Hot town, summer in the city

Well, summer looks like it's in no hurry to wind down here in Saharan Madrid (as a friend of mine nicknamed the city), at least if you define summer by the temperature outside. Actually, that's a bit of a lie; despite our past week of near, at, or above 100-degree days, the ten-day forecast claims that starting Monday, temperatures will hover just above 90. Ha.

I have a love-hate relationship with summertime Madrid. Unlike summertime Boston (or I guess really any of New England/NY), Madrid is hot and desert-dry. That means no thunder-and-lightening, and I can count on one hand how many times it's rained since June. I love the heat and lack of rain. But lately I've almost had enough of the heat. I can only take so many nights of trying to fall asleep at 2 am when it's a breezeless 85 degrees outside (and, what's worse, in my room). August in Madrid is the time everyone goes on vacation. Despite the economic problems here in Spain, many small shops close down for a couple of weeks and some even the whole month while their owners make the trek out of the desert to the water-laden coasts. I like Madrid when it's a little quieter. I hate when I go out to buy stamps or some fruit and find out the estanco (tobacco stand where it's most common to buy stamps) or the fruteria is closed due to vacation.

This August is a little different. The Pope is in town (really) for the Jornada Mundial de la Juventud, World Youth Day. Where does the Pope stay when he visits Madrid? Couldn't tell you. As for the thousands (literally, they're EVERYWHERE) of the world's Catholic youths, I think they're staying in schools, with host families, maybe in churches...who knows. All I know is that a lot of activities are taking part in El Retiro, the huge park literally 5 minutes down the street from where I live, so I've had multiple encounters with foreign language-speaking hoards of teenagers. The other night I was waiting to cross the street (on a couple of separate occasions, actually), only to be delayed by police on motorcycles escorting parades of buses full of bishops, priests, and other apparently important religious people. (Ever seen a bus full of bishops in their bishop garb fly by? Let me tell you, it's a sight to see.)

Confessionals set up in the park

Apparently they're expecting a lot of guilt-ridden teenagers.

Anyway, despite the Catholic chaos, this has been a boring month. Aside from finding a new apartment (in the process still) and working out all my documents to renew my visa, I really don't have any obligations, which means I've been reading a lot and watching a lot of tv. I was exploring the city on the cooler days (and by cooler I mean 95 degrees or less), but the past week or so has just been too hot to go out past noon.

Until next time, if the heat and boredom haven't killed me.