American Addiction

Nothing like mentioning that I only have one jar of peanut butter left and then suddenly receiving seven jars :-) 

Las Fallas en Valencia

                As you may have read previously, I recently went to Valencia for the “Las Fallas” festival.  This festival was one of the most unique and unimaginable festival I have yet to see, and I didn’t even see the “las fallas” part.  Las Fallas literally means “the fires”. The main aim of this festival is the construction and annihilation of the “ninots”.  The ninots are larger than life animated figures made of plaster, wood structures and other unknown elements.  These animated figures illustrate humorous scenes and current events, while also making fun of corrupt politicians and celebrities, for example Uncle Sam.  Each neighborhood creates their own ninot which are all pulled into a competition that is judged a few days before the festival is over.  The ninot winner of this competition is placed into the museum of ninots, while the rest are filled with fireworks and gunpowder and set on fire on March 19^th.  This day is known as La Cremá, which is where las fallas (the fires) comes into play.  The whole town looks like it is set on fire and the ninots are burned to the ground.  

                Unfortunately I was there a weekend too early for the fires but I did get to see the construction of some of the figurines.  They are multiple stories high and look almost like Disney Characters.  In fact the winner (as shown below), reminds me of the captain or general guy from Pocahontas.    

 WINNER!  You can also see how big it is compared to the people standing at the bottom.

                When I first arrived, I did not realize the size of these figures and merely thought all the things wrapped in plastic where parts to a carnival ride … Low and behold I was mistaken and they were actually different parts of the ninots.  

 First encounters

 It was very interesting to see these humongous figures and if I were to go again, I would definitely be there during La Cremá as well as walk around to see as many ninots as possible AND see them all fully constructed.  I did have the chance to see one that had fallen over, but by Sunday they had it glued back together as best they could … aside from the minor (I mean major) scratch marks and paint chips.  

 Fallen

   Reconstructed

                The festival also has other aspects such as desfiles (parades), bullfights, paella contests (seeing as Valencia is where paella originated from) and the daily mascletá.  The mascletá is another competition of string-lined firecrackers that go off every day at 2pm in Plaza Ayuntamiento.  In this competition, it is once again different neighborhoods competing on which neighborhood can make the MOST noise.  Each day there is a new neighborhood that puts on a display of firecrackers.  Not only did these firecrackers make enough noise for me to plug my ears, but they also shook the ground as well as my entire body as they resounded in the town.  And this isn’t a merely 1 minute display but a good 10 minutes at least.  We went to this on our second day in Valencia and I didn’t need to go again as my ears rang the rest of the trip and they could be heard from practically anywhere in the city. 

 The crowd awaiting the noise!

                We also saw a parade our second night that was about two hours long and my back was very sore from standing for so long.  But the parade was very interesting and I did not quite grasp some of the elements in it.  There were over 30+ horses in it either dancing or pulling a carriage.  Sadly there was one horse that was literally steaming and soaking wet and I felt so terrible for it!  There were also different groups that were holding a Mexico Flag and a Nigeria Flag … I’m not sure what their purpose was but they were in the parade. 

                Aside from Las Fallas, my friend and I either wanted to see a bullfight or an acrobatic event.  I am still not sure on my feelings about bull fightings and so I chose the acrobatic event because there was no killing involved.  During this there were 20 performers and five bulls, equaling four people per bull.  Instead of fighting and killing the bulls, these people do jumps, tricks and flips around the bull and/or over the bull.  Personally I think this is more daring and dangerous seeing as they do NOT have weapons nor can they detect the bulls next move to predict the trick they are going to perform.  Unfortunately three people were injured during this event, two more critically than the last one.  This was also the first time a woman has performed in this event as well.  And at the end of the day these bulls were spared … well at least for now.   THIS IS NOT A VIDEO OF A BULL FIGHT BUT A FLIP

                We also walked around the gardens to see the Art and Science museum that had an awesome structure on the outside.  I think it looks like a fish!           

All in all, I think that Valencia was a BEAUTIFUL city!  It is the 3^rd biggest in Spain (I believe) and there are so many little side streets that it doesn’t feel like a city at all.  Perhaps it was because a lot of the roads were blocked off due to the ninots but I really enjoyed my time there.  Here are a few pictures of other ninots.  

However I definitely enjoyed this past weekend here in Vera after 3 weekends of traveling on busses and trains!  I also got to finally go back to the market, my favorite place!  I realized I have never shown any pictures of the market and vegetables so here are just a few.  Enjoy!

 My normal vender

 My fruit vender

 Cloths

 Fresh beans and nuts

Hasta luego! Besos!

Julie

The Town's Protector Beheaded

 BEFORE

As some of you may have seen in pictures ... we have Jesus (Espiritu Santo) watching over Vera. A long time ago there was a village on that hill and in Vera.  There was an earthquake that destroyed the village and Vera.  After this natural disaster, in place of the village upon the mountain, people built a statue of Jesus to protect Vera against natural disasters.  Funny thing is .... Friday night we had a terrible storm in Vera and the Jesus Statue was beheaded by a bolt of lightening.  Our protector of Natural Disasters was beheaded by a natural occurance.  Tad bit of information I found out today in Vera. 

AFTER

Una fiesta sin descanso - Carnaval

                Seeing as I’m still trying to catch up on sleep I can’t even begin to describe Cadiz and Carnaval.  For starters, I would love to return to Cadiz without the madness as it was a BEAUTIFUL city and right along the ocean. 

                However, this was not the first impression I got when I stepped off the bus into a mix of people dressed up by the hundreds loitering the streets.  There were groups of costumes up to 20+ people strong.  Beers and other alcoholic beverages were being carried around the streets in plain sight.  My friend and I were actually staying in a town an hour or so away called Chipiona.  But we got off the bus with some people staying in Cadiz to grab a coffee and some food before heading back on the bus to our final destination.  We soon found out that cafés were not serving coffee but only alcoholic beverages, more or less.  Hence our coffee turned into beers and tapas.  During this time we also saw many face painted people dancing in a drunken state around the streets.  Quite amusing.  

                We arrived in Chipiona during the early evening (to Spaniards, the afternoon).  It was a very cute little town set up along the ocean as well, which we did not see until the following day.  That night we hung out, figured out costumes and chatted about the upcoming events of Carnaval.  The following morning we headed into town to grab food and drinks for that evening as well as some tapas.  We also managed to head to the ocean side where the 3^rd largest lighthouse in Spain is located.   

 Chipiona

Lighthouse!

It was also a breathtaking view and I wanted to spend hours there but time was ticking and we had to make the bus to Cadiz and dress in our costumes.   My friends Ashlee and Emily were Indians, I was a soccer play (of Spain … I thought it might be a bad idea to write “Team America” on my shirt), and then my roommate and a group of his friends were Oompa Loompa’s  (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).   

Soccer Player Julie

 Just 3 of the 12 Oompa Loompa's

We stepped off the bus once again into herds of people dressed in costumes.  We dropped our stuff off at a friend’s place and began the party.  The night was crazy!  So many costumes, awesome atmosphere but lots of streets smelling of urine!  We had a good time dancing the night away … perhaps a little too much as we missed our bus the next morning. 

                Sunday I toured the city trying to find us a way back to Vera.  Eventually we got a bus that evening at 9pm to Granada and a friend was going to take us the following morning back to Vera, where he also worked.  Hence we spent the day wandering around Cadiz again and seeing other costumes and floats. 

 Float

 I liked the Pirate!

 First place float!

  It rained that day so it was pretty gross outside.  We then headed to Granada and arrived at 1:30am.  We wandered across the city and hung out in the freezing cold for the next 7 hours until 8am.  I don’t think I have ever shivered so much as I did then.  Now my body aches from lack of sleep and shivering.

                It was a crazy time and the costumes definitely are amazing and people go all out!  It’s like Mardi Gras (I’m assuming) and Halloween times a billion!  I would love to return to Cadiz and see the city as the sights of the ocean were breathtaking.  Next weekend, I am off to Valencia for Las Fallas, another festival.  

Besito!

Julie 

Dia de Andalucia y Granada

Día de Andalucía (February 28^th) and Día de Docente are two holidays that just occurred in Spain.  My school has been in preparation for Día de Andalucía for a few weeks now.  Murals have been put up, students have been making arts and crafts surrounding this holiday and the mother’s came in to give us all a taste of Andalucía.  Our school was decorated with the green and white flag of Andalucía parading the halls in streamers, as well as a fan mural with all the eight provinces in Andalucía. 

  My school celebrated this holiday (along with many other schools all over Andalucía) the Friday before Día de Andalucía with and freshly squeezed orange juice. The toast also had a thin layer of olive oil or freshly prepared tomato spread.  All of these elements are natural to Andalucía and kind of like “la comida de Andalucía” (the food of Andalucía).  One of my teachers proceeded to ask me what food was associated with my home town and I stared in awe and said Chicago Style Pizza?  Haha.  I could not tell you what the food of Illinois is.  How about the State bird?  Enough with being sidetracked but … not only was the school decorated, but students and teachers dressed up in typical fashion with flamenco dresses and suits.  I went a little camera happy snapping pictures of all the 4 years old in their flamenco dresses dancing around during recreo (recess). 

 I think she was scared of me :-) But so cute!

 Dancing

 Mother and Son

Directly after school, my friend Emily and I got a ride to Granada by one of our teachers.  He was going to drop us off at the town past Granada because he was on a time crunch to get to his home town which was still another 2 ½ hour drive.  However … being dropped off on the middle of the highway was not exactly my cup of tea.  “I’m going this way and you guys just cross the bridge … I’m not sure where the bus is but ask around.”  Yes, Emily and I were on the highway in Santa Fe.  Well … we picked up our stuff and headed to across the bridge that ran over the highway.  We stared at this bus stop that looked deserted like the rest of the town because nothing was open since it was “siesta” time.  Great, just our luck.  Thankfully a nice old woman crossed the bridge soon after and we asked her how to get to Granada.  She was heading the same way, and so we walked and talked until we got to the station.  She was very charming.  As we also had no idea where to go when we got off, she led us in the right direction before heading to on her way.  I have learned that the people in Spain are always willing to help.  It took us about an hour and a half to find out hostel which was located in the middle of twisty streets, called Oasis Backpackers, and it was literally an oasis.  The night we wandered around with a girl that lives in Granada and had a bunch of great tapas.  Like Almería, in Granada you get a free tapa with your “cerveza” but this time the choice is theirs and you do not get to choose your tapa. If you aren’t a picky eater, like me, than this is no problem.  Even vegetarians can ask for a vegetarian tapa.  However, if you’re not so keen on food surprises than this might not be great the best choice for you.  Among some of the tapas we ate were montaditos (small sandwiches), olives, Chinese, chickpea salad, cous cous salad and others.  They were all delicious and I LOVED the Chinese food seeing as it has been over six months since I have last tasted it.  

The following day we headed to La Alhambra … or so we thought.  We managed to get half way up this dirt path until the Alhambra was behind us and I thought it would be best to ask if we were heading in the right direction.  As we only saw one other couple walking along this “road” we asked and they laughed …. We were in the exact opposite of where we needed to be for the Entrance.  Since we were supposed to be there an hour ahead of time and that was at that moment, we decided to hop on a bus in hopes of getting there faster.  After taking a “vuelta” (circle) around the city, we arrived at La Alhambra.  There was a huge line and tickets were sold out but luckily we had reserved them a day ahead of time.  We passed right through and entered.  We got a little lost as we were supposed to be at the Palace at four but because we were late we were able to bypass the line and go right in … so when they say be there an hour ahead of time, they really mean get their late so you can bypass everyone and not stand in line.  Haha. 

 Palace

 Arabic and the little detail all over!

 Alhambra at Night

We toured the Palace where there was a lot of great architecture and design.  At this moment I wish I understood Arabic as there were so many Arabic inscriptions all over the buildings and into the design but I had no idea what they were saying.  However it was great to see the Alhambra and over look upon the city of Granada. 

 Alhambra at night

Granada

After finishing up the Alhambra, we headed back in the direction of the hostel for some food … aka tapas. One of the girls I was with got the stomach flu so she headed back to the hostel and me and the other girl meandered around the Albycin, which is an old neighborhood in Granada.  We also went to a Tetería for some fresh tea.  It was delicious!  Afterwards we headed back to check on our friend and shower up before dinner.  After looking for a Sushi place for over an hour in an area that was recommended, we gave up and went to one by the hostal.  It was AMAZING to have sushi after such a long time!  We then went to get more olive tapas. 

Then next day we were going to go skiing but we didn’t think the girl that was sick (who has never skied before) would have enough energy and thus we once again walked around and shopped for goodies.  I got a bunch of tea from Morocco, jewelry and a skirt.  Then once again our food consisted of tapas.  We had a variety and all were great!  We soon found out that we would not be able to go skiing Monday either because the bus from the ski hill would not get us back to Granada in time to catch our bus back home.  Sad times for Julie.  The next day we went to Parque de las Ciencias before headed home to Vera.

 The closest I got to the Sierra Nevada

 At a park at the top of Granada

 Butterfly exhibit at Parque de las Ciencias

 Birds of Prey exhibit

 My reaction when I saw grass for the first time in six months ... I didn't want to leave

            Now as the week is already half gone, I am heading to Cadiz this weekend (like half of Spain) to celebrate Carnival.  Apparently it is “una fiesta sin descanso”.  Hope all is well!

Besos,

Julie      

  

A glimpse of the sky of Vera at sunset.