Si llueva, llueve sin fin

Tuesday, August 2

It rained last night in Madrid.

Thanks for the weather update; I’m sure you’re saying to yourself.

But it was worth sharing, because rain here is an anomaly.

Until it happened, I couldn’t actually imagine rain pouring down on Madrid. The city is so hot and so outdoors oriented that it seemed impossible. What would everyone do with their sidewalk café if it rained? Where would the hoards of people walking through Puerta del Sol head for the night? What about the dozens of jobless Spaniards who call Puerta del Sol or the park a few blocks South their homes?

I still don’t know how all of those people handled it, but standing on my balcony last night, watching it rain and lightening a little and thunder was beautiful in an unexpected fashion.

The Spanish have a saying that I’ve heard several times; it’s the title of this blog.

Si llueva, llueve sin fin.

It’s not so different from our saying, “when it rains it pours.”

And while that was definitely true in Oviedo, where the weather is much cooler and living in the shadows of the mountains brings lots of rain, it’s not quite as true here in Madrid.

It only rained for maybe 15 minutes last night. Call me crazy, but it almost felt as if Madrid simply willed the rain to stop.

For the same reason it’s so hard to imagine it raining here, I can easily believe that the city has the kind of magic.