Thursday, July 7, 2011

PIRATES AND MORE

Lately it has been muggy during the day, so I tend to go out either in the morning or in the later evening, which is usually when I take Wilbur to the beach, unless I have to take the bus to the city for one of my classes. On occassion, like yesterday, we get a wonderful overcast day, however this one included hail.
The weekend before this last one, I went to Casavells with the girls, the day after Sant Joan, in order to relax from that one night. Of course we had a late start, as everyone was dragging their feet, we made it there by 7pm, and immediately went for a walk. We walked to another town, Ullestret, about 2 miles away. And made it back by 9pm, just as Loli had arrived; Tere and Santi were there also, cooking snails for dinner. I hadn’t had snails in many years, so I was a bit skeptical, right up to the moment I placed one in my mouth... ahh!, nice.

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So, in order to fit in with everyone I must embrace the favorite summer passtime in Spain, the art of sunbathing; which I had warned my friends I have not done all these past years, so I would need to have a tiny shade spot somewhere. Despite all the propaganda that has been shoved down our throats against it, the love and cult to the Sun here is big; some people will lay there all day, I remember when I was young, we would do that all summer long. 
We went to the beach in Pals on Saturday, and to Palamos on Sunday. I have a smilebox slideshow to show you from that weekend.




The “Festa Major” of Premia de Mar just started yesterday, and tonite the battle begins, we must all gather down at the beach, Premianencs on one side defending the town, and Omar and his Pirates disembarc from their ship to pilage and claim the town for a few days. This is also known as the battle of water, despite the city hall asking people to abstain from using hoses and buckets thrown from balconies; regardless prepare to get wet, fortunately it’s warm at night.

Keep in mind I took these photos at night/no flash, so at best they're blurry, however it also makes for some very interesting effects; one of which reminds me of Victor's work, can you guess which one?
Now, I’m sorry to tell you that I won’t be able to connect with you for 3 weeks+, as something unexpected just happened; Jorge called me just a few days ago to ask if I wanted to drive a “coche escoba”, as he was going on a trip along the Besos river (second longest in Spain and the one that carries the most water) organized by Ecologistas en Accion. 
This event doubles as a protest to help protect the river from many industrial poluters. We don’t know exactly how many people are going, as they are still signing on, last week it was just over a hundred and they will walk, bike and kayak. Coche escoba translates to broom car, which is a vehicle that goes behind the crowd carrying stuff, this way, instead of taking a bus up to Reinosa the province of Santander, where the river is born, we will take his van, so we can carry bikes, kayak and other people we have yet to meet.
The city of Reinosa will be expecting us, and will have dinner ready starting at 10.30pm as they expect people travelling from far away. Other towns along the way are also contributing with food and/or lodging. See you when I get back.