¡olé!

when i was about six months pregnant, my mom, panzón and i took a trip to madrid. i was feeling great and even more energetic than i did before pregnancy. the three of us went sightseeing and visited the big three museums: museo del prado (http://www.museodelprado.es), museo thyssen-bornemisza (http://www.museothyssen.org), recently romodelled by spanish architect rafael moneo, and museo reina sofía (http://www.museoreinasofia.es), with its new extension by french architect jean nouvel.

panzón had some work to do, so my mom and i took a day trip to segovia by train, which only took about half an hour on the ave, which literally means bird, but cleverly stands for alta velocidad española or spain's bullet train. the city is small and quaint, making it easy to visit in one day. before leaving, we enjoyed a meal of cochinillo, which is a baby pig, at el mesón de cándido, right behind/beneath the city's tremendous aqueduct. cochinillo is segovia's specialty dish and we didn't want to miss out on this delicacy, which is roasted to perfection, crunchy on the outside and oh! so tender, that it is cut with a plate instead of a knife (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZmiH5FCz98).

i must have overindulged because that evening, back in madrid, i suffered from horrible heart burn. it was so bad, that i was thinking about canceling our reservation for a flamenco show later that night. luckily, after a couple of anti-acids and a short nap, i was as good as new, and we headed out. i can't remember the name of the tablao, but it was definitely not corral de la morería, which is a world famous show that was booked solid that week. anyway, the moment the flamenco artists started to soulfully sing and dance by quickly clapping their hands and stomping their feet, something inside me, namely coco, suddenly and tremendously moved. i had felt her before, in the form of a poke here and there, but never like this. it was as if there was a miniature flamenco dancer trapped inside of me. panzón and my mom took turns feeling my wobbly belly, their hands moving rhythmically with each blow.

i hope to take coco back to her country of birth to rediscover its unbelievable food and deep music and rich culture with her.