As expected, half of Madrid was there, but the park is so grand and spacious that it didn't seem overly crowded. There's a lake in the center of the park where you can rent boats, and a nice promenade that circles the lake, so we started there.
On one side of the promenade, a coalition of African vendors selling either pirated movies or sunglasses had their wares displayed on blankets. Any time a police car came by, they would scoop up their blankets and disappear before the police arrived. Once the police were gone, they would set up shop again. A less savvy Spanish woman selling swords, who was not quite a mobile, was told by the police to pack it up, since she didn't have a permit.
There were various performers who didn't seem to be under the permitting rules though. A few people with super-large bubble making apparatuses delighted the children (including ours), and worked for tips. There was a talented spray paint artist (without respirator). And various jugglers and entertainers also had encampments.
I had read about one side of the lake being a hang out for amateur jugglers, and so we meandered over there. I brought my poi, and Bryce had a 3 piece staff we assembled, and we found a nice area to practice our own juggling arts. Bryce was convinced he could earn some coins performing for the passersby, but later realized he would need a hat or a blanket or something to actually get some tips. Hopefully he will not be deterred from trying again next weekend.
I saw my first ever poi vendor, and chatted with her for a while. We spun together, and I felt by my being there with her it would help her sell a few of her wares. She actually sold a couple of sets to some children.
My family was getting tired, but since this was my first real exercise of the week (besides walking), I stayed on for a while as they returned home. A group of young people saw me with my poi, and asked if I could teach them some tricks. They had three sets of their own, and I was more than happy to help. Besides being a great way to practice my Spanish, it's fun to teach poi, and I had 3 or 4 of them doing the basic 3 beat weave move within 30 minutes or so. (One of the guys inserted the word "flow" into his Spanish which I thought was pretty cool.) I know enough words to teach poi in Spanish, although I still find it hard to understand everything they say - both because of the speed, my lack of vocabulary, and the accent. But I was able to communicate nonetheless.
One South American looking guy came up to me and asked to see my best tricks. I showed him a few things, and he asked me to teach him a new throw/catch move he hadn't seen before. He was obviously more accomplished than the other set of new friends I had just made, but he was also coming off of an injury - maybe a broken rib. He told me about a gathering or jugglers and various spinners that happens on Thursdays at a place called Tabacalera, and invited me to join. It's on the calendar!
Update: Here's a quick video I took of a guy doing some amazing bartender tricks:
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