Yesterday I went out with Manolo and his friends. First we went bowling. Although it is moderately popular, not many people in Spain play very much. No one in the whole bowling alley played half as well as the average American bowler. However, I did not live up to the stereotype of the American bowling superstar. Actually, I played possibly the worst couple of games in my life. I was second to last only because Irene, a petite hungover 27 year old girl, had barely any idea of how to play. Manolo, on the other hand, plays pretty well. 130's. But his manner of throwing the ball is insane. He holds the ball in the reverse direction, with his thumb pointing away from the pins and he launches the ball straight down the lane with brute force. I tried to imitate it and I nearly ripped my arm out.He complained this morning of muscle aches; even his back hurt. No wonder.

Other interesting observations about the Spanish bowling alley: The balls weights were in pounds, so no one knew how heavy they were and no one believed me when I told them that there are bowlers who can curve the balls path down the lane. They think I'm trying to convince them that Americans can break the laws of physics.

After bowling we picked Blanca up and went to dinner at a Cafe/Bar. Nothing very interesting about that. Then we did what is called "botellon" which is hanging out in a plaza and drinking. I believe this is actually illegal (public drunkenness), but this law isn't enforced in Toledo. The plaza seems to be designed for this activity, anyway. We ordered and took our drinks through an open window of a bar. We even saw police cars drive between crowds of people, completely ignoring them. Supposedly it is a different story in Madrid and the police will hook up a fire hose and just start spraying people. I doubt that stops them.

Everything was going fine until two friends of friends showed up and it was decided that we should go to a bar. A loud, dark, crowded, smoky bar. I couldn't hear a goddamned word anyone said and no one could hear me. I simply can't scream over the music. We left pretty quickly because no one felt like getting drunk enough to enjoy that obnoxious atmosphere, no one except the two friends who had the idea to begin with; they were left there. After rejoining humanity, we walked around a bit and eventually went home.

All this, by the way, occurred after 9 pm. During the day it is way too hot to do much of anything besides sleep and eat. Yesterday there was an interesting meteorological phenomenon called calima that usually accompanies heat waves from the south. The sky is very light blue, almost white and the sunlight is red like it is at sunset. It is caused by the particles of sand from the Sahara desert. Here in Toledo it is not as noticeable as it is in places to the south, but it is still very weird and a little disturbing.