To The North

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates! I chalk it up to schoolwork which began to intensify 3 weeks ago when final projects and exams for my program's classes began to be due, and tomorrow I have the final for my university class along with short papers on the 6 books we read this semester. But, at the beginning of this experiment, I could already sense that it would sadly fizzle out or degenerate to unexplained snap shots every few weeks (by the way, i added captions to the last post if you are interested). I seem to never keep up with anything that requires daily, repetitive effort, be it a diary, blog, or working out. There's just so many other things (especially here) that have yet to be done and are more rewarding. Also: the shotty internet connection at the house doesn't help. Pictures take FOR-EV-ER to load. But i found myself bored and not wanting to study anymore, in part because studying for open book tests always seems useless, and also because I feel indebted to my one registered follower (shout out to Brittany).
So here goes my recent trip to the north of Spain, mainly the Basque country.

We (me and my friend Amanda) flew into Santander, it being thee closest Ryan Air airport, on cheap tickets that were offered in their Volcano Sale, spent a night, and took an early morning bus ride an hour and half to Bilbao in the province of Vizcaya. The ride was extremely green, skirting the coast that is dotted with little fishing villages that look like that. We mainly had two objectives: see the Guggenheim and meet up with Amanda's friend, but the city of Bilbao turned out to be way cooler than either of us expected and our one night there seemed a little too short.
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Basque Country is known to be relatively isolated from the rest of Spain, with a more celtic culture and a language distinct from any other in the world that they rabidly defend. Under Franco, the terrorist separatist group ETA was formed and although it is a lot smaller today, it is still active and one can still see ETA graffiti. (Recently two policemen were killed in the French Basque Country by ETA, and a few days ago the number one and number two Basque leaders were captured in France due to their involvement.)
Unintelligible Basque language

The Guggenheim modern art museum is in Bilbao. It was built around ten years ago and since then the city has been completely revitalized and become a destination instead of the simple working-class port it once was. The Anish Kapoor exhibit was awesome, but the building itself seems to be the biggest attraction. L.A.'s Disney concert hall is too similar for me to be amazed by the architecture but it was still very cool.

The cuisine of the Basque Country is also famous. The call tapas 'pintxos' and they usually come served on a slice of baguette, although it is not necessary. The baking is also much more developed, being close to France. Bilbao had little tarts filled with rice pudding custard that we had to eat every time we saw them in a window. Above is an oxtail sandwich with red pepper soup on the left and grilled octopus with gazpacho and olive oil ice cream on the right. 3.50 euro each.

Amanda on the river. After one night in the shady part of town, we were off to San Sebastian...

Updated

I saw this sticker at the university; it says "health is not a business" and I felt it was cogent back in February when I took this picture. It's funny to see this in Spain, though, because they already have free, government-run healthcare (but not dental care).

One of the many pictures I took during our cooking class for Gastronomy of Spain. The two days of cooking class with the woman at center were excellent, we prepared 6 tapas each day. The class as a whole turned out to be pretty bad and we basically taught ourselves out of the book and watched youtube videos in class.

One of the protests I've seen on my own street, Maisonnave, which is kind of the shopping center of Alicante. This I believe was against the government either decreasing pensions or increasing retirement age for workers. The Corte Ingles in the background is a megastore all throughout Spain; think of it as a Best Buy, Borders, Vons, and Macy's all rolled into one.

Me at the top of the Castillo Santa Barbara, the better preserved of our two castles, with the port in the background.

LAS FALLAS

Our group went to Valencia this thursday and i returend on friday for the fiesta of las fallas. it is one of the biggest festivals in spain, and the number of people in the city triples as spaniards and foreigners pour in to watch. the word 'falla' refers to the elaborate structures that each neighborhood of the city builds all year long and then burns on the 19th of march, el dia de san jose. the tradition started when the carpenters, whose patron saint is san jose, would burn the structures they had used in the winter to hold the candles that illuminated their workshops during the long nights. they would burn the wooden candle holders in the street to welcome spring and symbolize new beginnings. it is said that one day one of the carpenters decided to dress up his 'falla' as someone recognizable, and form there everything escalated. today, fallas can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for the biggest ones; the neighborhood organizations collect money every month from those who want to participate. a whole industry is built around the artisans who labor all year building the elaborate structures out of papier maiche and cardboard. the subject matter is usually cynical and always critical of whatever the builder disliked in the past year, including politics, sports, or other facets of modern life. in burning the fallas, they seek a kind of purification. each fallas has signs written in valencian (the regional language) that describe the content of the structures in rhyme. each year, one of the figures or 'ninots' from the winning falla is spared from the flames and saved in the museum
in addition to the fallas themselves, each neighborhood elects women to be the falleras of their organization. the have many processions of men, women, children, and bands decked out in their traditional regional outfits. these women are also the ones who actually light the fires at midnight.

bunuelos de calabaza are typical of the festival and sold in stalls outside. they are basically fried dough with squash, covered in sugar, but delicious. this stall was our favorite, they also sold hot chocolate and dried figs covered in the same batter and fried.

one of the 'falleras infantiles'; to me they look just like the girl from velazquez's las menina

more falleras in a parade

the sea of people awaiting the mascleta. it is a fireworks display but with emphasis on the sound of the explosions rather than the colors of the rockets; they are judged by how good the rhythm is and how loud they are. every day for the past few weeks they have a mascleta in front of city hall sponsored by a different team. it is so loud that you are told to open your mouth and never plug your ears, because if you do the pressure can build up and pop your eardrums. you can feel the noise as paper fragments from the rockets rain down on the audience. the streets are PACKED, at 115, and you cannot move. the most people i've seen in one place at one time. I was lucky enough to go to two.

and the resulting smoke from tons of gunpowderthis falla dealt with the crisis in the conomy, showing a piggy bank hooked up ton an IV of euros, a mother struggling with shopping, and a father trying to pay the bills


this 'ninot' was from a falla that was about energy conservation and protecting the environment, and the sign says something about the importance of shopping with reusable bags although one frequently forgets to bring themThis is one of the biggest fallas, in the plaza of the city hall where the mascletas take place. it shows a traditional fallero family dressed in the outfits, the boy dunking his churros in chocolate as his mom fries up some more bunuelos. the valencians are obsessed with fireworks, as you can see from the hysterical-looking father. the whole day, everyone from tiny children to adults is lighting fireworks and throwing them in the streets. you never no when something will blow up near your feet so you have to be aware. some are really gigantic and dangerous, but the parents think nothing of letting their kids throw them near a crowd of people. after a few hours, though, only the loudest 'petardos' actually startle you.

and the falla above in flames at 1:00 am. it was accompanied by a fireworks display and seen by thousands of people shoulder-to-shoulder in the plaza

almost gone, a year's work and probably 300,000 euros up in flames.

4 am bunuelos, the last of the day

BAR CE LON A

pastries

one corner of Park Guell; it is a HUGE park a little outside the city that Gaudi envisioned as a planned garden-city for wealthy families of Barcelona. He died before it was finished and now it is one of the trademark public areas of Barcelona. It has the longest park bench in the world, all covered in mosaic.

seeing FC Barcelona beat Malaga 2 - 1 was the highlight of the trip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHlA58b6OoI
checkout the game

Sagrada Familia sculpture; begun more than 100 years ago, the iconic cathedral is still under construction. It is pretty much a shell of a building although you can still take an elevator to the top for the view.


This past weekend, we spent two nights in Barcelona. That was not nearly enough time to begin to know the city. I'm glad I will be going back (at least) two more times because there is so much left to do. I have never experienced a city so impacted by one person. Gaudi's name and works are everywhere. Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, Sagrada Familia, Park Guell... almost every 'sight' in Barcelona is his work. Even the tiles along the main sidewalks were designed by him. His whimsical aesthetics still seem to pervade the city. There is art in every storefront, sign, or advertisement and the younger people are all dressed impeccably. The food is excellent, if more expensive than Alicante. I had a delicious bacalao salad, grilled swordfish, and fresh cheese with honey for dessert at one of the infinite small cafes serving a prix-fixe 'menu' that comes with a drink and bread. Every street you turn down in the old quarter has something interesting to see. I can't wait to back in two weeks!

Carnaval

Last night was carnaval. Here the young people celebrate by dressing up in costumes and going out to the streets to party all night long. The city sets up decorations, organizes live music, and plans events. The main streets of Alicante were flooded with people in every costume imaginable. Many American football players, some Dharma initiative employees from lost, cows, you name it. Everyone was packed shoulder to shoulder on this dock that goes out into the water, spilling onto the beach and the rambla, and overtaking one of the main plazas. It was quite an event

School is done differently here. There are almost no textbooks; instead, students go to the copisterias, which are little cramped rooms that smell like ink and have a group of xeroxes, and buy notebooks with all the course material. However, the copisterias all have books for random classes and are located in random buildings. For my literature class I hand to find out that the copisteria in the science building was where I needed to go, after waiting in lines at three other copisterias. Somehow, the university can still function and all the students get there books. The next task is to find where I can buy the obscure latin american novels i need for that same class...

GRANADA & school business

This past weekend we went to Granada. We all signed up for this program called QUIJOTES where we agreed to only speak Spanish for the 5 months, but it can't really be enforced outside of the earshot of our professors. The trip was more trying because we actually had to follow the contract, at least when we were in a group. Granada is full of young people because of the university and full of tourists because of the alhambra and also the chapel where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. Aside from giving Columbus the funds to search for a shorter route to India, they are known for driving the Moorish armies out of Spain and expelling the Jews. Granada was the last Moorish stronghold, and the alhambra is one of the best preserved monuments of Muslim architecture in Spain because the last emperor agreed to surrender if the kings would keep the city intact. There's a saying in Spanish that translates to "There's no greater tragedy than to be blind in Granada," and it becomes apparent when one visits the city and sees the ancient neighborhoods that at different times were home to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. The arabic influence is everywhere, from the accent to the food. Parts of the city feel almost like Morocco. Tapas are huge here; you get a free one with each drink. If you last long enough, you can eat dinner for free!

activism, communism, and the explanada d'espanya