-she apologized for not having a meal ready for us on the day we moved in
-she offered to check out items for us on her library card
-she brought us back fresh watermelon and figs from her parents' house in Extremadura.
Not to begrudge madrileños or anything, but I could tell there was something different about Luisa, and it turns out, although she's lived here for some 30 years, she's actually from the Extremadura province.
On Saturday morning, as we stood outside the apartment building waiting to be buzzed in and get our key from Luisa, we were both wondering if maybe we had been hoodwinked. On Friday, we had given our deposit and while we had retained a handwritten contract from Luisa, we were thinking it had been too good to be true. When the person who answered the bell didn't let us in, A. and I thought we had been hung out to dry.
What really had happened was that it was just a handyman who answered, but soon enough Luisa's mother came out by coincidence and let us in. (The handyman was fixing the broken door frame to our bedroom, which Luisa had promised to get repaired and duly followed through on). We got our keys and left to go get our things from the airport.
We took the metro up to the airport but mistakenly got off at Terminal 4 (which we wished had been our terminal: very nice and brand-new). We took a free airport bus back around until we recognized our terminal (#2). There, the ratty old consigna guards charged us for 5 days of storage, even though we'd already paid one day upfront. After finding an ATM and then hauling the 5 pieces up the stairs, we got rolling on two luggage carts. We were able to take the carts all the way to the metro entrance (a few miles away, it seemed, but still within the airport). Then the fun began.
The metro entrance is accommodating enough for passengers with one piece of wheeled luggage, as it has been designed with the automatic door-type gates rather than the push-through theme-park-type ones. However, they aren't wide enough for two large suitcases pulled side-by-side. The solution is to have someone (like the guard) hold the doors open for you while you awkwardly turn one suitcase around and push it ahead of you while dragging the other behind.
This scene repeated itself with some variation as we mounted and dismounted elevators and metro cars a total of 12 times. I had seen a woman with a suitcase with four multidirectional wheels on our way to the airport and I made a mental note that the next luggage I bought would be like that. These make so much sense: if stroller wheels can be designed that way, why can't luggage wheels too? (I may do a future post on my preference for Spanish-style strollers and the many varieties thereof). It seems the term for this feature is "spinner" and here are two nice-looking bags that have it: one TravelPro and one Samsonite.
Of course, I didn't realize just how soon we would have to be shopping for new luggage. All we really needed at the moment was a pair of functioning in-line wheels on each piece. Suddenly, the large suitcase A. was hauling (which already had been compromised with a tear en route) gave out entirely on one side (see exhibit).
This oversized monster was given to us by Delta after we filed a claim for another suitcase that was damaged in transit. Since this one died on its first-ever use, I doubt I will even try to make the effort to file another claim with either Delta or the airline we came to Spain on. Poor A. though. He hobbled along with two suitcases, one of which was now totally un-rollable, cursing it all the way.After the metro ordeal we caught a taxi to take us the several blocks back to our place and tipped the driver well (still only 5€ total). And thank goodness for our building's elevator, in all its 70s green glory. After another two hours unpacking, we were finally going to take our first Spanish siesta (truth be told, A. zonked out shortly after arriving and I finished up the unpacking, but that was fine after his struggle with the gimpy suitcase). (And his having packed all of the suitcases to begin with, TWICE, he reminds me ever so kindly, pressing an ice-cold water bottle to my skin).
Later that afternoon, we did some grocery and household item shopping and in the evening we took a stroll down our street, peering into bar windows at the television screens broadcasting the first game of the season between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid soccer/football teams . We adopted our neighbors' preference and rooted for the Atlético. Finally we felt at home.
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