Barajas - touchdown - si señor. Anyway, off the plane (late) into the queue to get past immigration, 38 centigrade (don't ask me to translate I only know it was hot). Thank God for air conditioning in the terminal. I show my passport to the immigration guy and he just waves me through, looked at the photo and that was that. Never stamped it or anything. I later found out that it's about 50/50 getting your passport stamped when you come in. So here I am, an unregistered alien in Spain ready to take Madrid by storm.

I make myself busy exploring. The first thing I find is ignore traffic lights. If you see the walk sign, DON'T, you've got to wait until the traffic stops about 30 seconds AFTER the lights gone red. If you don't, you're road pizza. The second thing I find out is that just about noone speaks any English at all. Big plus for me - there must be plenty of room for getting work as an English teacher. The third thing I find out is that the Madrilenos never go to sleep. I've never seen such a party town in my life. These guys have bars set up in the middle of the main boulevard - Paseo de la Castellana - that open at midnight and close about 9 in the morning. Not that I ever went to one, honest.