La Fiesta de San Isidro

Friday was a holiday in Madrid celebrating their patron saint San Isidro. This festival has events all around the city but the biggest in the Parque San Isidro which was the park right behind our old house. So I was very excited to go check it out especially because it was my old neighborhood. We took the metro and when we reached the metro line going to the park it was jammed packed with people- an experience in itself. We had to get off a stop before because they closed the closest metro stop because of so many people. As we walked to the park it was so crowded with tons of people but I stayed pretty calm :) Our first stop was to buy beer and a snack because after an hour subway trip we were hungry and you need beer to tackle all the people. When we got to our old neighborhood it was so weird to see it set up with carnival rides, booths with food, crafts, bars, lights and did I mention all the people?
We made it about 50 feet into the mob and had to buy the traditional Rosquillas and then decided to sit in the grass drink our beer, eat food and watch the people.
After we felt ready we walked past all the booths and food and restaurants and then decided to hike up to the park where there were all the rides. Now if you have ever been to a carnival or festival in Spain you know but it surprises me every time how dirty everything is...people leave their garbage everywhere, people are drinking a ton and for some reason there are NEVER ANY BATHROOMS. Not sure where they drunk girls go to pee but you can find the guys peeing everywhere. I don't really understand the logic in this but after awhile when you have to go it doesn't make for happy times. Lucky for us we were in our old neighborhood and knew the perfect place to go for a bathroom- Nacho Bar- which was below our old house. As we walked we hoped it was open and not too crowded. It was far enough away that when we arrived we were surprised to find not too many people, the usual regulars and familiar faces to greet us Nacho and his wife Carmen. We had 3 beers, free tapas and watched the Madrid Open. Now this wasn't officially part of the San Isidro festival but probably the best...you can only handle all the people for so long.
So overall I got in some culture, my first San Isidro festival and I think I did pretty good but you always have to have your neighborhood bar to save you in times of crisis....or when you don't have a bathroom!