life in Spain | Spain Uncovered

Fiesta fun during San Fermín

Hopefully I whetted your appetites in my previous post, so I thought I would do a quick update today on yesterday’s fiesta fun.

Our friend Jaqui invited a few of us to join her and her daughter Melissa for menú del día in Restaurante Monasterio. For those of you not in the know, the Spanish fixed price menú del día is a wonderful invention, started in 1965 under the Franco régime to guarantee workers a good cheap meal at lunchtime. The cost of our lunch was 9€ per head, with so many starters, mains and desserts to choose from that we had to ask our patient waiter to repeat the choices a couple of times.

Friends enjoying San Fermín 010 — Waiting for our main courses to arrive

We shared a generous salad to begin with, and then the waiter kindly brought fussy old me a tapa of ensalada marisco as I didn’t like any of the starters. In my defence, my choice was slightly limited by the fact that I don’t eat any meat! The starters included salmorejo (similar to gazpacho), consomé with pelotas (meatballs) and arroz tres delicias, which looked like vegetable rice however, as I suspected, some ham had been added. Main courses included sardines, boquerones, chicken, meat kebabs and escalopes – I can’t remember all the choices, just the dishes our group selected. We begged for a break before we ordered desserts, as by this stage we were all feeling pretty full! I had a yummy tiramisu (I received some envious looks from my fellow diners) and other homemade desserts included tarta de queso, flan and natillas. We had a couple of bottles of good Jumilla wine to accompany our meal, and coffee to finish.

John and I were offered a lift home but declined, as we needed to walk off some of our huge lunch. Just to remind you, the menu was 9€ each: amazing value!

We also walked into town that evening, to meet up with Jaqui and Melissa again, plus other friends. The meeting point was Bar La Casa, because we knew that Cristina was due to play a starring role in the evening’s events, as she is one of the Reinas for 2011. When we arrived Cristina was working hard serving us and other customers, dressed in her everyday clothes, but she assured us that she would be changing later on.

Friends enjoying San Fermín 012 — Cristina wearing her sash

After some tapas and red wine, and once a totally transformed Cristina had emerged, we all wandered across the road to join in the festivities. The plaza was already crowded and the atmosphere was buzzing, as families watched their children dancing on the large stage. In between the dance performances, the Fiesta Reinas were being crowned and presented with bouquets. We all cheered loudly when Cristina received her award, calling out “Guapa!” There were also bursts of fireworks in between performances, as I predicted. When we left just after midnight it was obvious that many of the revellers would be partying for a long time, however we had two more late nights ahead of us, so decided it would be wise to pace ourselves.

Friends enjoying San Fermín 020 — Fireworks for San Fermín

San Fermín: a load of bull?

Most people associate the Fiesta of San Fermín with Pamplona and bull-running in July, however I decided to do a bit of investigation into the connection between bulls and “Saint Firmin” (as he is also known), in the interests of journalistic accuracy. After my research, I was even more confused than before.

Apparently San Fermín’s feast day is actually on September 25th and not July 6th. The connection with bulls seems a bit tenuous too: there is one story that Saint Fermín died being dragged through the streets by bulls, although other sources suggest that it was a different saint. However he was definitely born in Pamplona, which I am sure is enough of a connection to justify the annual celebrations both there and throughout Spain.

Jumillanos love a good party, so the neighbours in the Barrio of San Fermín will be celebrating their saint’s day (in July) with great enthusiasm over the next few days. Fortunately there won’t be any bulls in the neighbourhood, so John and I plan to go along tonight with some friends to join in the fiesta fun.

I have to say that I have never been to a bull-fight and I don’t intend going to one. I just accept that it is one of the few Spanish traditions that I can’t agree with, though I don’t think it is my place to tell them so, especially since hunting was allowed in the UK until recent years. However I am pleased to report that a growing number of Spaniards are campaigning against all forms of cruelty to animals, and there is now an Antitaurino group here in Jumilla, which my facebook friend Irene from 4 Patas kindly signed me up for!

The programme for this year’s Fiestas de San Fermín includes several processions, a special mass, a Tortilla Española competition, dance displays, children’s games, a concert by a Pop Rock group and, to close the festivities, a concert by the talented Flamenco group Al Golpe.

During our first couple of years in Jumilla we watched the children playing at bull-fighting during the fiesta, but it doesn’t seem to be on the agenda this year, which we think is a good thing. Although I must admit that the children were so cute that I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos. I hope nobody minds if I post one here:

San Fermin Infantil Corrida 017 — Children taking part in the Fiestas de San Fermin

Tonight we are going to watch the Coronation of the Fiesta Queens. We aren’t sure exactly what is involved, but our lovely friend Cristina from Bar La Casa is one of the Reinas, so we are going along to support her. There will be a dance display too by the Academia Aurora González, who so impressed us with their performance in Teatro Vico, so we know it will be an enjoyable evening. We suspect that a few loud fireworks might be lit tonight as well, although nothing has been advertised: after all a fiesta isn’t a fiesta in Spain without one or two deafening blasts!

Is it a savings bank? Is it a theatre?

For John and me – and anybody else living on a restricted budget – one of the benefits of living in Spain is the cheap entertainment. We have a wonderful theatre in town (Teatro Vico) and tickets for performances there don’t exactly break the bank, however we have two other theatres in Jumilla where entry is free.

As part of their mandate, Spanish savings banks provide social, charitable and cultural services. Both CAM and CajaMurcia in Jumilla have exhibition halls where art and photographic exhibitions can be held, and they both have small theatres for concerts, drama and dance displays as well as many other events.

Last night we went to see a video presentation in CajaMurcia’s theatre, which is above their main Jumilla branch. They have an exhibition room there too, so beforehand we looked at the display of posters for this year’s Cabalgate Infantíl, which children from local schools had designed. The children’s procession takes place during Jumilla’s Fiesta de la Vendimia in August, so naturally wine featured in many of the posters, but Bob Esponja also seemed to be a popular theme!

The video presentation was scheduled to start at 20.00, so being optimistic we wandered into the theatre at that time. It looked promising, as we could see that everything had been set up and a few other people were already in there, however Jumillanos aren’t exactly noted for their punctuality. The señor in charge kept looking at his watch, and we heard a few words being muttered about not everybody being there, and “puntualidad” was also mentioned.

Eventually the show began at 20.15, which is impressive by Jumilla’s standards. The video showed scenes from Jumilla’s Fiesta de la Vendimia going back to the early 80s and finishing with last year’s celebrations. There were plenty of laughs from the audience and a few sarcastic comments as people recognised the participants, which added to the atmosphere. We recognised at least three people taking part in earlier years’ festivities.

Each video clip showed a procession with adults and children carrying baskets of grapes, a group treading the grapes (all looking remarkably similar to each other), lots of people kissing each other as they presented bouquets of flowers, glimpses of traditional dancers, plus the revellers getting covered in red wine during the Gran Cabalgata del Vino at the end of the fiesta.

If you are coming to Spain for a holiday, or if you plan to move here permanently, I recommend finding out where your nearest savings bank is. We have seen some fascinating exhibitions since we moved to Jumilla, and enjoyed some amazing concerts, and it hasn’t cost us a cent!

English books can break your budget!

You can live very cheaply in Spain – making it ideal for people who retire here – but if you’re a keen reader you will soon discover that buying books in English can break your budget! This is particularly true for those of us who live inland, as local bookshops stock mainly Spanish books (which aren’t exactly cheap) and the few English books that they sell are expensive.

That was how we came up with the idea of having a monthly bookswap for other British people living in the area. I think all of us had brought piles of books with us when we first moved over here, but had read them all after living here for a few years.

February 2011 028 — The garden at Bar La Casa

We decided to hold the bookswap between 11.00 and 12.00 on the first Tuesday of the month in Bar La Casa, which is next to the Centro de Salud in Jumilla. We chose Tuesday as that is market day, so most people come into Jumilla to buy the delicious – and cheap – fresh fruit and vegetables in the local market. We decided on Bar La Casa partly because – from necessity – most retired people know where the Health Centre is and partly because there is a lovely enclosed garden at the back, which is an ideal place to enjoy a coffee or cold drink in the summer months. During the winter months we sit inside in the restaurant area, as they have an open fire there, which usually has a couple of smouldering logs to keep us warm!

If you are thinking of moving to Spain, you may want to set up a similar scheme. Not only is it a good way of saving money, but also it helps you make more friends who speak the same language. We have some wonderful Spanish friends here, but it is good to be able to speak your own language occasionally and not have to think about it. Having said that, one English friend speaks Spanish so fluently that she sometimes forgets the odd English word!

Although the bookswap is a monthly event, most of us now pop into Bar La Casa at about 12.00 on the other Tuesdays of the month, for a general catch up and gossip. Today we looked at the programmes for the fiestas of San Fermin and San Cristobel, and decided which acts we would watch later on in the week.

The good news though, if there aren’t any other English people living in your area, is that you can now order books online from Amazon.co.uk and, if you spend a minimum of £25, they offer free Super Saver delivery to Spain. If you haven’t read my book “Retiring the Olé Way” yet, why not add it to your basket? (Shameless plug alert!)

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

In theory we can laze on every afternoon, as we have both retired . However Sunday is definitely our day of rest. During the week we have friends to meet for coffee, friends to meet for tapas, shopping, walking the dog and of course, especially during July, I have to include writing my blog on my list. Sunday though is usually a day for taking it easy.

John and I have totally embraced the Spanish way of life – with one exception. We don’t do siestas. OK, if I was to be totally honest, I would admit to the occasional little doze and odd 40 winks. This is a rare occurrence though and so far has only happened under the following circumstances: we have been shopping in Murcia city, then we have had a lovely leisurely, typically Spanish lunch (i.e. menú del día including lots of red wine) before catching the bus back to Jumilla. And of course the bus has been warm, and the rocking movement has encouraged my heavy lids to slowly close, and …. zzzzz

On Sunday morning I do try to dress a bit smarter than usual (my best trainers rather than an older pair) because we know that when we walk down town lots of families will be out strolling in their Sunday best, many of them going to or from mass. We usually take our dog Lisa with us when we go to buy the Sunday papers so that her many friends can call out “Hola Lisa!”.

This Sunday was no exception, except for the fact that there were a few dark clouds in the sky. This is July, for goodness sake – July in Spain! Dark clouds have no right to be lurking in the sky during July. The Spanish met office website http://www.aemet.es/es/portada had said there was only a 10% chance of rain, which is basically no chance, isn’t it? (Statistics was my least favourite subject at school by the way).

Anyway, I am English, and I guess I kind of expect rain in summer, so my brolly went into my bag. Fortuituously, as it turned out.

It was slightly cooler than it has been in recent weeks, so we went the long way round to the paper shop to give Lisa a bit more exercise. We needed a bit more exercise too, after overindulging on Saturday evening!

We buy La Verdad newspaper on Sundays as it is a good way to improve our Spanish, plus the supplements give me the latest gossip, albeit many of the “celebrities” are Spanish stars that I have never heard of. They did a huge spread for “Guillermo y Catalina’s” wedding however (known to us as William and Kate), and this Sunday there was a photo of Queen “Isabel” II!

On the way home we stopped at Cervecería Borneo for a coffee. Lisa likes it there as the owner always make a fuss of her, and the tables are quite a way from the road, so she isn’t disturbed by the traffic. There are usually a few groups of cyclists sitting outside on Sunday mornings, all with the latest cycling gear on, rehydrating with several cañas.

We didn’t linger there too long, as the dark clouds were gathering momentum and the sun had totally disappeared from sight. We had just crossed the main road when the first drops fell, and we are talking seriously heavy drops not the usual Spanish lightweight drops of rain. The umbrellas were unfurled as we started walking a bit quicker, as did Lisa. Lisa is very much a fair weather dog.

There weren’t many cars parked outside the building by the time that we had returned, but this was nothing to do with the weather. Many of our neighbours are young people who are buying their first home, and their parents live in town. We have noticed that Sunday is the day for going home to Mamá for a family Sunday lunch. I suspect that some of them, especially the sons, take their weekly washing home to Mamá too!

It was lucky that we had planned a lazy afternoon watching Wimbledon and the Tour de France on TV – as well as reading the papers – because we had two heavy downpours plus a thunderstorm. In fact the small town of Jumilla actually made it onto National TV’s weather programme that evening. We spotted Jumilla on the weather map, showing a figure of 3l/sq m of rain in one hour. This was after the first downpour – however the second one was even heavier, and soon it looked as if a river was running down our street. Luckily normal service has been resumed today and the sun is shining again.

Desayunar?

Going out for breakfast (desayunar is the Spanish word for “to have breakfast”) is still an important tradition in Jumilla. Local people start the day early with not much more than a cup of coffee, so by the time it is 10 or 11 Spanish workers are ready for their breakfast. Most of the cafés and bars are full at that time of day, with people enjoying a café or zumo plus a tostada, and inevitably talking to their friends and colleagues loudly and at great speed. Trying to follow their conversations is a good test of your Spanish comprehension!

Twice a week we meet our friend Juana María for desayuno, and at this time of the year we usually go to Bar Chaparral’s summer terrace just outside the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro. This is one of the joys of living in Spain: sitting outside with friends, blue skies overhead, birds singing in the garden, and relaxing over a cup of coffee or a fruit juice.

John’s breakfast of choice is a café solo and he has tostada with butter and jam. I have now embraced the Spanish way of having tostada and pour extra virgin olive oil on top of it. Tostada, by the way, is not a slice of supermarket bread, but is a toasted baguette, so we have a media tostada rather than a whole one. Many people have tomato on their tostada, sometimes crushing a fresh tomato and garlic on top of the olive oil. One thing that you are unlikely to find once you are away from the Spanish Costas is a full English breakfast – we have certainly not come across it in our local Spanish cafés!

One difference we have noticed between British and Spanish people: whereas the Brits like to sit outside directly in the sun, the Spanish prefer to sit outside in the shade, so Chaparral have an awning over their terrace once the sun is up.

Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? Well it is, except for the irritating moscas! Being inland we don’t get troubled too much by mosquitos, but flies are a different matter. At home, our dog Lisa spends most of the summer months trying to catch them.