Pies de sangre

My roommate and I went to the Puerta del Sol the other night. Earlier that day, I had stopped (after extensive searching) in one of the several shoe shops near my house. I found a pair of ballet flats that I liked... and since everything is on sale here right now, it wasn't expensive. So, Sara and I got sort of dressed up and bit and for the first time since we've gotten here, we went out to meet some SLU kids to celebrate one girl's birthday. I think our senora thinks we're anti-social or something since we don't stay out every night till 2 or 3, haha. Everyone here stays out till then, even the babies. I think our senora was more excited that we were going out than we were - she even made us dinner early so that we could go to our "fiesta." We walked to the Puerta del Sol, and pretty quickly I discovered that wearing the new shoes without socks was a bad idea. I tried to hide my pain, toughing it out, but by the time we were getting close, I was walking pretty slowly and slightly cringing with each step. We'd gotten there early so that we could walk around and stuff before we were supposed to meet up with everyone. I finally looked down at my feet, and I saw that both feet were bloodly all around the heels!! Blood was everywhere inside one of my shoes. We ran around to find a "Farmacia" and luckily found one open at 10:30... and I then put massive amounts of band-aids on my feet and used my water bottle to wash them off a bit. Onlookers must have gotten a kick out of that. I called a friend and asked her to bring me socks, and so then I had to wear white running socks the rest of the night. We decided that my new nickname might very well be: Pies de Sangre (bloody feet). After hanging out with everyone, we decided taking a taxi would be the best way to avoid further foot damage. However, every taxi in the city of Madrid was occupied. Seriously!! We waited, walking, waited more, and walked. Like 50 or more cabs must have passed, and all were filled. Snap! So we trudged home from Puerta del Sol, stopping at each block or so so my feet wouldn't fall off or something. Of course, with tons of band-aids and the socks, they were doing a bit better. After coming home and cleaning off my feet, I saw that it wasn't as bad as it originally looked when I saw streams of blood all over my feet, but I did have two massive blisters and my shoes got all bloody... I used at least five paper towels and had to scrub a lot to get off most of the blood off the shoes. I don't dare put those very bloody socks into my wash pile and risk having to explain my shoe adventures to my senora. Those, sadly, went straight into the garbage. Madrid lesson #27: Wearing comfortable shoes when walking isn't a suggestion, it is a prerequisite for avoiding "bloody foot" syndrome.