Asturias

ASTURIAS

Asturias is a place that I can only explain as magical. It is the land of fairy tales where the gnomes live, the fairies enchant, the witches stew their brews, and wolves howl in the night. When we entered Asturias it was like crossing into a new world (ok yeah I was a little sick because of the switchbacks but hey I loved being in the mountains). It was so hard to believe that we were still in Spain because we were surrounded by mountains covered in snow, and below fields of green farms separated by short little “walls” of stones. Men walked along the small, hilly, cobblestone streets dressed in slacks, vests, coats, berets, wooden canes, and wooden clogs (I loved these things look at the picture!) Actually I love this picture because this man was on the side of the road and on the last day we found that we didn’t have a picture of the clogs so when we were driving and saw this man we pulled over and Pedro asked if we could take his picture (All of us were a little embarrassed and the man I really think thought we were joking- I owe Pedro now).

Asturias was inhabited by the Celts a long time ago and since it is surrounded on one side by mountains and the other by the ocean, Asturias is pretty isolated and extremely different from Spain. It is more similar to France with amazing cheese, a great deal of free roaming livestock, and people come from all over the world to climb its peaks and hike around the villages. Everyone takes care to not be out at night because they have woods and wolves actually do howl at the moon at nights.
So we drove 8.5 hours to Asturias and arrived in Asturias to our hotel in Somiedo around 5pm. We had to make few stops because we all know how I am in a car too long. So here is a pic of a cute town we stopped to see on the way, and a great picture of Pedro about to throw a snowball at me (you can't see the pictures of the snowballs I threw at him because he was so soaked that the pictures aren't that great.)Our first night was in Valle de Lago (which means valley of the Lake), more on that later. First let me explain what happened, we stopped at the next night’s hotel to tell the lady we were in town and everything was ok (it was on the way). Then we continued to the hotel in Valle de Lago. Well our guess is that the lady from the first hotel (I call her a host mom because she scolded guests when they got a little later, and was “the mother” to everyone that came in.) Anyways when we got to the second hotel (in the next two pictures) we were met by some ladies that were waiting for us. They were cheery to see us and very helpful, almost too helpful. We later decided that they had been called by the last hotel lady to be ready to see me, the foreigner which was ok. This hotel was so cute and I fell in love with the rooms immediately. I have some pictures of mine- isn’t it just so country and big! Mine had a big bed too!

Dinner was in the restaurant in the hotel because it was easy and most importantly because as soon as we got our stuff into the rooms it started to snow. We dined nice (Pedro insists upon this) so we had a three course meal with soup, grilled pork with French fries, and for dessert I got a borrachines (fried balls of bread in a strong wine sauce) and Pedro got the amazing cheese cake (homemade). We ended up sharing them because I adored the cheesecake. The part that I liked the most was that the horses ended up running by the window, AKA the center of the village (there were about 40 houses) and then ran by again after being scared away.

3rd of April

We ate in the restaurant of the hotel again. We had what I call the “typical” Spanish breakfast (it really is) of toast, juice, croissants, coffee (for Pedro) and cola cao (for me). And then we got ready for a hike in the snow up to the lake. It was made by a glacier that melted and (with the help of a wall manmade) there is now a lake surrounded on three sides by peaks. A really beautiful lake and the hike up is pretty nice too. The snow was more refreshing then cold- thanks to the boots I borrowed my feet were warm until the walk back when the snow was melting and I was stepping in lakes.

That evening we drove down the mountain to Pola de Somiedo (We took this picture of a town called Urria on the way). Oh also this picture is of the group of horses that crossed the road before us. One actually was crossing and stopped in the middle of the road- I swear he looked at us- and relieved himself and then slowly moved to the other side. You can imagine that I was laughing histerically at this. When we were leaving this spot this paint in the picture saw me and began walking over to the car to greet me so I took his picture.

In Pola de Somiedo we went to the tourist office which had an exhibition of geology, cultural Anthropology and really good explanations of the wildlife and life in general in Someido. It was really good. It was getting late so we went to a bar close by, with a restaurant in back for dinner. This is the night we tried a plate of cheeses (Asturias is known for its strong cheeses) and a couple bowls of fabada ( a soup that was served in the pot to us-I like that- and is composed of beans that are really strong and if you eat too much it could be a long bathroom visit. It is typical for Asturias also). Last was Cachopo an escalope (my dictionary says that is the English word for it but I don't know it so lets just say meat) with a sauce of cheese, jamon, and tomate (it was really good but I was pretty much out of space from the soup before).

Then we got to the next hotel (yeah we got there around 12 and the landlady was not happy and made that clear to us- she had little trust in us because we were under the age of 40 and the year before she had had kids stand her up kind of cruel on her part but we understood). I was wiped out so I fell asleep in my bed when my head touched the pillow.

4th of April

I awoke to the sunlight that entered my window and got up to see the green pastures around us with the horses, the river almost right next to the hotel, and the beautiful mountains towering above. The hotel was more like a bed and breakfast and we were fed in the front room with nice china, warm smiles, and questions of how our day went etc. We left that day to go to Cudillero.

This town was really busy today of all days. While we were driving into the town Pedro noticed the Spanish flags outside the apartments had black ribbons pinned to them and said “well I guess someone must of have died or something bad happened” (in Spanish “creo que un persona ha muerto o ha pasado algo) I laughed so hard! And then proceeded to tell him that it was black Friday- he got embaressed and said oh I guess that is probably it- I teased him all day.

Now I think this town is really pretty and you can decide from the pictures what you think. We got here on a day when a lot of people came to enjoy their free day so it was “touristy”. We climbed the mountain and went up on top where there were more houses and farms. It was really pretty walking the roads looking at the ocean and the green landscape. I took a picture of the typical storage containers for grain in Asturias called a horreo. Two examples here. Ok a herreo is important because they are on four legs that hold the house off the ground. then on each of these is a flat rock that makes it so rats (unless they can deny gravity) can´t climb up into the grain. Interesting huh?

We left his city for lunch because I complained I didn’t want to eat with all the tourists, poor Pedro had to drive to another city on a hungry stomach. But we got to the city of Tineo around 3 or 4 to go to a bar called Vanesa and they served us the “typical plain sandwich” as Pedro calls it. It had cheese, ham, and sandwich bread all toasted. I liked this fast cheap meal- Pedro didn’t complain.

We explored Tineo and went through its town mercadillo (very small), and went to lookouts where we saw the houses below this town positioned on a mountain. We had some great discussions about life during Franco’s time sitting on a rock wall looking out over the countryside with a park nearby with the giggles of kids as they played on the jungle gyms and the swings.

We left this town to go to Salas where we walked the city- went to the tourist office which was in the tower of an ancient castle and the rest is now a hotel. We walked around the city and then decided to eat at the hotel in the castle a really nice dinner of food I will not forget soon. We had our first plate was octopus, pulpo, with mushrooms. Then Pedro got a plate of javelin meat with chestnuts and mushrooms (really good I like javelin meat it is like roast beef not really tough and the flavor was nice.) I had deer meat with a sauce of some kind of berry called arandanos- I tried to look it up but there isn’t a definition for it. Then for desert a volan de chocolate con helado which was a warm brownie (cupcake) and a scoop of ice cream. It was an interesting meal.

We called the hotel in advance to say we would be later then usual getting back which both of us hated doing as it made us feel like we had another mom to check into. (which we kind of did).

We got back to the hotel around 1:30 and crashed.

5th
The last day in the bed and breakfast which is kind of sad because the breakfasts are amazing and they really give us a lot of bread, cookies, honey, and a warm dish of eggs or something else warm, but yeah no more of the nosy mom! Here are some pictures of me writing in the journal about our trip.

We set off to the capital of Asturias Olveido. (Here are just a ton of pictures until I have time to actually sit down and write about exactly what we did and ate) Hope you like. -Lauren

Semana Santa

Semana Santa Domingo de Ramos a Martes (martes no pasos salen porque la lluvia)

So how do I start out explaining Semana Santa well lets say that my first day of Semana Santa I was ready and well prepared for what I saw. With my two intercambios we went to watch the first paso La Estrella. In a group of 5 guys dressed up in three piece suits with nice ties, their tradition for every Palm Sunday (yeah I was feeling pretty good surrounded by these nice looking guys). We watched the paso leave the church and I got my first taste of the floats covered in flowers in and candles at the bottom of a huge statue of Jesus- this one in particular had Jesus riding a donkey for Palm Sunday. The things I will remember in particular is the saeta- the song that is sung by a faithful person who stands in a balcony window near the church and sings this song, similiar to flamenco, to the image when it leaves or comes near to reentering its church. The crowd of people is quieted because microphones are never used and the person has to project their voice over the whole street. (Picture of lady) The other picture of Plaza Salvador with the paso San Bernardo passing in front of it.


I haven’t explained the scene very well so lets back up to describe what a paso is and those involved. First there are a certain amount of churches that have 2 pasos one of Jesus (like in these pictures, the one with the cathedral is from my university´s pasos-and it is called Los Estudiantes) during these last days of his life- his time of suffering. These next pictures are of Santa Genoveva. The first is taken between Parque Maria Luisa and the Palacio San Telmo.

This picture was taken in calle Alfalfa of La Candelaria paso.

In these next two photos you can see La Lanzada in Alameda de Hercules. The last supper and his riding the donkey on palm Sunday were the only two I saw where he wasn’t suffering. These pasos as you can see are crammed with golden (yep its real) objects and when you get close there are tons of details etched into it. (this picture is of a paso from Santa Genoveva, between Parque Maria Luisa and the Palacio San Telmo). Now the second paso is always of the virgin Mary. This is less weight at times because it is not covered in as many gold parts just a ton of candles, flowers and a covering that is intricately sown in real gold thread (nothing about these pasos is cheap). The part that is most interesting for me is the people involved in the pasos.

The Band, people on horseback, and guardia civil. If the church can they have a couple people on horseback to lead the paso and after them is the band. I didn’t see many with people on horseback. Each paso has a band to play melodies for the image. With the first image of Jesus the music is more with horns, drums, and instruments that make a lot louder sounds. The band related to the Virgin tends to more the woodwinds and orchestra type of instruments. On all 4 corners of every paso there is a guard dressed in his dress uniform that walks with the paso as it moves through town. This picture is of the policemen in their formal attire, as they await the arrival of the first procession in Plaza San Francisco.

The nazarenos. These are the people who wear the robes that are elaborately embroidered with emblems of their particular church or cofradia (these disfraces or masks are similiar to the KKK in the US). They wear medallions, carry crosses or big candles or banners (mainly adults carry the crosses and the banners). They are separated into sections to help with the identifying where people that you know are, you just look for a person carrying a certain banner and somewhere in that section is that person. These people walk in sandals, socks, or barefoot through the streets and most take a vow of silence. The two types of nazarenos are candle carriers who move in front of the Jesus paso and are usually composed of the kids and less strict adults. The other group carries crosses and their hoods usually aren’t stuffed with the cardboard to make it stand straight up. These are usually adults I found them to be a lot more strict. All the nazarenos move in relation to the music played by the bands and those with candles are known to give out candies, medallions, and photos of their pasos to onlookers. These people can be any age, and one paso in particular had a whole section of kids walking. El Gran Poder paso had over 200 nazarenos- this can be really annoying to stand and watch because it takes so long to get past the nazarenos to see the pasos.
I found these people really fun to watch because of how varied their ages and their actions with onlookers. I saw one infant that was so tired after an hour of walking that he was being pushed in a stroller by his mom (smart if you ask me). I also received a lot of gifts from the nazarenos because a lot of them knew Mario. I loved it when someone would tap Mario and point at a Nazareno and Mario would go to the nazareno and receive gifts- sometimes they would whisper something to him and his expression would change from wonder to surprise. I had a couple nazarenos give gifts to me too but they never tried to talk to me and to this day I still have no idea who they were. This pic is of a nazareno talking to his friend while he passes by.One time we had to get a pop to Mario’s brother Danny (after walking for hours it is nice to eat or drink something). Well the fun part is trying to figure out which one is him. Mario had more practice then me, and immediately knew which one he was. Danny also did a sign of tapping on his cross to say that he saw Mario too. After 3 times I still couldn’t figure out which hooded figure was Danny. Mario told me the trick to find Danny in particular was to look for his fingernails because his are longer then the others to help him play his guitar so that is what Mario looks for. This helped a bit but I still never got really good at it.
I liked watching the child nazarenos because they would lift up their hoods to talk to people, some would try to eat bocadillos below their hoods so it wasn’t obvious, little toddlers would carry baskets and give their candies to other little kids and some didn’t really want to share with the other kids. A game played by kids watching was to take tinfoil in a ball and ask nazarenos to turn their candles so wax would fall on the ball. Some kids have been doing this for years and their balls were pretty big. I enjoyed watching these pasos a lot.

The costaleros. These are the men that actually carry the pasos and all you see of these men are their feet. This is a really tough job and is the hardest job of Semana Santa. It varies for every paso but the average is around 40-60 men for each paso and thankfully these men get breaks from beneath the float to relax and just walk. These men have fabric tied on their head that they use to carry the weight. I was continually impressed at how well these costaleros moved in unison, jumped at times, and moved in ways that are referred to as “dancing” as they move to the sound of the music played by the bands. On Monday night at 4 am in the morning (yeah I was cold and sleepy) we went to watch Mario’s brother’s paso return to its church in Triana. I have to say I was amazed by what the costaleros for the virgin did. First this church (Gonzalo) has an opening that isn’t very tall, so to return the virgin to inside they have to send a man up to take off her crown. Then after their turn so the image faces the public (and underneath the costeleros switch so they can face going into the church) they get down on their knees and slowly carry the virgin back into the church. They bellow and grunt as they make slow progress into the church- Amazing! I was told that the costeleros are like the quarterbacks of a football team, they have a lot of responsibility and all eyes are on them in the end.

This picture of the Triana bridge because all the pasos from Triana cross this bridge. It is really hard to see a pasos from this bridge and we never used the bridge when we wanted to cross between Triana and Centro- can you guess why?This particular procession is of San Gonzalo (the procession Danny was in) as they cross the Triana bridge, on it's way to the official procession route and Cathedral.

My general opinion of Semana Santa is that a lot of the pasos are the same and while it is fun to watch pasos- it is a lot more fun to watch the reaction of the crowds to the pasos. I was lucky enough to be able to see the pasos from VIP seats near the cathedral where you see every paso and there isn’t any delay between them, on the streets in the middle of the day and last but not least when they return to their respective churches. In my opinion seeing them on the streets is the most fun, and while a lot get back really late at night it is worth braving the cold, crowds, and sleepiness to see the pasos return to their church for the saetas, cheers from the crowd, and sounds of the costaleros as they finish this exhausting day of work.

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