Friday Smiles 2024 # Week 29

Well we have survived another week, .. just..., but boy has it been a hot week, and a noisy one too. Yes it was fiesta week, starting last Thursday evening and going on until Tuesday evening this week. As it was so hot we did not go over to the plaza every night, but we could see the lights and fairground rides, and hear the music, while sitting on our porch. But we did go over briefly on Friday and again on Saturday night to watch the horses. One road is filled with sand and young men on horses gallop along and try to catch one of the ribbon sashes rolled around a wire across the road. If they suceed they are rewarded with a gift  (and sometimes a kiss) from one of the girls sitting on a raised platform at the side. They are all dressed in pretty flouncy dresses and have elaborate hairdos with flowers and combs in it. One young man was quite sucessful and managed to catch several ribbons and he took his horse back to girls to rear up and bow to them.

The plaza is full of tables and chairs, served by young people from one of the three temporary bars set up around the edge. They sell small beers, and wine and each drink can come with a tapa - a sausage, meat or cheese on a piece of bread. It was facinating to watch this man carefully slicing an Iberian ham into wafer thin strips. It is a real skill and takes many years of training to get it right. He was doing pretty good! (I love the painted chair beside his table).

Tuesday was the actual saint's day for Virgen del Carmen, our village patron saint, so on that day most of the village assembled on the plaza for a special mass. 

Many of them bring floral tributes to lay around the statue of Mary. This year there was a second statue that we think was Jesus holding the hand of a child, but we are not sure.

We sat right at the back behind one of the bars, and during the mass the bar staff were busy cooking the first round of meats for the tapas once the bars started serving.

After the mass the statues are paraded through the streets of the village, and we joined the crowd following them. Aren't the lights pretty?

They finish their parade at the Town hall where the Virgin is showered with rose petals,  and the Mayor shouts out a tribute to which everyone responds "Viva!". Then they process up to the small plaza outside the church where they are greeted by the band playing the national anthem, the bells ringing out in loud peels and then the only proper fireworks we see all year. It is quite a moving spectacle, and eventually the statues are carried into the church to their usual resting places.

Of course we took loads of  photos and videos, and using two of my sons and one of mine, I have merged them into a short video to try and convey some of the atmosphere of the evening. You can see it HERE.

That officially marks the end of the fiesta. There would be music and dancing still going on over on the main plaza, but we were ready for bed so we made our way home down our quiet, empty street. Peace for another year!

I have had enough of temperatures in the upper thirties already and we have weeks of it to go yet, but we have air-con in the main room and our bedroom, and fans everywhere, so we are just about managing. I am not good at sitting doing nothing, but I am so glad that I don't have to do anything, so I can do the bare necessities as and when the mood takes me!

My hand continues to do well but the shoulder wound is not there yet, so I still go to the clinic regularly to have it re-dressed, and hopefully it will settle in the end. As I have to keep it dry it is difficult to shower properly and dips in the pool are out of the question. I am envious of Tom dipping in and out when he gets too hot.

I prefer my fan at shoulder height in my room, but Chris has quite an efficient floor one and Tolly soon found it was the perfect place to lay. He's not very elegant, but at least he is keeping cool the best way he can.

So time now to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and publish this in the morning.