Sorry for the delay..
Best Modes of Pizzle Transportation: well this is a tie. The backpack and the stroller both worked great and served useful purposes. The backpack allowed us to travel through the throngs of people with the Pizz. The stroller gave her comfort.
Interesting Notes on Pizzle Transportation: the populace were surprised by the Cuteness in the Backpack... By the looks of their faces, they didn't know what to make of it.
Sponsored by Maclaren: Seriously. Everywhere we looked and walked there were people with Maclaren's. All shapes and sizes. One seaters. Two seaters. One seaters with a back step for the older kid. Strollers with all-terrain wheels. Aerodynamic strollers. Strollers with sidecars (seriously!) I don't think we have ever seen more strollers in one town than ever before!
Ahhh, the Food!: Simply awesome. I mean bar after bar with yummy tapas and pinchos... ah the ham... ah the ham... ahhhh
Oh, and the Pizz's Food! When we packed for the Pizzle, we brought saches of formula and packages of premade food. However we had Ita purchase some powdered rice pudding. But in Espana, there is no simple rice puddling. They "added" several ingredients, including vanilla. Once day, I tried it myself... and almost ate the whole bowl!!!
Changing Time Zones with the Pizz: She actually did pretty well with changing times. She converted seamlessly, without cry. She was probably aided by the Spanish lifestyle.
Ahhh the Spanish lifestyle: Pure awesomeness! I mean where else is it expected to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. Businesses even follow this too! Fabulous. Also, everyone goes out and walks, taking their kids, and Maclarens, with them. Bar to bar to bar... drinking and eating... ahhh lovely.... until 10-11pm... (then the old people have to go home!)
The Sobering Knowledge of Our Advancing Age: The Maine and I couldn't do it. We simply couldn't booze it up all night. It wasn't because we were worried about the Pizzle. Nope. We just didn't have it anymore. The first day of the festival, we started drinking at noon. By 3 pm, we were drunk, tired, and hungry. We had to walk home... the walk of shame at 3pm in the afternoon... alas... The prescription for our malaise... naps! and lots of them!
Arrrgh the Spanish Lifestyle: Seems that with our advancing age, the yummy Spanish diet (rich in jamon, queso, chistorra, and chorizo) and washed down with cerveza and/or vino did some serious tap dancing on our stomachs. I have never experienced GERD as bad as those days... whew! I even had to hit Ita's stockpile of Nexium to get through! I might as well apply for my AARP card right now...
Spanish Livin' with La Pizz: well, this was pretty easy. Entrusted with a nice Maclaren, we fit right in. We pushed her all around town. On the bus. In the stroller. Morning. Afternoon. Night. La Pizz (her new Spanish rap name... or loosely translated to english: the pencil!) was all bout it bout it! Best part was cold chillin in a bar around 8pm with the parents (well, as cold chillin as you can get), with La Pizz tucked in her stroller. Nice. We were proud proud padres for this one. Especially when she subsequently fell asleep. We can take this chica anywhere!
La Fiestas con La Pizz: This one got sort of tricky sometimes. Especially on the "opening festivities" when we tried to get out of the square. It was a river of humanity. Unfortunately, La Pizz was being carried by Maine, who held up quite well. We all got separated, and somehow made it through to the other side unscathed. Whew!!! Otherwise, La Pizz just loved it. She was usually strapped to either of our backs, and just gawked at everyone, and passed out Mucha Cuteness (of course)
The Revenge of the El Diaper Rash: One of our command decisions before the trip was to go with all disposable diapers. Overall it was going to be sooooo much easier to use them, instead of the G-Diapers. Screw the Earth- we're going on vacation!!! was my motto. But realistically there was absolutely no way I was going to carry cloth diapers covered in babyboo across the pond. Somehow I don't think that would have made it through customs. Whew! Anyway, one of the unfortunate byproducts of us going "brown" was that the Pizz got a royal mother of diaper rash. I mean it really hurt me to look at it. Every diaper change I kept layering on the white goup after the shock of seeing her red bottom. There were a couple of times when we just left her bucknekkid to air out the old tushy. I was always skeptical about these G-diapers, but when La Pizz came back and started wearing cloth again.... wahlah! butt back to normal. Seriously. I'm green.
The Reason Why I Love America (Part 1): Air conditioning! Wow!!! I guess the Spaniard are used to more cooler climates, but damn people, how about ponying up for some AC!!! It got unbearably hot for a couple of days. (Which was a little tough for me to decipher.... this whole Celsius thing... They were giving numbers of 38s for couple of predictions... I couldn't remember how to convert, but I did remember that 37 is a fever and outdoor fevers cannot be good. Holy cow! There were moments when I just wanted to walk around in my TW's. Thankfully, for the sake of my wife and my parents, I decided against it. Wow!
The Reason Why I Love America (Part 2): TV! Spanish broadcast TV is horrible. Seriously. There is only like 6 channels. They don't show important sporting events (unless it's Spain). They're news is utterly ridiculous (although you could probably argue this one point to a draw). My favorite memory of Spanish TV is actually a tie: 1) the in depth reporting of Pulpo Paul and his "amazing" ability to pick the World Cup winner. Seriously. This squid has like 2 brain cells rubbing together, and all he wants to do is get a clam out of a box. He cannot tell that the box is covered in the Spanish flag. He doesn't know where Spain is. Heck he doesn't even know what a flag is! Come on! I think they might have even questioned the Prime Minister about PP too. Whew! 2) the in depth interview with the grandparents of Andres Iniesta (a soccer player for the Spanish side, who actually scored the winning goal). But this was before he scored it. It was pretty bad... 2 old ladies and a dude. (Editors note: Spaniards are a lovely people. In fact they are some of the hottest people that I have ever seen. And this is not biased by my genetic makeup.... wink... But when the ones that live in the villages age, whew! they age hard!) This was not Must See TV! I was flabbergasted that this would be on national TV. I can only imagine the press these old people had after they won!
Box Wine! I have always been enamored with the idea of wines in a box. But unfortunately, they have never lived up to par. Until now! Damn that Spanish rosea was phenomenal. Don't forget the fact that it had a high alcohol content. Woo hoo! Too bad we couldn't take it back across the pond!
Dinner attire: So La Familia went out for a nice dinner together on Friday night. The Maine and I planned ahead and brought nice clothes. I had slacks and a button down shirt and the Maine had a nice skirt. When my parents saw us they turned a quizzical look, "you're not wearing the garb." Turns out in Espana during festivals, you wear the garb all the time. Even to fancy restaurants. Everyone of my family were decked out in white, with red bandanas and sashes. Here were the two Americanos dressed in black! Damn! What can you do?
Los Primos! Awesome. I can't really say more. What a great group of people. (I mean come on, they're Yarnoz's for gosh sakes!) We really had a blast. I am sure you can see from the pics. I have been trying to think of my favorite moment from the trip, but really I can't. It was that good. Hope to repeat it soon.
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