The Nightmare Before Christmas

Happy Halloween!

Or, perhaps more accurately, Happy Thursday! Granada might not be Halloweentown, but that can't stop us from celebrating.  I guess Day of the Dead is more of a big deal here (it's an official holiday, meaning that if it didn't land on a weekend this year, I would have the day off of classes), but I actually haven't heard anything about it.  Stores have been selling Halloween candy and costumes for the last few weeks.  My school kind of set up some things for us to celebrate.  There was a pumpkin carving contest, a Twilight Zone marathon, and decorations up this week. (I voted for the pumpkin carved with the Batman logo.)  Some places are having Halloween themed parties that are mostly geared toward international students. I have heard that it's more common for costumes to be more scary than funny.


I celebrated two days ago by exploring the Cemetery of Granada, and checking out an abandoned hotel on the way home.  The first part of the cemetery was older, with mausoleums and  fancy graves with statues and things like that.  In the newer part, the graves were stacked on top of each other, as if on shelves, rather than spread out in rows in a field.

On Monday I noticed they have starting selling Christmas items (Nativity sets, garland, etc.) in stores, and there are Christmas lights up on the streets (but I haven't seen them on yet).

Empty slots in the shelves.  THEY ARE WAITING FOR YOU.

This grave wasn't fully sealed.

A bit of history

In 1931, the Second Republic began in Spain when anti-monarchical leaders came to power.  They introduced a new constitution that included a bunch of reforms.  This limited the power of the Army, the Catholic Church, and the central government.  It established the right to free speech and gave women the right to vote.  It also allowed people to get married, divorced, and buried outside of the Church. In an attempt to lessen the huge gap between the small upper class and the huge lower class, it took away the special legal status of the nobility.

The flag of the Second Republic has three stripes: red, yellow, and purple.  It can still sometimes be seen today.  From the mirador where I got the "rooftop view" of Albayzin, I can see it waving in someone's backyard.

The government of Spain swung back and forth for the next five years, until civil war broke out in 1936.  On one side were the Bando Sublevado, aka the Nationalists, who supported tradition and order.  This included the fascist party, the conservative party, the army, and the Catholic Church.  They also had support from Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy.  The other side was the Bando Republicano, aka the Popular Front, everybody who supported the  Second Republic.  This included most of Spain's working class and peasants, intellectuals, the liberal party, the communist party, the socialist party, and anarchists.  They had support from Mexico, the  Soviet Union, and the International Brigades.  (Fun fact: George Orwell fought for the Republicans!)  In the end, the Nationalist side won in 1939, and Fransisco Franco, a general and strong military leader, came to power.

Franco's dictatorship lasted until his death in 1975, and it made life very difficult for anyone who opposed him.  Most of them had to leave Spain (but considering it was 1939, there wasn't really anywhere for them to go).  A bunch of children ended up in the Soviet Union, and a bunch of communists and others were killed for their political beliefs.  The Church, which totally supported him, had control over all the schools, so they pretty much turned all the children into little Franco followers.  Also, all the divorces and civil marriages that had occurred during the Second Republic were now void. So, anybody who had gotten remarried was considered an adulterer, which a woman could be jailed for.  Franco's motto was "España: una, grande, y libre," and his party, the Falange, adopted the symbols of los Reyes Católicos (shown above).  He wanted Spain to go back to how it was during their time, a powerful, Catholic empire.


After the Axis lost WWII, Franco had to give in to international pressure and ease up a bit.  And... that´s as far as I've gotten in my history class so far.  I find it all really interesting, I just hope I'm understanding it right.  Nowadays people don't really like to talk about what Spain had to go through under Franco's rule.  I think they're just so focused on moving forward from that time.  Not too far from my house, there's a tiny park tucked away in a corner that nobody ever goes to.  In it there is a statue dedicated in 1972 to José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of Franco's Falange Party.  Somebody had splattered red paint on it.  I felt kind of dirty stopping to take a picture of it.  I hope I didn't offend anybody.

Senderismo a Los Cahorros

Hiking was so much fun last weekend, I decided I needed to do it again.  This time we went to a place that was closer to Granada, in a town called Monachil.  We all took a public bus just outside of Granada.  From there we walked up to a national park type area.  We stopped to eat our lunches, and then we began our hike.  This was a lot more of a hike than last week.  The path was narrow and rocky, and actually difficult to climb up.  This made it more fun though.  We also saw the ruins of a little hide out/fortress for the Republican Party during the Civil War, so that was interesting.

 

There were some suspension bridges, which weren't too scary until you were about halfway across and it was swaying and you're trying to hold on to the ropes on the sides, but they aren't any more stable than you are.

 

After all the uphill climbing and bridge crossing, we were walking along the river, so that should be easy, right? No, it was actually terrifying, and totally awesome.  We were walking on a strip maybe about 18 inches wide, with the rocky river below us to our left, and huge boulders to our right.  Sometimes the boulders would jet out a bit, and we would need to hold on for dear life while we leaned back over the river and passed it.  Other times only part of the boulder would be sticking out, so I could climb over it or crawl under it on my hands and knees.  It was really fun.

 

Then we were out in the open again, just climbing up the mountain side.  I'm really glad it got cloudy soon after this, so we weren't in the sun for too long.  Instead of going back the way we came, we kept going along this way to go over and then back down the mountain.  It was interesting to look down across the gorge and see where we had been walking before.  We also stopped at a little cliff that jetted out over the gorge.  I climbed over some rocks to get all the way to the edge so I could look out over it.

Then we climbed down a bit more, and all of a sudden we were back in the village.  I relaxed in the park, eating the snack I brought (batido de cacao, which is like chocolate milk, and a croissant), while we waited for the bus back into the city.  This hike was shorter than the one in Las Alpujarras, but it was a lot more fun and exciting.  I am already planning to come back with my friends to do it again.

This is a dorky post.

So far, my blog has mostly consisted of the exciting things that I've done on my study abroad adventure.  I've been trying to mix that up a bit.  A big reason I decided to study abroad was to learn about what everyday life is like in another country.  So, I've been doing some normal person things, too, such as walking to class.  And today, I decided to take you with me.  I want to show you the same things I see every day.  I took you (via my camera) to school on the most direct route through side streets, and then I headed back home a more roundabout way, along busy streets.

Here is a map for my direct route to school.  It's pretty basic.

I head out the door and onto my street, which is called Calle Concepción.

 There are some pretty buildings to look at.

After a few blocks, I'm in the plaza of Café Fútbol, where I go with my friends almost every week.

Then I turn onto another street.  This building has been under construction for a while, but it looked like they were finishing up today.  Soon, I pass another plaza that's almost always empty.

Here's something I actually didn't notice until my roommate pointed it out to me a few weeks ago.  If you look through this window, you see the ruins of an old abandoned building.

I keep walking up this street (it is ever so slightly uphill), until I come to this.

This is how I got lost on my first day of class. You see that little gangway? I'm supposed to keep going straight into that.

And then after I go through it, I'm at school!

Now I'm going to take you the longer way back home.

It goes around the neighborhoods rather than through them, so it's a bit longer, but still not too complicated.

I walk back through the narrow street, but instead of going straight, back down the way I came, I turn right.

I pass a university bookstore and the restaurant that has the amazing crepes.

And soon I'm at Plaza Isabel Católica.  Also known as Plaza del Triunfo, it is kind of like the center of the city.  It is located at the intersection of two important streets, Calle Reyes Católicos, and Gran Vía de Colón.  The statue depicts Cristobal Colón asking Queen Isabel for money in 1492 so he can sail the ocean blue.

I walk through the plaza and turn left onto Reyes Católicos.  Soon I pass Loops & Coffee, which bears a suspicious resemblance to Dunkin Donuts.  They have a donut with pink frosting called Homer Simpson.

I also pass a bunch of stores, this Arabic style office building, and an abandoned building.  The graffiti says Gente sin casa, casa sin gente, meaning people without a home while here is a home without people.

When I get to this intersection, it's time to turn again.

There are signs like this throughout the city, telling people which way to go.

I'm turning left, toward Teatro Isabel la Católica.  I pass this newsstand,

This dessert shop that always tempts me with waffles, and a lottery ticket booth.

Soon I'm in this plaza.  The booths aren't always set up.  A few weeks ago people were selling handmade gifts.  A few weeks before that they were candies and snacks.  Today it looked like they had books.

After the plaza, I go into this parkway.

I pass a little movie theater and El Corte Inglés, the department store.

And then the Basilica.

There always seems to be a tour group standing and looking at the church.

When I get to the end of the parkway, I turn left to head home. I pass a bunch of restaurants.

And then I turn onto my street.

 And I'm back at my front door.

Well, that was my walk to and from school, following two different routes.  I hope it wasn't too boring for you.  Tomorrow I'm going on another hike, so maybe I'll have more exciting things to talk about again.