Carnival!!! From Galicia to the Canaries.

This month has been incredible. The first week of March was Carnival, the weeks-long celebration that precedes the month of Lent, and I was fortunate enough to have a full ten days off to travel. We were given Monday, March 6th through Wednesday March 8th off. So, since I don't work Thursdays or Fridays, Kaydin and I took off for the entire week. Since we're travel crazy, we spent the first half of the week in Galicia, and the second half in the Canary Islands.




First Post: The first few days in Galicia:

So, since the infrastructure in this region isn't amazing, we decided to rent a car so we could get to the smaller towns, and natural sights we were looking forward to.

Saturday, we headed north from Ferrol to visit San Andrés de Teixido. It's a beautiful little village, surrounded by legend and folklore. The church there was built in the twelfth century. There's a saying that goes, "San Andrés de Teixido, o vas de vivo o vas de muerto." (you go during life, or you go in death) According to legend, everyone must visit the place at some point in their life. If they don't go when they are alive, they go in the afterlife. Here's a little blurb from Wikipedia:

"On the northern coast of Galicia is the village of San Andrés de Teixido, where there is a little hermitage consecrated to Saint Andrew, which keeps, according to the legend, his bones. Because his shrine was less popular than Saint James's, the saint was very sad. Jesus comforted him and said: "Do not worry, Andrés, for those who do not visit you in life will surely visit you in death"^[1]. And it is still said in Galicia "Anyone who does not visit San Andrés de Teixido when he is alive must visit after he is dead"^[2]. It is thought that the people who did not visit the sanctuary in life will have to do it after life, taking the form of serpents and lizards: because of this, the pilgrims who travel to the hermit take care of not to step on those animals. San Andrés de Teixido is located near Cape Ortegal, which according Tacitus^{[citation needed]} was the place where "heavens, seas and earth end": it was the End of the World^[3].

Some Spanish authors, like Constantino Cabal, have supposed that the Pagan inhabitants of Northwestern Spain believed that this was the starting place of the souls of the dead on their trip to the Other World. In this manner, traditions of Astorga tell us of a Rock of the Souls (identified with San Andrés de Teixido) situated on the Sea of the Dead, that is, the Ocean which surrounds the Northern Coast of Galicia. These traditions still testify the ancient Celtic beliefs in an "Other World" located beyond the Sea."

It really is a magical place, nestled below some of the tallest cliffs in Continental Europe. (Cliffs is a loose term here, they aren't as I would envision cliffs, with one large vertical precipice, but are incredible nonetheless.) We spent Saturday there, and had a picnic.


The view of San Andrés from above:


Free-ranging cows:


And a wild pony!!!


And this is the full size of the town, plus a few houses in the country:



The Cliffs from the town:

Baby goat!


I sort of got duped into buying these bland cookie things from a woman in town. I told her I wanted two of each, and she gave me twenty. Oh well. I'm a sucker.


On our way to the town, we stopped by a small church on the side of the road, near a village called Cedeira. Since it was Carnival, naturally we had to wear costumes:



Beautiful old stone cross. Galicia is full of them.


...And this is Cedeira, where we stopped on the way back, just in time to catch the town's parade.


Sad little candy in the parade:





Precious, I know. (Sorry Mom)

Bridge by Cedeira:


Ok, so that covers the first day of the break... There are much more Entroido and Carnival festivities to come, but I'll sign off for now!