19/03/2013

SEMANA SANTA IS WITHIN SIGHT. I am off to go galavant gleefully through the Guggenheim and then gawk at Gaudi's greatness. (also other places but they would have ruined that nice 'G' thing I had going). After I finish my midterms, that is. Until then- our latest excursion/weekend adventures. Since we went to learn about the life and death of one of Spain's most beloved poets, Federico Garcia Lorca, it seemed appropriate that the musical selection be a flamenco version of one of his most famous poems: Romance Sonambulo. 

'Verde que te quiero verde'

 

AND 

"The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." 

Except when it doesn't.  Granada looks a whole lot like the Pacific NW at the moment. 

also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVmU3iANbgk

Botellón! Spring Festival (and sunshine for a day or two!) Best thing about this festival? It marks the opening day of the ice cream parlors in Granada.

Us and a few thousand of our closest friends went to enjoy. 

This is Federico Garcia Lorca. Poet, playwright, artist, bff to Dali and Bañuelo and more,  Granaino.

This is how Dali thought he looked. Who needs enemies when you have surrealist friends?

We toured his childhood house in Fuentevaqueros. My favorite part was all the dried gourds/peppers/etc hanging from the ceilings. And I suppose all the educational stuff was okay. Just kidding, it was actually really interesting and I enjoyed learning about the life and influences of Lorca.

But also I just really want to cover my apartment ceiling in dried food now. and legs of ham.

Our next trip was rather sobering. Lorca was part of  a dark period of Spanish history- The Civil War.  He had a lot of strikes against him: Poet, Republican leanings, friends and family involved in Republican movements, and he was homosexual. War broke out in July of 1936 and within three weeks the Falange had found Lorca and taken him into custody. Along with three others (a school teacher and two bullfighters) he was marched into the mountains and assassinated. One long dose of Francoism later the location of his grave, as well as the thousands of others who met the same fate is still unknown, but this is the best approximation of the site's location.

One of Spain's biggest controversies is the choice between choosing to forget the horrors of the Civil War and Franco or digging up (literally in the case of the many mass graves) the past and facing it. 

And since that seems like a depressing note to end on, (all of these seem to end so seriously.  You'd think I wasn't having any fun at all), here is a picture of Federico Garcia Lorca doing the same happy dance that I am going to be doing all across northern Spain.