This week was full of fun and excitement, except one day I didn’t feel so well and the heat got to me. As for the rest of week, it was wonderful because there was no working after Tuesday for all of us. It gave us a nice little break to just enjoy everything going on around us like the parade, the Precession, the bull fight, and many other cultural experiences. The one thing about visiting another country is seeing a new culture and what they do differently than back home, specifically events they have.
The first cultural experience was in the middle of week where they had a small parade on the main street of Granada. The parade was full of bands playing music, including American music surprisingly, giants resembling Isabella and others, and even these people with big heads hitting people on the streets with “balloons.” Of course, those were not the main event because the main event is to see what the flamenco dress style is for the upcoming year. How it gets presented is there is a woman mannequin wearing the dress while on top of a dragon. It was certainly an amazing dress and amazing how they present it to the city of Granada.
The following day would be followed by the Precession. The Precession would begin with the parade going through from the day before. Once again, the big heads with “balloons” come by and this time I was hit while the rest of group ran away. It doesn’t hurt as bad as it sounded the day before, but maybe they didn’t try as hard either. As for the rest of the Precession, the main event was to see the Eucharist being carried down the streets. The Eucharist would be carried on what looks like a float by 30 men, slowly through the streets of Granada. As it would pass us, the top of the float would get caught in the decorations hanging above, so part of the float would end up falling off and breaking. Luckily, it was not the Eucharist that would fall because if it did, there may be mayhem in Granada.
Later that night, part of the group and Mike went to Plaza del Los Torros to go to a bull fight. To many, they may think it is bad of us to go watch such an event because of the outcomes, but we all went to see it as a cultural experience. Bull fighting is huge in Spain and to be able to be part of that is an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up. It is very unfortunate to see the outcome of the bulls, as I felt watching the event, but I went for the experience as back home you would not be able to see such an event. What was exciting about the bull fight was seeing these men risk their lives while making graceful moves to dodge the bulls. Another experience was seeing how the crowd would react whether it was cheering “Oley” as the bull missed or at the end of the fight with the crowd cheering and throwing their fans or hats onto the ground for the fighter to kiss and throw back. Overall, I feel it was a great experience despite the circumstances.
As we got closer to an important weekend, there was one more thing to experience as it was Corpus Christi Week and there was the big fair. We decided to go as a group at night time because of the weather of Granada as it was 100 degrees multiple times during the week. When arriving to the entrance of the fair, you could tell it was massive. Like most fairs, you see the usual food stands and rides, but there was more. They had full size restaurants and bars as well for many to enjoy and have fun. Many of us are from Maine and the biggest fair is Fryeburg, but after seeing the Corpus Christi Fair, it makes Fryeburg Fair look tiny. Many of us would go on a ride while we were there, as a few went on the Ferris wheel. As for me, Caroline and I would go on a ride that many from the group were not thrilled for. In the end, the ride was certainly worth it especially when we had stopped at the top to see the whole view of the fair.
The week would be closed off with going to a beach house in Almunecar to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. As for the beach house, it wasn’t what I expected or the best in my opinion. It looked like an old motel at one time or a place for a camp as there were many bunk beds downstairs where the industrial kitchen was. The beach house wasn’t the most important part because we could say we swam in the Mediterranean Sea. When we arrived at the beach, we saw nothing but rocks instead of sand. It was not easy to walk to the water as the rocks were burning hot, but once we were closer to the water, the only words you could think to describe it was magnificent. It was clear, blue waters crashing ashore with a perfect temperature as you dive in. On our last beach day, Mike made a reservation to the restaurant on the beachside. At this restaurant, you could order an appetizer, main dish, and dessert for only seven euros and it was worth it since all of it was new to have for me. I started with a pasta that would have slices of fruit in it and then followed by the main dish which was lamb in a garlic sauce. This was my first time having lamb and I feel it was very good. As for dessert, it was a vanilla pudding with a cookie in it. That may not seem different, but their pudding isn’t as thick as back home, so it was very different and very good.
