This post was written during the group’s time in Madrid.

¡Hola familias y amigos!

This is leaders Natalie, Graciano, and Joe checking in. We’ve left behind the cool, mountain evenings in Potes for hot, bustling days in Madrid. After a short stop in Burgos to get a quick view of the world-famous cathedral and grab some lunch, the group arrived in Madrid just in time for a short siesta and walk through the tree-filled Parque del Oeste, where we had our language lesson of the day. We broke into three teams and practiced and reviewed the Simple Future tense. Our leaders of the day were our game hosts — they quizzed and kept score like pros as we had the students conjugate sentences. We then learned and reviewed body parts and played a couple rounds of Simon Dice using our vocabulary.

The Templo de Debod was next on our list and we walked just three short minutes from our classroom for the day to the Egyptian temple, where we had nice views of the Royal Palace and Cathedral of the Almudena, as well as the sprawling city. As we made our way to dinner, we walked through the Plaza de España, where a Dominican Heritage Festival was happening and we took advantage of the opportunity to dance a little bachata. After dinner, we continued our walking tour of the sites near the hotel and saw the Palace and Cathedral up close before we headed over to the Plaza de Callao as the sun set. We made our way from Callao to the Plaza Mayor and took in the sights there, then made the vibrant Puerta del Sol our last stop and headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Our second day in Madrid, we had our first official tapas dining experience. Calamari, tortilla, and morcilla sandwiches, salads, french fries, and desserts — all the essentials we needed before taking a siesta to prepare us for an afternoon of shopping! After a break during the hottest time of the day, we took to the streets to take advantage of rebajas and ventas. We bought everything from Real Madrid memorabilia to socks with vacas! Next we beat the heat one of the best ways Madrileños know how: with ice cream. We rounded out our first full day in Madrid with more tapas at La Chata. Que rica!

We’re all having a great time and everyone is looking forward to exploring more of what Madrid has to offer!

Hasta luego,
Natalie, Graciano, y Joe