Taking Risks: Fiesta De Agua

Posted by Nithin Coca

The best things about traveling are the unexpected, random adventures. So two days ago, when I spotted a sign that said ¨Fiesta de Agua,¨ I had no idea what to expect. A Water Party? On the beach?

I grabbed the phone number slip, and headed off to get some Tapas. For some time, I completely forgot about the Fiesta.

Next scene, we are relaxing at the Mirabor San Cristobal, my favorite part of the Albaicin, the old Moorish neighborhood in Granada, admiring an amazing view of the Alhambra (pictures coming soon), with my fellow trippers and Couchsurfer Kat, when we get to discussing what we are going to do that following day.

Before I knew it, we had texted Manolo, and were going to get up the following morning to catch a bus to the beach.

What is the fiesta de agua? Good question. We were on the bus, me, Brandle, Mike, Aaron, and Kat (Mr. Ryan had to drop out due to Moroccan repercussions), when the only other English speakers on board told us we would be drenched with water on the alleys of a small village in the mountains. We had brought no extra clothes (as everyone else on the bus had), nor had we brought a towel, due to a Spanish miscommunication (damn you Ryan for being sick!)

When we got off the bus, we were handed buckets. That´s right, Buckets. Medium sized, blue, plastic buckets. We followed the throngs (12,000 people in total) through a beautiful, green, mountain path toward a picturesque small valley town, the lights glimmering over the clear night sky. This was where the fiesta was taking place?

The crowds were amazing. The streets were packed with students, families, children, grandmas, all with buckets. From the balconies, people with hoses sprayed water down on the crowds, everyone trying to catch as much water as possible in their buckets. ¨Mucho agua, mucho agua!¨chanted the completely Spanish crowd. Within minutes, we were completely soaked with frigid water, but so was everyone else. The energy of the crowds was amazing, people were being sprayed with fire hoses, buckets, even the occasional gutter splash. The streets were running with dirty, warm water, not a single soul in the city was dry, even the hosers on the balconies were not spared the pain.

I could never have guessed when I saw that sign that I would, with 12 hours, be ambushing random people with buckets of cold water, evading super-soakers, and in general having a fantastic time. This experience, one I will never forget, could have been so easily lost had I glanced the wrong direction, had the slip fallen out of my pocket, or had Manolo never texted me back. But most of all, the experience never would have happened had we decided to take a risk. You can never get anything out of traveling unless you take chances.

All I know it...the Spanish sure know how to have a great time!

Our first video

Well, sorry about the delay, but we finally have our first video posted for all of you to look at. I had some issues about finding a website where I could post material with copyright material in it. It ultimatly ended up on youtube.com. I shall keep the links to all of our videos posted on the video portion of this website, located on the left side of the screen.

This was actually shot over a month ago in Sintra, Portugal. It´s a small city, and a world heritage site just outside of Lisbon, accesable by commuter rail. Click the link to enjoy our first video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5J7EMWLgWQ

MrRyan

Travel Time

It´s gotton too comfortable. Now its time to whip out our sleeping sheets, shake the dusts of our packs, and get ready to once again wear sandals into the shower. That´s rights, its backpacking time!

Tomorrow, at the ripe, early hour of 9AM, we shall board a bus for Madrid. From Madrid, after I drop my brother off, and the new trippers get a taste for the city, we shall board a bus for the grand port of Algeciras, onward to Morocco, the first third world country of the trip.

Shall we post from the road? What crazy adventures wait for us in Africa! Africa! It just makes me all fuzzy inside just to stay that...in four days, we will be in Africa!

Sorry for the late posts

Sorry everybody, Blogger.com is acting kind of weird and we are having problems posting things to you. Don´t worry though, once this gets sorted out we will be posting again. Yes we are still here, No we are not dead.

Late, but Finnaly, La Alberca Remembered

Time passes differently when you are taking a trip around the world. You of whom have sent me emails understand that all too well, with my horrid response time.

The same goes for those who participated in Pueblo Ingles with me, at La Alberca. I’ve been meaning to put up a post, complete with pictures, commentary, and expert analysis on this site for weeks. Now, a month and a long week since the end of the program, I got the will power and here you go. April 21-28th La Alberca.

22 Anglos, 22 Spaniards. The day I arrived, I was certain there would be no way I would remember everyone’s name by the end of the week.

Three days later, I knew many of you better than I knew some of my best friends.

That was what was amazing. How within one week, a group of people can share so much and grow so close. How, in all my traveling, I’ve never felt so close to the culture and the vibe of the country I am in. The Sevillana flamenco on the last night, I can’t explain what it meant to me in words. All I know is that I can travel around the world for the rest of my life, but I’ll never experience that feeling ever again. Now I truly understand what people mean when they say traveling is a once in a lifetime experience.

La Alberca was the bridge between the first month of my trip, which included family traveling and solo traveling, to the 2nd half, which was all group traveling. And though traveling around Spain, and settling in Granada has been fantastic, it hasn’t been the same. I don’t feel that same connection to the soul of Spain that I had up La Alberca.

Would I do it again? I would love to be back, on day one, and experience that week again, but, at the same time, I know that it was not an experience that can be recreated ever.

Those of you from La Alberca reading this, email me! One of the problems has been that La Alberca has a wrong email address down for me, a email I don’t check that frequently (I know, excuses, excuses). Others, I don’t have your email (or don’t know which of the many encoded addresses on the mass emails is yours).

To lose touch would be to lose a part of ourselves. I changed that weekend, I learned new things about myself and about humanity, some bad, but mostly good. I don’t want those memories to become nothing more than memories, fading with time.

The Sevillana sums it all up with this.

Don´t go away yet. Please don´t go away. Even my guitar is going to weep when saying goodbye to you. The ship is getting smaller as it goes away. And when it gets lost, how big is the solitude.

And so it begins...

5.30.06
Went to see Nine Inch Nails today. It was really great to see Colorado's beauty one last time. Here's a picture from up on the rocks. The next morning, I'll be leaving to Ireland.


5.31.06
The feeling has finally hit me. Once I walked through the gate at DIA, said my goodbyes, and was let off the leash. It spread through me like a slow growing warmth, like I just took a shot of some hardcore vodka. I couldn't stop from grinning. Every step I took was one step closer to anywhere but here! I have just taken my first step off the enormous abyss of the unknown adventure before me.

My first flight out of Denver was AMerican Airlines flight 1492...for those history buffs, thats the year christopher columus sailed the ocean blue and came upon one hell of a discovery! What a weird coincedence. I wonder what my discovery will be?

6.1-2
Just after trying a "snack box" that my dad highly recommended (fried chicken and fries,)I ran into my first drunken Irishman in Dublin today. He was rambling to us about how his wife and himself were arguing and she kicked him out of the house. He was obviously upset with his usage of the word fuck, or fuugghhkkinnn. Anyway, he was looking for a place to stay but we had to let him down because we were just travelling through. We could barely understand him, his accent was so thick. Later that night, we met Jimmy at Oliver Gogarty's Pub (it's also the hostel we're staying in.) We were looking for things to do that night and found a flyer that said PUB CRAWL....meet in front of Trinity College at 8pm. So we went, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. It was great. It turns out that this guy and his friends created this "Backpackers Pub Crawl" business and are in with the local bartenders so they get good deals. We hit up 5 different pubs. They were all so unique and Mike, our Canadian tour guide, explained the history significance of the pub. Sorry, I can't remember all of the names, but one was called Bruxelles. One had a whole viking theme, from when the vikings raided and took over Ireland. We had an hour at each pub before moving on to the next one. The beer here is soooo good. Jimmy and I actually tried an "Oyster Stout," fermented with real oysters for quite a unique taste. I did it just so I could say that I've tried an Oyster Stout. Mike tried a Strawberry Lager which was amazing. It was even strawberry color, but it was a beer.
***there is a large spire that was constructed a few years ago in the center of Dublin, right next to the Liffy River. Jimmy explained to me that many of the locals don't like it. They refer to it as the "Stiffy on the Liffy."

6.3.06
Jamison Whiskey tour. This was a very cool tour because not only did we learn how whiskey was made, but learn about much of the Irish history and how whiskey has greatly developed the Ireland we see today. I found out that they feed the spent barly, after it has been soaked, to the livestock throughout the country. That explains why the cattle here are so happy and chilled out. Another cool history fact is that at the end of the fermenting process (years in a barrell,) there is a tester, or "tax man" who judges the strength of the liquor and decides if it is safe to sell to the public. He pours the whisky onto some gunpowder and lights it on fire. If the color of the flame burns orange, it's too weak. If the color burns blue, it's perfect. If the gunpowder explodes, then the whiskey is too strong and cannot be sold to the public. So instead of throwing it away, they bottled it up and gave it to all the workers!

Guinness Factory tour. This was quite interesting as well...........................drank on the top of the observation tower and could see all of Dublin.

On the walk back, I came across a man in his backyard driveway who was chiselling gravestones. I thought it was an awesome photograph shot, so I sneaked up behind him and waited to say anything bc I didn't want to stun him when he's chiselling someones name. He finally stopped and I introduced myself. He was very friendly. Apparently it takes him 2 whole days just to do one grave! and the yard was full of them. I asked if I could get a photo of him. Got a good one too. I said gooday and that he has a very unique talent to carve that fast a accurate, then went on my way.

A Cordoban History Lesson

By Nithin Coca

First, a few facts. Did you know

• For over 100 years, Cordoba, Spain, was the largest city in Europe, with a population of over 1 million?
• That, for over 300 years, it was the capitol of Al-Andalus, a Muslim kingdom that controlled most of Spain?
• That this Muslim kingdom tolerated freedom of religion, and allowed all religions of the book (Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam) to be practised freely?
• That the largest mosque in Europe, a freaking enourmous ediplex, is in Cordoba?

Can´t say I knew any of that before I set of to Spain and began reading about the riches of this country. Cordoba has been out of the limelight for over 1000 years, its population today only 300,000, a city of archealogical digs, ruins, and a deep, troubling yet intriguing history.

But imagine the city, the center of Europe, back in its heyday in 770 AD. The intellectual capitol of Europe, where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian philosophers debated the merits of life, love, and how to best govern a enlightened community. While the rest of western Europe was mired in the dark ages, Byzantine clerics travelled to Cordoba to learn from the brightest.

When you are in a city like Cordoba, you cannot understand it unless you try to understand the history. The Cathedral, formally the Mosque, has changed dramatically over the years. The hunderds of red striped arches now lead to chapelas, and a golden, ornate new dome in the center, highlighted by its 200 meter organ. No place else in Europe can you see the strark contrast between Islamic simplicity, and the overexuberance of the Catholic church in Spain.

The rulers of Al-Andalus, who had their own Caliph, seperate from that of Baghdad. The Caliph lived outside the city in the enormous Medina Al-Zarya complex. On our second day in Cordoba, we took a half an hour bus ride outside the city to see the remains of this once vibrant city, with our resident Anthropoligist, Aaron Tobias (pictured left inspecting the walls).

Medina Al-Zarya used to the the adminstrative, religious, and diplomatic capitals of Moorish Spain. It took self appointed Caliph Abd al-Rahman twenty-five years to build Madinat al-Zahra. The city existed for merely sixty-five years. For nine centuries it slept, forgotten beneath a hard dirt cover. Following eighty years of restoration work, about one tenth of the medina has been excavated, representing one third of the upper terrace: the noble part which houses the alcazar with the caliph's palace and the most important dignitaries' houses, together with the government bodies and military buildings. On the middle terrace, only the mosque has been excavated. The souk was also at this level, together with many gardens with pools, fountains and cages housing wild animals and exotic birds. The lower terrace was devoted to infantry and cavalry housing. Excavation work is still continuing so that we may learn the real beauty of this beautiful, mountainside medina.

How do we know all this? Because me and Ryan were hard at work as historians.

There´s no better way to experience history than to read it when you´re there. Córdoba was fantastic, an lesson into one of the most interesting periods of European History, Moorish Spain. How the relatively tolerant Moorish Spain led to the Conquisition...well, that´s for next week!

For more information about Cordoba, check out these links.
Ayuntamiento de Córdoba - Códoba local Government.
Maps of Córdoba
Turismo de Córdoba