Walk It Out

we have so much catching up to do its crazy. as Samuell L. Jackson so famously said in one of my all time favorite movies (you have to guess which one!): "Hold on to your butts."

first things first. may i present to you: The Walk of Shame. or, The Long Walk Home. or, Why, In the Name of Everything That is Holy, Do You Live So Far From Madrid?? enjoy.

Metro Norte is where we begin our journey. Hospital del Norte is the name of this stop, and if you are guapa enough, you do not have to pay for your ticket. suckas.

walking, walking, walking. elapsed time is about 2 minutes so far. see that red sign off in the distance? thats where we are going.

the red sign is getting closer... but this hill just keeps getting longer and longer.

we made it! now we're almost half way home. elapsed time: 12 minutes.

now we get to walk on the side of the highway for a good while. it makes me feel like a vagrant, which is kind of fun, i suppose.

oh look: a metal fence that is right in the middle of where i need to walk. what do i do? crawl under the fence of course. this usually means doing the splits, but most of the time the ground is fairly muddy, so that helps a bit. thanks, mud, for making this hellacious walk that much better.

at this point in our journey, dear readers, i look to my left and see a man peeing in the woods about 10 feet away from me. unfortunately for me, he does not have his back to me, and, even more unfortunately, i am wearing my glasses, so i get a pretty clear view of exactly how everything is going down. i begin to pick up the pace a bit for fear that this man would come after me because he thinks i am taking inappropriate pictures of him. and by pick up the pace, i mean i am in a dead run. at least this means i will get home faster... elapsed time: 22 minutes.

that green bus is the one i take to get to Madrid. we just passed my bus stop (bus stop = patch of dirt), and if you cant tell by the photograph, i am still running, but now i have to duck, too, so i dont hit my head on those low hanging tree branches. what an adventure.

still moving relatively fast. elapsed time: 25 minutes.

hallelujah, ive finally made it to my neighborhood. but we're still a good 8 minutes from home, and this hill seems like it goes on forever. its not so much that its incredibly steep or anything, it just s l o w l y inclines in such a way that by the end of it youre sucked dry of all resolve and have lost the will to live. that kind of hill.

at the top of the hill and begging for death.

i really do live in a beautiful area, but at this point of the walk, i hate everything and my knees feel like they are about to fall off.

getting closer...at this point i am dragging myself along the ground, gasping for breath...

nearly... there...

thank You, Jesus, im home. elapsed time: 33 minutes.

this walk can be pretty miserable, especially when its cold outside, and i have made it once in the dark, but i hope you can see the humor in my words here and not just my silly complaints. i am in Spain, and i love it here, and a 3o minute walk every once in a while is not going to kill me (although my tendonitis strongly disagrees).

thank You, Jesus, that i have legs that work and an Ipod shuffle and the weather here has been beautiful and i live in a gorgeous neighborhood near the mountains and i get exercise every day and i have time to think and my eyes have been opened to the beauty of creation and i am in Spain.

happy walking, everyone.