Last month the local and national news barely talked about anything else. Galicia was on fire, along with neighboring Castilla y León. This summer, the biggest wildfires on record in Galicia engulfed the land. Dozens of forest fires burned rampant, mostly in nearly-vacant southern Ourense. In August alone 270,000 acres burned in Galicia. And these official estimates provided by the Galician government are perhaps exceedingly optimistic, as Coppernicus (the EU's observation of Earth) calculates a number closer to 341,000 acres. That's half the state of Rhode Island! When you put it that way, it doesn't sound very big seeing as Rhode Island is such a tiny state. But imagine all of that ablaze and destroyed for years to come. Alarming!
Uncontrolled wildfires leave a trail of helplessness and destruction. I can only imagine what it's like to see your house threatened by mile-high flames. In addition to helplessness, rage. The wildfires have many causes, the most unthinkable being thoughtless people who intentionally start them themselves, either pyromaniacs or people who think it's easier to burn the brush than clean it up with machinery. Rural abandonment doesn't help, either. With the countryside ¨emptied out¨ in some places, highly flammable brush plus the thousands of Eucalyptus trees planted far and wide to make a buck make the land a matchbox. Call it an indirect result of Galician policy. There are direct political causes, too. As this is a recurring problem in Galicia, there are protocols to prepare for wildfire season. The Galician government (known as the Xunta) dropped the ball on this one. One example: vacant public positions were left unfilled so that in the middle of the chaos caused by the flames, the Xunta desperately sought to hire 300 forest fire fighters. Too little, too late.
Luckily the end of August brought a drop in temperatures and that typical Galician rain. The good news is all of the wildfires have been put out. The bad news is, as they are no longer making headlines, soon they will be forgotten. No changes will be made nor blame accepted until next year's wildfire season. Here's hoping I'm wrong on that.
The Maruxaina is a legendary mermaid that lives in a cave on the Farallóns Islands, off the coast of San Ciprián/San Cibrao. As the story goes, she blows into her shell with either good or bad intentions, depending who you ask. Is she blowing to warn the sailors of upcoming storms, telling them to stay ashore? Or is her siren song meant to lure the sailors to her cave where they will never be heard from again? The trial of the Maruxaina seeks to get to the bottom of this.
The Maruxaina Festival is a weekend-long affair in this coastal town of A Mariña Lucense (province of Lugo), culminating in the mermaid's trial. While Saturday is without a doubt the main day, the party gets started on Thursday night. And it goes late, every night. Believe me, I know. Coincidentally, we went camping just a short walk away from the main stage that weekend, and heard music booming til the wee hours, three nights in a row.
On Thursday night, a roving band we had just seen a few weeks earlier got people in a merry mood, on this occasion staying put in the main square. They even have a song called Maruxaina which they taught to the small crowd gathered around them. The music video represents the Saturday festivities well, so take a look:
The chorus has been stuck in my head ever since. It goes:
Maruxaina, deusa do mar Maruxaina, goddess of the sea Protexe aos mariñeiros entre algas e coral Protect the sailors between the coral and algae Maruxaina, vante xulgarMaruxaina, you'll be on trial Queimade augardente e bailade ata fartarBurn the moonshine and dance until you drop
The pre-festivities continued on Friday evening with Cantos de Taberna. As we were camping, we weren't planning on going back into town, but rather decided to eat out far from the center of the action. Lo and behold, two small groups singing traditional Galician songs made it to our restaurant, so we had charming background music to accompany our meal. We turned in early, but once again, the celebration was audible until 4 AM.
Finally, Saturday: the main day. As we were having breakfast in town, I noticed all the bars and cafés had huge bars set up outside in preparation for the swarms of expected festivalgoers. And the waiter even warned us: it may be family friendly in the morning, but after 5PM kids shouldn't really be around. I can see why. Around noon the party starts. Multiple charanga bands prance around the streets. Groups of teenagers and young adults congregate in and around the bars and beach. The typical is for ¨young people¨ to share a wagon or cart with friends, stocked up with food and booze. They move as a massive pack around town, sometimes following the bands, sometimes providing their own tunes on a loud speaker. Rather than roam around, the ¨old people¨ gather for lunch on the beach. The town council provides boards that can be used as tables for beach picnics.
So tons of people drinking from noon onwards, what do you expect? While the Maruxaina may have started as a quaint festival to recognize local lore, in its 40th edition it was essentially an excuse for debauchery.
I popped in around 8 PM to see what the vibe was like. In some places it was so crowded with stumbling youth that you could barely get through. 95% of them were wearing the costume, I'll give them that. Typical coastal gear which for men includes a white shirt, blue pants, and a blue and white plaid kerchief. For women it entails a white top, a black and white patterned skirt, a black and white kerchief, and sometimes a shawl.
Before her trial
At 11PM the real action starts. And I got there just in time for them to drag Maruxaina out of the sea. A dozen ¨sailors¨ carry her ashore on a platform. The group was accompanied by about 20 people, including one older sailor shooting off red lights so that they could see where they were going. As she got closer, members of the crowd yelled, ¨Maruxaina!¨ ¨Fire!¨ ¨Witch!¨ Despite the throngs of onlookers, I actually got quite close to the action. Once fully ashore, it's time for the trial. At this point, I could no longer see the mermaid, but the audio was played loud enough to be heard by all in the vicinity. I'm not sure if it was recorded or was being played out in the moment. Some women accused her of being a witch and stealing away their sailor husbands. A wise old man argued that with her sounds she was warning of treacherous waters. After a little back and forth, it was decided. Maruxaina was innocent! There would be no burning at the stake that night. Show's over. You can go home.
I was probably the only one there who did just that. Back to my tent I went. Meanwhile, the party continued, 12 hours after beginning. Two fun orquestas sang and danced until.... SEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. Believe me, I know. I could hear it from my tent.
¨Ugh, not another festival!¨ Those words actually came out of my mouth. But I'm taking them back! While I had been longing to just stay at home for the weekend, we already had plans. The Vendaval Fest of rock music in Ribadeo. It turned out to be a well-balanced weekend away at a well-organized music festival in its third year.
The festival itself was really cheap (around 20€ for 2 days of concerts!) and the camping was practically free at just 2€ per person for 2 nights. As one of our camp neighbors observed, you can barely go to a regular campground for that price and have hot showers. Throw in the added bonus of music and it's a steal! Part of the fun of music festivals is camping out among other attendees who evidently share the same taste in music. I can't always tell if this is a good thing or bad thing, being in close quarters. But in this case, we set up our tent next to a friendly couple and ended up chatting with them quite a bit.
Indiano in Ribadeo
Ribadeo is just a great town to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere. It
has tons of bars and shops (which open on Sundays!) and lots of lovely indiano architecture. But on a sunny, Friday holiday during a music fest? That combination meant a lot of people were milling around. At lunchtime in the center of town, a very upbeat DJ spun songs in Galician as part of the festival's opening celebrations. The 25th of July is Galician National Day, after all, making it a 3-day weekend.
After taking in the pre-festival fun, we went the cheap route and had sandwiches at our tent and rested up before the concerts around 7. I felt bad for the openers because hardly anyone was around for the first concert. Cuarta Xusta is a Galician band whose violin sets it apart from other rock groups. They were followed by a Galician grunge band (Sandford Music Factory) that sings in English. We had seen them at Resurrection Fest last year. Next was a big-name Spanish punk band which no doubt attracted a lot of people to the festival: Lendakaris Muertos. Their spazzy singer jumped into the moshpit several times despite being in his 50s. After their set, the crowd died down quite a bit, leaving us plenty of room at the front. Perfect, because someone had been listening to Rienda Suelta's CD on repeat in preparation for their concert. Afterwards, we turned in at the very responsible time of 1:30 AM, missing the last act which surely drew a good amount of fans.
Saturday we got up relatively early, but thanks to noise throughout the night, I was still sleepy. A trip to the beach for a morning nap was in order! We weren't sure how sandy the beaches of Ribadeo would be, so we got in the car, crossed the bridge to Asturias, and landed on Arnao Beach. Wide and pretty, with rock formations in the middle. The water was way too cold to go in for me. Instead I opted for walking around the rock formations where we spotted a few little crabs, some tiny fish, and even a little shrimp. Then a little nap under the sun.
Playa Arnao
We couldn't spend all day at the beach, though, because around 1PM the day's sesión vermú was underway. I was tempted to blow it off, but I'm glad we didn't! Mekanika Rolling Band is just that...a rolling band with guitar, drums, trombone, and saxophone. Playing energetic hits throughout Ribadeo as more and more people joined in the party. We had a blast singing along and dancing around with them.
After lunch and a nap, by 7 it was day 2 of concerts. Saturday opened with a classic rock-n-roll band from Asturias. They were followed by two bands emulating a similar time in the early 70s (they sure dressed the part), the main difference being the second was led by a woman with an amazing voice. Curiously, all of these Spanish bands sung in English. Then came an electro-rock band from Galicia that sung in Spanish. And lastly (for us) Reincidentes, a classic in Spanish punk rock. After jumping around with them, it was time for bed! We missed the last ska band, but that's ok. And being the second night, I think people were just too pooped to be up all night chatting like the night before. Thank goodness; I slept all night long.
To conclude: rock + camping + beach = way better than staying home!
The benefit of following school schedules is that on a random Monday in summer, you can go to Vigo's concerts in the park series. Not that I had ever been interested in going. But when I saw that the Black Keys were coming, sign me up! Especially at the unheard of price of only 15€!
As a non-resident of Vigo, the ticket system seems pretty fair to me. After all, the city council is mostly footing the bill, so they rightfully give locals an advantage. Tickets go on sale a week before the show. They are personalized, so no ticket scalpers hiking prices. Four thousand tickets are for sale in person, while another 1,000 are available online. Since people probably aren't going to drive all the way from Madrid to wait in line the week before the concert, most of those in-person sales are probably from residents of Vigo or nearby areas. People that could get the day off to wait in line (which for the Black Keys, apparently started at 4:30 AM!). We are lucky to have family there who waited in a short line in the afternoon to get our tickets.
The concert was held in an amphitheater in Castrelos Park at 10PM. Beforehand, the surrounding bars and cafés were bustling with rock-n-roll types, not a free terraza seat in sight. We got there around 9:15, not sure how crowded it was going to be. The upper part certainly was full. Its stone benches were free on a first-come-first-serve basis whereas the grassy pit below required the 15€ entrance fee. We ended up somewhere in the middle with a good view. And the pit was actually not as packed as I had expected. Before the concert, the mayor of Vigo came out to give his little spiel. That man is a character and deserves a post of his own. Next it was time for the Black Keys! It was still light out when the band started playing. Their original set was about an hour long, then after making us wait they returned for a two-song encore. Throughout the show, they played all of their hits (which is what I know of them, honestly) plus two songs from their upcoming album. Rock'n'roll! The music sounded awesome, and I enjoyed bouncing around, singing along, and jamming right along with them and 5,000 others.
On a long weekend at the beginning of May, we decided to go away to explore some towns in southwest Ourense and stay at a casa rural. The drizzle held off for the most part, allowing us to walk around quite a bit, but the dampness prevented us from going full-on hiking.
Ceiling, San Rosendo
Inner doors, San Rosendo
Celanova Our first stop on Saturday was Celanova. Being a small town, there aren't a million things to do there.
But keeping in mind the scant population (less than 6,000), the church of San Rosendo is
shockingly grandiose and ornate. The gold-painted inner doors paired
with a very detailed sculpted ceiling make it seem more like a basilica for a big metropolis. The church is connected to a large former Benedictine monastery, dating back to the 900s. Nowadays, the cloister is open to meander, and the rest of the building is used for a high school and other public purposes. Can you imagine going to school in a building over 1000 years old?!
Where's my accordion when I need it?
Vilar de Santos Just a village, the main reason we went here was to get some dinner, as the casa rural didn't offer meals, and this village was the only thing less than 20 minutes away. There is a tavern there which only opens on weekends, but really does wonders for the surrounding area culturally. They host concerts every day of the weekend, and offer a place to socialize in a rural area where bars and cafes are scarce. The night we went, there was an accordion duet. The guys were fun and into it, one of them sometimes switching the accordion out for other instruments. It turns out, in addition to having written a book about accordionists in the region, they were also the instructors of a weekend-long accordion course. Their students were eager to practice what they had learned, so suddenly we were surrounded by dozens of accordion players! It was surreal. Like an accordion flashmob!
Congostro How I happened upon this ethnographic town I don't even recall, but it was worth the stop. There wasn't even a bar in this village, that's how small it was. There
did seem to be a family of locals out and about, but aside from that,
the narrow lanes were deserted. Apparently there is a little route describing characteristic buildings of a typical Galician village. I was only able to find the info about the Galician home (animals sleeping downstairs, family life taking place upstairs) and the communal oven (whereas houses in the countryside each have their own bread oven, in the village they pitched in to build a communal one). The other highlight of this village is the square full of hórreos.
A conglomeration of hórreos
Allariz We kind of ran out of things to see, so added Allariz to the list. I had already been, but revisiting a pretty place boasting narrow, hilly streets and a tranquil riverside was fine by me. So Sunday morning we headed out to this Medieval, pedestrian town. In addition to rambling around, the small toy museum kept us entertained for about a half an hour. Then we snagged a table for lunch outdoors with river views at the old tannery. In the Middle Ages, Allariz was once known for its leathermaking. Now the stone-floored building on the banks of the Arnoia River has been turned into a museum/restaurant. Inside, watch your step because after hundreds of years, the floor is anything but flat. Our experience was lovely and very enxebre! The food was tasty and the place packed, probably because it's a classy place to take your mom on Mother's Day. The meal rounded off a calm weekend in rural Ourense.
To explain it to my family, I've said Expotaku is like Comicon. (The real Comicon is actually coming to Malaga, Spain this year, as a matter of fact.) The events are similar in that there are cosplayers dressed up as their favorite characters and lots of merchandising stands. Except more than comics and superheroes, Expotaku is geared towards fans of anime and manga. The name itself is a portmanteau of expo and otaku, which is Japanese for nerd obsessed with manga, anime, video games, and the like.
Video game section
This was the third or fourth year that we went-- it has become a springtime tradition. I'm not passionate enough about any character to buy a costume, so I usually throw something simple together (last year I went as a Sim). I totally love how into it people get though! Most of the attendees are teenagers or in their early 20s, but you do see plenty of middle-aged people, often with young kids in tow. The first year we went, hardly anyone was dressed up. I recall my favorite cosplayer being a really well-done version of Link from Legend of Zelda. Now it seems about half of the people don costumes, and of those, a good amount are intense. There is even a cosplay contest for people to show off their looks.
Ramen and gyozas
Besides the cosplay contest and lots of shopping, there are open board games, geeky trivia, lots of video games and demos, crafts, talks, and Asian food. This year we played three different boardgames and did a craft, both a first for us at Expotaku. They supplied a wide range of boardgames and there were even people to explain the rules to you, which was delightful.
But I must admit, as ¨veterans¨ of the event, it seems to be going downhill, organizationally speaking. There were fewer talks of interest than in years past. Two different years they had the voice over casts of famous shows like the Simpsons. Not this year. Also, this year about half of the venue went unused, meaning the activities were crammed together in the open spaces. They blocked off places were people had sat on the ground to eat or chat in the past, even though there were way fewer chairs than people in attendance. Our conclusion is that they know people are going to come anyways, so they've stopped making an effort in terms of attracting the crowds. Maybe next year will be better.
