If you're reading my adventures regularly, you know I returned from Switzerland at the end of February. This posting today is to catch you up on my many mini-adventures since then - yes, 'many mini' is on purpose! Enjoy, I hope, as I revisit some fun days...
About 3 days after I returned from Switzerland, there was a most unusual swim meet. It was held at the Naval Academy (Spain's Annapolis) to honor the former navy man who started the Master's program in Galicia and made it grow to its current popularity. He is deceased but his widow and family attended. We swam in a 33 meter pool which is standard military size here I was told...but nobody really knew why? John P, do you know? After the swimming, came the highlight of the day: a shared meal of "grelos y lacón" in the Academy cafeteria. This is a Galician specialty I had eagerly waited to taste so imagine my surprise when I realized it was basically "chitlings and greens"! Served with potatoes and bread, of course! It was delicious and made even more so by sharing it with new friends...including 2 US Naval Academy 3rd year female students who I met only because I thought I heard English when we were all in line for our meal. They didn't know Kathryn (sp?) Ashton who is from my church and at the Naval Academy...and I thought about a 3rd year, also....who knows, maybe she has graduated since time flies faster each year? Anyway, after eating for about 2 hours, we moved to the 'coffeehouse' space for coffee...after chatting there for another hour or so, we (all the participating teams) were politely asked to leave because it was time to close up for the day! Así es la vida en España - no rush, no worries, just enjoy each moment of each day!
The day after the swim meet, my good friend of many years (since 8th grade), Beth Forester, arrived in Vigo to visit for a week...on her return from Tanzania! We had so much fun that it's hard to do a recap but I'll attempt to hit the high spots. I think she would say coming to my school with me and being the star attraction was definitely one for her...those who know her know she's a confirmed educator and never misses a chance to visit a different school or to spread her extensive knowledge about the deaf community. My students enjoyed her very much and were fascinated with her ability to talk in sign language. Some even now have names in sign language! Interrogating her was my lesson plan for the week! When she gets her pictures online, I'll be adding some of them here, I'm sure. She never leaves her camera at home!
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| Our lunch place in Pontevedra |
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We visited Pontevedra, the capital of my province in Galicia, and a beautiful old town only 30 minutes away by train. We were guided through the town by one of its natives and also a teacher at my school.
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| Lorenzo, our guide, and I in a plaza in Pontevedra |
On Thursday noon of that week, I had plans to take to lunch my 4 closest friends here who have all invited me into their homes and shared their lives with me...since my apartment is so tiny, inviting them there was impossible.
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| Me, Teresa, Felipe, Cris and Nando and Beth taking picture |
So, Beth met Cris and Nando, Felipe and Teresa at lunch...and she did very well since they all spoke some English but the conversation kept relapsing to Spanish. So well, in fact, that these wonderful friends all made special efforts to do something with us in the next few days: Felipe took us out to the beach and to coffee on a gorgeous Friday afternoon; Teresa took us out barhopping on Friday night; and Cris and Nando invited us over for "tapas" on Saturday night.
On Saturday, we hopped on the train(1 3/4 hours) for a visit to Santiago de Compostela..the ending point for all the Christian pilgrimages following El Camino (The Way). It is the supposed resting place of St James, the apostle. By this time, Beth was desperately needing a souvenir shopping spree because Vigo is not that "touristy" and I'm not that "shoppy", but Beth is! We saw the Cathedral, the parador, ate pinchos (small appetizers you choose yourself from the display and pay for by the number and shape of toothpicks used) and the inside of many shops! I'm sure Beth could have checked out more shops but I was saved by the fact we had to return to eat "tapas" with Cris and Fernando. And, what a fun evening that was! By this time, Beth and Nando were calling each other "Pero-But" because that was one of the words they both knew how to say in English and Spanish and it became very useful in our conversations - no se puede explicar mejor que eso. He did all the cooking while Cris showed Beth their house. I hope her pictures came out because his presentation was phenomenal! Sardines on sliced tomatoes, shrimp and pineapple on skewers, homemade arroz con leche, you get the idea..and, of course, all accompanied by a Spanish wine!
On Sunday, her last full day here, we were lucky to have the Festival de la Arribada in nearby Baiona. This festival celebrates the return of La Pinta from Columbus' voyage as the first ship to return to Europe and give the news that there was a New World! It is a medieval theme and all takes place in Baiona, a medieval town that has been preserved and exists today as a former major port and fishing site, and a current destination for summer homes for people from all over Spain. Very picturesque and a beautiful site on the edge of the ocean...I spoke of it earlier in this blog when Teresa and I visited there. Since it is too far to walk, we decided to take the boat that was offering for the first time transportation to the Festival - round trip for about $7.50! It was almost an hour each way on the water...the weather was a little rough but we made it!
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| Captain of our ship...and his "crew" |
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The food, activities, costumes and crafts were lots of fun to see.
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| 2 cuties! |
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| Beginning of small parade of costumes |
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| more costumes |
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| and more |
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| even authentic strollers |
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| ?? |
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| many on stilts |
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| one of many music groups |
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| results of archery contest |
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| archers competing - including 2 kids |
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| view of entire town where festival was |
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| one of many knight contests |
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Beth left the next day, March 5th, and it took me a week to recover: physically and emotionally. I'm fine being alone here until a good friend comes and disturbs my equilibrium in such a wonderful way!! She returns to double knee replacement - and the unexpected loss of her dog, Zander, so my prayers are with her in Baton Rouge.
On the next Saturday, Cris and Nando invited me to accompany them to Orense, a town about a hour from Vigo in the mountains but also on the Minho River. As usual, we had a great time! It is one of the 4 largest towns in Galicia but has a very large well taken care of old city. It is also know for its thermal hot springs - next time I'm taking my swimsuit! We ate lunch at the Casa do Pulpo (House of Octopus) and had some of the same cooked "a la Feira", the traditional Galician way - don't worry, Laura, I'm sure you'll love it! Hee, hee! We also ate "chipurones a la plancha", small squid cooked by sauteing with delicious spices. Our final course was a pork and potatoes dish which paled in comparison to the seafood. And, of course, a glass of local wine called Albariño - this you will like, Laura!
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| Lunch spot |
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| Orense street view |
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| Cris and I at thermal springs - very hot water!! |
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| Rose window of Orense Cathedral |
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| Galician flag - the people here think like Texans about their identity! |
After lunch, they went to his 90+ year old aunt's birthday while I wandered around looking at Orense. I even met 2 local English teachers because once again, I heard some English, and spoke to them. You have to understand that in this part of Spain, you almost never hear any English so when you do, you have to follow up and see who they are! We met up about 6:30 PM and headed back to Vigo with a planned stop in Ribaldavia - another medieval town on the Minho river closer to Vigo. But, of course, another adventure intervened...we were driving down the old highway on our way when Cris said (in Spanish), "Wait, stop, I just saw Juan, my former principal!" So, in true Spanish style, we stopped on the edge of the highway and talked to Juan who invited us back to his house where Cris and Nando had been once before a couple of years ago when they helped in his wine harvest. His wife greeted us warmly and led me into their delightful contemporary, high-ceilinged house perched on the side of the hill with a fantastic view, so I could get a better picture of the view.
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| View from their house |
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| Juan getting us wine to taste |
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| Look at design of his cabinet-1/2 of a barrel |
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| other half is this table on wheels for entertaining in the bodega |
Then, Juan insisted we go downstairs where he had excavated and created a bodega (his own small winery) where he made his own wine! We were "forced" to sample some and eventually left with several bottles of the same...saving mine for when Jon (Laura's boyfriend) arrives since he is an oenophile. Even though it was dark by now, we stopped in Ribaldavia and saw its amazing old Jewish quarter in the medieval part of town - really made me stop and think about how evil the Inquisition was...and how little progress we have made today in avoiding ridiculous wars based on religious differences.
Sunday dawned early for me because we had a swim meet! I was looking forward to it because I had not swum a 100 free for time in about 35+ years. I knew I had some competition in my age group and was ready. One of the sweet guys on the team picked me up at 7:50 AM and we headed for the pool about 30 minutes from Vigo. It was beautiful day and we all swam well...still waiting for the results from the meet coordinators. A friend, Sole, I met on a hike with Cris and Nando's group had asked me about my swimming and had joined our group a couple of months ago. This was her first meet and she was nervous but I thought very brave to do her first competitive meet in her 50's! She completed her events and I think, thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She even called her university student daughter to tell her she dived off of the starting blocks! She also invited me after the meet back to her house where she made us a delicious Spanish tortilla followed by some orangey pound cake she had made. Since she lives above the main beach area, Samil, in Vigo and the weather was so perfect, we decided to take her Dalmatian on a walk along the beach...we ended up walking I would guess about 5 miles and I saw beach paths and boardwalks I hadn't known existed. It was a wonderful day getting to know a new friend (a doctor, actually a psychiatrist) and seeing new parts of this city.
Can you tell it's raining today and my outing to Portugal was cancelled? :( Thus, I get lots of time to catch up on my blogging which at least I enjoy and hope you do, too! Last night was St. Patrick's Day here as well as there! It is not celebrated on the same scale here but my friend, Teresa, and I, did our best...4 Guinness beers, 4 bars and 5 hours later, I think we had succeeded! I'll try to take a picture of myself in the hats we earned with our Guinness purchases so you can see what we accomplished...the nice thing here is you walk everywhere and you are served small bits of appetizers at each place you go so you never feel like you had too much to drink. We started at 6 PM while watching the Celta (local team vying for 1st division next year) soccer game and continued until 11 PM, having picked up a friend of hers for part of the evening. And, to wrap up today's entry, I will say there is one good thing about not going to Portugal today...I get to keep my weekly Skype date with my Sunday school class, Koinonia! I so enjoy seeing everyone and hearing the discussion on our current book - it's almost as good as being there! All for today but stay tuned for future entries - especially after my Semana Santa (Holy Week) visit in southern France with my good friends from Frankfurt who have a house there!
