jonsimolko

I must say I hated many things about Israel. Mostly about the people in Israel. I have to admit I never had in mind to go to Israel until exactly one month before I actually went there. It was a rushed decision, in actually less than twenty minutes I looked at fy tickets, asked for days off at work and booked my flight.

It was my first time in the Middle East and the first time in another continent, besides South America and Europe.

It was overwhelmingly hot, crowded, and I saw way too many guns and orthodox people of any religion for my taste. But it was worth it.

I know this all sound so negative, it might seem I don’t want to go back, but you are wrong. Besides all the crappy things, I fell in love with it, so much, that I’m starting to learn Hebrew and I’m not hesitating to plan a new trip next year. But next time, I’ll go to Palestine territories (if they are going to suspect so much of me in the airport when I head back to Holland, at least I want to have a good reason for it, not only take off my clothes because of the buttons on my pants are too metallic!).

Y a mi me toca nacer en Madrid. Y no es un trauma ni un orgullo para mi, porque no me dejaron elegir, oh Madrid.

Lyrics from a very well known 80’s band from Madrid, and the song is called exactly that, Madrid.

Until only 3 months ago. Although, for personal reasons, things that changed my plans, and many other, Madrid is not what I expected, still it is a place worth visiting. I hate Madrid because I love it so much, a city that beats and sounds and smells like a city is always worth visiting. A city with history, writers that write about it, singers that sing about it. A city so surrealist that you can walk through the gay district and find same sex couples kissing next to an old lady who went to the groceries shop next door or the 12 years old children playing on one of the squares. A city with only 5 million people but the subway system is larger than the one in Seoul (which has a lot more people). Madrid is party from monday night till sunday night, bars are full, restaurants are full, everyone is having fun every day of the week. I feel very disappointed everytime I talk to someone who went to Spain and didn’t visit Madrid, they all go to Barcelona and the beaches in the south, they all love the architecture in Granada, they enjoy the heat in Sevilla, and they love to go to Gran Canaria. The Spanish capital is worth visiting if what you’re looking for a vacation a bit more meaningful than just lay down on a crowded beach, go to Madrid, a WORLDCLASS city.

When you’re a child and you grow up in Chile (like I did) you would always hear this nice story:

When God created the world, he sat down and rested his back on the Andes, while he was placing the things all over the world. When there where leftovers of things, he would just throw them to the back of the Andes. And that’s why Chile has almost every single thing that you could find anywhere else in the world: the driest desert, the rainiest cold forest, fjords, geisers, hills, lakes, volcanos, ice camps, salt fields, fruits, wine, cupper, and so many other things.

I guess that story also explains why Argentina is so flat and empty :-P