Guided Tour

Palma and Mario came over this afternoon around 5pm and took us on a walking tour of the city. They spoke alternately in Spanish and English. During the Spanish I guess I was getting about 50%. Palma told us about several churches in the Alameda neighborhood. I think she know the area well because she used to live there. We also walked in front of the school where Mario teaches. Built in the 60s, it has the feel of a Soviet style concrete building. Even the tiled murals are things we could easily have seen in Budapest:

Along one of the streets during the walk, we encountered some men practicing for the processions of Semana Santa (in April). I guess it only occurred to me today that carrying a 2000lb paseo is a physical activity that you must train for. These guys were carrying a platform stacked with steel I-beams and they were working:

Here's a close up of them walking by:

 The weather was warm this evening. Palma says that we've enjoyed an unusually mild winter here:

We stopped for tea in a cafe on the way home. We discussed politics. It's interesting how the rightward turn of Spanish politics is just as concerning for many Spaniards as our own baffling rightward turn in the US is to us. They asked us about Trump and whatever the latest horseshit emerging from that corner is. I got the sense that they were trying to get tips on how to process the emerging idiocy in their county by asking people that are dealing with already. Sadly, I don't think we were much help, haha.

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I found a few good references for some math I'm working on today. Scott read over my proof from yesterday and seems good with it.

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I have a bit of a pain in my right foot, so I'm taking it easy on the running for a couple of days.