Semana Santa

This past week was a very important one in Spain: Semana Santa. Basically this entails tons of Processions- Parades that are serious religious trecks through the city, with all of these people (“Nazarenos” or “Penitents”) dressed in long hooded robes that resemble the KKK (but are much much older, but still have that connotation for me and I find them a little disconcerting) that walk very slowly. Some of them are barefoot and some have long candles or other fancy things, representing different things they are repenting. Other than them, there are women dressed all in black with tall comb things in their hair covered in long black lace, also carrying various crosses, candles and things. Each procession also has two “trunos”, or enormous float-like things that are carried by "costaleros"- men of the brotherhood (each procession is done by a different brotherhood) underneath it, resting on their shoulders. Each procession has a vision of Christ (depicting various stories from his life) and each has a Virgin. These figures are reused every year and some of them are incredibly old and well preserved. 

Each procession also has a brass band with tons of trumpets and drums, as well as gaggles of children. They all last for hours and each has a different route- including up in the Albaycin where the lanes are incredibly narrow, slippery and steep.
I saw several of the processions- and had three favorites. 1. A procession in the centre of town where Jesus got stuck in a tree and removing him became quite awkward. 2. One in the Albaycin that we all watched from the balcony of Rafa’s apartment and were just an arm away from the floats. 3. The Gitano procession, in Sacromonte (the gypsy side of the Albaycin, where the caves are) that lasted from 10 p.m.¬- 4 a.m. and included the singing of Saetas and a swift run up one of the steepest hills in town- Very impressive.

We had a day off from Spanish classes on Friday as it was a national holiday, so I joined my friend Diego for a roadtrip. 

We drove a few hours to the province of Almeria and then all along the coast. It was Absolutely Gorgeous!!! These beaches were so pristine and surrounded by rolling hills and small mountains in the distance, and the Mediterranean was so clear, I felt like I had left real life for a while. A lot of the landscape in that region is similar to parts of Africa so it is also used for a lot of films. We went to the beaches where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed, as well as the scene from Indianna Jones where Sean Connery is shooing all of the birds away with an umbrella. We saw some more of the coast on Saturday, including San José, La Cala Amarilla en Monsu, Cabo de Gata, and Playazo before heading up to Murcia, Diego’s hometown. We spent most of the day with his family at his older sister’s house. This was insane! 

The entire giant Spanish Catholic family all talking very quickly and at the same time- I was more than a little overwhelmed. That night he gave me the tour of the city and I sampled all sorts of delightful food typical of Murcia. We spent all of Sunday with the family again- a far cry from my family’s awesome traditions of Easter Margaritas and tipsy easter egg hunt/race (my favorite Svoboda holiday tradition, maybe tied with our annual Halloween pumpkin carving). I am pretty sure I ate more food that day than all of the last 4 months combined. There is no telling a Spanish woman that you are full and couldn’t possibly eat any more food. There were even several points where she got up and made plates especially for me and plopped them down in front of me. I have to admit they were all delicious, but I was miserably full for the rest of the day. 

I really did enjoy being in a rural Spanish home though, and particularly bonded with a 6 year old named Carmen. I had only a few language mishaps- they asked me what I liked best about Murcia and I (thinking they had asked what I liked better than Murcia) said “Nothing, of course!” They also apparently invited me to stay for the rest of the week and one of them would bring me back to Granada at some point, to which I replied “Thanks so much!” (thinking they had said something along the lines of ‘you’re welcome to return any time).After the meal (which lasted hours) we headed back to Granada where I had a FANTASTIC phone date with Cara and Marly. All in all, a wonderful week.
SABES QUE…
Spain has over 8,000km of beaches.