Friday June 11, 2010
This was our second IES excursion away from Madrid the city. We took a lime- green motorcoach to Rascafría, a small town in the northern hilly part of the Community of Madrid (sort of like Madrid State) to visit El Monasterio de Santa María de El Paular. The town was quite small and surrounded by a lot of countryside, and the monastery wasn’t too exciting on the outside.
When we got into the main entrance, a jolly old monk greeted us and herded us into a semi-circle (he would continue to do this whenever we stopped anywhere during our tour… I’m not sure why he liked semicircles so much…). After telling us about the monastery’s history, we entered a dark wooden door inset into a giant wooden door into the large and beautiful main church with tall white sloped ceilings and dark wooden pews and engraved booths lining the walls. As we stood in front of the impressive retable, our monk pointed out each part of the Bible that each carved 3-D panel represented.
Just when we thought the main church was impressive, the colourful beautiful chapel with its intricate French Rococo Baroque decoration all over the room and its wooden statues of Saints dressed in colourful robes wowed us even more. My favorite part was the room holding the holy water; it was a tower of space, climbing 15 meters or 50 feet into the sky. How can anyone not be inspired?
Our old monk told us that there are currently eleven monks living in the monastery, meaning their large dining hall—which looks exactly like the Branford dining hall with its wooden booths and wooden tables but without the large windows and dark wooden ceiling (stone instead) plus a pulpit coming out of the wall, accessible by a small hidden staircase, so that the brothers can listen to sermons as they eat in silence—is pretty empty during mealtime. It also doesn’t seem like the monks live a scanty life, because our monk had some extra weight around the middle. Too bad he was wearing normal clothes though, I really wanted our monk-guide to look a bit like this. Too bad.
We had an unforeseen problem with the restroom, because some students had to pee but were unable to enter the restrooms of the monastery, because they were located in the brothers’ private area of the monastery. No women (and maybe outside men, too, I’m not sure…) allowed. So we took over the quiet town of Rascafría in search of restrooms and stop snacks/coffee in whatever restaurants or cafeterias that were open. It was probably the busiest mornings Rascafría had seen in a while. Jaja.
We then headed to Buitrago del Lozoya, a small neighboring town in the same valley, where we took a grey and drizzly historical tour of the city and its protective walls with a glasses-wearing lady in a red coat. A nice middle-aged man (priest? Groundskeeper? Rando?) gave us a miked-tour of the town’s church, the first thing people came upon when they entered the only gate into the old city. Ooh, the church was so warm and the chairs were so comfy… how could I help but not get sleepy?
We climbed a stone staircase to the top of the wall that used to surround the town, protecting its citizens from attacking Muslims. Apparently the Muslims are always attacking… We climbed down into the wall at one part that was opened to show how a tunnel used run through the entire wall, creating a dark, quick, and safe(r) passageway around the circumference of the city for defenders to travel during a siege.
After checking out the ancient bullring, the group dispersed in the town to grab dinner and explore on own (even though there wasn’t much to explore…). We ate lunch in a diner that served cheap bocadillos (or sub sandwich) and chocolate and porras (fatter version of churros, tastes like the delicious fried dough you eat with congee). Lauren and I were rude bitches by eating the picnics our señoras packed for us as discreetly as possible while the other girls ate the diner’s food. As we were heading out, I ordered a porra without chocolate to eat on the go as we explored the town. The owner gave it to me without excepting my money, saying that it was a regalo (gift). So he was okay with me taking his heat (it was so frickin’ cold the whole day!), sitting at his table and eating my own food, using his facilities so much so that he wanted to give me free food? Cool. Sweet deal.
Back in Madrid, Lauren, Jade, and I explored the San Antonio Festival that is taking place across the street from my homestay. I can hear the music and noise from the festivities right now as I type this blog. We walked around, looking at the game-for-a-prize stalls, amusement park rides, and different bar stalls. The concert stage was pretty legit. Too bad the band that was playing was mediocre. There were so many parents chatting, hanging out, and drinking while their kids, some in the traje tradicional (probably for the yearly contest, Celia won when she was younger, wearing an outfit Carmen handmade) played and rode rides. We then showed Jade our side of el Parque del Oeste, which extends all the way North to where she lives in Moncloa.
Late that night, the three of us decided to go to a techno club, Ya’sta, because we found a Facebook event that said it was free. We decided to leave and go to MickeyD’s when the club was empty minus one (probably high) group. As Lauren and Jade ate their McFlurries and French fries (still French, since we’re still in España), some guy came over to give us his free glasses that he received with his meals. Oh yeah, dude. I really want to hook up with you now that you gave me two World Cup-themed glasses that McDonald’s gave you for free. You’re so fly. We hid them behind a pillar, hoping to come back to get them if the joint wasn’t closed.
The club was sooo full when we returned. Nawt. Haha. I really ought to have done my research before hitting it up. Apparently it’s more of a hangout spot for punky teenagers, who came to hang in big groups. I guess the real dancing (excluding the guy at the table next to us, who was already jerkily jamming away in his own little world) doesn’t start until after 2:30 am when we left, finding that the MickeyD’s closed and our gift glasses gone.
Photo credits: Amy Norrod and Lauren Drawdy
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