Primer encuentro con la poli

Continuation of my culinary tour of South America in Spain...

My friend Rocío invited me to Cosmo Caixa (a hands-on science museum an hour outside of Madrid in Alcobendas) and then to a Peruvian restaurant to eat Pollo a la Brasa (Roasted chicken). The museum was pretty funny (there was a huge T-Rex outside) but most of it was closed. The food, however, was amazing, and I got to meet Rocío's boyfriend Félix (who is Basque) and her friends Brian, Jairina, and Marita who are all from Perú.

I ate: Ceviche (raw fish cooked with lemon juice), Pollo a la Brasa, Chicha Morada (a really sweet purple colored drink), anticucho (cow heart), rachi (cow stomach), and leche de tigre (a drink that apparently helps kick a hangover), and picarones for dessert (fried dough with anis syrup). Everything was amazing, but I was done with the cow stomach after one bite. It tastes like the ham legs here smell. Bad.

After a leisurely lunch (three hours almost) and coffee, we all decided to extend the day and go to Parque Retiro to listen to the drum circles that play there every Sunday. There are six of us, but we decide to pack into Félix's tiny car meant for 5 people. We figure it isn't a very long ride, so we should be fine. Halfway to the park, along Paseo de La Castellana, we are stopped by cops. Our attempts to duck down and hide apparently were in vain. In the end, Félix received a fine of what we figured was either 9€, 90€ or 900€ (the ticket was very cryptic). Aside from the fine, he was deducted 4 points. In Spain each driver begins with 12 points. They can lose points for various things. If they lose all 12 points, their license is taken away for one year. However, you can only get 6 points taken away in one day. So if someone leads the cops in a high speed chase, while drunk and stoned, and hits someone with their car, all in the same day, they are only deducted 6 points. So, obviously, Félix was a little pissed that they took off 4 points when he was completely sober, not driving recklessly, but happened to have one more person in the car (all of us with seatbelts on). I have to say I am slightly suspicious that this had something to do with the fact that Félix was the only Spaniard in the car...I am not the only one who felt this suspicion.