Early in the week we had met an entrepreneurial young British ex-pat who set up nightly events for tourists and travelers ranging from tapas tours to pub crawls. In addition to his breadth of knowledge concerning quintessential backpacker activities, John was also a wealth of information concerning the local pulse of music, flamenco and secret spaces.
Following his directions through twisted streets and down a rabbit hole, we ended up in El Local, an underground bar where every Tuesday night, jazz musicians flock to play music, rotating seats, and improvising as they go.
It's far easier to blend in with the crowd in Spain than it ever was in
France, and without the inhibitions of being an outsider, we spent a
pretty fantastic evening of toe-tapping and swaying beneath the streets
of old Madrid.
