So so happy to have Brittaney here! I was supposed to be welcoming both Brib and Erica yesterday morning but pobre Erica got stuck in Boston so she is due to arrive today instead. We shall make up for the delay with all due zeal in the coming week.

Anyway, Brittaney and I started off strong even though our communication liason via Erica's

cellphone was MIA. Sol, Retiro, the Palace and the requisite glass of wine. Near the Opera House we wandered across an Easter procession where we saw guys like the ones in the photo, except ours were in black. In my evidently extreme cultural narrow-mindedness I think they're scary as shit, but this is the costume that is worn throughout Spain during Semana Santa. I tried to figure out the reason and it seems that the face is

covered as a sign of mourning and then the caps are taken off on Easter Sunday in jubilation, but the pointy-headedness is of origins unknown.

Next we met up with Jessica, a crew of Spanish boys, and some Bermudans at everybody's favorite Cuban bar aka mine. This is a fun place. I've been there three times and the bartenders greet me with hugs and free shots of banana daiquiri. We met two Irish guys there too and they came along to the next place as well. You know what's going to sound stupid? Me. But these are the first Irish people I've talked to, and when they speak, it sounds like they're impersonating Irish people. I wasn't sure at first if they were really Irish or just obnoxious U.S.ers putting it on, especially when they started referring to leprechauns and spuds. Or perhaps that was Brittaney and I, I'm not sure.

Everything was closing down, it was Sunday. On to Chueca where we saw a drag show and felt inferior. Then it was time to go home because it was SIX IN THE MORNING and Brittaney hasn't slept in too much time to count. Hopefully she's feeling nice and rested now and we can do it all again today with our lost little lamb Erica.