Week 9 (Part 2) to Week 10: Semana Santa and El Camino de Santiago -- 3/23 to 3/28/16

I spent Holy Week and Easter this year in Granada to see some of the famous processions, and then headed to Galicia in northern Spain to do the last part of El Camino de Santiago -- a Catholic pilgrimage that leads to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

While in Granada for Wednesday night, I was able to see four processions, each representing and demonstrating a different stage of the Passion of Christ, him carrying the cross and suffering. In all of Southern Spain, the processions consist of people dressed in robes with pointed hoods, looking like dunce caps, signifying a sinner, floats of Jesus and the Virgin Mary . These robed people, called "penitentes" process through the streets with candles and incense, leading the way for floats called "tronos" which are carried by other members of the specific church who is putting on the procession. The floats can weigh thousands of pounds, and are usually carried (depending on the size) by thirty or forty men. The floats are all ornate, made with silver and gold, and expressing the different stages of the passion of christ. The float of Jesus is followed usually by a marching band with cornets, trumpets, trombones, tubas, and a drum line. The band is then followed by an even more ornate float carrying the Virgin Mary. It is so tall sometimes and dressed with so many flowers and candles that you can just make out the face and figure being presented. The processions that I saw were definitely a spectacle and I was glad to have been then to experience the hype and excitement in Granada in preparation for Easter. 

Right after watching those processions, I headed off with Jack and Wyatt to do El Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. We started in a town called Ourense in Galicia, bought some groceries for the road, and tried to find our "credentials" for the pilgrimage. Every pilgrim, to keep track of where he or she has been, needs credentials -- or a passbook -- to collect the stamps from each stop along the way in order to prove that the camino has been completed. Since we started at an uncommon starting point, we were not able to get the credentials (even though we spent a couple hours walking around the city to the churches and cathedrals...). However, we did keep all of the stamps we got on a paper and I stuck mine in my notebook. Due to this we did not get "recognized" by the Catholic church as pilgrims, but we were still able to gather the stamps for sentimental value and as a souvenir. 

I'll summarize the four days that we walked briefly: 

So, the first night we ended up starting at 6:30 pm and walking for six hours until 12:30 am (walking a good 55,000 steps that day), where we arrived at our first "Alburgue" or a pilgrim hostel where pilgrims can stay for free or sometimes a six euro fee. The next day we were able to find walking sticks, and walked a whopping 12 hours through hills, mud, and some rivers, and did 37 km (23 miles). We had bought some supplies to make sandwiches for lunch and made sure we had plenty of water to drink. It was also helpful that there were a lot of water fountains along the way too. We arrived just after sunset at the alburgue and had a good dinner at a restaurant in the town. I was lucky enough to be able to grab the last bed, but Wyatt and Jack had to sleep on some matts that were given to them. The next day we woke up at 6:30 am to get a head start on one of our hardest days. It ended up raining for most of the day. It was definitely a struggle to push ourselves once all of our clothes and backpacks were soaked. By midday we felt like we could not go on, but we pushed ourselves to walk the remaining 15 km (9 miles) to make it a total of 33 km (20.5 miles) for the day. By that time our feet were ripped up with blisters from walking 97 km in three days (60 miles), and we just wanted to finish the next 12 km (7.5 miles) to Santiago. We arrived at Santiago at 1 in the afternoon, headed to Easter mass, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to our hotel to get some well-needed rest and an obligatory shower.

In general, I am glad that I did the walk. It was definitely hard at points, a physical and mental strain that forced me to push myself forward when I thought that I would not make it. It was a time for bonding between friends as it was a time for reflection and thinking. I would not have been able to have done it without Wyatt and Jack as we all picked each other up, pushed each other forward, and joked when there was a little too much tension. Anyway, as this blog's focal point is pictures, I will get to them soon! All I would like to say is that I am lucky to have good friends who I can walk for 67 miles with and still be able to joke and revel in our struggle after.

What a Spring vacation! Anyway, here are some pictures from Granada and El Camino de Santiago:

Semana Santa Processions in Granada:

The Penitentes leading the procession

Some of the kids of the parish handing out candy and toys

Kids giving some water and helping out those who are carrying the float underneath

The marching band playing 

The float with the Virgin Mary -- covered with candles and flowers it is sometimes hard to even see the figure being presented 

A float "trono" depicting Jesus carrying the cross

Pictures from El Camino de Santiago:

Different types of markers to send us in the right direction:

some pointing out albergues, others pointing direction with the symbol of the path, a shell.

Ourense, the starting point of our pilgrimage 

Sunset from the path

Views from the countryside 

A rainbow decided to motivate us to push out the last 5km uphill leg of our day on Saturday

Beautiful Easter Morning lookout

The inside of one of the Albergues we stayed in

A couple flower photos from the houses we passed by

Our final descent into Santiago de Compostela: if you look closely you can see the Cathedral 2 km straight ahead.
It was a beacon for our hope of being able to sit down, go to mass, and then eat a good easter meal. 

A procession with a float depicting Jesus risen from the dead. The procession was much more simple and reverent in comparison to those in Andalusia. 

View of the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela

A couple more views of the Cathedral

A statue outside of one of the centers for Pilgrims 

Mass inside the Cathedral: not a bad place to celebrate Easter!

Hope you guys enjoyed the post! 

I'll post another tomorrow with some pictures and updates of what happened so far this week! 

Week 8 (Part 2) to Week 9: Morocco -- 3/17 to 3/22/16

What a trip to Morocco! From walking around the ancient old town Medina of Fez, seeing how a tannery works and eating couscous, to riding camels and sleeping in the Sahara Desert, the six day trip to Morocco with my ISA group was definitely unforgettable.

As usual, pictures will be able to tell the story a little bit better than I am able to so I will be short.

The first day of our trip was a lot of travel, by bus to Algeciras port and then a ferry to Ceuta (Spanish Autonomous city) and then crossed the border to Morocco there.

Once in Fez, we had some free time to explore the city by our hotel, and it was definitely a culture shock. I was lucky to have my roommate Sanad, who speaks Arabic, to help translate with some shopkeepers and people on the street who came up to us. It was of course obvious that we were outsiders, but I have never felt everyone's eyes on me as I walk down a sidewalk in a city. The next day in Fez we went and walked in the Arab old town--Medina-- which is one of the oldest in the world and is a world heritage site. It's comprised of 10,000 small, windy streets which makes it easy to get lost: luckily no one in our group did. In the Medina we headed with a guide to walk around and see a couple homes, a tannery, a carpet shop, a metal shop, a fabric/clothes shop, and a ceramic school/store. We learned a lot about the art of hand crafted goods, from pottery to leather, and it was amazing to see the detail the artisans accomplish and the discipline they have to do so.

After our day in Fez, we headed out the next morning to go to the Sahara Desert! We drove by bus and then took jeep 4x4 to our "Haima" tent setup near a small desert town. We were able to ride camels, talk to the desert berber people, share stories, stargaze, and of course take so many pictures!

Overall, the trip was unforgettable -- a lot of traveling by bus-- but at the same time all of that travel time went into getting closer with people from our group and getting to know each other better!

Anyway!

Here are some pictures from the trip!:

First landscape views of Morocco that we saw

The King's Palace in Fez, all done by hand

A finished plate vs. one being created at the time. The man sitting would work for a half hour at a time and then take a half hour break in order not to lose the sight line and mess up his seemingly perfect pattern.

Picture of Ronald Reagan in the same shop we went to! 

Famous Arch leading into the Medina with the site of the Mosque in the distance

Typical street in Medina

A small Palace in the Medina where we got to go in and head up to the terrace too

Sanad Jack and I 

A carpet store comprised of hundreds of thousands carpets, rugs, and tapestries, all made by a group of widows in Fez

A fabric shop 

The tannery that we went to was the oldest in the world, dating back nearly nine centuries. To work here your family must have done so before, otherwise it is nearly impossible. 

A master potter showing us how it's done on a self-spin wheel

Other artisans making the different shapes in order to form
the mosaics that are classically used for fountains and palaces.
You can see the same diamond shape the man in front is making
down in the right corner. 

This is the next step for the mosaic, putting the cut pieces into a specific form to make a bigger design. 

A finished product of this type of pottery.

We encountered these painters also who were mesmerizing to watch as their technique
seemed impeccable and it looked so easy.

Now we move to the desert!

Jack getting into my shot...

The seemingly endless road to the desert

Inside our Haima

Camel ride!

ISA directors following us from behind

Haley with her "many camels"

Making our way to the Grand Dune

Looking out over the Sahara

Me, Abby, Jack, and Haley hanging out on top of the Great Dune

Galen and I taking a pic

The guys: Eli, Sanad, me, Galen, and Jack--our tents are somewhere way off in the distance to the left

Ellen riding a camel!

Haley and Abby posing

Shadow shot

A sand beetle burrowing its way underneath to cool off

Me playing some guitar with the Morocco drum circle/funk band

Here comes the sunset/sunrise shots:

Sunset from the jeep 4x4

A couple sunrise pictures from the morning where I went off with a berber man to see the sunrise over the Great Dune. It was just him and me walking for a good 25 minutes through the desert, speaking Spanish and then looking out over the dunes in silence. I would not have been able to go so far away from the camp without him as my guide, and it was one of the best sunrises I have seen in my life. 

And of course I had to do some light painting in the desert right? 

Here's a picture of the start of our return trip to Meknes and then Spain

Here is a picture of when we got stuck in a blizzard (yes a blizzard) in the mountains of Morocco. It delayed us a good 2 and a half hours during our trip to Meknes--definitely never a dull moment on the trip! 

View from our ferry window of the Strait of Gibraltar

I thought I'd leave you guys with two of my favorite photos from this trip overlaid with each other. 

Hope you guys enjoyed! More to come on Thursday with my adventure during Semana Santa!