Leaving Madrid...

I feel settled, rested and more focused than I was three months ago, so to a large extent I do feel as if there's been a more than a moderate success in sorting myself out of the last quarter through this long haul backpacking trip. It hasn't been without expense - I would have preferred to have done more throughout the trip and not to have had the two bouts of illness that left me without energy for days at a time. I was particularly lazy in areas that I can go back to that deserved more in the way of investigation, for instance, San Cristobal de las Casas, in Mexico I could have done far more, and Antigua, Guatemala deserved more in the way of investigation. There was also very little in the way of action around Juayua, El Salvador where I could have been doing more exploring and in Esteli, Nicaragua rather than lounging around in cafes etc etc etc. I didn't get to see Isla de Ometepe in Nicaragua at all apart from in passing as I went by on the road to Costa Rica. I guess I've at least made the effort to do something in Madrid having been here for nearly a week. I didn't go out and club in the Madrid like manner but I did find my way through a couple of the main attractions and get to recover from the bulk of the jet lag that I've had over the last few days.

Overall, a successful trip, but I've got the usual grind of trying to get back into work and aiming at getting myself sorted out in the UK - whether I'll be able to get to grips with issues in contemporary living that I haven't over the last few decades remains to be seen. I've not wanted to join what to most people is normal life but to me, thanks to the Specials, was only really known as the Rat Race. I don't know why I have't bothered with civilisation for so long - it's only when I explore a lost civilisation in lost Mayan kingdoms that I start to think about life in the West Midlands. Maybe I should try to get to grips with living with one of the hill tribes around the Midlands, in Dudley for instance, in order to understand the roots of the local culture. Perhaps not.

Back packing should like all other travel experiences open up the way you live at home and help assist with understanding the process of 'being cultured', being open to new experiences without being gullible and in some ways just to broaden living experiences and cross cultural understanding. I guess that has happened though my lasting memories will include most of the women who worked behind bars in Belize looking at me as if I'd just turned up to try and shag as many women on the island as possible. Somehow convincing people that you're on some form of cultural exploration may not be that straightforward. I don't think I did look like I was in Belize just to screw the local women - I think it was their fertile imaginations working overtime. Mind you my senses have been working just a little overtime in Madrid, the style of the women here is generally quite pleasant - bold, attractive and feminine without being dirty, cheap or flirtatious. It is like a lot of the food (overpriced like the tapas, you may be wondering if you've been here? No,) the bare essentials which are necessary aren't over dressed or contorted to a form where they don't resemble what they began as. They retain their genuine attractiveness.

I think my mind may have slipped slightly since I've spent the best part of two days looking at images in art galleries, lunching away and then getting back into the same galleries to try to take more in again in the afternoon. The attractiveness of some of the women here does start to resemble how I sometimes relate to food - there's a women at the breakfast bar who resembles fruit salad - something light and wholesome, she has almost fruit like appeal. As I was thinking about her an English woman came and sat next to me who seemed to resemble roast beef and yorkshire pudding - 'once every two weeks and it'll keep your stamina up', I guess is not a compliment to most women, but there is something a little more substantial about her. As I state - this isn't necessarily good comparison. Women aren't food, though there could be overlaps in terms of how fashion is driven, how men and women are almost forced to appeal to each others who they wish to through high-street-forces, and there could be impacts made by the comments made by television chefs like Robert Carrier, who said something to the effect of a meal is eaten with the eye even before you've tasted a morsel, which may reflect little more than the consumerism-driven culture that we live in. Women don't need to look different to accompany food, nor to look different at various points throughout the day - though there could be a large number of forces acting which we don't always give consideration to.

It leaves me feeling hungry all this talk of food....I've got a flight to catch. Oh, and the picture above is Van Gogh, earless, which didn't make him appeal that much to his lady-friend. He was done up like a kipper if anyone was, probably worse than Hancock was.