Semana Santa (Easter Week in Spain)

This post is long! If you have little interest in this topic, skip to the bottom where there is just a little more news &  photos, or just hit the delete key…..

We’ve been in Spain in years past during Holy Week and have always been very moved by the Semana Santa activities during that week before Easter.  The music is especially compelling and watching the people in the processions is just a remarkable experience.  

http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Semana-Santa-en-Sevilla-religious-music-of-Sevil-MP3-Download/11021917.html   (play #'s 3 & 4 especially)

This time, Susan was determined to get to see the “inside” story and we did!  We set aside the whole week for this; we booked Sunday through Wednesday in Seville, and because we knew that Seville would get very crowded toward the end of the week, we went to Jerez de la Frontera, a small town in extreme Southwest Spain, for Thursday through Sunday.  Jerez is most known as the capital of the sherry business, but the area also produces some of Spain’s finest bulls, and it has a strong Semana Santa tradition.

The Holy Week processions reportedly began in the 1500s, and there are forms of them in other Mediterranean countries (and in New Mexico and Mexico we’re told).  In Spain, the men in the churches take the life-sized statues of Christ and Mary into the streets of their neighborhoods, working their way to the Cathedrals and then returning.  Because of the size and weight of the statues, they built platforms for the statues to ride upon - these platforms are made of wood mostly covered in gold or silver (the real stuff), it takes dozens of men, under these pasos, to carry them.

Over the years – centuries in many cases – fraternities have formed (called cofradias) associated with one church or another, and they arrange processions for usually two statues, plus bands (following the Christ paso is a drum and bugle corps, following the Mary paso is a full band  – some of the processions also have a band in the lead).

The cofradia members also walk as robed penitentes, some barefoot, and you may see some all dressed up and purposefully walking through town to their assembly point,

and military-like honor guards. 

In larger cities like Seville, there are as many as 7 or 8 processions a day, all week, most lasting about 12 hours.  Since some do not leave their churches until late afternoon they continue into the wee hours of the morning. 

We had the smallest hotel room we’ve ever seen, in the old Jewish quarter on the route of some processions and about a 10  minute walk to the cathedral where all the processions pass through and where most people believe Columbus’ remains lie(but Santo Domingo disputes that).

At about 11:00 PM on Monday equipped with a bottle of wine and camera we took our places on the 4^th floor roof of the hotel.  It was a treat to see the cofradia and its pasos plus relatives, etc. coming down the street from our vantage point. Often they stop for extended times, as they did below us.

By custom most of the hooded penitents do not talk during the procession.  But, the younger ones especially would talk with family and others walking along with them.

The Spanish handle the crowds graciously and it seems you can always move around and through the processions even in the very narrow neighborhood streets.

 When the entire procession had passed, we went to the street and manuevered our way up to where the band following the Mary paso was stopped, and we were just blown away by the haunting beauty of the music and being in the middle of it.

We had gotten into one of the nearby churches on a rainy afternoon to see the pasos all completely decorated with tons of flowers, multitudes of candles and the statues, all ready to go.  Parishioners had been bringing flower offerings (red for Christ, white for Mary) and were stacking them in front of the pasos. 

 Unfortunately that night the rain forced the cancellation of the processions and there were many tears from everyone...for example, the men hold a lottery to determine who will carry the paso - everyone wants a chance.

But, the next day, Susan saw a man carrying a big white floral arrangement together with two women, all walking quickly down the street in the drizzle – “We’re going to follow them!” 

 And we did, through the old quarter, across main streets, through the commercial meat packing district, into an unremarkable neighborhood (imagine David’s nervousness) – the drizzle turned to rain (it’s probably how I got this nasty cold I have been nursing).  They finally turned into a building next to a church where men were building ramps in front of the main door – “Eureka!”.  Another man came out, saw us trying to figure out what to do and motioned for us to come in…..he led us into the church were people were working on decorating the 2 pasos (tons of fresh flowers are used on all the pasos during the week) for their procession the next day and he gave us a million dollar tour!

 The next day, we kept crossing that procession as it moved through the streets feeling very much a part of it.

Then, off to Jerez de la Frontera by train…rain was forecast and rain it did.  Many processions were cancelled but on Easter Sunday things changed…the one procession originating and returning to the cathedral was held, 

AND the Tio Pepe bodega was open for tours and sherry tastings.

On Monday we took the train to Malaga (on the way we were supposed to connect with Shirley Freriks - from Mendocino - but for health reasons she had to cancel her trip :-(, we rented a car and drove to the apartment in Sitio de Calahonda, Mijas Costa, (on the Costa del Sol) where we will be until the end of the month.  As we look out the huge windows in the living room we see mountains, white buildings and the Mediterranean – it is just beautiful.  

One of the first things I did was to start washing dirty clothes, I remembered most things from the apartment we owned here for so many years, but for some reason the washing machine presented quite the challenge.  There was 1 bottle of what looked at first glance like washing liquid – 3 places to put stuff in the washer….so, I put some “stuff” in the left side and ran about 4 or 5 loads (it’s a really small machine).   No dryer, so hung them out on the terrace on a rack.  They smelled wonderful on the surface, but if you put your nose in them – not so great.  Turns out I was washing them with softener….so much for efficiency!

Please let us hear from you – we do get carried away with Samana Santa, but it is – and always has been – very close to our souls….something about the music, the silence, the ancient and narrow streets, the obvious overwhelming faith of so many people…..

Hugs to you all!

A Love Affair

It is difficult to describe how, in one week of volunteering, you can fall in love with a whole bunch of Spanish people – perhaps part of the reason is that they are very special teachers working with kids who range in age from 3 to high school seniors.  

These folks were all from Castilla-La Mancha Communitad (region) in central Spain.  The region decided to dramatically strengthen English education.  They are now teaching science courses in English to various grades, and they have begun English instruction to 3 to 5 year olds in preschool.  In a few years, these kids will all be conversant with it.  This is a big change for Spain.

Teachers can get funding to attend this program from the Community, and as part of the program, they must spend a month abroad in an English speaking country, working in a school. If you have any ideas about where…please let us know at www.cooperstwo@yahoo.com.

Here is a photo of them all gathered together after the Queimada singing some typical Spanish songs to the equal number of Anglos (the collective term for the volunteers from the US, the UK, Canada, Wales, Australia and New Zealand)  in the bar in the Hotel Abadia de los Templarios in La Alberca, Spain.  http://www.spanishunlimited.com/spain/salamanca/city4.asp.

You’ve got to love people who will do most anything to learn how to speak in English (they all know how to read and write it) in front of a bunch of native English speakers whom they have never seen before.  They want to be as accurate as possible in their pronunciation, sentence structure and use of phrasal verbs and funky sayings.  They know they are establishing speaking habits with their students.

And, because they were all so willing to stick their necks out, so were we, doing hour long one-to-ones and two-to-twos, playing games, taking all meals in mixed groups and especially doing skits together– some impromptu, and some with a very brief preparation time.

Here’s David as the big bad wolf in a skit of Little Red Riding Hood:

Here’s Susan as the witch preparing for the Quamada ceremony (during which David read the words in Gallego and the Spanish folks were really impressed!): the goal of this ritual is to distance the bad spirits:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queimada_%28drink%29 )

Here’s David as Santa Claus:

Here’s Susan as the mother in Goldilocks and the 3 bears:

We spent hours talking with each Spanish person in all the planned activities, we drank wine together during lunch and dinner, and we partied after dinner in the bar.  We went into La Alberca for lunch and dinner on 2 separate days (from our “conference” center) and wandered, sang and played in this most beautiful, World Heritage, medieval town.

Here is a link to the Pueblo Inglese program:
http://www.vaughanvillage.com/venue-alberca.asp

We returned to Madrid (Susan with a cold) for just 2 nights and then trained to Seville – very excited about Semana Santa…..the subject of our next post….

We are thinking about the possibility of returning to this part of Spain in the early Spring for 6 months and volunteering with these teachers and their students in their villages where Americans are rarely seen, let alone heard….we think it might be a small but good way to encourage a more connected and peaceful world.

With hugs to you all….

March to April in Espana

March 30th

We are trying to get 6 months of toiletries into our suitcases here in New York City and it’s working!!  It’s just that there is no room for any clothes...funny how, as we age, the toiletries take preference over style.  We’re also carrying a variety of equipment, especially phones and, of course, our iPod with a small set of speakers making even less room for clothes.

We left the mesa in mid March as planned and, after a soak in the mineral springs at Ojo Caliente, drove to Salt Lake City where we switched out clothes in our storage unit, loved visiting with Sutton, John and Felix, and spent a very short, but great time with Kendra and Jim Golden who were on their way home to Pt. Townsend after being south in the motor home for 2 months.

We flew to New York City a few days ago, saying good bye to our 11 year old Honda Accord, and are really enjoying our stay with Chris & Payson.  We had a great lunch with Pat & Jim Hyatt and Glen Daum and a terrific visit with Susan’s brother John and his wife Kate at their wonderful location on the Connecticut river….we are now are off to Madrid to begin our six  month sojourn.

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April 7th

Well, here we are in Madrid, ready to leave tomorrow morning for La Alberca and our Pueblo Ingles volunteer time for a week.  We have been here for several days, riding the subways and buses and walking and walking and loving every minute. We are finally acclimated to the time change but are more active than we've been in a while so we are getting reacquainted with leg muscles.  Susan's knees are doing pretty well considering.....

Among the folks here in Madrid is at least one invisible man, spotted here in the Puerta del Sol.

Today we had our “anglo” orientation lunch for and saw some wonderful flamenco…..here’s our first attempt at uploading a video.  The lunch was at Casa Patas, a foundation for preserving Flamenco, where newbies come to study and veterans come to perform.

We've had a mess with our cell phone.  Four years ago we went to China, stopped into a phone store, bought a sim card, installed it into our phone and had great service the whole time were were there - in Tibet, too.  The other day we went into Vodaphone in Madrid, bought a sim card and we can't get it to work no how.....  so what does that tell us?  It told us to buy a cheap Spanish phone, which we did  - the number is 627-615-262 and to call from the US you would first dial 011 (to make an international call) 34 (the code for Spain) then this number....  Susan should answer....

Friday morning (the 9th) we left Madrid on a bus and traveled about 4 hours to the world heritage town, La Alberca, just south of Salamanca, where we are staying at a conference center doing a volunteer week helping Spanish Primary and Secondary School teachers improve their "conversational" English.  We are challenged to explain idioms like "shooting from the hip," "come in handy," and "come up with" and other strange workings of our language like and "work out," vs "work off" (which we now understand are phrasal verbs).  It's very difficult for these folks to really learn to speak the language but when we talk the way we usually talk it's near to impossible and very frustrating for them.  We will be here through next Friday and the experience is just wonderful!!

The land here is remarkable, the almond trees are in bloom, the chestnut trees are glorious and the singing of birds, crickets and frogs is a delicious continuous concert.

We are the most fortunate people in the world......and send hugs to you all!!!

Planning is progressing for the next phase

It’s pretty amazing how the time flies when you are sitting on top of a mesa!  We have spent lots of it (and miles, too) getting to Santa Fe where there is a Trader Joe’s and a Whole Foods and concerts (we just saw an amazing performance of an opera that is a combo of Japanese Noh and Western revelation by  Benjamin Britten), and stores and museums, etc.  We have spent some of it exploring the area, including Taos (what a GREAT IONS group!) and Los Alamos (talk about negative vibes).  We’ve gone to special dance ceremonies at a couple of pueblos (there are 7 or 8 traditional pueblos where the heritage is really honored) and we’ve spent as many as 10 days in a stretch mesa-bound in the snow, ice and frigid temps.

Susan had her knee operated on, and had an MRI on the other one – both are functioning but are definitely in line for knee replacements one day as far in the future as possible   David is seeing a Swiss-trained osteopathic physician (operating with a massage license) to try and make his gut behave like a newborn’s.

And, the majority of our time over the last 6-8 weeks has been devoured with scanning in all our files (we aim to be paperless) because we can’t take paper files with us where we are going, in finally converting our Palm Pilot files to Yahoo contacts….and most recently in the actual planning of our next moves.  The current version of the itinerary is up to 12 pages.

Here’s a photo of the planning implements.

We are really excited about returning to Pueblo Ingles in Spain in early April where we will volunteer  helping Spanish teachers  improve their conversational English in the world heritage town of La Alberca.  From there we will love being in Seville and Jerez de la Frontera for Holy Week and the Semana Santa processions.  Then we’ve rented an apartment on the Costa del Sol for the month of May – we have an extra bedroom that Shirley Freriks (a friend from Mendocino) will use initially but that will be empty (hint, hint) from the 2^nd thru the 23^rd.

From Spain we will fly to England where we will kick around in Susan’s Father’s home town (Lytham St. Anne’s).  We’ve rented Tewit Cottage in Clitheroe, Lancashire and Payson and Chris are going to join us!  From there we go to Israel from 6/8 thru 6/22.  We will spend time with friends from Tucson who have visited before and will travel from Tel Aviv up to Safed, to Galilee, to Jerusalem, and all over that country (it’s the size of NJ) learning as much as we can as fast as we can.

Then it’s back to the UK and on up to Scotland where we are hoping to rent an apartment for July, August and then maybe Ireland for the beginning of Sept.  From there, back to Spain to do another volunteer gig, then home to the US on October 2^nd.  Because Medicare does not cover anyone for medical care off shore, our supplementary policy will take over but is only good for 6 months, so we need to return to the US for 3 months before it kicks in again. 

We have no plans after all of that….none at all.  We will fly back to NYC and hopefully, by then will have decided on some place to spend some time….but, right now, we will go into “let the Universe tell us” mode and see what happens and what opportunities arise.  Any ideas???  We are perhaps the luckiest people on the planet!!

Holiday Preparations

Our holidays will be quieter than usual this year, for at least a couple of reasons.

First, there is the fact that we are all by ourselves in Northern New Mexico, a long way from any family or friends.  So, there will just be the two of us . . . a small group for partying, to be sure.

The other cause for quiet celebrations is that Susan will have her left knee operated upon two days before Christmas, and she will probably be somewhat limited as to revelry.  The official diagnosis is in - she tore the meniscus in that knee at the end of October, and arthroscopic surgery is recommended.  So, the surgery should not be invasive, and recovery should be speedy, but caution is advised.  No more pain and no more cane!.  YYIIPPEE!!!!!!  What a merry Christmas!  It will be more comfortable than this one a couple of years ago when she broke her ankle, but not as much fun, missing all of the wonderful folks who helped us celebrate not only Christmas but LynnRae Lowe and Frank Kramer's birthdays on Christmas eve!

Yesterday we went to Espanola for her pre-op work-ups at the local hospital (though the surgery will be done in Santa Fe).  While there we bought some greens and such and did a little decorating when we got back to the house.  Susan also decided to prepare some eggplant lasagne to freeze for Christmas dinner, and she chopped up some chard to saute for the dish (she really looks eager to get started, doesn't she).

David found that, as usual, the greens Susan had arranged and put in front of the fireplace were lovely but not in quite the right place, so he made an adjustment.

You may see through the window that we had a little snow yesterday, and it continued to snow lightly through the night.  By morning we had perhaps two inches, but it was enough to wet things down a little, which is good because it has been very dry and dusty here.

Hoping you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving

We want to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  And it’s time to bring you up-to-date on our wanderings.  But, mostly we really want to share our big heart-felt gratitude not only for the life we are blessed with, but for each of you.  This is one of the few times we have spent Thanksgiving with just “us two” and it’s fun.  But being away, in the hills of Northern New Mexico, all by ourselves is making us think of how many rich connections we have and how great it is to have all of you in our lives.  Thank you for being who you are!

At the end of October we finished our wonderful summer volunteering at the Ford House in Mendocino – what a blast we had!  Susan telling people where to go! And David telling story after story about the history of the house, the town and the redwood industry.

We went from Mendo to Petaluma for a weekend at the IONS campus and while settling in for a session on Saturday morning Susan, taking a very long step up on a seating platform, heard a really loud pop and was in amazing pain in her left knee.  Long story short, she is scheduled for anthroscopic knee surgery on Dec 23^rd .  The pain has subsided – it comes and goes - she’s on a cane instead of a walker, but the MRI showed that the meniscus is torn apart and needs a good vacuuming out.

We drove the motor home to Portland where the Goldens were meeting us and retrieving the rig (saving us the drive to Pt. Townsend), but we left before they arrived so that we could get to Santa Fe and a doctor’s appointment asap.

On our way to New Mexico for our 4 month house-sitting gig, we stopped in Salt Lake City to hug Sutton and John and to visit our clothes in the small storage unit that holds all of our belongings.  We drove on to Santa Fe and spent several days there before heading up to Medanles where we will be until mid March. 

We had a nice dinner and spent the next day with Roberta and David McCleary, owners of this house on top of a mesa in an area called Vista de Pedernal – and it really is!  Georgia O’Keefe must have painted the Pedernal hundreds and hundreds of times and when we look out the living room window – there it is!  The McClearys are now “jeeping” in So. California for the winter. To get to the nearest store, in Espanola, we have to drive 2 miles down a dirt road then another 8 miles – WalMart  is about our only choice for food shopping unless we continue on about 30 miles to Santa Fe....but, it is beautiful here.

Although this is not a Chirstmas letter, we are reporting that Payson Cooked today! – an amazing event!  And John and Sutton went to Sutton’s 90 year old grandparents home to dine with family (Grandma played the piano!).  All is just perfect!

So, there you have it – we’re here until mid March, and then have no idea what we will do with ourselves….we’re open to ideas, so give us a shout. Thanks to Vonage our old phone number - 520-326-1894 - works just fine here (though the cell phones don't)   Many hugs and much love!