this precious life.

when our train reached madrid late in the evening, it was cold, windy and definitely winter. as had become normal, we walked for a couple miles before reaching our hostel... but this time it was all up hill! gahh! i had no idea madrid was so hilly! we were again staying close to the city center which was a great decision since we walked everywhere. for some reason i always had it in my head that madrid was this exotic, semi-tropical place... but i think i mixed it up with the coastal cities like barcelona, valencia & marbella. even in warmer months, madrid is very much a business metropolitan with lots of sophisticated culture, government buildings and a million jamon (ham) shops.  the next morning i was in the lobby of our hostel cupping my second mug of tea, waiting for my now daily fever to break, when a man and his wife sat down near me and struck up conversation. it turned out that he was american and she was european but they lived in san juan, puerto rico. he was a ...