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| My Uncle Pepe, Aunt Yacko, and my mom |
It is the end of the Holiday Season and high time for a report on what I have been doing. My family and I started out the long holiday break celebrating the Birthday of my aunt here in Malaga. The next day we headed off to the old olive plantation that my grandfather bought as a summer home when my mom was little. There we met my Aunt Yacko and Uncle Pepe along with my two cousins Pepe and Alvaro who had already been there for a few days.
The day after we arrived in the country was Christmas Eve or Noche Buena; we spent the night with my Dad's family in the nearby town of Antequera. A large part of the family was there and we totaled 23 people. We had a five hour dinner and stayed up till the early hours of the morning playing games, telling stories, and celebrating the importance of family. There was a toast that particularly stuck with me that embodied this sentiment, in English it translates, " to our family and friends both here and far away, we loved you yesterday, we love you today, and we will love you forever."
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| A veiw from the Torcal |
In the morning (what is classified in America as early afternoon), we returned to the country to celebrate with the entirety of my mom's family. There were almost thirty of us and it was some of the most fun I have ever had. Here it is not a traditional to give gifts on Christmas; this part comes later in the break. The next day my parents, Aunt Yacko, and Uncle Pepe took me to see the unique species of Pine trees there are in the Sierra de las Nieves. They are a relic species of one of the last Ice Ages, and my uncle has been studying them and and other species all over the world in his Career as a Biology Professor. It was so strange to me because the Sierra de las Nieves looked just like the Mountains around my home town of Bozeman do in June. I was temporarily confused about time and place and had a hard time believing it was the day after Christmas.
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| La Primera Pista |
The next day we went to the Torcal a giant rock forest near Antequera that formed because this part of the Iberian Peninsula used to be underwater, and also lies on a fault line. The top was formed as a type of kelp forest, and then after it was uncovered the two continental plates rubbed together. Normally this would lead to a mounding up of earth, this is the way most mountains are formed, but instead it "popped up." The pressure came from both sides and the Torcal rose up out of the earth in one piece. It is really a curious place and again my uncle was our guide and local expert. he grew up exploring the Torcal and has a little cabin nearby it called the Torcalina.
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| More from the torcal |
The next day we packed up and returned home to Malaga thoroughly exhausted. After a quiet day or two it was Noche Vieja or new Years Eve. At Midnight we skyped with my parents and my host sister, Angela, who is on exchange in Minnesota. We all watched the clock in the port of the Sun in Madrid and just after the stroke of Midnight ate 12 grapes, one for every chime. The eating of grapes on the cusp of the New Year is said to be the only thing that the Spanish people do altogether. During the count down everyone makes a wish, then when the clock chimes they eat a grape, if you successfully eat them all(which is no small trick) then your wish should come true in the coming year and you will have good luck. After that we went to a family friends house, and after that celebration my sister and I went to a party at our friends house. The next day we were so tired we slept till 3 in the afternoon. It was a great way to ring in the New Year!
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| Views of the torcal |
The Holiday season did not end there. The 4th I met the exchange students living in Marbella in a little tourist town halfway in between us. We had a really good time decompressing, playing mini golf, and of course eating. The next day my family met up with some family friends for lunch and then headed off to the parade in honor of the coming of the Three Kings. After that we left directly for Antequera to celebrate Three Kings day with my Dad's family. That night, after all of the smaller kids went to bed my parents exchanged gifts and we ate a Rosco, which from the information I have gathered should be the same as a King cake that is traditional for Mardi Gras. Is looks a bit like a giant donut that has candied fruit on top of it, some, like the one we ate, are filled with whipped cream; it was delicious. All of the kids put their shoes around the house and overnight the "Reyes Magicos" put presents and candy in them. The younger kids tried to wake us all up at 4:30, but seeing as how we had only gone to bed at 2 the adults made them go back to sleep. The next day was magical, like Christmas. All the happy cousins, smiling parents, family, and gratitude filled the air with joy and laughter. After lunch we came home, so I could repack and we could get the gifts for my Grandma. We spent the afternoon at her Residence home and then at 8 I caught a bus to Marbella.
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| The Main Street of Malaga decked out for Christmas |
I stayed with my counselor, Nina, that night and in the Morning our club, all of the exchange students, and some other members of the community went to Ronda to give out gifts at a nursing home. After we celebrated Reyes there the students headed of to do a bit of sight seeing. We headed home early because the next day was school and the end of a very satisfying vacation.
It was definitely one of the most jam packed and interesting Christmas breaks I have ever experienced, and I cherish every moment of it. I am so blessed to have this opportunity, this family, Rotary,and all of the great people around me who support me in everything I do, Thank you.
