Follow the crowd!

This past weekend the town of Logroño was having the festival de San Mateo and so after school on Thursday Sean and I caught a bus there. When we arrived in the town we saw none of the mobs of people, or concerts, or parades that we expected to experience for the weekend. Luckily another bus came soon after ours and off it piled tons of highschoolers who looked like they were ready to have some fun. We decided to follow them and off we went. Some guys started yelling Fiesta! Fiesta! at us so we just yelled it right back. They could somehow sense we weren’t Spaniards and one of them started talking to us in broken English. He told us that this was going to be the best nights of our lives and that we could follow them to the party but first they wanted to get some pizza. He also said that we could do cocaine with them all night too but I told him that I don’t like cocaine very much and so when they got pizza Sean and I peaced out. We had come with the plan to figure out where to stay once we got there and while we were looking for a campground I noticed that masses of people seemed to be walking the opposite way of us. I told Sean that I think we should go with the flow, so we did. It ended up leading to quite possibly the craziest fireworks show that either of us had ever seen. The show wasn’t just one long continuous firing but instead went in fazes with 1 giant blast separating each one. They had some fireworks that I had never seen before which was cool but the best part was the grand finale. I will try and describe this as best I can… you know the firework that is golden and almost rains downward like a giant glittering weeping willow in the sky? Well I hope so because that’s the best I got. For the finish they probably launched 300 or so into the air within about 40 seconds, I know this because I took a video that is kinda crappy and not worth posting online. Sean and I were in complete awe; after it ended we just stood there with our jaws dropped in disbelief at what we just witnessed. It was as if they tried to blow up the sky and fill it with gold, it was like the champagne super nova in the sky from the Oasis song.
Afterwards we kept with our motto of follow the crowd, which was now thousands of people, into the heart of the city. There we found concert after concert after concert. To make a long story a little shorter, the concerts were cool but by about 3 we were getting tired and went to this park to try and sleep for a while. We had put our bags in lockers and couldn’t get to them until 6am so we tried to sleep on park benches. I think I might have slept for a good half hour or so but I got woken up by people talking right by me. It turned out that Sean couldn’t sleep and was cold so he left and some other people figured that out of all the benches the one next to me would be good to hang out at. Sean came back a little later and we were both freezing by then so we found this restaurant that served baked potatoes and warmed up in there for a while. It turns out that when people party all night they get really hungry from 4-5am, just a little FYI. At 6 we went and got our stuff, which included sleeping bags, and we went back to the park and slept in them for 2 hours until we had to wake up and go see the Running of the Bulls.
Ok, if you are still reading at this point, this is where I start regretting things. You may have heard me talk about the Running of the Bulls and although this wasn’t the more famous Pamplona festival, it still was very legit and muy loco. We followed the crowd once again to the bull ring where the running was happening. They had big fences set up on the sides of the course but I didn’t really understand what was going on, they had bulls in one end, and then some runners were just hanging out in the middle, and I couldn’t figure out which way they were supposed to run. I decided that it would be best to watch the run first and then if I still wanted to run come back the following morning and run (they run every morning during the festival). We climbed up onto the tops of the fences and not long after a crazed mob of men came running towards us with bulls in chase. The course went only about 50yds past us and then stopped, I was confused because some of they guys who ran had been standing in front of me and only went the last 50yds. But all of a sudden they started running back the other way as the bulls were re-released from the corral at the end. It made more sense then, instead of having one long course like in Pamplona, they just run back and forth a few times. The whole thing was intense but I felt like I could survive it and after they ran past me a second time I definitely was regretting my inaction in the whole thing. However as they ran past us a final time one of the last runners was getting passed on his left by a bull. As it ran by him he reached out and touched its back which it didn’t like to much so it kicked him in his knee and he got knocked down so fast that his head hit the ground, then bounced up and hit the wooden fence, then luckily he rolled under the fence and out of danger. Immediately people started yelling and one pair of the many paramedics were quickly on the scene to carry him off. After the running was over the crowd all hurried into the stadium so of course Sean and I followed. We were lucky to get seats as it quickly got packed full and a little while later 5 guys came out and were introduced to us. They then all went to one area of the big ring and with the opening of a door, out came a bull that was charging really-really fast. It was another one of those moments when Sean and I were like, no way is this happening (amigos from Westmont, you know how much Sean likes “no way”, it was said very often during this trip). The bull immediately started chasing each guy who would then quickly run behind a safety wall. One by one they would take turns taunting the bull and then letting it get as close to them as possible before they would dodge out of the way. As if that wasn’t exciting enough the men started pairing up and have the bull chase one guy as the other ran in the opposite direction straight towards the bull. As the bull would lower its horns to gore the stupid guy running straight at it, the guy would then jump and clear the length of the bull. And as if that wasn’t exciting enough they started doing flips over the bull, and then backflips. It was just crazy, and awesome, and ridiculous all at the same time. By the way if you ever wondered what kind of music is played during something like this, the favorite wasn’t classical Spanish music or anything, instead the music of choice was the theme to Pirates of the Caribbean and also “I will survive” which was fitting and ironic, another FYI. After a short break the guys came back out with this big 4 way teeter-totter that you hold onto with your hands. As the bull would come towards one guy, his partner on the other side would pull his weight downward thus lifting up the man in danger and letting the bull run right under him. This system seemed to work fairly well for a while but then the bull started running in a circle around the playground toy of death trying to stick guy after guy after guy. He ended up getting one guy pretty good but his buddy, acting fast but not fast enough, pulled him up above the bull.
The whole time I was kinda dreading that these bulls were going to be killed. I’m not one for killing or hurting animals, remember Mom and Dad when I watched “Bear”, so I wasn’t looking forward to the end of the show. Bull fighting is part of Spanish culture and I also knew that it was something I should experience during my time here. Luckily for me and the bulls, after the crowd gave a standing ovation to the 5 brave men, random guys from the crowd started jumping the railing and running out into the ring. Confused and intrigued Sean and I stayed in our seats to see what would happen next. Sure enough the corral door opened up again and out came another charging bull. It immediately singled out a middle-aged man in a bright red jacket who proceeded to run for his life and slip, yes slip, as he tried to hide behind the safety wall. He was just inches from getting a horn to the head but made it to safety. In disbelief once again I was like “of course they would let anyone into the bull ring, why not?” We figured out that the goal was to put a ring onto the bulls´ horn so these guys were getting really close to danger.
Afterwards we continued with the theme of “follow the crowd” which was once again thousands of people, and went and got some breakfast and then hung around the city for the rest of the day before catching a bus back home. It was a crazy and fun day and a half and if I would´ve had a better place to sleep besides a park, I would’ve stayed and ran with the bulls the next morning, at least I tell myself that, it would’ve been super scary.

Gijón

I’ve been keeping fairly busy with my time here, I’m at school M-Th from 8-4 or 5 and then come home, usually go on a walk or read, make dinner, usually pasta, do my homework and go to bed. Weekends are when the fun happens, having Fridays off definitely makes it possible to go somewhere and that’s what I’ve done the past 2 weekends.
Two weeks ago Sean, this girl from Australia, and I took the metro to the big bus station to see where we could go for the weekend. We basically looked at all the departures, read about them in a travel book and ended up choosing Gijón which is also on the North coast of Spain but is about a 5 hour ride West. Sean ended up feeling “sick” and “over-it” and didn’t go but Niki and her roommates ended meeting Jacqui and I in the city later that night.
-One thing that I’ve realized while being here is how big a difference who you’re traveling with has on your trip. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my time in Gijón but I definitely would’ve had more fun with people who would want to go explore a place instead of just walk around and look in shoe stores.
One memorable moment from the trip was as we were walking on the edge of the water one afternoon I heard this dog yelp and a mob of people rush to the wall above the water. At first I thought that a dog had fallen down into the water or onto the rocks but I walked over and saw that a dog had gotten its head stuck in between two columns in the wall. The dog was pretty good sized and somehow had squeezed its head into this tiny little space. With a large group gathering to offer advice and the owners attempting to move the head up and out it soon became apparent that more help was needed, thus Los Bomberos we’re called in. As we walked away we could hear sirens going to help the poor pooch and later that day when we walked past we could see where the wall was greased up and the cement actually broken in order to get the dog free.

The port of Gijon was sponsoring a National Geographic photo exhibition and they had a whole bunch of photos from this guy named Reza who has been working for the magazine for years. Each photo had a paragraph or two written by Reza explaining what was happening or going on in the area that the particular photo was taken. They were mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and different countries in Africa and most if not all depicted horrible atrocities that have taken place over the years to the people of those lands. They were really hard hitting and in some cases, like Afghanistan, Reza’s photos have directly led to aid being given from the US and NGO’s because of how moved they were by his work. It was a hard hitting exhibit and really made me think about Burkina Faso and what we are trying to do there. It was encouraging to see that even if we don’t have the resources to make a big change, just casting a light on a situation, like Reza does with photo’s and Chase and I are hoping to do with our film, can lead to big things that change lives.
- side note: I’m not sure or not if the flooding in Africa has been big news in the States but over 30 people died in Burkina Faso, I emailed my friend there and luckily no one we know died but they can still use prayer, it’s the worst flooding in like over 50 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6998651.stm

Anyways on a much lighter note, I found a go-kart track just like the one I used to work at in San Diego. I went inside and started talking with these girls that work at the front desk, I told them that I work at a track that is very similar in California and they got really excited. They had me show them our website so they could see pictures, they really liked it. One of them told me that they would give me a very good prize, I was like “Cool, I love good prizes” but I really didn’t know what she was talking about. I talked with them for a while but started realizing that no good prize was coming my way so I told them that I might come back and race later. On my walk back to the hostel it hit me, she said “good price” not prize, which makes a lot more sense and I felt stupid. Later that night Niki and I went and the girls were once again so nice and friendly, they gave us the employee discount which was 50% off and then while we raced one of them took tons of pictures for us. It was something that we definitely would not do at my track back home and was much appreciated.

Festival de Urduliz

One of the towns east of us, Urduliz, had it´s festival this past weekend. On Saturday night we took the metro and got there at about midnight along with hundreds of highschoolers. We weren´t quite sure where to go but followed the mass of people into the town where there was a mini carnival set up. Even though it was super late everything was just getting started, the band was setting up and with every metro that arrived, so did hundreds of more people. We walked through the crowds of people who were basically all getting smashed and came across this ride that was the craziest and sketchiest thing I have ever seen. It´s basically a big merry-go-round with benches along the outside that face inward. Everyone sits there, with no seatbelts, and the whole thing starts spinning. After rotating for a while it starts moving up and down at the same time which makes you fly out of your seat and land in the middle, hopefully on the yellow mat but most likely on the plywood floor, the plastic benches or someone else. If it sounds dangerous that´s because it is, this ride would never come close to passing safety standards in the states. If any of you have seen the video of the kids in the back of a runaway schoolbus who fly up and hit the ceiling a few times this is pretty much the same thing except you pay to experience it. I had never been on a ride before where the chances of breaking a bone are fairly high, I also however have never had that much fun on a carnival ride, the shear joy that you feel when flying uncontrollably through the air onto a hard piece of wood is addicting and we ended up riding it 3 times. The band finally started up at 1am but we were kinda tired and left the festival early at 3, apparently it went well into the next day.

Home sweet home

Here's a few pics from the past 2 weeks: http://picasaweb.google.com/kkewley

Alright well I've been here now for almost 2 weeks, 1 in Madrid and 1 in Getxo where I live. Sorry that I haven't posted anything but I have been keeping fairly busy. I don't feel like writting a ton right now so i'm going to skip my time in Madrid and just talk about Getxo (Getcho). Getxo is a small town North of Bilbao and I live in the neighboorhood of Algorta which is pretty small and very close to a few beaches. For those of you with Google Earth if you type in 14 Euskal Herria, Getxo, Spain and click Fly To it will take you to my street. I live in a 3 bedroom apartment with a Spanish roomate name Borja and an American named Michael who's from Chico State. I haven't hung out with Michael because he just got in last night but Borja is very cool and so far he has taken me spearfishing and today him, Sean and I went on a big hike along the coast. The apartment isn't bad, I have my own room and last night when I came home with Mike I opened the front door and when I turned the lights there was this giant moth attacking me. I realized fairly quickly that it wasn't a moth but a bat. I didn't really know what to do so I just was like, "Bat in the house! Bat in the house!" and I just tried to dodge it as it flew around. I herded it into my bedroom where the windows were open and when I turned on that light I saw another bat, "Two bats in the house!" and after a few orbits of my ceiling light they both left. I told Borja this morning and he said he has never seen bats in Algorta before. I guess I am just a lucky guy. My neighborhood is pretty cool, I am pretty much in the center of everything, in less than 5 minutes I can get to the market, bank, bus stop, metro stop or the beach. I was hanging out on my balcony the other day and realised that my neighbor is growing a ton of weed from his windowsills, pretty weird. Speaking of weird, the popular beaches here are topless and the unpopular beaches are nude. When Borja took Sean and I spearfishing we were walking down this trail to beach and all of the sudden was a naked old guy, Sean and I were like, this could get ugly, and oh it did. I try to just not look but sometimes they talk to you.

The public transportation here is really easy and 1 metro stop away they have been having the Getxo folk festival this week. We've gone the past 2 nights and have heard bands from the US, Italy, Algeria, and Mali. They have been pretty good and we end up just dancing for hours. Yesterday Sean, Niki and I wanted to get to this beach up the coast by walking along the cliffs (pretty much the whole coast is cliffs with the beaches in coves). We messed around some old ruins and then went down the cliff to the biggest breakwater I have ever seen. It is made out of these giant cement blocks and is very fun to climb on. Behind it there is a cove that driftwood and crap from the sea gets washed into, someone has put it all into different piles and is building a raft. From there we kept going but the cliffs become too steep to climb and we didn't feel like swimming around the tough spots. The walk up the coast is really beautiful and on our way we came across guys dirtbiking and people paragliding. I might try and go paragliding sometime, it's only 45 euros which isn't bad compared to the states.
Today we took the bus for like an hour up the coast to go hiking. The landscape is spectacular here, very green and very rugged with cliffs dropping off to the ocean. After hiking for a few hours we came across these old bunkers from the Civil war built into the side of the cliffs and in one of them was this huge old gun/cannon thing. It was definetely the type of place that would either be closed off or a monument in the states. A little ways further we climed down to a cove and went snorkeling, the water here is like low 60's or high 50's and I could only last a little bit swimming around. Sean and I found some good cliff jumps but the rocks are really sharp and when we finally made it to where we wanted to jump from we couldn't even stand up because our feet would get cut on the razor edges.
Welp, that is a very-very brief synopsis into my life lately, hopefully it makes some sense and isn't too boring. Overall I am doing great, I have only had 1 day of classes so far which went well. I am really excited to learn Spanish and have definetely gotten a little better since being here. Tomorrow is my first Sunday here, I am not sure what we're going to do for church so please pray that we figure something out. I think I will either listen to podcasts or start a little Bible study with the other Westmonters. I would love to hear from all of you, now that school is started I can go to the computer lab everyday. I also got my cellphone working here, if you want to call me feel free, from the states you would dial 011-34-660-238-482. I think from Skype it is super cheap like less than 1 cent per minute. Ok miss you all very much, hope you are doing well.