Bernadette's Trip to Spain 2012-2013: ¡Las fiestas del Pilar!

The festivities of Pilar are wild, beautiful, overwhelming! And money-draining (not me personally). The school gave us two extra days off, Thursday and Friday, to enjoy all the sights and sounds.

On Wednesday night I went out with several friends. We walked along the Paseo Independencia, which is a big avenue in the center of Zaragoza with shops, restaurants, a movie theater. It's always filled with people. During Pilar there are also food booths set up on either side with food from different communities in Spain, including the Canaries and the Balearic Islands, and vehicles aren't allowed down the Paseo either. So my friends and I strolled around, looking at the booths, and then we decided to walk to the Plaza of Sieges (la Plaza de Sitios), where there are more booths, but with jewelry, clothes, pictures, and other material things. In the middle of the plaza is located a very beautiful fountain. I don't know what it's called, but I took a picture of it.

Throughout the night it had been thundering and lightning, but not raining, and all of a sudden
it started to pour out! My friends and I walked quickly/ran back to the Paseo, where we stayed in a store until the rain settled down a bit. Then we found a place to eat: one of the food booths which offers food from the Canaries. We knew that because there were posters of the islands hanging up on the walls. We ate fish (I don't know their name.) that reminded me of Smelts, bread with tomato sauce and a really strong blue cheese, lamb, french fries, and, of course, bread! Afterwards we went to Smooey, a frozen yogurt place, and I bought a small chocolate with almonds. It was so good! We stood in a circle outside the shop while I finished my dessert. One of the guys that works at Smooey came over and started talking to us, in Spanish, because he was sort of friends with one of the girls we were with. He asked us which state we were all from, and when he got to me, instead of the US, he thought I was from Tokyo! That was very funny. I told him I was Chinese instead. After I finished my fro-yo, we walked to the Plaza of Pilar, right in front of the Basilica of Pilar, where there was a concert. Apparently there are always free concerts during Pilar, which I think is really nice because it offers a nice place for all the people to go to hang out, dance, chat, you name it. The Plaza is so huge that screens have to be set up around it so that everyone can see the concert. We got pretty close to the stage, the music pounding and spotlights flashing and sweeping over the crowd. The band was playing Spanish music, some popular songs I guess because the Spanish teenages were singing along. We stayed there for about an hour I think. After awhile it got a little boring, so we left and tried finding other friends. The time was a little before 1 am. Finally, a friend and I both wanted to go home, so we said goodbye to the group European style, kissing everyone on the cheeks, and headed back towards Paseo Independencia and our homes. I went to bed around 1:30.

Two nights ago, Thursday, I went out with my host dad, Jesús, after 10 pm. We walked to the
Plaza of Pilar, but only stayed like 5 min, and then we went to a bar where we drank
decaffeinated coffee with sugar and milk. So far I've had Spanish coffee three times. It tastes
okay. I don't really like the strong aftertaste. The bar we sat in was going to close at 3 or 4 am! We left it a little after midnight, and I went to bed when we got home. Yesterday, October 12th, was the official day of Pilar! I'd say that it's as big as Christmas is in the US. I got up at 10 am, and when I came out of my room, my host sister, Beatriz, was getting dressed up in the traditional costume of Pilar. She was going to offer flowers to a statue of the Virgin of Pilar in the Plaza of Pilar. The Flower Offering is the big event of the day, and it starts at 7:30 in the morning and lasts until late afternoon. Men, women, children dress up in traditional costumes and walk through Zaragoza to the Plaza of Pilar, where there is a huge, bare monument that looks like a pyramid and has a statue of the Virgin on top. Throughout the day, the monument is covered with flowers, and in the end it looks spectacular. I walked to the Plaza, which took such a long time because the streets were packed, and met up with a friend. We looked around for a bit, and then I returned home, just in time for lunch. The first course consisted of lettuce, ham, asparagus, green olives, and mayonnaise; the second course jumbo shrimp and lamb. For dessert a slice of pineapple and ice cream cake! My other host sister, Isabel, and her boyfriend, Antonio, also came over for lunch. While we ate, the TV was on, broadcasting a bull event that had occurred that morning. It was "Las Vaquillas," (The Heifers), and in it a bunch of men from the crowd get into the ring with a cow and try to provoke it, having it chase them and sometimes headbutt them. It looks scary to me.

I went out again that night. I met up with some friends around 8:30 pm in front of the SYA school, and we walked towards the Ebro River to see what was being offered there. We wanted to try something new. A street runs parallel to the river, and on the side closest to the water, there are food/candy/trinket stands all lined up next to each other. None of us had eaten dinner yet, so we searched for a good/cheap place to eat, and we found a stand that sells different kinds of sausage. My friends and I chose "longaniza," but I don't know what it is in English. That's a small problem about learning Spanish: I learn words in that language but don't know them in English. Maybe there isn't a direct translation. Anyway, the sausage and a piece of bread were skewered on a long stick, and they were very good. My friends had told me that there was a crepe stand nearby, and seeing that I had never tried one before, I really wanted to buy one. The one I picked had chocolate and white chocolate on top, and it was nice and hot! Also a little difficult to eat because I had to use my hands, but so worth it! A little while later one friend left to go home, so my other friend and I walked around Pilar some more, listening to the concert a little and talking about various things. We checked out this little store (don't know what it's called) and found a small jazz ensemble inside: one pianist, one drummer, and one bassist. They were quite cool. First they played a rendition of "Happy Birthday," and after some random tunes. They could've been improvising for all I know. Two men in front of us started to dance, bending their knees, waving their arms and hands, and stepping side to side in quick movements. They were having a lot of fun. After maybe half an hour, we decided to head back home, the time being a little after midnight. These past nights, I haven't been as tired as I expected to be. Maybe it's because I'm in a whole new and different country, or that I've been getting enough sleep at night. Whatever it is, I'm glad that I'm able to enjoy the Spanish nightlife, which is much more spirited and crazy than during the day.