. Geoffry really helped me, he excepted no money for all his work and all the gas and having to put up with an American for so long. I cant thank you enough and even though he didn't know it at the time he left me at the right train station and one minute before the next train to Barcelona, it couldn't have been more perfect. Thanks a million, for not being a serial killer and taking me with you to Spain, it really saved me. I hope to repay the favor someday. Geoffry was a bowling enthusiast but has never seen the big lebowski haha, i told him he had to see it asap. I arrived in Barcelona and rang my friend Madelane, well friend, friend would be a strong word. We had met for less than a day the first week of my trip. its amazing that i had met her 9 months ago and here i was being welcomed into her home. She had a fantastic apartment with a great dude who was a graffiti artist and graphic designer and he loved reggae. he decided to quiz me with Anthony b, he would have to try harder than that for i had seen him live in concert more than twice and my at that point in time girl friend was almost raped on his tour bus, so yeah i know Anthony b. he tried harder and when i could name the tracks he selected, artist and song title he knew i was the real deal, a white guy who loved reggae. Now spending time with people you don't know in a place you don't know can be tiring. But i had a double bed pull out couch. let me repeat, a DOUBLE bed. After the last months of spending most of my sleeping time in singles attached to someone elses single this was like sleeping on gold. i slept diagonal just to soak up as much as i could of that bed before i was back to bunk beds. Madelena was out of work so had plenty of time to do stuff, we ate tapas and had beers in the sun, went to the beach and her friends where there, the three guys played volleyball as the girls tanned. it was a fantastic day with equally good weather. We left and had enough time to shower before heading to a dinner party, a dinner party that didn't start till 10:30 haha, Europeans. So i, not knowing anyone, ended up at this dinner party and had a fantastic time, She had a great group of Friends who had a lot of fun together you could tell. They spoke Portuguese, English, Spanish and Catalan. and only one of which i could understand so i was able to participate in about one forth of the conversation but it was enough for me. i told them i knew pig Latin but the joke was lost on them, i suppose the three stooges never made it to Spain. the next day we walked the city and had a dinner at her house for a few friends and that was great too. Great food and great beer, she bought Budweiser just for me. I did take one thing away from this time in Spain and that is that everyone seems to think that Americans walk around all day with a burger in there hand. haha. its true, the burger is a juicy, wonderful and amazing part of the American diet but not something i eat more than other things, certainly not every day or week i would say. but they seemed to think its at least one meal out of everyday that we gorge on burgers. i got a kick out of it for sure. part of my trip has been spent defending America, agreeing with some of our short comings and righting a lot of misconceptions. but i don't mind, its fun if you don't take it too personally. You just need to remember that they get there ideas about America life from Music and TV produced in the states so all i have to blame is ourselves really. Anyway i couldn't thank Madelana more, she really went out of her way for me truly, it was a fantastic three days in a fantastic city, one i know i will be visiting again someday. I took the train to Madrid it was a 9 hour train ride but the scenery was really wonderful. it actually looked a lot like new Mexico and parts of Arizona, the landscape anyway. i am now in Madrid which means i have one more day before i fly to south America. wow. I will be on the right side of the pond as home and with three months left its going to go by quickly. My money situations is good, i went slightly over my European budget but i am back to two meals a day and that will fix itself soon enough. i have a lot of pictures to show but they will have to wait. cant upload them at the moment. this past week had been marked again by the kindness of strangers, they are fantastic 90 percent of the time and these guys who drove me, housed me and fed me were really top notch people. i will try to emulate there generosity.