The Croqueta Thief

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this, considering it happened a while ago. That's how lazy I've been. Anyway, this has got to be one of the funniest, most interesting things that's ever happened to me in Madrid. A week after I got back, Sara returned to Madrid and we decided to meet for dinner. We didn't really have a place in mind and so finally, we settled for a tiny restaurant in the center where they had outdoor seating. We were placed right on a corner table so there was a lot of pedestrian traffic around us. It wasn't a surprise to see people check out our big fat croquetas (they were giant! I've never seen them this big) and albondigas as they walk pass us.

As we were sitting there enjoying the food and conversation, we noticed a homeless man walk by, eye our food, pass our table, casually walk back to our table, and then nonchalantly grab one of our croquetas!!! We were in so much shock that we just sat there in silence for a few seconds staring at our plate of croquetas (minus one). It was the strangest thing ever. People around us looked horrified. Another pedestrian came to us and asked, "Estais bien?". Si, si, we're okay. We just started cracking up. All eyewitnesses were shocked by the whole thing and even more shocked that we kept laughing about it. I mean, wouldn't you?!?! How often does something like that happen? I couldn't even be angry at him for stealing my food. I'm sure he was just really hungry. If he had asked us properly, we would've given it to him. But in a way, I'm glad he just stole it from us. It amused us greatly and now I can tell people about my encounter with the croqueta thief.