I’ve been in Spain for over two weeks now, and I haven’t given any thought to this blog. I’m not sure what I want it to be. I don’t know if I expect it to be simple recollection of things that have happened, or whether I expect it to be some kind of deep, anthropological study of my host country. I suppose I will start with simple description and if I have any revelations about cultural differences I will write about them.
Right now, I feel like I’m getting into a routine, but I know that routine is going to change again because this past week has been out of the ordinary. Los vallesoletanos (those who live in Valladolid) have been celebrating La Virgen de San Lorenzo (The Virgin of Saint Lawrence) with a citywide festival. I guess that San Lorenzo is particularly special to this city, but I’ve heard that all around the country people celebrate the 8th of September, which is supposedly the Virgin Mary’s birthday. We had the day off of school, and according to my host mom, most people don’t have to work on that day. Anyway, this is supposed to be the last day of the festival. It’s kind of interesting that this was my first exposure to Valladolid. I guess in a way I don’t yet have a good feel of the “normal” life here.
The best part of the festival (and what I’m going to miss the most) are the casetas. These are small tapas stands that can be found all over the city. Most bars and restaurants put out a stand to represent themselves, usually pretty close to where they are actually located. At every caseta, one can buy a tapa and a small drink for 2,50 euros. It’s a pretty good deal, I think. I’ve tried a lot of tapas in the last week, including pulso (octopus usually on a piece of bread), calamari/shrimp sandwiches, tuna filet on bread, paella (which I actually didn’t enjoy – maybe I will like the kind that doesn’t include the shells), and my favorite of all – empanadas. Empanadas are kind of like little pies that have either beef, chicken, tuna, bonito (which I think is a kind of fish?) or really anything inside. Sooooo good. The drink choices are usually red wine (vino tinto), white wine (vino blanco), beer on tap (caña), or “lorencito” (honoring San Lorenzo I suppose?), which is white wine mixed with Sprite. I usually go for the vino tinto.
The other parts of the festival included concerts every night in the Plaza Mayor, parades of traditional dancers, lots of street performers, and of course, roaming hoardes of teenagers drinking calimocho (red wine and Coke, also spelled kalimotxo). They make groups called peñas that parade around the city, wearing matching outfits and continuously drinking and throwing the calimocho at one another. It was fun to see them the first couple days, but then they just got kind of annoying, as kids that age normally do. Yeah, I guess I’m old enough now to complain about “kids these days”.
It has been really fun, though, and even though I’m not sure what the normal routine of Valladolid is just yet, I am glad that this was part of my introduction to this city.