la navarrica: Te comeria a versos

I guess it's a sign I'm becoming a Spain veteran, but when I was told I needed to go to Madrid to take a class, instead of a "Yay travel!," my reaction was more of the "Do I have to?" variety. I've lost track of how many times I've been to Madrid in the last 3 years, but let's say that after a ball park eight visits, a weekend alone in Madrid starts to lose some of its appeal, especially when you're on a tight budget, anxiously awaiting pay day, and expected to pay out of pocket for the trip!

Every cloud has a silver lining though, and in this case it was the discovery of the newest street art sweeping Madrid (and via social media, the entire country). Entitled "te comería a versos," a play on the Spanish phrase "te comería a besos" which means "I would kiss you" (literally I would eat you with kisses, but that doesn´t translate so well to English!), the movement swaps "versos" (verses) for "besos" and is spray painting other similarly punny/romantic/poetic phrases along the crosswalks of Madrid.

Waking up in a hostel bunk bed, eating some toast and cold coffee as part of the complimentary breakfast, so I could spend my Saturday at workshops before embarking on a five hour bus ride back to Tudela, I needed something to brighten my day. And I tripped over the answer while crossing Calle San Bernardo. "No hay mejores brindis que los que hacen tus pestañas." My first sighting of Madrid´s newest street art.

"There are no better toasts than those of your eyelashs."

That´s the beauty of te comería a versos, when you least expect it, as you´re going about your daily life, a little burst of poetry makes you stop and appreciate the language, before continuing on your treasure hunt across the crosswalks of Madrid in search of these words left under the cover of darkness.

Although I only found 3 of them on my trip, I stole some pictures of a few of my favorites. Check out boamistura.com for more pictures and information about the project.