Saturday, we woke up to un milagro (a miracle)! Laura was feeling mucho mejor (much better), so we were anxious to get out of the house. We made our way downstairs to tell Vicki about our plans, and she gladly offered to make us her specialty bocadillos (sandwiches-- one: tortilla española; the other: atún, aceitunas y lechuga)-- great, as always.
We spent the first half of the day walking through Plaza Nueva in the center, shopping around and enjoying the weather. At one point, we needed to use the bathroom and popped into the nearest Burger King to find that the price of fast food us mucho más caro (much more expensive)-- it doesn't make sense to go in there and spend 5-7 euros on a gross fake-burger in there when you could sit down somewhere else and get one for the same price. As Cristina explained, "es una cuestión de experiencia... de lo social" (It's just a matter of the experience... being social). Ok, then.
A little later when we were feeling hungry (we've taken to saying "We have hunger"-- a literal translation of tenemos hambre), we got in touch with Abby and met her by la Universidad. From there, we found a short cut that leads us right along the road parallel to el río, our beloved Guadalquivir. We walked around a little til we found a good spot to set up camp. It's nice because there are SO many young people out, perched all along the river and outside the bar tents, disfrutándose (enjoying themselves). So we attempted to fit in with the Spaniards-- cuando en España (when in Spain...)-- and had our little picnic by the river. The sun was nice and strong (we had some regrets about wearing long pants), but it didn't matter. So while Laura and I downed our Soccer-mom size (1.5 L) water bottles-- YES, we were clearly dehydrated-- Abby attempted to open her boxed-wine, after many failed attempts. To the music of my iPod touch (make-shift speakers), we spent the afternoon in bliss... When we got up and started walking along el muelle (the pier), we stumbled upon a little bar/restaurant that was advertising boat rides... 'Hmmm,' we thought. Why not! We talked the owner into letting us take out a peddle-boat for a half hour, and the three of us made our way along the Guadalquivir! It almost reminded me of visiting day at sleep away camp, minus the family feuding. I'm really proud of us for doing something kind of "out there." It helped us see Sevilla through new eyes.
We were home in time to catch up a bit with Ana, who now has her arm in a cabestrillo (sling)... she's NOT very happy about it, but reassured us that it's only for like a week. But now Vicki is out of commission-- tiene fiebre y mucho dolor de cabeza (she has a fever and really bad headaches). She left us a little bit of food for la cena (dinner): tortilla española con espinacas (potato omelette/tortilla with spinach). We know where everything is now, más o menos (more or less), in the kitchen so we helped ourselves to some of the rice left over from la comida that we'd missed that day. :)
Sunday was a repeat of Friday in terms of gorgeous weather-- if not, it was more beautiful. We decided to hang around la terraza for the morning until around 12:30... Then, we were off to el Parque de Maria Luisa to see the primer paso (first float procession) of Holy Week! We honestly had NO idea what to expect-- movies and class discussions only do so much to prepare you for the real thing. We met up with Abby, and wandered around a little bit until the bulla (crowd) grew and grew. On this hot HOT hot day, Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), cientos (hundreds) of people started to gather in their nicest suits and dresses, waiting for the first paso to come through-- I think it was the Virgen of Peace? I'm not exactly positive which Jesus one it was, but I think it's meant to symbolize his entrance into Jerusalem. The procession began with some men-- and women!-- on horses, leading everyone through the street. Behind them were hundreds of nazarenos (nazarenes)-- the religious brotherhood dressed in their pointed hoods, holding long wax candles. Some of them had different insignia on their backs, which I guess means they're from different associations. There were even little boys marching along with the men! Every so often, to break up the nazarenos, were alter boys holding chandeliers and a realllly powerful incense we didn't quite care for. Some men trailed behind carrying wooden crosses. The paso, itself, was an alter made completely of a gold exterior-- it was blinding! On top, Jesus was holding his cross, and there were some other figures on board, too... I feel sort of ignorant for not knowing who was who, but I got the idea. It looked SUPER heavy, so it's no surprise it stopped every couple of minutes, conveniently to the beat of the band. We were all kind of bopping along, and it allowed for plenty of photo opps.
As Ana would say, there are two kinds of sevillanos... the ones who stay and enjoy the holy aspect of Semana Santa, and the ones who flee from the massive bulla. It's interesting, because there seemed to be a mix of the two present at the procession: there were people who HAD to be up close to practically touch the nazarenos, and those who clearly showed up just to socialize and show off their clothes without looking once over at the procession. Interesting.... It unfortunately started getting realllly hot about an hour and a half into it, so Laura and I decided to call it quits-- we missed La Virgen de la Paz, herself, but I think we definitely got the idea. We're going to try to see a nighttime procession because those are supposed to be really cool!
We came home for la comida, to find that no one else was really eating... Ana and Manolo were upstairs (Manolo hasn't come down in weeks), and Vicki was still sick in bed. BUT, their daughter Patricia had proudly prepared us her famous PAN PIZZZZA!!! I'm not kidding, she exclaims it with that much excitement. It consists of cutting a baguette in half and dressing it in some homemade sauce, cheese, champiñónes (mushrooms), and.... drum roll please... the FAMOUS Spanish ingredient: TUNA!! Sounds kind of weirder than it is... it blended fine, and we ate it. For dessert, nothing less than LAS WASHIS! Washington Oranges-- "las washis" are the biggest oranges you've ever seen... but you can't eat more than 2 a day or else you are doubled over with stomach pains... just ask Laura...
We spent the rest of la tarde (the afternoon) in the park around the corner from our house. We called Abby, and the three of us plopped down with books. On her way over, Abby ran into José, one of Robin's host brothers! He's around 26-27 and brought along his puppy. He explained that she doesn't really have a name yet, but he calls her "Chica." Poor thing is going to be just as confused as my Gatos... when it started getting unbearably calor (hot), we decided it was time for HELADO (ice cream). It's so much better when it's not being force-fed to you 5 nights in a row, without a lactaid pill! We found a nice little place on la Avenida de la Reina Mercedes and sat for like an hour, talking and adding to our list of "Things we want to do while we are in Seville." Surprise: it consists of mostly ice cream/candy places we want to visit!
Later that night, the family dynamics at home were still really off... Ana and Manolo no bajaron (didn't come downstairs) for dinner, and Vicki obviously didn't cook because she was still knocked out. Instead, Cristina took care of us for the evening. She has been verrrry nice to us lately, which is nice because she used to intimidate us. She liked gossiping with us for a little while about our teachers at the International College of Seville-- she's housed Cornell students before and the faculty hasn't changed much, so we had a lot to laugh about.
.... A few days have passed since I started this entry, and we've been to a Sephardic seder, but more on that when I have the time to recount everything! We leave for Mallorca early tomorrow morning for las vacaciones (Spring break), so it seems like I'll be blogging til I die!
ADIOSSS... oh, and enhorabuena (congratulations) Spencer on college acceptances! Hope you're celebrating!
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