Mad rid

---

Phew
I made it to europe! i really dont believe it, and i think i should be congratulated.. sth america ´is so easy these days´ they said, ´its safe and friendly´ they said. Who said? no compadre of lachlan lindsay pagan, thats for sure. Haha.. perhaps im being dramatic but the bolivia and peru definately tested patience, perseverence and will power alot.. its beautiful but nonetheless the poverty and hate and fear and loathing all seep in, even thru my thick watertight hippie shell.
SO! madrid, im here and it is superb. my bags arrived fine, my guitar was in one piece (gasp) and so was i. meeting erin (she is my manager from the exeter for those uninformend..) at the airport was not what i thought, since there are 2 more airport terminals there than i was told about! it was a random terminal to terminal running around coincidental stumbling into eachother but it all worked out fine. We got the metro (subway) from there and upon climbing those steps were greeted with an AMAZING city, especially based on comparison to where i´d been.. beautiful buildings, clean wide streets, beautiful happy people and not one dastardly thief or dodgy cop with big gun! sigh, im happy.. happy sigh. Unfortunately im paying for it quite literally, a hundred aussie dollars doesnt got much further than one day over here after accomodation and food, plus the admission to galleries etc.. and also 70 euro for a dentist trip (my wisdom teeth have been giving me hell for about a week but its pretty much all sorted now..). My busking apparatus is up and running though, my afternoon has been spent jamming in the big hostel courtyard and learning Neil Young covers from a hip young american guy.. so hopefully i can at least earn my beer, but buskers in spain seem to never have anything in their hats (they are goooood too... but im goooooder). I have been to some beautiful botanic gardens and seen some of the most incredible buildings around, but the highlight has been todays trip to queen sofie gallery (a translation). they have on display some 40 or 50 Salvador Dalis, one of my all time favourite artists, and in the next room Picasso (with one of his most amazing works, ´guernica´ right there in front of me!) very exciting after studying images over the net for years without the full impact.
So, this trip is just going to get better, we cant decide really where to go but the country is small, a few hours on a bus will get us anywhere so its not really that important.. generally though, it will be spain for a month, morocco for a few days, portugal a few weeks, then france and england depending on the money situation.. i need to get my dry suit on and master the art of couch surfing if i want to survive.
anyway! thats it for now, more as the news develops.. love ya all and probably see ya quite soonish maybe.
Lockie

---