Yoga and other stuff

I’ve just had my second yoga class in Yogam, and have to say I’m pretty pleased. The studio is in a traditional Madrid apartment block bang in the middle of Calle Huertas, in the super-old neighbourhood, El barrio de las letras (arts neighbourhood), so named because it was a haunt of many Spanish literary luminaries like Quevedo and Lope de Vega and is now an atmospheric little area, home to quaint little bars and shops selling all sorts of stuff from antique maps to hand-blown glass. This district is just a 10 minute walk from where I live but for some reason I don’t go there much any more and had forgotten how pleasant it was. Well, all that’s about to change, as I’m going to be frequenting it for my yoga classes on a weekly basis. It’ll be the perfect excuse to explore a little further – I’ve even spotted a really nice ice-cream parlour right next to the yoga place – so I can see that my attempts at healthy living are going to be in constant risk of collapse! I took some photos of some shops and shopfronts while I was there as I'm kind of fascinated by Madrid shopfronts. I've posted them, though unfortunately I still have no idea of how to take decent pics, despite the new camera. Practise, practice.

Possible the prettiest garde centre in Spain

You've got to love 'alimentación' shops - floor-to-ceiling tins of tuna, lentils and crisps.

Pretty, pretty glass

Anyway, back to the yoga. The teacher, Estela, is one of those people that just ‘look’ like they do yoga – she’s all lean and willowy with flowing grey-blonde locks and amazing posture. She’s also a psychologist, and I’m surprised at some of the insights she’s been able to make in just a couple of classes. ‘Coge espacio, que no tengas miedo’ is one of the things she keeps saying to me (take up some space, don’t be afraid), and she means this in both the physical sense (in the classes but also elsewhere, let’s just say that even sleeping alone in my huge bed, I barely occupy more than a quarter of it!) and in the metaphorical sense. She was quick to be aware of how I sometimes try not to bother people or tread on their toes. Something which sounds like quite a good personal quality, but which has actually been detrimental to me on many occasions, as it can make me tend to put other people’s needs before my own. Interesting stuff.

I'm reading...

For someone who hopes to one day write a fiction bestseller and retire on the proceeds ;-) I sometimes read awfully little fiction. The latest non-fiction goodie to find its way onto my bedside table, courtesy of my friend C, is Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town. It tells the story of veteran travel writer and ex-resident of Malawi, Paul Theroux, traversing Africa from north to south by means of pretty much anything other than planes (dugouts, rickety trains, you name it) and it makes a really interesting read. However, if you're looking for the romantic 'out of Africa' experience, forget it, this book is pretty gritty and the author does not mince his words when chucking bucketloads of disdain at all the do-gooder aid companies who think they're helping the continent, but who he actually accuses of throwing it further into despair and dependence on charity. You'll never look at Bono in the same way again ;-) He also sneers quite a bit at safari-goers and their privelaged somewhat unreal view of Africa - still, no amount of sneering is going to make me chalk going on safari off my '100 things to do before I die list'.

Tomorrow yoga

What with one thing and another, these past couple of months, my efforts to be fit and flexible have gone completely out of the window, and I feel I've lost any of the progress I had made. Well, tomorrow I plan to get back into it and have a yoga class, at Yogam, not far from my house. It looks like a pretty simple little centre, just a room really, but I'm looking forward to exercising again, to the sense of control I remember it giving me over my life and body. I'll let you know how I get on.

Wonderful Marrakech

I'm back from Marrakech, and putting aside catching the flu and a 6 hour flight delay, I had an amazing time and I'm much better company than I thought I was :-) So much struck me as unique and exciting about the city - the colours, the food, the music, the people. I ate pastilla till I never wanted to see pastilla again, I got lost in the medina then found my way again, haggled for tie-backs in the souk and simply wandered about, taking it all in. Like my trips to Istanbul last year, I can honestly say Marrakech is a city that lives up to its hype, and I think that is partly due to the fact it has this arab feel, but unlike other north African cities like Cairo or Tunis, for me it has this sort of African 'underbeat' that literally gets under your skin. Hard to desribe. I was also surprised at how charming everyone was, I'd heard dodgy stories about bottom-pinching and hustlers thrusting their pet monkeys on you then demanding money for a photo, but I have to say my experience with the people was really positive. Yes the men did cat call (but no more than they do in my Madrileño barrio, Lavapiés) but no touching or serious hassle and taxi drivers and market stall holders generally agreed to come down to a reasonable price. That said, I'm guessing that looking pretty much arab/north african and speaking some Arabic may have had something to do with that. The riad I stayed in was also very cool and was one of the best things about my stay, not so much because of the aesthetics of the place but because the 4 guys than ran it (one French and 3 Morrocans) were so sweet and did everything to make sure my stay was as pleasant as possible from escorting me to the Jemaa al Fna on my first day, to greeting me at the door with a fresh OJ every time I walked in the riad to just generally taking an interest and taking the time out to have a chat with me as I was travelling alone. I really haven't experienced such hospitality in the hospitality industry for a long time :-) Even the taxi driver was lovely and we had an interesting little exchange (quite typical of that part of the wolrd) - 'Are you married?', '...no, er..not yet', 'Maybe in Marrakech...?', 'What, find a husband in 2 days?'.... 'No, not find a husband here, but inshallah Marrakech is the muftah, the key, that might make other things happen, that take you to him'. Very sweet :-) Sweet, because in that part of the world it's perfectly normal for everyone to assume you want to get married and for you to admit it openly.

I won't go into the sightseeing bit here, as the holiday wasn't really about that for me, though I will say that some of the highlights were Yves Sant Laurent's former abode - the Majorelle Gardens, the Jemaa el Fna square by night and wandering round the kasbah. Instead, I wanted to talk a bit about the experience of travellling alone for the first time. Perhaps I wouldn't take a long trip alone (or maybe I would?), but for a few days it was excellent. It was nice to wake up when I wanted, to eat where I wanted, to stop off and read or write for half an hour whenever I felt like it. But maybe more importantly I learnt that I could be brave, that I could look after myself, that I could prevent people from taking advantage of me (common perils when travelling as a lone woman in an unknown country) - all stuff that I guess I knew but that I sometimes doubted. And I suppose, I learnt that if you don't want to be, you're never actually that alone - the riad guys invited me to watch the Barca match, I met up with a relative of my cousin's wife, I chatted with people I would never have spoken to if travelling with someone else. Overall, a really positive and affirming experience :-)

Sisters, Easter and a foodie break in Madrid

So it's Easter and my sisters are over from the UK :-) There they are above in the Plaza Mayor. We've had a pretty laid-back few days, and as usual with us, our time has been entirely arranged around the places we've wanted to go to eat. On the first day we had lunch in the Mercado de San Miguel, a place which I've blogged before. We did a little 'stall crawl' here, first a bar serving small flatbreads (I think they are Basque but I don't know their name) topped with jamon and butifarra sausage, then a croquetas kiosk where we had prawn, squid (with its ink), jamon and chorizo croquettes. The next day we went to one of my old favourites for pinxtos - Txirimiri in La Latina - wild mushroom and truffle croquettes, baby fava beans with foie and a goat's cheese and tomoto confit salad - followed by a kind of chocolate fondant cake and, best of all a tarte tatin with a toffee ice-cream which was almost salty - very very good and service with a smile. Today we were thinking about having a bit of a cultural diversion (as this is Mimi's third time in Spain and she hasn't been to the Prado museum yet), but after a very late night yesterday we were fit for little other than lying in this morning... The evening started out with some dear friends of mine at Eucalipto, a cosy Cuban place at C/Argumosa 2 where they serve great South American and Caribbean cocktails and delicious tropical juices. Next was a midnight dinner at Melos - a scruffy, loud Galician stand up bar near my house where you get the creamiest, most bechamel-liquidy croquettes (these little deep fired balls of delight have played something of a starring role this Easter) and really good pimientos de padron (griddled slightly spicy baby green peppers with sea salt) plus Galician Ribeiro wine served in little white bowls. This was followed, rather embarrassingly, by dancing to Black Eyed Peas in my flat - and there is an unfortunate video documenting this event which is not going to get posted here! Tomorrow, and weather permitting, we will have a picnic in the Retiro park - we're thinking baguettes, pate, cured meats and cheeses, olives and something sweet for afters - can't wait :-)

A winey weekend

This weekend I worked, but I was also lucky enough to try some pretty nice wines and some yummy food. After near on 2 years of pretty much being teetotal (just because I felt like it) over the past 2 days I've probably tried out more (good) wine than I have in many many months.

Saturday, a friend introduced me to la cave du petit, a French wine shop specialising in 'natural wines', something which I'm sure my dining companion could explain much more eloquently than me :-) I have no idea what we drank, apart from the fact I liked it a lot (one was a sort of cloudy rose, which was just lovely and so spring like). Wine aside, the thing I liked about this place was the food - baked dorada (a member of the bream family I think), a totally juicy and flavoursome magret de pato (duck) with thyme-cented potatoes and a tatin (without the official, ahem, tart). All very good.

Sunday I was lucky enough to be introduced to Bodegas Rosell, a great little tiled bar behind Atocha station  and therefore a stone's throw from where I live. The sumiller (who was a really nice guy) brought out bottle after bottle of interesting Spanish wines, and again, was more knowledgable on the subject than I could ever hope to be. And with the wine, came food - foie with baby broad beans, wild mushrooms and other good stuff. Somewhere, between all this I managed to get some writing done.

So, are my teetotalling days over? I don't think so. This spring I'm in the mood for 'wellness', for spas, for reading, for early nights, for sorting stuff out (for just being a bit of a boring girl in general!) - though I'm sure the odd glass of wine can fit in there somehow :-)

Doing the unthinkable

Ok, perhaps what I'm about to do isn't exactly unthinkable. It's more along the lines of new and unexpected. I'm going to go to Marrakech, alone. I say unthinkable because I'm a girl who's never so much as gone to the cinema alone, let alone on holiday, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Now in reality I have travelled alone - numerous work trips, a trip to Cadiz to learn Spanish, I even came to Spain alone on a train with half my belongings and no job or home to come to. But this feels different, as I've actually made a choice to travel for leisure alone. My reasons for doing so are manyfold; I have wanted to go to Morrocco for as long as I can remember, it's on my list of '100 things to do in this lifetime' (which I really ought to post here sometime), I've even recently found Morrocco guide books I bought about 10 years ago with the idea of going - isn't that embarrassing? Why did I never go?! Well, I guess sometimes life took over and I forgot about this little plan of mine, it was never the 'right time', other people didn't want to go, etc etc. Of course there never is a right time, and it seemed silly waiting to be romantically involved in order to go, so I thought 'just do it'. The natural thing to do would have been to go with friends, but I'm in such an unusually 'me' mood that I didn't want to wait for a time when it was convenient for friends and then have to co-decide what hotel, to spa or not to spa etc. I guess I just felt like being a bit selfish!

My workload only permits me to go for 3 days, which I think will be a suitably brief introduction to solo travel (not that I plan to make it a lifestyle!) I think the hardest thing will be eating alone - one of the main reasons I'm going is the food, and it would have been lovely to share that with someone. Other people have warned me about hassle from men, but I'm hoping with my Arabic (plus I have black hair and will forgo wearing micro mini skirts) I can avoid that. My terrible sense of direction in the Medina is also a concern ;-) Despite these minor worries, there are many things I'm looking forward to - staying in a traditional riad in the medina, eating pastilla (a kind of sweetened chicken/pigeon pie with ground almonds), visiting the Majorelle Gardens, not so much ticking sights off on a list, but instead taking time (and I'll have very little of it) to walk around, stopping off to drink mint tea accompanied by a good book and a notepad and pen every now and then. Also, after the stress of earlier this year, I'm in a kind of reflective mood, and I'm looking forward to doing a bit of thinking in such interesting and unknown surroundings.