I just got back to Madrid from seven days in Paris. When I left Madrid, it was in the 70ºs F (low 20ºs C) in the Spanish capital, but when I got back yesterday, the temperature had already reached 90ºF (32ºC). Here in Madrid, you almost have no real transition from Spring to Summer. You’re still wearing a sweater, a light jacket, and sleeping with the Winter sheets, and then one day you wake up, it’s 90º and there is no turning back.
Just now I opened my inbox and found an email invitation to a beginning of Summer party being thrown by my friends Juan Pablo, Jacobo (A.K.A. Hysidro) and Iurgi (A.K.A. Dorothy). I wanted to share what Iurgi wrote in the invitation because I think it is interesting to see how Spaniards (yes, even one from Bilbao) define Summer. As a matter of fact, it perfectly captures what Summer is in Spain.
It looks like Summer has arrived: good weather, tan skin, cleavage, cold beer on terrace bars, weekend getaways, Summer romances, ripe tomatoes, Gernika and Padrón peppers, pirate pants and flip flops, cairpirinhas, sangria, winter in Argentina, Sundays without football, the song of the Summer, the dance of the Summer, gossip on the news, unsafe sex, draught and forest fires, miniskirts without panties, nights without sleeping because of the heat, nights without sleeping because you’re partying, your plants have dried out, bike rides, the mountains, the beach and girls topless, the scarce hash supply, ice cream, sleeping naked, getting drunk in the open air, gazpacho, local festivities, soap operas, the grand prix, convertibles, Summer storms, pink sunsets, … and much more!
And for those of you who prefer to read the untranslated original in Spanish:
Parece que el verano ha llegado: el buen tiempo, el moreno, los escotes, las cañitas en las terrazas, las escapadas de fin de semana, los rollitos de verano, los tomates maduros, los pimientos de Gernika y de Padrón, los pantalones piratas con chancletas, la caipirinha en las fiestas, tinto de verano, el invierno en argentina, fiestas en la sierra, las fiestas de los pueblos, los domingos sin fútbol, la canción del verano, el baile del verano, el culebrón de los telediarios, el sexo inseguro, las sequías e incendios, las minifaldas sin pantys, las noches sin dormir por el calor, las noches sin dormir por la fiesta, las plantas que se secan, los paseos en bicicleta, el monte, la playa y el topless, la escasez de costo, los helados, dormir en pelotas, emborracharse al aire libre, el gazpacho, las berbenas, las telenovelas, el grand prix, los descapotables, las tormentas de verano, los atardeceres rosas… y mucho más!
Grave Error 