viva los novios

some wedding pics....

galicia

we took a trip to galicia for jenniffer and miguels's wedding. it was the first time for both of us so we did some sightseeing at the same time. we went to santiago de compostella where we saw a lot of pegrinos ending their trip from "the way of santiago". we also went up north to the beach one day....brrrr. we stayed in a rural area where there are very tiny towns. i think our town had around 6 houses. they don't have any stores of course so it didn't feel like a town to me. 

curious spain

Here are some things I’ve noticed here that are different. They are not meant to be offensive:

 Olive oil is an essential ingredient of Spanish cooking.
 Why bother using a garbage can in the bars when you can throw it on the floor.
 Bars here are like coffee shops for me. They are open morning till night… go there to have a coffee or a beer, have your lunch there, watch soccer, read the paper…
 The mullet is not a thing of the past.
 Guys don’t have a problem wearing pink.
 Deep fryers are a part of every kitchen.
 It’s normal to see vans driving around residential areas with people advertising something through a microphone… even on weekend mornings.
 You call your friends “tia” or “tio” which literally means “aunt” or “uncle”.
 Breakfast is a coffee with a little cookie or something sweet. Toast with olive oil is another option. 
 Don’t go shopping between 2 – 5pm. The stores are all closed. But they are open before and after till around 8 to 9pm. 
 There are also hardly any people to be found in the streets between 2 and 5pm… however they are busy before and after these times.
 Lunch is never at 12 pm. I’m still not sure what the regular eating times are here, but on the weekends it goes to the extreme. Lunch between 2 and 3pm and supper can be anywhere from 8pm and on. Never mind if you’re going out with friends to eat. Snack time is my usual suppertime. 
 Don’t bother going to a nightclub before 11pm or later. It will be empty.
 Vodka and orange have new meaning here…. They mix it with fanta orange (this is a pop drink, something like C-plus).
 Meat will probably be a part of every meal you eat.
 They usually have two plates for lunch, as we would eat them together. For example you could eat soup, pasta, or beans first and then have only meat for the second plate. 
 Bread is eaten with every meal.  
 There is a tv in just about every room and if there is someone in the room, it’s usually on. Watching tv while you eat is an everyday thing.
 Dessert usually means fruit. Season fruit is pretty tasty here. 
 People sell lottery tickets on the street.

more videos

here are some videos that i wanted to put on before. this one is another from the recortes show. this video is actully what it's all about, because not all of them can do flips over the bull, but it certainly was the highlight for me. in recortes they usually let the bull charge at someone and then they miss the bull by a hair and then run like hell. in this video, the guy did it on his knees. take a look. i know i didn't put any pics from the aussie trip, but this video is too cute. in new zealand we went to feed some wallabies.

eurovision

eurovision time has come and gone. Switzerland didn´t make it to the finals with era stupendo. Spain was in the final with chiki chiki but the Russians were the winners, check out their song. i personally liked the song from armenia, qele qele.

recortes

Here is a video of recortes, i'm having trouble uploading more videos.

mercado medieval

So I haven't updated in awhile I know.... as some of you may already be aware of, I went on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. It was a fantastic trip. My brother posted some pictures of the trip in his blog, so I won't bother. If you care to see some koalas or roos click here. El Alamo had there mideval festival over a may long week-end like they do every year. I quite enjoyed it. Lots of handcrafts are sold, as well as food, and a mideval wedding. We also went to see "recortes" in another town which was pretty cool. I have some videos which I am trying to upload with no success. I guess I'll have to keep you in suspense if you want to know what it is. :)

Cadiz

Cadiz is a peninsula, small enough to walk around, which is what we did. Different people told us that Cadiz looks like Cuba. I've never been there, so you can see for yourself.

Sevilla in January

Not long after the holidays were over, Juan had to go work in Sevilla for a week so I decided to go along. We were in Sevilla for a day in the summer time... it was very hot. I recommend going there in the winter. It's pretty nice weather for winter time anyways. For the week-end we went to Jerez which is popular for the wineries. On the last day we drove down to Cadiz since we were so close.

Jerez

los reyes magos

Three Kings Day is celebrated in Spain (Jan. 6). Presents are given on this day instead of Christmas day. The night before there is a parade with the Kings.

gibraltar

On our way back to Spain we had some time leftover so we stopped in Gibraltar for the day. This is in the south of Spain but the city belongs to the UK. It was raining so we strolled up the main street, which looks very tourist like. I can imagine that there are many shoppers here in the summer. Gibraltar is like one big duty free shop. There are monkeys on the mountain which we didn't get to see this time.

more morocco

• It’s forbidden for foreigners to enter the mosques, with the exception of a couple, but even these ones have a place where the tourists are not allowed. Mosques can be identified by their square towers, they are plenty, and they have a microphone towards the outside so everyone can hear, it doesn’t matter if its 3 in the morning. The biggest one is in Casablanca; it’s also one of the biggest in the world.
• Beware of hustlers! Morocco is full of them. These people are very nice to you at first and make friendly conversation. They offer to show you the medina or to find a hotel or restaurant. If you follow anyone in Morocco, they expect money, even if they initially say they don’t want any. After their services they expect a tip and a pretty big one, like 10€! They can get a little aggressive after. It is best to say you want to be alone from the beginning, but even then it is difficult to convince them. We learned the hard way. It is best to ask the police or the people who work in stores for directions.
• We saw numbers on the walls in public places a lot. We asked someone what this means and it is to let the public know about elections and who is in power at the time.
• There are also a lot of drugs. Everyone tries to sell you drugs. Even on one road in the mountains we couldn’t drive past anyone without them making a signal. Someone told us that it is best not to stop on this road.
  
  
  

About Morocco

• The currency in Morocco is Dirhams. 1€ is around10 Dirhams.
• The language is French and Arabic. Many people in the north speak Spanish and overall there is a lot of English as well.
• Pictures of the King can be seen everywhere. In hotels, shops, and stands.
• You need to bargain everywhere. The price they tell can probably be divided by 2 or 3.
• Hotels and eating can be cheap. We had hotels from 10€ to 30€. Of course we didn’t stay in luxurious hotels. Restaurants were also cheap, around 5€ to 10€ for the both of us.
• We liked the food. We ate a dish called tagine a lot. This is a ceramic plate with a cone shaped lid. They cook potatoes, veggies, lamb, or chicken inside and you also eat from it. They use coriander and cumin among other spices. Mint tea is the national drink, and they sweeten it a lot. The orange juice is fresh and costs around 30cents. Round bread is sold everywhere, also dates, dried figs, nuts, and fruits. Strawberries and mandarins seemed to be in season. Moroccan people eat with their hands, but the restaurants have cutlery for the tourists.
• The cities have an ancient part which is called the medina. This is like a maze of markets and little roads; it’s pretty easy to get lost. The biggest and most ancient one is in Fez.