Spain Uncovered

Summer arrived in Jumilla last weekend, after a rather cold and wet winter, and hopefully it will stay with us until October.  Summer had a bit of a shaky start though: we glimpsed the sun on Friday, however the wind was definitely chilly and rain was threatening, so unlike last year the annual fiesta with the “vecinos” had to be held indoors. 

Earlier in the week it had looked as if the planned party might have to be cancelled due to lack of interest.  I have to admit that we were surprised by this, as fiestas are an important part of Spanish life and the inaugural party had been very successful.  We needn´t have worried though, as Isobel stopped her car on the pedestrian crossing on Wednesday to say that a lot more people had paid their 5 euros so the fiesta was going ahead (unlike the driver of the car behind her, who was patiently waiting for us to stop chatting!) 

We had been told that the fiesta would be starting at 9 or 9.30 so we decided to wander down at 9.30, knowing that the chances of anything actually happening at 9 o´clock were extremely slim.  We´ve been living in Spain for nearly two years now, so we are used to “flexible” timetables.

We were impressed by the organisers, who had already laid out all the food and drink in the entrance hall of the block next door.  Not surprisingly, this included several bottles of Jumilla wine, although none of these had been opened.

“Who´s forgotten the corkscrew?” I muttered to John, after we had been waiting for ten minutes with no signs of any action on the bottle-opening front.

“There´s nothing to drink out of either,” he replied.  “I expect you want me to go next door and fetch some glasses?”  But by now glasses, corkscrew and ice to keep the beer chilled had all miraculously appeared and the fiesta was underway.

We enjoyed the party and were pleased by the realisation that we understood a lot more of what our Spanish neighbours were saying to us than we had the previous year.  To be honest, last year they could have been talking in double Dutch as far as we were concerned!

The party lacked the drama of last year´s fiesta.  Half-way through the evening a fire engine had suddenly turned up, and the firemen had hurried into the building, ignoring us when we said there was no fire.  Apparently a couple had been stuck in the lift and we had all been too busy having a good time to realise what had happened to them, so they had decided to call the bomberos!

The only entertainment this year was provided by the lights in the entrance hall, which are on a sensor and kept going out.  We had to take it in turns to either wave our hands in the air or press the button which opened the door of the lift until the lights came back on again.  For a short while.

We knew that Saturday night was going to be another late night, as we had tickets for the opening event in the Música entre vinos programme, which is now in its third year and proving to be as successful as in previous years.  The concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica Jumilla was being held in Bodegas BSI. The evening started with a tour of the bodega and then the presentation of a gold badge to the renowned wine journalist D. Victor de la Serna, with several speeches, which definitely tested our understanding of the Spanish language. 

However prior to the tour we had faced an even stiffer test, when a woman from Radio Jumilla had suddenly started asking us questions!  It is difficult enough to think clearly when you are taken by surprise and find yourself being interviewed by somebody speaking in English, but when the questions are in Spanish and you are expected to reply in Spanish, I have to say that it´s a bit of an ordeal.

The evening was rounded off with food and wine, which we both felt we thoroughly deserved, especially as by then it was 11 o´clock!  Fortunately we had decided to have a few tapas at home before going out.  We had both enjoyed the evening though: it was the first time we had heard the orchestra play, and listening to music in a bodega is very atmospheric. 

By the time we got home after the concert it was already Sunday morning.  Luckily our dog Lisa didn´t seem interested in going for a walk, as we had another musical event in our diary, which this time was at lunchtime, so for the second night in a row we wouldn´t be getting much beauty sleep.

Our friend John had assured us that he knew where the Jardin del Rey Don Pedro was, so we had arranged to meet him there for a coffee.  The flamenco group Al Golpe were just finishing their first number when my mobile phone rang, so I moved away to answer it, expecting it to be John.  I was right.

“I´m at the garden, but there is nobody else here,” came a puzzled voice.  “It is the garden near Bar Pipa, isn´t it?”  No, John, it isn´t!  It is the garden near the INSS office, just past the indoor market…

Luckily for John it didn´t take him long to walk to the correct garden, so he was able to sit with us for a couple of drinks enjoying free music and the sunshine.  Good music, good wine, lots of sunshine and good company – it was a typical weekend in Jumilla, and next weekend we were to enjoy more of the same.

What is your reaction to the picture above?  If you are Spanish, you are likely to react in a different way to somebody who is British, for example, as for many of us it brings back memories of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is celebrated throughout Spain.  Here in Jumilla Semana Santa, which is the oldest one in the region of Murcia, actually lasts for more than a week and is one of the highlights of the year.  Make a note in your diaries to visit Jumilla next Easter as it will be their 600^th Semana Santa, so it is sure to be even bigger, louder and more colourful than usual! 

For me the scariest moment was during last year´s Semana Santa, when I went to watch the Procesion del Silencio.  This takes place late at night, and all the street lights in the old town are switched off.  I saw the black, hooded figures approaching me,  I heard the clanking of chains, and I had to resist the temptation to rush back home.  It was an eerie feeling as the silent procession passed by, with people near me watching it in silence too.

This was our second Semana Santa and I must admit that this year we were a lot more comfortable with the hooded figures taking part in the Semana Santa celebrations.  After all we now know many of the participants, and we also understand that this is a purely religious tradition.  The Nazarenes, or penitents, belong to several different cofradías or brotherhoods and the Semana Santa celebrations are spread out over ten days, from the Friday before Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday.

As well as colourful parades and magnificent floats Semana Santa in Jumilla, not surprisingly, includes lots of music plus a Minifería del vino, which this year unfortunately coincided with friends´wedding celebrations back in the UK.  Sometimes we have to make sacrifices in life!  If we had been staying in Jumilla that weekend, we would have had the chance to sample wine from seventeen bodegas – oh well, there is always next year, which hopefully will be bigger and even better!

 

I suspect that one reason why Spanish children don´t seem to be scared by the hooded figures is because the Nazarenes hand out loads of sweets to them!  The highlight for many children is the main Caramelada on Domingo de Resurrección (Easter Sunday), where the local children scramble for the sweets that are thrown on the street, rather than over indulging themselves with chocolate Easter eggs.  However this year we spotted Easter eggs in our local Aldi, so we suspect that some children had the best of both worlds!

Other activities included two Semana Santa concerts, exhibitions of photography, oil paintings and mantillas, plus the Tamboradas, one of which continued throughout the night in the parking area outside the covered market.  Friends of ours who live near there decided, not surprisingly, to visit us for the night rather than try to sleep with drums being banged enthusiastically outside their apartment!

We met Lisa not long after we moved into our new apartment.  She was a small Spanish dog who hung around the building site opposite our block, so we initially assumed that she belonged to one of the workers.  However one day we saw her with Paco and asked him if he owned her but he shook his head and said no, he lived in Orihuela, and as far as he knew she was a street dog. 

Lisa wasn´t  like most street dogs I have seen, as she looked so well-fed and she even had a collar. We had also heard neighbours calling her “Lisa” or “Lissi”, which seemed an unusual name for a Spanish dog: another reason why we assumed one of the neighbours must own her.

One day she decided to follow us into town when we went shopping, and she waited outside the supermarket until we headed home.  This started to become a regular occurrence, and she even followed us one evening when we went to the Adult Education Centre for our Spanish lesson.  We assumed she would get bored and wander off, but much to our surprise she ran up to greet us when we emerged one hour later.

I admit that we fed her occasionally, and we put water outside for her when it was hot, however we discovered that many of our Spanish neighbours were doing the same.  No wonder she looked so well fed!

It was OK being followed into town by one little dog however, once Lisa was on heat, whenever she followed us there were other dogs following her. This proved rather embarrassing:  at one time we counted five dogs behind us! We started going into the door at the back of Mercadona supermarket and then sneaking out the front door, just to lose the pack of dogs!

Several months ago Lisa disappeared and the neighbours kept asking us if we had seen Lisa or knew what had happened to her.  We discovered that she had been taken in by 4 Patas who run the albergue, the local animal refuge.  We visited Lisa there, and took her out for walks.  Eventually they asked us if we would like to adopt Lisa:  I said that we lived in a second floor flat, which wouldn´t be ideal, but we wanted to do what was best for her.  We were told in no uncertain terms that living with us would be the best thing for Lisa and so John signed the adoption papers on 1st March this year – his birthday.

What impressed me was how many of the neighbours used to look after Lisa, how caring the staff were at 4 Patas and how often we get asked about Lisa if we dare to venture forth without her.  Who says it is only the British who are animal lovers?

For the last couple of years Jumilla has celebrated Diá de San Valentín with a Feria del Amor, which sounded very romantic until we spotted the posters advertising this year´s event with the headline “Vino y Queso, mejor que un beso”!  Not that we were complaining, as it meant we could have a glass of wine and cheese-based tapa for 2€, sponsored not surprisingly by Montasinos Cheeses and Bodegas Carchelo.  It certainly was different to last year´s Feria, the highlight of which was the longest kiss competition, where several couples competed enthusiastically for the trophy, as the judges and public watched them whilst sampling sweet wine and rollos de amor.

As part of the Feria, the tourist office was organising free guided visits, so we signed up for one to Santa Ana, which concluded with a trip to a local bodega.  Needless to say, it was the visit to Santa Ana that really interested us.  A couple of friends had planned to come along, however we had a last minute call to say they had just seen that it was snowing outside so they were cancelling. 

John and I decided to wrap up in our warmest clothes and brave the weather, which was a good decision.  We all met in the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro, where we discovered that our neighbour Isabel was part of the group.  We knew that it was a long walk up to Santa Ana, so were relieved when we were shepherded to a bus and driven up the road

It was still snowing when the bus stopped and we wondered how long the walk would be, however we only went as far as the Monasterio, where we were ushered into the church.  A Franciscan friar welcomed everybody and gave a brief introduction, telling us all about the church, before opening the door into the Museum, which John and I had never seen before.  Although the talk was in Spanish we understood enough to find it interesting, and it was fairly brief   The museum was fascinating: we were amazed both by the number of rooms in the museum and by the different themes in each room. 

We could have spent hours there, reading about all the exhibits, however we had a coach to get back on and a visit to a bodega, so we reluctantly left with the others.  It was still snowing outside and not very warm, so the thought of getting back on the coach was very appealing.  Isobel grinned at me and said “Wine next Sue, and hopefully we will get warm!”  I was in favour of both ideas.

To our surprise the coach didn´t take us back into Jumilla as expected.  Instead it headed towards the bypass to Yecla and John told me that he suspected we were going to Martinez Verdu, a bodega that we had never visited before.  For once he was right (ouch!) and after the coach turned off the main road we eventually arrived at the bodega.  We had the opportunity to sample several good wines before enjoying a buffet of local delicacies and helping ourselves to more wine, by which time I am happy to say we had thawed out.

After the Valentine´s weekend we had another four weeks to enjoy the wine and cheese promotion, so we decided to take advantage of it.  Ten local establishments were taking part, competing to win prizes for the best tapa, so we decided to sample them all and vote for our favourite.   Although  we chose Restaurante San Agustín as number one, with their “Corazón de queso y alcachofa”, Cervecería Nuestro Bar, Bar La Casa, Bar QT APTC and Restaurante Reyes Católicos were close runners-up.  As a bonus, with each glass of wine and tapa that we bought, we were given a scratch card.  During four weeks of sampling many delicious tapas, we won three lots of cheese, a tasty ham and cheese spread, three large sausages, two miniatures of Tio Pepe sherry and three miniatures of vodka.  Better than a kiss?  Maybe not, but definitely a close second!

Fiestas are a very important part of Spanish life, and alway include lots of music and wine, plus a few loud fireworks, as well as the obligatory pasacalles carrying a statue of the saint they are honouring around the streets in their barrio.

The most important fiestas in Jumilla are Semana Santa and the August Feria, however there are so many local fiestas that life here is one long party.  One advantage of living in a Spanish town is you get to know the locals and more importantly they get to know you, telling you when and where the next fiesta is being held.  Fiestas usually include processions with a religious statue and bands playing, plus plenty to eat and drink. 

We were renting a flat in the middle of town when we first moved to Jumilla and being a keen (if not talented) photographer, whenever I heard a band playing or fireworks exploding, I would drag John out of the house so that I could take some pictures.  That was how we discovered our local Asociación de Vecinos: we were peering through the window, looking at a statue that I had photographed earlier, when they spotted us and invited us inside.  Our British embarrassment at being caught spying on them soon disappeared after their friendly welcome and invitation to come along for an aperative and wine.  Their interpretation of the phrase “an aperative and wine”, by the way, is lots of food and lots of drink over at least two hours!

We seem to have been adopted by this Asociación as, even though we have now moved into our new flat in a different barrio, we are still invited to come along and participate in their fiestas, especially San Blas.

During the procession of San Blas, in our first year living in Jumilla, we stopped twice for refreshments: once in somebody’s garage (where the band started playing and people began to dance) and once in a street where a table was set up outside.  During the second break local police halted traffic so that fireworks could be set off in the middle of the road!  Fireworks are an essential part of most Spanish celebrations, though strangely enough we have never seen any for sale in the local shops.

This year John´s niece Fiona was staying with us during San Blas, so we dragged her along to participate.  I have to say that she wasn´t exactly protesting, especially when she was offered lots of food and wine!  What particularly intrigued Fiona was when she spotted the statue of San Blas in the Camarera´s front room, until we explained that every year they hold a prize draw for the honour of being Camarera the following year and welcoming San Blas into their house.

So, back to my question: how did a Scotsman get to carry the statue of San Blas, which is in itself a great honour?  I think it is a measure of how welcoming Spanish people are towards foreigners who choose to live in their area.  They could see how we were enjoying ourselves, and how willing we were to be part of their community, so they asked John if he would like to help carry their statue.  They soon realised that, at over 6 feet tall, John was a bit taller than the average Spaniard, however they matched him with our friend Angel, who is almost the same height, so John didn´t have to stoop too much. 

John was also invited to light a few fireworks, but that is another story…