We got Friday off of school, which was awesome because my birthday was Thursday- so we went out for my birthday and had a great time! Naturally, I slept most of the day on Friday and then explored Sevilla a little bit because the weather is finally fantastic!
This week we had no school because of Holy Week in Sevilla. The kids don't go to school the whole week and the people don't work Thursday-Sunday. All week there are "pasos" which are these huge float like things with Jesus and Mary on them and a procession of "Nazarenos" who are dressed like the Ku Klux Klan... little scary when I first saw them.
The floats are made of silver or gold and weigh tons, so there are men under these floats carrying it on their necks. They have to stop every few meters just to rest because it's such a tough job. Some of these pasos last for up to 14 hours, so these men get extremely tired. Also, they have been practicing all year for this week and this procession.
The Nazarenos carry candles and pass out candy "caramelos" to the viewers. Some don't wear shoes as penance to the suffering of Christ. These people range from all ages- children age 4- adults. This picture is me and my friends at one of the pasos on the first night of Semana Santa. We went with one of my best Spanish friends, Francisco and his cousins Vicente and David. They are such awesome guys, it was so fun to go with them- and much easier because they actually knew where everything was... I don't think we could have found everything on our own...
For this country being Catholic, I think most people watch pasos during Holy Week and call it a sufficient trade for Mass for an entire year. TONS of people come out of the woodwork to see these pasos in Sevilla. Sevilla and Malaga have the largest Semana Santa "celebrations", not quite sure what to call it... in the entire world. Here are several pictures from the pasos I saw- I saw about 7 or 8 pasos- each last about 45 minutes or longer.
This week I also went to the beach a couple of times!
First beach was Cadiz. We took the train to Cadiz from Sevilla and then walked to the beach. This beach is on the Atlantic Ocean, so it kinda felt a little like Florida haha! It was beautiful weather, but really windy, so it was nice because while we tanned, we didn't get super hot! We walked around Cadiz- not much there really... it was small and Spanish... then we headed home!
Second beach was Marbella. We had to take the bus to get there and then when we got to the bus station we asked for directions to our hostel and everyone told us to walk "abajo, abajo, siempre abajo" which basically means keep walking down and you'll find it. haha! So, we walked down and easily found our hostel. We changed clothes and headed to the beach. This town is known as the "Hollywood" of Spain and for good reason... EVERYONE drove Mercedes, BMW, Audi and we even saw Lambourginis and have heard that Bentleys are seen driven there. Anyway, it was so beautiful! This beach is on the Mediterranean Sea, so in 1 week I went to two different bodies of water!
Semana Santa was an interesting week- way too many people, so I'm really glad it's over!! BUT on the bright side, so many of the streets were blocked off that we had to take alternate routes to get places, so we discovered a place where they serve AMERICAN PANCAKES!!!!!!!! We got them and they were amazing.
Love,
Merick :)
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