Felices Fiestas

I know this post is coming a little bit late, but, hey, it really wouldn't be right to post on time here in Spain.

As my adventure continues, I've experienced another first here in Spain. This year was the first time in my 30 years of life that I spent Christmas away from my family and that I missed the Yamasaki Christmas Party (which go hand-in-hand, I suppose). However, on the flip-side I did get to experience a Spanish Christmas. In three words, my Spanish Christmas could be summed-up very similarly to any Christmas I've had at home: food, drinks, family. Obviously, there's more to say than this.

My roommate, Antonio, was nice enough to invite me to his family's house when he found out I didn't have any plans for Christmas. Then he one-upped himself when he said it was fine if a friend, who also didn't go back to the States and didn't have plans for Christmas, came with me. So, Kelsea and I hopped on a bus headed to Málaga in the afternoon the day before Christmas. My roommate met us at the bus station and drove us to his pueblo, Cártama Estación.

La Hermita

Cártama is about 15 minutes inland from Málaga Capital and nestled just beneath the mountains that lead to the interior pueblos of the province. Its a small pueblo (pop. 23,000 +/-) split into two parts, the original Cártama and the relatively newer, aforementioned Estación. While it is small, Cártama, like most pueblos of Spain, still has its own character and "encanto". We arrived at Antonio's house, unloaded our bags, ate what would be the first of many multiple course meals, and headed out to check out the pueblo. Antonio, along with his brother and brother's friend, took us to the older part of Cártama and we took a short hike to La Hermita. A "hermita" is basically an extremely small church placed just outside or a bit away from the pueblo to which it belongs. I've seen a few of these now in my travels and what they always lack in size and grandeur, is always made up for with some spectacular views. In this case, a great panoramic picture of the pueblo sitting peacefully beneath the mountains. From the hermita, we hiked up a bit more to some remnants of an old castle, that again lacked splendor, but offered more great views of the valley.

The start of it all

La Familia Picón

We returned from our mini-excursion and rested-up for what would become a very long Christmas Eve. In true Spanish style, Christmas Eve dinner started at around 11:00 pm. Also in true Spanish style the first course of the meal included jamón (in various forms) and cheese, along with some delicious shrimp. After the first course, Antonio's mom proceeded to bring out plate after plate of food. We had salad, soup, shrimp cocktail, and a couple other things that I can't remember. All this was washed down with wine from Granada and La Rioja and made for an outstanding meal. Of course, the hard liquor was pulled out for dessert, I enjoyed a nice glass of Scotch and it was just like being at home drinking with my cousins. When all was eaten and drunk, we headed over to an Uncle's house to say hello to some family, had a few drinks with them, then Antonio and I went to a bar, while everyone else went home. This is the point where my Spanish Christmas turned into a completely new experience.

Just like home

While going to a bar to meet up with friends is nothing new, doing so on X-Mas Eve and staying out until 6:30 in the morning is very new. We went to two or three places and each one was jam-packed with people. It could be very easily compared to the night before Thanksgiving in any town in America. Needless to say, Christmas morning was very different as well, mainly because it didn't exist for me as I woke up at 1:30 in the afternoon. And, apparently, Santa doesn't stop and leave gifts if you're not at home when he flies over. Besides this big difference, the rest of Christmas resembled those of the past. We went to another Aunt's house, ate a bunch of food (jamón, queso, mussels, mussel soup, lamb), had some drinks (although none for me this day-HUNGOVER), and enjoyed each other's company. Christmas night was spent relaxing/recovering at home with T.V. and Wii golf.

I hope everyone had a nice, memorable holiday season and your 2011 is off to a good start!

Hasta ahora!