I can't hear the music...or maybe I just can't hear

Like I mentioned last time, I still need to catch you guys up on 2 weekends ago…when I went to Baena. Now for those of you who don’t know Baena (most, I’m sure), it’s a small town in the Province of Cordoba (about an hour SE of the Cordoba the capital). I have some friends living there and I wanted to go visit them. I particularly chose that weekend because… there was a festival that weekend! San Jose! I have no idea WHAT this holiday celebrates but I do know HOW it’s celebrated- with lots and lots of drumming. 

  

What goes down is on Friday the whole town celebrates by walking around town beating on drums. I should say the *men* do this because the women go off and do other things (I was told that the “tradition” is for the women to have parties with strippers…). The majority of guys start the drumming in the early evening, although we saw people all day long. They are supposed to leave their house drumming and return drumming, so this can go on ALL day. And when I say all day I mean from about noon on Friday until 6, 7 or 8 in the morning the next day… 

Would you like to drum?

My friends and I went out around 9 on Friday night and got back around 4am…the entire time around guys drumming…and drinking. There’s a main street where everyone goes to and that’s really where all the action is. They have street vendors with food… but mostly drinks. I think it’s necessary to be able to withstand that many hours of drumming. These guys drum seriously drum so long that their hands are bleeding by the end of the night. By the end of the night I was exhausted and just had to get out of there “early” (4am) lol. The next morning I was even woken up by people drumming, at 9am!  The night was just utterly crazy but really fun…and a little noisy haha

what talent!

 I should also mention that the actual holiday is the Saturday. No one could really tell us why they instead celebrate it on Friday instead but I suppose they just decided to use that day for rest, much needed rest. We also had the opportunity to see the "Baena" version of what happened Easter week put on my people in the town.

The rest of the weekend was basically just full of rest and relaxation since I’ve been traveling like a mad woman…and I’m not about to stop. This next weekend I’m headed to a pueblo near Malaga! You guys will here all about it soon. In the mean time have a wonderful April Fool’s Day, which by the way, I’m saved from because they already celebrated it on December 28^th with “el Dia de los Santos Inocentes “ (Day of the Innocent Saints).

*Just to let you know- I added another recipe to my Cooking Page

Pomegranate- te amo

Just got back from another crazy weekend in Granada…and I am exhausted! I also lost my voice while I was there so I’ve been sounding like a man all weekend- fun times. The plans to go there were super last minute but since I love Granada so much I had no problem with that! This was all decided the night before (Thursday) when my friends and I were out for out weekly tapa night. This week though, one of the bars in town was having Paella night so we stopped by there, along with almost everyone I know in Lucena!

Now getting back to Granada: I was lucky enough to have some friends, from Lucena, also going so I caught a ride with them Friday night for a weekend of staying out late, dancing with foreign students, eating amazingly delicious tapas and wandering around the city enjoying sunshine. The first night we met up with my Erasmus friends (study abroad students) for a trivia party, then stopped by the shot bar “Chupiteria 69,” and ended the night Vogue (a cheesy club full of smelly people…of course no one bothered to tell me this before we got there). I should tell you about the shot bar though- its super cute. They have it set up where each shot is 1euro and there are about 120 different ones to choose from and they’re separated into 3 different categories: strong, medium and weak. They also give you a point card for every shot and you can “cash” them in for souvenirs like lighters, hats, t-shirts, etc. I’m thinking we need to start a bar like this in the states…or at least in Seattle because I’ve never seen one like it there.

some of my crazy friends

Well we ended up getting home around 6am or so and that was only to be trumped the next night. Before going out Sat night, we did some shopping on the main shopping strip and had some wonderful tapas (I don’t remember the name of the place though! sorry). So that night we basically did the same as the night before (and this time I was able to get a little souvenir from the Chupiteria 69) but instead ended the night in my favorite club- Camborio. I told yall about this before when I went to Granada the first time- the place looks out to the Alhambra and is always full of Erasmus people, therefore always crazy and fun. When we went on Saturday night though the place was PACKED…sardines in a can packed and we had even arrived “early” (early meaning 2:30am). We finally got home at 8am and we all just passed out- I’m going to need a long nap today to recover.
 

This week I’m going to try to also get in a post about one of my other weekend adventures from 1 or 2 weekends ago. Keep your eyes open for the next one! 

P.S. The word "granada" is spanish for pomegranate hence the title :)

Now I can rest

I´m almost done telling you about the adventures with my parents here in Spain! Finally we will be up to date soon! Let go ahead and start off where we left off…

After spending a relaxing day in Lucena (well they did, I had to work a few hours) we had a wonderful lunch with Teresa and Rafa. Then my parents headed to the bus station so they could get down to Malaga while I stayed behind for work… And the next morning my dad caught an early flight back to Seattle. That day my mom stayed in Nerja and Frijiliana while I worked, then we met back up that evening. We had one more day of relaxation in Lucena before we were off and running again. This weekend we were headed to Seville and Cadiz.

part of the cathedral in Seville

We headed to Seville EARLY (I mean why change the habit) on Friday morning and arrived there only a few hours later. We got there and of course it was raining-what fun! Now they say “la lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla” and it sounds better in Spanish because it rhymes but basically it means “the rain in Seville is a wonder/amazement.” Why do they say that? Because it NEVER rains there. My mom likes to say that Spain was crying because she was leaving…I´m thinking they were trying to acclimatize her back into Seattle weather :)

Now I can´t complain too much because it didn´t rain the WHOLE time we were there. We actually only spent about a day and a half there but it was enough to see a few things and great place to end the trip. While we were there we made it to the Cathedral, the Plaza de España, Reales Alcázares, the river and walked around the old neighbourhood. Luckily we were staying at a nice hotel that was near everything (Hotel Murillo) so it made our lives a million times easier. I think my favorite things in Seville were the Plaza (which they just finish constructing not too long ago), the cathedral (known to be one of the best in Spain), the tower in the cathedral (I recommend NOT wearing heals when visiting this), and the Reales Alcázares. Unfortunately we only had about an hour and a half to visit the Reales Alcázares so we only saw a portion of it…that’s why I´m planning on visiting again because it was just beautiful. It’s actually really similar to the Alhambra but you can actually see the colors and designs better. Definitely need at least half a day there though and probably more when it’s not raining and you can take a walk through the gardens.

 

So apart from all the normal touristy stuff we did in Seville we also managed to head down to Cadiz…during CARNAVAL. If you don´t know about the carnival in Cadiz there are three main points you need to be aware of, 1. Everyone is drunk, 2. People dress in all types of costumes (like Halloween in the states), 3. If you go- bring a costume and lots of alcohol. Now my mom and I went during the day so it was much less crazy…that and we went on the second Saturday which is supposedly less busy than the first (Carnaval is celebrated for 10 days…yes ALL 10 days). We were only staying from about 1pm until 9pm so we didn´t wear costumes nor do BOYB though we did grab a few beers when we got there. We actually spent a big chunk of time walking around the town, hanging out by the beach and enjoying a lovely meal of calamari and seafood paella YUM. 

 

We also stumbled upon a performance in a big tent behind the train station where we spent a little bit of time watching different young individuals and groups perform different Spanish dances. Very fun to watch-I mean these 10 yr old children were dancing better than any 10 yr old I know...then again I don’t know many 10 yr olds... 

(the kids shown in the video below are about 14 but still...they're awesome)

After all our exploring is when we began to head into town and join the festivities. The first street we found ourselves on was packed with people all listening to the “chirigotas”, which are made up songs and what Cadiz is known for during Carnaval…besides drunk people. There are floats, tugged around by tractors and other large vehicles, full of people all dressed in coordinating costumes who sing these chirigotas for everyone to hear and laugh at. Of course the songs are at times even difficult for native speakers to understand so my understanding was...well, minimal. We continued to wander the streets and encountered many different “acts” along the way. The best thing about the carnaval I thought were the costumes- and my favorite of all: Handibags (a brand of garbage bags). Absolutely fantastic, although there were quite a few other creative costumes as well.

 

Handibags

 After hours and hours of wandering and people watching we headed back to the bus and were back on our way to Seville. We had one more night of relaxing in Seville, a few hours in the morning to explore and then we headed straight down to Malaga...for my mom’s flight. I’m sure you can figure the rest out- well besides the part of me missing my bus, the LAST bus to my town, calling everyone in my phonebook to see if anyone was still in Malaga to drive me back up, then finally going to the train station and catching the last train to a town nearby and having a friend pick me up from there- you know, the usual. From there I went home and SLEPT. I had so much fun with my parents and we visited so many places although I think next time a few more rest days will be in order :) Thanks for a great few weeks!

the three of us in Granada (overlooking the Albaicin)

OMG I found a lephrechaun!

I hope you all have enjoyed St. Patty's day! I thought I would get a post in about it before I forget all that happened...

I'm not sure if you know this but St. Patrick's day is NOT celebrated in Spain...at all. This means no one wears green, except by coincidence; you can't pinch anyone; and people look at you funny if you carry a clover around. Now, even though the leprechaun filled day isn't celebrated by the Spanish, there are a ton of foreigners here and people learning English. AND one of the great things about having so many people learning English here is that they also get to learn about all the festivals and traditions that come with the different English speaking countries. So what am I getting at? The official language school here in Lucena put on a great even at our ONE Irish pub in town! And it had quiet a turn out! They even had made an Irish stew (made with beef and Guiness) with potatoes and were giving it out for everyone to try...it was DE-LISH. Now just to hunt down that recipe...

Another cool thing they had going on was if you purchased 2 pints of beer (they also discounted the pints!) they gave you a very festive hat. I really wanted one of the hats so headed straight to the bar and ordered my two pints. Those hats were so popular, as well as the beer, that they even ran out of Guinness before 11pm. I guess everyone wanted those hats haha

The rest of the night was filled with taking lots of crazy pictures and giving out chocolate gold coins (thanks for bringing those over Mom!). My night didn't even end until 4am...but thats becoming a relatively normal time for me now.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and green filled St. Patty's Day! Now for a quick history lesson before I go:

-St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th every year, the anniversary of his death (in the 5th century)
-St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland
-He was taken prisoner, at the age of 16, and during his captivity became deeply religious. After more than six years he escaped and became a missionary. He then went on to become a priest where he had a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.
-It is said that he taught the Holy Trinity with three-leaf clovers (although how true that is, I don't know)
-The first St. Patty's Day parade was celebrated in New York City in 1762

Hope you feel smarter :)