August
'08
Time
off
After
a hectic time in Boston and then a few days in England, it was good
to get back to the village life and the the fact it didn't rain
properly or drop below 28c for the whole month. Sorry. :)
Basically August is too hot to do anything serious in, so most people
relax and only work when they have to. It's a great time for Festies,
Fira's and lots of other events to keep people entertained.
Fira
Cultural
Mas has been staging a weekend Fira Cultural for 8 years. This was
the first year we had managed to visit as we had been away last
year.
There
were stalls frrom all over europe demonstrating extremely high quality
basket weaving. The village was reknown for its weaving of local
palm leaves, so weaving has a a lot of significance to the locals.
There
were also stalls making local sausages including "Baldana"
(a sort of black pudding with rice and /or pine nuts). The butchers
had made a video demonstrating "Mandongo" no its not when
a large african impregnates the village virgins, but it is rending
a pig into it's component parts and then making sausages out of
them. Very interesting :¬}
Bread
was being fired in tradional olive wood fired ovens just like in
our neighbouring bakery. A local brewery displayed its wares and
the womens association sold a ton of delicious cakes and pastries.
A local minstrel band marched around. The guy in the lower picture
with the drum and the flute was just amazing. I think the pipes
are Asturian. Catalan ones get held down at the waist.
Paella
Night
Later the next week the village had its second week long festes
of the year. The main one being in April. This consisted of more
cultural events with out door theatre, cinema, bands and of course
a communal meal for around 500 people.
We
went to the paella night with some Irish friends who have holiday
places in the area. Richard helped out with the paella, before settling
down to eat with everyone, while they displayed the first European
Barca match of the season (which Barca won 4-0). Then they had bingo
before a pair of denim clad songstresses came onstage at around
11.00pm and got everyone on their feet to dance the rest of the
night away, including Richard & Mary.
Lunar
Eclipse
The next week heralded a Lunar eclipse so a party was held at Richard
& Mary's with a follow up party Ray & Mel's the next night
to see the full moon..
Back
to the UK (again)
Just to finish off what had become a hectic social month, we dropped
everything and drove back to the UK to collect all our sons things
and bring them back to Mas de Barberans, where he would join us
for the next year. We took the direct route up through Lleida and
the Veiehla tunnel, stopping overnight in Perigeaux which is a lovely
town with a traditional old centre and Islamic looking cathederal.
We had an outdoor supper in one of the squares in the old quarter
in the last of the sun, before going to bed early to get a good
nights sleep before the haul upt to the Euro tunnel and on to Henley.
Four
days in England, getting our sons things, seeing friends and buying
books, then it was straight back the way we came (our favourite
route so far) and soon we were in the late summer sun again and
ready to collect our boy from the airport.
So
much for the quiet life.
PB
July
'08
September '08
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