The One Where I Climbed Mt. Everest. (True Story)

Hola, familia y amigos! (I couldn't figure out how to do an upside down exclamation point, so that doesn't get to go before that sentence. Lo siento.)

I am incredibly sleepy (it's about 1:36 am, hence this feeling). Unfortunately, I didn't take a siesta today so that also amplifies the feeling. So onto (on to?) this week.

Chocolate con churros

We went to Madrid again this weekend to visit El Museo del Prado for my art class to see paintings by El Greco and Velazquez. Before we left in the morning, we went out to eat and got churros with chocolate which were delicious. Later in the afternoon, we took a bus to the museum. The bus ride is about an hour and I slept most of the way on account of Waking Up Early, which is against most of my principles. When we got to the museum, they gave us these shnazzy (that's an exaggeration) one way walkie-talkies so our instructor could talk to us about the paintings and we could actually hear. The whole place was pretty cool and I wish my art skills were as impressive. Cameras weren't allowed inside so no pictures of them unfortunately. Google, my friends. Google.

Up, up, up Mt. Everest

Today, I went hiking with my friends. The route of Don Quixote is right outside the city, so we took part of that until, for some reason, we decided to leave the trail. Which will most definitely result in soreness tomorrow. We descended/stumbled (mostly stumbled) down a rather steep hill to get to the bottom of a super pretty valley. Pictures will be added to this post, so don't worry, you'll get to see it. And then, for some other mysterious reason, we decided to cross the little valley thing and climb up up up Mount Everest. No joke. (For those of you saying Mt. Everest is in Nepal: it's a conspiracy. I swear). It was probably an 85 degree angle (I don't believe in exaggerations) slope to get up the mountain and I definitely used my arms more than was appropriate to keep climbing. When we finally (it's big, Mt. Everest. Biggest in the world, actually) approached the summit, it was absolutely breathtaking. Which isn't an exaggeration because we were pretty out of breath.

The mountain (okay, large hill) is on located on the other side of the Tajo (Pronounced Tahoe, like the truck. Or is it an SUV?) River from Toledo, so we had a fantastic view across and could see the entire city. I'll attach pictures tomorrow, but I need to find my camera and let's be real: it's 1:59 am, so that ain't happening now. But they'll blow you away. The pictures won't do the view any justice, but they'll help. We also were able to see an actual path up the hill which made us pretty dumb for climbing up the hard way. It happens to the best of us. After a mini photo shoot, we headed back to the Fund and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Going out for drinks and tapas

Tonight we went out to a couple of bars and just hung out. Minnesotans: we were sitting outside eating tapas (appetizers, more or less). In February. Needless to say, the weather is an improvement. I need to get some sleep for the hard day ahead of me tomorrow: laundry and homework. Very, very difficult my friends. (Also necessary as I've been re-wearing socks for probably three or four days now. It happens to the best of us.)

Buenas noches.