The fastest month

I can’t say if it is because of the smaller number of days or because it is one of the last remaining months of my EVS, but February just ran away really fast and left some more nice memories and some sun-tan from the sunny afternoons on the balcony.

Indeed, the spring here already came, and as I love to say it came before the winter. While all Europe was covered by snow, it seems to me I will have to wait till next year to see some. In this distant part of the continent (Finisterra – a town in Galicia, doesn’t bear this name with no purpose) the days only kept on getting longer and warmer. The first days of this sunny month brought here one of my closest friends from Bulgaria who stayed in Ribalandia for two weeks, carrying a part of the distant home closer and enjoying some time here. Together with the joy of having Petra as a part of my year in Spain and share my experience here, I was able to see in practice how much I have adapted to as a resident of Galicia and how convenient  I feel in our sweet volunteer apartment, home. I could show her all my favorite places with the daily walks we had, introduce her to my sweet local friends, and show her the beauty of the ocean … and of course the local gastronomy J Galicia Calidade forever!

The time passed just as fast, Petra went away and the moment has come for the long-expected first big fiesta of the new fiesta year – the Carnivals! For me this type of celebration was something completely new, the only carnival I have been to is the one annually organized in my hometown in Bulgaria – Gabrovo. Well, I was introduced to the catholic tradition of dressing up for celebrating the 40 days before Easter. Actually, in the Hispanic world the fiesta doesn’t go only one or two days, but at some places it is a week, at others – almost the whole month. Well, at least two weekends were guaranteed. In the province of Ourense the Carnival went on from Thursday, starting with a big dinner only for women from town, till Tuesday, an official holiday, including defiles, concerts and crazy costumes… The most impressing part of the festivities was the day we went to Xinzo de Limia, a little town not far from here, famous for its carnival. In Xinzo, Verin and Ourense the carnival has an old and respected tradition and is being celebrated the longest and the hardest. We visited the town in midday, when usually is impossible to see a living person on the street, but during all the week there was a movement of incredibly well dressed-up people of all ages having fun, dancing on the streets, having a drink, taking photos and laughing together. The atmosphere was amazing, totally different world. A curious fact is also that if someone dares not to dress up, but walk around in their daily appearance, one of the so-called Pantallas, running around and making noise with their belts of bells and shouts would take him to the closest bar to be invited for a drink and the brave one will simply need to buy drinks all the day J Besides it is a funny tradition, the Pantallas reminded me a lot of a Bulgarian costume of dressing up in scary costumes and masks called “Kukeri” which also takes place in the early spring in the villages to chase away the bad spirits with the loud noise of the bells. Sometimes I am left amazed with some cultural similarities between places so far away from each other.

So, back to the theme… As we couldn’t stay aside from the big carnival craze, me and Santa joined with costumes four evenings of the celebrations, she – with a little bit more enthusiasm, but above all, with a lot of fun. From the Indian inspirations to a false big bottom, and Santa’s almost professional disguises of policeman, devil and Arabic princess – all types of roles were played, and not only from us. May be what impressed me the most was really the willing of everyone to be part of the carnivals with a more original costume… than the previous year. And the closing party was organized by our boss and the association Arteficial, that organizes the festival. It was an event called Musical Purgatory and everyone should be dressed as a dead music star. So in the bar, with our hand-made decoration of flames, was everyone – from John Lennon and Janis Joplin to Edit Piaf and Amy Winehouse. No doubt, changing identities is a brilliant exercise in the beginning of a new year.

This is how time is slipping away and already the first yellow, pink and white blossoms fill up the air with aroma of spring.